Web design in Margate for a town that reinvented itself
More calls and enquiries, a website that makes you look the part, and none of the technical side to worry about.
Margate has gone from faded seaside town to creative destination in about fifteen years. I build sites that keep up with the change.
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
Local knowledge
What a website has to do for Margate customers
Margate has changed more in fifteen years than any town in Kent. Turner Contemporary, the Dreamland revival and a steady arrival of people priced out of London have turned a faded seaside resort into a genuine destination. The Old Town is full of galleries, vintage shops and independents that simply did not exist here in 2010.
The result is two Margates trading side by side. There is the new creative economy, largely serving visitors and incomers, with high design expectations and London reference points. And there is the long-standing local economy of trades, services and shops along Northdown Road and out towards Cliftonville, serving residents who have been here far longer.
Those two markets judge a website completely differently. A gallery or a boutique guest house is being compared to things people saw in Hackney last month. A plumber in Cliftonville is being judged on whether the number works and somebody answers. Building the wrong one of those is an expensive mistake to make.
Seasonality is the other constant. Margate empties in winter and fills from Easter onwards, and the swing is severe. A site that reads the same in January as it does in July is misrepresenting the business half the year, and for anywhere serving visitors that costs real bookings every single season.
- Seasonal offers and hours, updated by you
- Naming Cliftonville, Westgate and Birchington
- Photography that suits a design-led town
- Booking that works from a phone on the beach
- Parking and travel, most visitors drive
- Reviews shown, visitors compare quickly
What it costs
What a Margate 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.
“Helped me build my website and i am very pleased and satisfied with it. Very good and professional”
My work
A few sites I've built
Picked from all my projects, so not only from Margate. Each one has its own page with the whole story.
See all the work
What I do
What I build for Margate businesses
A website that brings in work, and help getting it found on Google.
Web Design
A custom designed site for your Margate 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
Getting that site found when local people search on Google and on Google Maps.
Included in every monthly plan. For a site bought outright or one you already have, Advanced SEO is from £300, one off. What SEO includes
Who this is for
The Margate businesses I build for
Creative & independent retail
Galleries, vintage shops, independent cafes and boutique stays around the Old Town and the seafront. Judged against London standards by visitors who arrived on the train, so presentation genuinely is the product here.
Visitor & seasonal trade
Guest houses, restaurants, bars and attractions living on the season. Booking, opening hours and honest photography do the work, and all three need changing several times a year rather than set once.
Trades & resident services
Plumbers, electricians, garages and shops along Northdown Road and through Cliftonville, serving residents rather than visitors. Speed and reachability beat design entirely for this half of the town.
Common problems
What I see missing on Margate websites
Built for the wrong Margate
A design-led site aimed at visitors is wasted on a trade business serving Cliftonville residents, and a plain functional site loses a gallery its visitor trade. Pick one deliberately rather than by accident.
The same page all year
A homepage that reads identically in January and July in a town whose population swings this hard. If you are closed, on reduced hours or fully booked, the site should say so before anyone travels.
Photography that undersells
Visitor businesses using dark, cramped phone photos in a town people specifically come to for how it looks. Here, more than almost anywhere in Kent, photography is the highest return spend available.
Nothing about getting here
Most visitors drive, yet few visitor businesses say where to park or how far the walk is. Someone choosing between you and a place they can find easily usually picks the easy one.
Not sure how yours measures up? Tell me about it and I'll look at it with you
Margate web design questions
Do you work with Margate businesses?
Yes. I'm in Gillingham, about an hour along the A299, and I take on work right across Kent. Most of it runs remotely, and I'll come over when meeting in person genuinely helps.
My trade is almost entirely seasonal. How should the site handle that?
Built so the headline, hours and featured offer change with the season. On a monthly plan you send me the change and it is live within 2 working days; on a site bought outright you swap them yourself in the editor in a couple of minutes. In Margate that is not a nice extra, it is the difference between a site that is accurate and one that lies for six months.
Do you cover Cliftonville, Westgate and Birchington?
Yes, along with Garlinge and the villages inland. They behave like separate markets, particularly Cliftonville, so your site should name them rather than assuming Margate covers everything.
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.
Should the site mention Turner Contemporary and the Old Town?
If people find you while they are already out visiting, then yes: naming the streets and landmarks near you helps them and helps Google. Do not stretch it though. Claiming somewhere you are a twenty minute walk from reads as padding and earns nothing.
Nearby
Areas near Margate I also cover
I work right across Kent, not only in Margate. 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 Margate 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 Margate 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.