Web Design Agency in Manchester

A Manchester web design agency designs websites. But there’s a bit more to it than that. A full service web design agency will also enhance your digital brand, research your audience, plan your user journeys, research SEO keyword targets, ensure accessibility at every stage, create content, build and develop your website, host and maintain it for you, and be on hand to help you out once it’s live to the world.

Well, who else is going to design your website? A web design agency has all of the tools required to take you from your initial ideas all the way through to the finished product and beyond. If you seek out a freelance web designer in Manchester, will they be able to develop it? If you find a web developer, can they support with ongoing marketing? Working with an agency means consistency and far-ranging expertise.

That depends! Every web designer and Manchester-based agency will have their own pricing structure, and then the complexity of the project will also influence the final cost. Very low budget websites – your “website design for £200” deals – aren’t as common these days, but you can still find solutions to fit just about any budget. If you’re looking for a bespoke website design with lots of custom features and functionality, and you want to work with a web designer who specialises in your industry, you can expect that your web design quote is going to start at a few thousand pounds.

The biggest driver for choosing a web design agency tends to be cost – whether the quotes fit your budget. But outside of this, you should look at a web agency’s specific experience, whether that’s directly in your sector, or in delivering similar solutions for other industries. Do you like the way their portfolio looks? Is the work they do relevant to you? Beyond this, relationships are key. A good Manchester web agency will be easy to communicate with – collaborative, supportive, and seeking solutions, rather than placing barriers in your way.

Every website is different – different numbers of pages and features, different audiences, different design requirements. And, of course, design is very subjective – what “good web design” looks like is different for everyone, and with so many ways to achieve best practice, a lot of it can come down to personal taste. So while a web design project can be wrapped up in a few months, it can also take a year or more. Typical web projects in our studio – including design and build – tend to last four to six months.

A web designer is responsible for the creative side. The user interface – colours, fonts, layouts, interactions. A web developer is responsible for the technical side. They take the designs and write code that brings them to life on the screen. A web design agency will typically have both in-house, allowing them to work together on a combined solution that excels technically while looking spectacular!

We believe that we’re unique in Manchester – and indeed in the North of England – in being a truly full service web design agency with the broadest experience, while still being a small, approachable studio. We don’t outsource any aspect of what we do, and are recognised as specialists in both digital marketing and web development. Our web design services for Manchester are underpinned by expert digital marketing knowledge – we deliver websites that look great, but perform to exceptionally high SEO standards.

We have also put accessibility and inclusivity at the heart of everything we do – our small team is a diverse group of specialists, focusing on delivering digital services that work for everyone, backed up by personal experience.

We’ve worked with everyone from small local start-ups to UK cultural institutions, and international Blue Chips, across both B2B and B2C markets. All of this while remaining a team of less than 20, many of whom have been with us for years – we’re a team you can really get to know and work closely with. Or, at least, we like to think so!

With over 100 websites on our servers, ensuring the highest security standards is absolutely essential for us and our Manchester-based clients. We apply multiple levels of security – at the domain level through SSL certificates and a CDN, at server level through bot protection and firewalls, and at application level through WordFence security, virtual patching of plugins and password policies. We also reduce our reliance on potentially vulnerable plugins by building features bespoke from scratch. We monitor our sites daily, and have a rigorous update schedule.

Yes! SEO is an essential element of every web design project – or, at least, it should be. Technical SEO plays a major part in a site’s performance on search, so the way the site is designed and built in order to be understood by search engines is very important. Our designers also work closely with our content and marketing teams to consider every aspect of the site’s user journey and how it can assist conversions.

Yes! It’s your site, you’ve paid for it, so you own it. All of the primary software we use to build our sites is open source, so you won’t have to pay us any licensing fees.

Yes, sustainability is a Splitpixel core value and key considerations are made in during the web design process. We prioritise creating energy-efficient websites by optimising page performance, reducing unnecessary resources, and recommending green hosting providers (rather than simply offsetting the impact). Our approach (we work to find the best balance between reliability, speed, and cost) ensures your website not only delivers a great user experience but also minimises its environmental impact.

There is always the potential for a website to take a hit to its SEO performance in a redesign or rebuild project – that’s why it needs careful management from a team that understand the impact of any changes on SEO. We always conduct SEO audits of the sites we build to ensure pages with vital rankings and backlinks are not lost, and implement full 301 redirect strategies on launch. Our goal is to reduce risk as much as possible – even if you are switching to an all new domain name.

At Splitpixel, we always work to high accessibility standards to ensure your website is usable for everyone, including people with disabilities. We ensure your site adheres to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) level AA+ standard regardless of project size and budget, making it inclusive for all users, including those with disabilities. This involves clear navigation, alternative text for images, keyboard-friendly design, and compatibility with assistive technologies like screen readers. For more information about the guidelines we follow, take a look at this article about web accessibility.

Absolutely! We specialise in developing accessible branding concepts that feed directly into the full range of digital requirements a brand will have to fulfil in a new site. You can explore some of our branding projects in our portfolio if you’d like to see what our team are capable of!

Yes of course, budget permitting, we can seamlessly integrate third-party tools like CRMs, ticketing systems, email marketing platforms (Such as Mailchimp), booking systems, or payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal etc.) into your website, no matter the platform. This is achieved through a mixture of API connections and widgets (It all depends on the platform you are using as to what’s possible). We ensure these integrations work smoothly, align with your design, and enhance your site’s functionality without compromising performance or user experience. You can find out a little more on our website integrations here.

We don’t design to templates! And we don’t use out-of-the-box themes, either. Everything we create is completely bespoke to you, so you get the website that you need. Even within your site, we don’t restrict you to just a couple of page layouts – you’ll have amazing flexibility to build pages exactly to your liking.

How soon do you want to get started? We can usually kick off a web project within a couple weeks of an enquiry if we need to – if not less! The first steps are to jump on a call with us to discuss your requirements – this will help us refine our quote to give you the best solution at the right cost. If you choose to go ahead with us, we’ll dive right into a discovery phase, working with you to set a creative, technical and content brief for the site.