How I work
One person, a fixed price, and everything stays yours.
This page is the boring but important part: how a job actually runs, what access I need, who owns what, and what happens when something doesn't go to plan. If you're deciding whether to trust somebody with your website, this is probably what you want to read.
The shape of a job
From first message to handover.
You tell me what's happening
In your own words, by email or through the form. You don't need to know whether it's Google, the website, the content or something technical, and you don't need to name the job.
I look properly
At the website and whatever else is relevant: Google and Maps, Bing, the tracking, the enquiry route, what competitors above you are doing. For anything larger this is the £150 audit, which comes off the bill if you commission £500 or more of the work.
You get a fixed price in writing
A short scope, one number, and the dates I can start and expect to finish. It doesn't change afterwards. Nothing happens until you've said yes to it.
I do the work
Using access you grant me, on your accounts. If I find something outside what we agreed, you'll hear about it rather than see it on the invoice.
Handover
The finished work, the logins, and a short note on what was done and why, in plain English. Anything further is a separate quote, not an assumption.
Access
I don't ask for your passwords.
Handing your passwords to somebody you've just met online is a bad habit, and I'm not going to encourage it. Every platform worth using lets you invite someone instead.
How access works
Collaborator, delegated or user-level access wherever the platform supports it: your website, your Google Business Profile, your shop, your analytics. Granted for the job, removed when it ends. You can see what I've done and you can revoke it at any time without changing a single password.
The things I won't touch
Your card details, your bank details and your ID. If something genuinely needs them, such as verifying a Google listing or buying a domain, we do it on a call with you typing. It's your account and it stays that way.
Ownership
Everything is in your name, from the start.
What that means in practice
Your domain, your hosting, your website, your Google and Bing accounts, your email platform, any subscription the work depends on. Nothing is registered in my name on your behalf, and nothing is held hostage if you decide to work with somebody else.
If you already don't own it
It's more common than you'd think, usually because a previous designer set everything up under their own account. Getting it back into your name is a job I do, and it's worth doing before anything else.
Before anything changes
I check what's there and what can be undone.
Backups and version history
Before significant changes I look at the existing setup and whatever backup, restore point or version history is available. If there isn't one, I'll tell you before I start, because that's worth knowing whether or not I'm the one making changes.
If something breaks
If something connected to my work goes wrong afterwards, I put it right and you don't pay again. If something unrelated breaks, I'll tell you what I think has happened and what it would take to fix, and you decide.
Money
Nothing costs more than the number you agreed.
The £150 audit and smaller jobs are normally paid before I start. Larger work is split between booking and completion. Any third-party costs, such as a domain or a subscription, are agreed separately and paid by you directly wherever possible, so they stay in your name.
There's no retainer, no minimum term and no automatic monthly anything. If you want a regular look at how things are going, ask for it; otherwise nothing recurs. Further work after a job ends is quoted separately.
What you can expect from me
And what I'd ask in return.
A reply within a working day. Plain English, including in the reports. An honest answer when something isn't worth paying for, even when it would be easy money. And the dates I gave you, kept.
From you: a rough description of what's happening, access when I ask for it, and a decision when I put a question in front of you. That's usually all a job needs.
What I don't do
- Manage advertising budgets or run ad campaigns
- Manage social media accounts
- Promise rankings or AI recommendations, because nobody honestly can
- Take on more jobs at once than I can finish properly
- Recommend work your platform can't actually support
Questions people ask
The ones that come up most.
Do you need my passwords?
No. Access is by collaborator or delegated invitation wherever the platform supports it, granted for the job and removed when it ends. Anything needing your card, bank details or ID is done on a call with you typing.
Who owns the website and the accounts?
You do, throughout. Your domain, hosting, website, Google and Bing accounts and any subscriptions stay in your name. Nothing is registered in my name on your behalf.
What happens if something breaks?
Before significant changes I check the existing setup and the available backup or version history. If something connected to my work goes wrong afterwards, I put it right at no extra cost.
Am I tied into anything?
No. No contract, no minimum term, no automatic monthly package. Each job is priced and agreed on its own, and further work is a separate quote.
Who actually does the work?
One person. The person you email is the person doing the work. Nothing is outsourced and there are no account managers.
How will we keep in touch during a job?
By email, with the occasional call where that's quicker. Replies within a working day. No standing meetings and no newsletters.
Sound like a sensible way to work?
Tell me what's happening and I'll come back with what I'd do and what it costs. Or run the free check first.