Web design · Colchester
We build fast, fixed-price websites for shops, trades, practices and venues across Colchester and north-east Essex. Fay designs and checks every page, and she is happy to drive up the A12 to meet you.
We are not going to pretend to have an office on the High Street. Waltham Websites is based in Great Waltham, near Chelmsford, and Colchester is about 40 minutes away up the A12. What we can offer Colchester businesses is a founder who does the work herself, prices that are published rather than hidden behind a sales call, and sites that go live in days rather than months.
Fay O’Leary founded the studio in 2007 and ran it for around 18 years before a year leading AI automation for a national company. Since the relaunch in November 2026 we use AI to speed up the repetitive parts of a build, while Fay handles the design, the copy and the checks on every page.
Colchester became a city in 2022, but it has claimed to be Britain’s oldest recorded town for a lot longer. That mix of old and new runs through its businesses. Around the castle, the Dutch Quarter and the town centre you find independent shops, cafés, restaurants and specialist retailers, many of them in historic buildings with real character to show off. Out at Stanway, Tollgate and the business parks near the A12 are trades, car dealers, wholesalers and service firms. The University of Essex at Wivenhoe Park brings students, researchers and start-ups, and the garrison adds its own demand for services aimed at military families.
That variety means there is no single Colchester website. A tea room in the Dutch Quarter needs beautiful photographs and a menu that loads instantly on a phone. A Stanway plumber needs a quote button, a list of the villages he covers and reviews near the top. A practice near the hospital needs clear information and online booking. We start with your customers and build from there.
Our Colchester work covers the CO1 to CO7 postcodes. That takes in the town centre and Greenstead, Lexden and Prettygate, Highwoods and Mile End, Stanway and Marks Tey, and out towards Wivenhoe, Rowhedge and Brightlingsea. To the south we cover Tiptree and the Mersea villages; to the north, Dedham, Boxted and the edge of the Stour valley. Further down the A12, our Witham page picks up the towns between Colchester and Chelmsford.
Colchester is big enough that most common searches, such as “plumber Colchester” or “accountant Colchester”, are contested. You will usually find a map pack of three businesses, then a mix of directories and the larger local firms. Students and younger residents search almost entirely on phones, so slow sites lose them quickly.
The way through is usually to be precise. Rather than one page that says you serve “Colchester and surrounding areas”, we build pages for the services and places that actually bring you work, and set up your Google Business Profile so it matches. Our SEO and AI search plans then keep that going each month, and include tracking so you can see which searches lead to enquiries.
If you would like to meet, Fay can come to you in Colchester or meet halfway, and the train from Chelmsford is quick if parking in town is a problem.
Full details are on our prices page, but in short:
If your current site is the problem rather than the lack of one, a redesign starts at £995 and keeps the rankings you already have.
Prices
The same published prices wherever you are. See all our prices.
Sole traders and trades who want a proper, professional site.
Growing businesses that want more enquiries every month.
Shops and firms that want to lead their area.
Bigger projects that need more than a website.
Relaunch offer your first month of Local SEO free with any website or redesign booked by 19 December 2026.
What clients say
“Fay worked tirelessly with encouragement, creativity, passion and professionalism. We are super proud of our website.”
“Painless and very swift service. Within a few days, had a brand new website.”
Tony Hague, SaniScreen
“The end result has completely surpassed my expectations.”
Ben Jaegar, Love is Blinds
“I have used Waltham Websites now for quite a few years… I would not fail to recommend her.”
Steve James, Dolphin Villa
Questions
Yes, Colchester is about 40 minutes from our Great Waltham studio along the A12, and we work with businesses right across the CO postcodes. Most of the project runs by phone and video, and Fay drives up whenever a face-to-face meeting helps.
A professional small business website costs £1,295 with us for up to 5 pages, live in 7 days. Silver, at £2,495, adds custom design, copywriting, two town pages and a blog, and Gold, at £4,995, covers bespoke sites and shops of up to 100 products.
Yes, our Gold package at £4,995 includes an online shop of up to 100 products with card payments. Bigger catalogues and more advanced shop features are scoped under Diamond, from £6,500.
We cover the whole of CO1 to CO7, including Lexden, Stanway, Highwoods, Wivenhoe, West Mersea, Tiptree, Dedham and the villages towards the Suffolk border.
Smaller Colchester businesses usually win by being more specific, not by outspending larger firms. Pages for each service and area you cover, a fully completed Google Business Profile and a steady flow of real reviews tend to beat a generic site with a bigger budget behind it.
Yes, Bronze at £1,295 suits any new business that needs a clean, professional site of up to 5 pages, including start-ups linked to the University of Essex. If you are building a product rather than a brochure site, our app packages start at £4,995.
Yes, our care plans cost £45, £95 or £175 a month and cover hosting, SSL, daily backups and updates, with an hour or more of changes on the higher plans. They are rolling, so there is no long contract.
Tell us what you need. Fay replies personally within one working day with a recommendation and a fixed price.