outhang

the journal

how we'd actually do it.

Straight writing about the decisions that cost people money: which platform to build on, when to stop paying for software that half fits, and how a business gets from an idea to trading.

11 September 2026 / 7 min read / web apps / pricing / systems

What a web app costs in the UK, and what drives the number

Web apps start around £18,000 and reach £100,000. Here is what each part of that figure is actually paying for.

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11 September 2026 / 8 min read / websites / pricing / budget

How much a website costs in the UK, and why the brackets are so wide

Real brackets from about £1,000 to £100,000, what sits in each one, and the questions that move a quote up or down.

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10 September 2026 / 6 min read / ecommerce / pricing / websites

What an ecommerce website costs in the UK, Shopify or custom

Shopify from around £2,500, custom ecommerce £7,500 upward. The right answer depends on how strange your products are.

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10 September 2026 / 7 min read / agencies / london / websites

Choosing a web development agency in London: what to ask before you sign

How to tell a studio that will build the thing from one that will sell you a deck, and the eleven questions worth asking first.

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9 September 2026 / 5 min read / process / websites / timelines

How long a website takes to build, honestly

One to three weeks for a builder site, four to ten for a custom build, eight to twenty-four for a system. The delays are rarely the code.

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9 September 2026 / 7 min read / wordpress / websites / custom build

WordPress vs Webflow vs custom code: an honest comparison

Three routes to the same-looking website, and the running costs, ceilings and risks each one hands you afterwards.

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8 September 2026 / 5 min read / pricing / hosting / maintenance

What it costs to run a website each year

Domain, hosting, platform fees, support. The real annual figure for a small UK business, without the scare tactics.

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7 September 2026 / 9 min read / new ventures / strategy / brand / product

Idea to launched business in six months: the exact path

The sequence we use to take a business from a sentence to a live, trading product in under six months — and the decisions that decide whether it happens.

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7 September 2026 / 6 min read / process / briefs / pricing

How to write a website brief that gets you accurate quotes

The difference between three wildly different quotes and three comparable ones is usually one page of writing.

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6 September 2026 / 6 min read / websites / seo / strategy

Is a website redesign worth it, or should you fix what you have?

Most sites do not need rebuilding. They need structure, speed and a reason to be found.

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5 September 2026 / 8 min read / cms / databases / pricing / operations

What a custom CMS actually costs in the UK

Where the money goes when you commission a bespoke CMS or database, what changes the number, and how to tell a fair quote from a bad one.

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4 September 2026 / 6 min read / website builders / ecommerce / budget

Squarespace vs Wix vs Shopify: which builder suits which business

The three builders compared on what they are genuinely good at, where each one stops, and how far a developer can push them.

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2 September 2026 / 7 min read / influencers / talent / brand / websites

Websites that actually work for influencers and talent

A social profile is rented. A website is owned. What a creator's site should contain, why it earns better brand deals, and the pages that do the work.

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1 September 2026 / 6 min read / operations / databases / internal tools

Signs your business has outgrown spreadsheets

Seven symptoms that mean a spreadsheet is now a liability, and what replaces it without buying software that half fits.

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29 August 2026 / 7 min read / websites / website builders / budget

Cheap website builders: what you really get, and where they stop

Wix, Squarespace and Shopify are the right answer more often than agencies admit. Here is exactly where they win, and the point at which they cost you more than they save.

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28 August 2026 / 7 min read / cms / operations / internal tools

What a booking and contract system actually needs to do

A practical requirements list for any business that takes bookings and issues paperwork, drawn from building one that runs daily.

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26 August 2026 / 8 min read / cms / databases / internal tools / operations

When a business needs a bespoke CMS instead of an off-the-shelf one

Off-the-shelf software makes you work its way. A bespoke system works your way. Here is how to tell which side of that line your business is on.

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25 August 2026 / 6 min read / brand / influencers / websites

Personal brand websites: what public figures and founders should actually put on them

What belongs on a personal site, what to leave off, and why the link in bio is the most valuable page you own.

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22 August 2026 / 7 min read / operations / internal tools / databases / consulting

Why established businesses are replacing their internal systems

The spreadsheet that became load-bearing, the CRM nobody opens, the one person who knows how it all fits. What replacing it looks like, and how to do it without stopping work.

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21 August 2026 / 7 min read / seo / websites / search

A technical SEO checklist for a new website

The technical work that genuinely affects rankings on a new site, in the order it is worth doing.

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19 August 2026 / 9 min read / websites / wordpress / website builders / custom build

Website builder, WordPress, or fully custom — how to choose

Wix and Squarespace, custom-coded WordPress, or a fully bespoke build. What each one is genuinely good at, where each one stops, and how to pick without paying twice.

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18 August 2026 / 6 min read / aeo / search / content

How AI assistants decide which businesses to recommend

Why assistants name some suppliers and not others, and the practical work that makes your business one of the named ones.

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15 August 2026 / 7 min read / seo / aeo / content / search

Getting cited by AI assistants: what AEO actually involves

People now ask an assistant instead of searching. Being the answer it quotes is a different discipline to ranking, and most sites are structured for neither.

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14 August 2026 / 8 min read / new ventures / strategy / product

Idea to trading in six months: a week-by-week breakdown

What actually happens in each stretch of a six-month launch, and the decisions that quietly decide whether the date holds.

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why we write it down

the advice is the same whether you hire us or not.

Most expensive digital mistakes are decision mistakes, made before anybody wrote code. These pieces are the conversations we have in first meetings, written down.

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