Web design in Folkestone, a town being rebuilt on purpose
More calls and enquiries, a website that makes you look the part, and none of the technical side to worry about.
Folkestone's regeneration was planned and paid for rather than accidental, and it shows. I build sites for the businesses arriving because of it.
162 reviews across four sites, rated 5.0 on Google and WixGet your site online for only £199, £99 setup and your first month, then from £100 a month. 12‑month minimum. No VAT to add. SEO kept up every month.Live in as little as 2 weeks200+ projects10+ years building websitesWix Legend Partner
Already have a site and want it to rank? See SEO in Folkestone.
Local knowledge
What a website has to do for Folkestone customers
Folkestone is unusual because its revival was deliberate. Sustained private investment created the Creative Quarter, restored the Harbour Arm, built F51 and funded the Triennial. That is a very different story to Margate, where change arrived more organically, and it means the town has been actively recruiting the businesses now trading here.
It also has an economy nowhere else in Kent has. The Channel Tunnel terminal at Cheriton sits on the edge of town, bringing freight, logistics, engineering and a steady flow of cross-Channel traffic. Those businesses sell to hauliers and operators, not to visitors, and they need a completely different kind of website.
Then there is the commuter layer. Fifty three minutes to St Pancras on the high speed line has drawn people who work in London and hold London expectations, particularly around food, retail and services. For businesses selling to that group a dated website is noticed immediately, and it quietly costs you their trade.
The result is three markets that barely overlap: the creative and visitor economy around the Old High Street and the harbour, the freight and engineering economy out at Cheriton, and the ordinary town economy along Sandgate Road serving residents. Building for the wrong one is the most common mistake here.
- Naming Sandgate, Cheriton and Hawkinge
- Capability and credentials for freight buyers
- Photography that suits a design-led town
- Seasonal hours for visitor businesses
- Fast mobile pages, commuters check on trains
- Reviews shown, expectations are high here
What it costs
What a Folkestone website costs
Get your site online for only £199
£99 setup and your first month, then from £100 a month. 12‑month minimum. No VAT to add. SEO kept up every month.
Custom design, hosting, SEO and small changes done for you within 2 working days, in one price.
From £800
Plus £25 a month hosting, rolling, 30 days' notice.
Taking bookings or payments through the site? That is from £150 a month on the monthly plan (card fees paid by you), or from £1,000 bought outright, plus £25 a month hosting.
162 reviews
Rated 5.0 on Google. Every one left by a real client on Google, Wix, Facebook or another public review site, where you can read them for yourself.
“Owen was great to work with. Brilliant communication, the work was done quickly and importantly took direction extremely well with minimal guidance. 5 Stars all round, I will 100% be using his services again in future.”
My work
A few sites I've built
Picked from all my projects, so not only from Folkestone. Each one has its own page with the whole story.
See all the work
Industry Parent
A mentoring platform for parents of aspiring child performers and models, built around a flagship paid programme.
Unknown Warriors
A website for a history podcast revisiting the First and Second World Wars.
Citizens for Change
A website for a design and research agency that puts young people at the centre of solving social problems.
What I do
What I build for Folkestone businesses
A website that brings in work, and help getting it found on Google.
Web Design
A custom designed site for your Folkestone business that looks professional, is fast on phones and makes it easy for customers to call. Built properly and looked after for you.
I built on Wix for years, until its limits kept getting in the way, so I now build in code, and your site can still come with an editor so you can change it yourself. I still fix Wix sites, and build new ones on Wix if that is what you want.
SEO in Folkestone
Already have a site and need it found? Advanced SEO is a one-off job, from £300, one off, and SEO in Folkestone has a page of its own. If I build your site on a monthly plan, SEO is already included and kept up every month.
Who this is for
The Folkestone businesses I build for
Creative Quarter & visitor trade
Studios, galleries, independent shops and food businesses in the Creative Quarter and along the Harbour Arm. Judged against London by people who moved from there, so presentation is doing real commercial work.
Freight, logistics & engineering
Freight, logistics, engineering and vehicle services around Cheriton and the tunnel terminal. Selling to operators and hauliers who want capability, compliance and contact details, not design flourishes.
Town centre & resident services
Shops, trades and professional services along Sandgate Road and through Cheriton serving residents. Steady, year-round work that sees very little of either the visitor money or the freight money at all.
Common problems
What I see missing on Folkestone websites
Built for the wrong Folkestone
A Creative Quarter aesthetic is wasted on a haulage firm at Cheriton, and a plain functional site loses a gallery its visitor trade. These are genuinely different jobs and need to be treated that way.
No credentials for freight buyers
Freight and engineering businesses with no certifications, accreditations or evidence of capability on the site. Operators are checking whether you can actually handle the work before they ever call.
Frozen before the regeneration
Sites that were perfectly fine before the regeneration and have not moved since. Folkestone's expectations have risen sharply in ten years, and a site from 2016 now stands out for the wrong reasons.
Hours that ignore the season
Visitor businesses around the harbour and the Creative Quarter whose hours read the same all year. Someone who arrives to a closed door because the site said otherwise does not come back, and quiet winters make it more likely.
Not sure how yours measures up? Tell me about it and I'll look at it with you
Folkestone web design questions
Do you work with Folkestone businesses?
Yes. I'm in Gillingham, around an hour down the M20, so I won't be round the corner, but most of the process runs remotely and I'll come over when meeting in person genuinely helps.
We sell to hauliers and operators, not the public. What changes?
Almost everything. The site becomes a credentials document rather than a shop window. Accreditations, capacity, turnaround times and a direct phone number matter far more than how it looks.
Do you cover Sandgate, Cheriton and Hawkinge?
Yes, along with Hythe, Lyminge and the villages up on the downs. If you serve them your site should name each one rather than assuming Folkestone covers it.
What does a website cost?
At WebOws Design in Gillingham, Kent, there are two ways. Get your site online for only £199: £99 setup and your first month, then from £100 a month. 12-month minimum. That covers a custom site hand built in code, hosting, SEO and small changes done for you. Or, if you want to edit it yourself, the same kind of site bought outright from £800, plus £25 a month hosting, with a fixed quote agreed before anything starts. No VAT to add either way.
Is Folkestone as competitive as Margate now?
In the Creative Quarter, close to it. Elsewhere in town there is far less competition online, which means the basics done properly still put you ahead of most of the field.
Is it worth spending on this if we are quiet all winter?
The site earns its keep in the quiet months, because that is when it is the only thing working. Most seasonal businesses I deal with get more from the pages about what they do and where they are than from anything published in August.
Nearby
Areas near Folkestone I also cover
I work right across Kent, not only in Folkestone. These are some of the nearby towns with a page of their own.
By trade
Pages by line of work
The kinds of business above, each with its own page about what a website has to do in that line of work, in Folkestone or anywhere else in Kent.
Worth reading next
Quick quote
Tell me about the business. I'll confirm the right plan and when you could be live.
I usually reply within a working day. Or call 01634 984929 and speak to me directly.
Let's talk about your Folkestone website
Not sure yet what you need? Tell me about the business and I'll say honestly what would help and what wouldn't. Asking costs nothing.