The portfolio wins the job. Our job is getting it seen.
One monthly fee covers the website, the hosting, the SEO foundations, local SEO for the towns you take projects in and your Google Business Profile. Instagram and Meta ads sit alongside when there is a case for them. From £1,000 a month plus VAT, with nothing five-figure to find upfront.
Two seconds is a long time to wait for a photograph
A studio's website is judged on one thing before it is read: whether the work looks like work someone wants in their house. That judgement happens in the time it takes the first image to appear. The last studio site we moved off Wix weighed 729 KB and took 1.94 seconds. On a phone, on a train, that is long enough to lose people who were interested.
The second problem is usually Instagram, and it is the opposite shape. The account is busy and going nowhere. One we took on was three quarters stories, which vanish in a day, and two Reels in ninety days. For the most visual trade there is, that is a diary rather than a portfolio.
Neither is a design problem. Both are a build-and-habit problem, and both are fixable in a quarter.
What we do for a studio
A site built around the photography
Fast enough to show the work immediately, structured so every project and every service has its own page. Your own photography, not stock and not generated images. A buyer can tell the difference and so can Google.
Local SEO for the towns you work in
One keyword per page so your pages stop competing with each other, and the towns you take projects in rather than the whole county. This is the part that reliably produces enquiries from people who are ready.
The Google Business Profile, done properly
For "interior designer near me" the map pack sits above everything organic, and it is won on category, proximity, photos, reviews and activity rather than on your website. Most studios have set it up once and never touched it again.
Instagram run as a portfolio
Reels and feed posts that stay on the grid, 12 posts and 12 stories a month, and a Meta campaign alongside when you want reach faster than content builds it. You send the footage from site. We do the rest.
Pinterest and Houzz where they fit
Pinterest behaves like a search engine and suits a deep photo library and a long decision cycle. Houzz matters to some studios and not others. We will tell you which you are rather than selling you both.
Two buyers, one website
When design, joinery and fit-out sit under one roof you are selling to a homeowner and to a developer at the same time, and they want opposite things. The homeowner wants the finished room and the reassurance that you will be pleasant to have in the house for six weeks. The developer wants the schedule, the scope and the evidence you have done it before at that size.
One page cannot do both. The studio site we built this year has a separate route for developer enquiries for exactly this reason, and the Instagram shows the build as well as the reveal, because the build is what convinces the second buyer.
The website has to pre-sell the visit
Somebody commissioning a handmade kitchen or a staircase is deciding who to let into their home for weeks, for a five-figure sum. They will not decide from a gallery alone. They want to understand how a project runs: the first visit, the drawings, the lead time, the fitting, the snagging.
We built that for NRG Bespoke Joinery, where the service pages walk a buyer from first visit to final handover before they ever fill in a form. That is a longer page than most makers want to write, and it is the one that gets the good enquiries.
One studio, both halves, in three months
A design-and-build studio came to us on a Wix site that took nearly two seconds to show a photograph, with an Instagram that was three quarters stories. Good work, and none of it landing.
The rebuild came first: 21 pages, one term each, their own photography, down to 178 KB and half a second. Then the feed moved to Reels and posts that stay on the grid, with a Meta campaign alongside. Followers went from 549 to 3,903.
We would tell you the same thing we told them: the followers are the credibility number, and the enquiries come through the site. That is the order we would do it in for you too.
Read the full case studyOne monthly retainer, and your marketing is handled
Most studios that come to us are paying three suppliers and chasing all three. The Glide Retainer replaces that. Your website gets built and then kept improving, your search and AI-search foundations are maintained rather than set once and forgotten, and the local SEO and Google Business Profile that put you in front of someone typing your town are handled. One invoice, one team, one person accountable. From £1,000 a month plus VAT, with no five-figure build fee to find first.
excl. VAT
No setup fee. Three-month minimum, then 30 days' notice.
- Your website, built and then kept improving. Hosting, SSL, changes and the small jobs nobody gets round to.
- SEO foundations, maintained. Crawlable pages, titles, headings, schema, sitemap, internal links, Core Web Vitals.
- AI-search readiness, so answer engines can understand and cite your firm rather than just index it.
- Local SEO for "interior designer [your town]", and a Google Business Profile with the photos, services and reviews done properly.
- Pinterest and Houzz set up where they fit your studio, so the portfolio is found off Google too.
- A named senior contact who does the work. Mike is accountable for the lot.
£1,000 is the floor, not the average. Studios with more services, more project pages or paid media on top sit higher, and you get the number in writing before you commit to anything.
Not in the retainer. Add them when there is a case for it.
Google Ads, managed
From £500/mo
plus your ad spend. Meta engagement and enquiry campaigns for studios, Google Ads where there is local search worth buying.
Ongoing SEO campaign
From £1,000/mo
on top of the retainer, for genuinely competitive terms. The foundations in the retainer are enough for a lot of firms, and we will say so rather than sell you this.
Just want a simple site on a small monthly fee? That still exists, quietly, on the pricing page.
Who we help
We work with studios whose clients decide on the portfolio: interior designers, design-and-build studios, kitchen and bathroom studios and joinery makers. Architects on the website side, and we say on the page where we have and have not worked.
Design-and-build studios
Design, joinery and fit-out under one roof means two buyers at once: homeowners and developers. The site needs a route for each, and the Instagram needs to show the build as well as the reveal.
Homeowners and developers, one site
Design & Build StudiosKitchen, bathroom and joinery makers
Handmade kitchens, fitted furniture, staircases. Buyers spend weeks deciding who to let into their home, so the website has to pre-sell the visit and walk them through how a project runs.
Five-figure commissions, long decisions
Kitchen, Bathroom & Joinery MakersArchitects
Photography-led practice websites that load fast and rank for the towns you work in. We say on the page where we have and have not worked.
Practice and project work
ArchitectsGoing deeper on one part of it
The same work, explained for the job you are hiring for.
Websites for interior designers
Your portfolio is the pitch. If it takes two seconds to appear, a good number of people have already gone back to Instagram.
Instagram for interior designers
The most Instagram-shaped trade there is, and most studios post like it is a diary. We took one from 549 followers to 3,903 in three months.
Websites for architects
Practice sites built around the photography, fast enough to show it, and structured to rank for the towns you work in.
Marketing a design studio, answered
The Glide Retainer starts at £1,000 a month plus VAT, and that one fee covers the website, the hosting, the SEO and AI-search foundations, local SEO and your Google Business Profile. Social media management is priced separately so you can see what it costs, and so is ads management from £500 a month plus your spend. £1,000 is the floor rather than the average, and you get your number in writing before you commit.
Both, and they are separate lines on the invoice. The site and everything that makes it findable sit in the retainer. Social sits alongside it: planning, editing, posting, 12 feed posts and 12 stories a month, and the Meta ad account if you want growth on top. Where we do both, the two halves pull on each other: the feed sends people to a site that is ready for them.
Not to have a working website, no. Ads are what you add when you want reach faster than content alone will build it. On the studio account we run, the Meta campaign was bought deliberately as a visibility play: it put the work in front of the right people in their county and took followers from 549 to 3,903. That is a credibility number, and we are careful not to dress it up as a lead number.
Where they fit. Pinterest behaves like a search engine rather than a social feed, which suits a studio with a deep photo library and a long decision cycle. Houzz matters more to some studios than others and we will tell you which you are. Neither replaces your own site, because on both of them you are renting the audience.
Someone typing "interior designer Harrogate" has a project and a budget, and there are rarely many studios competing properly for it. The work is a page per service and a page per project, each with one keyword, so your own pages stop competing with each other, plus a Google Business Profile with real photos, real services and a review habit. The studio site we built this year has 21 pages built that way.
No. Our main studio client is in Harrogate, roughly 200 miles from our desk, and it has made no practical difference to the work. We are on a call when you need one and the rest happens in writing. We work UK-wide.
Studios where the work is the pitch: interior designers, design-and-build studios, kitchen and bathroom studios, and joinery and furniture makers. Our named interior design client is Dean Heim & Co in Harrogate, and the full story plus the joinery, furniture and antiques work we did before we specialised is on the case studies page. We do not have an architecture practice on the books yet, and we say so on that page rather than letting you find out later.
You buy it or you rent it, and we are clear which. While you are on the retainer the site is live, hosted, maintained and improved. There is a three-month minimum, then 30 days notice. If you want to take the build outright there is a one-off buyout figure, agreed in writing before you start rather than invented when you want to leave.
The parts of this you can buy on their own: web design, social media management and local business listings.
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