Wanted: website designer

[Maverick77]

Just putting feelers out as we may need a website custom made.

I would usually just grab a half decent template from somewhere like Themeforest, work on it, and make do. However, I cannot find one that exactly matches our needs.

The website will be a fintech (financial technology) business website.
Think Monzo or Starling Bank, but you won't have to make the whole backend as that's all ready. The login button could just be a link to /login.

If this is something you're interested in, please post links to some of your previous work as well as a rough quote so I have a ballpark idea of price.

Thanks.

 

[zigojacko]

So the backend is going to be completely independent to the frontend then? Otherwise it is pretty crucial to know how the backend has been built to know what skillset is required for the frontend.

No-one can give you a ballpark figure based on the information you have supplied. What is the purpose of the website - just an information website to present the fintech service?

If so, what does it need to consist of, just pages with text copy and images and a contact form? Or does it need other features and functionality?

If you want a bespoke built site, you might be looking at between £1k and £2.5k depending on the specification and technology requirements.

But I think you need to delve a bit deeper into this part of your statement:

I would usually just grab a half decent template from somewhere like Themeforest, work on it, and make do. However, I cannot find one that exactly matches our needs.

We build relatively basic WordPress websites from usually around the £750 mark. We can build websites in WordPress, Grav, CraftCMS, ModX, Concrete5, Umbraco - no idea what would be best suited for what you need though at this stage...

 

[Dillon Lawrence Ltd]

We build relatively basic WordPress websites from usually around the £750 mark.

If you want a bespoke built site, you might be looking at between £1k and £2.5k depending on the specification and technology requirements.

That pricing seems dangerously low

 

[antropy]

We'd need more information even for a quick estimate but check out our portfolio and get in touch to discuss further: [email protected]

Paul.

 

[fisicx]

That pricing seems dangerously low

Surely the price depends on what you are building and for whom. There are plenty of successful low cost websites out in the wild.

 

[Maverick77]

We'd need more information even for a quick estimate but check out our portfolio and get in touch to discuss further: [email protected]

Paul.

So the backend is going to be completely independent to the frontend then? Otherwise it is pretty crucial to know how the backend has been built to know what skillset is required for the frontend.

No-one can give you a ballpark figure based on the information you have supplied. What is the purpose of the website - just an information website to present the fintech service?

If so, what does it need to consist of, just pages with text copy and images and a contact form? Or does it need other features and functionality?

If you want a bespoke built site, you might be looking at between £1k and £2.5k depending on the specification and technology requirements.

But I think you need to delve a bit deeper into this part of your statement:



We build relatively basic WordPress websites from usually around the £750 mark. We can build websites in WordPress, Grav, CraftCMS, ModX, Concrete5, Umbraco - no idea what would be best suited for what you need though at this stage...

We want this HTML theme, from Themeforest, to be made to load faster and multipage:

AppBeats App Landing Page Template

AppBeats app landing page template or product landing page template helps you easily create websites for your app or product, landing page template form promotion and many more.

appbeats.themetags.com

We like the animation of the moving phone screen on the landing page.

In addition, we want to insert an animated explainer video somewhere on the page.

We purpose of the website is to get people to download our banking app.

 

[fisicx]

You don't do this with a theme. You do this with really great content.

People don't want an app. They want a bank account. Your task is to sell the bank account. Once you have done that the app download will happen by default.

Forget the animations. Forget all the bling. Focus on the content and choose the theme later.

As an aside, Google scores that theme 31/100. A good HTML theme can easily score 99/100

 

[Maverick77]

You don't do this with a theme. You do this with really great content.

People don't want an app. They want a bank account. Your task is to sell the bank account. Once you have done that the app download will happen by default.

Forget the animations. Forget all the bling. Focus on the content and choose the theme later.

As an aside, Google scores that theme 31/100. A good HTML theme can easily score 99/100

Please don't take this the wrong way, but the websites that you have in your signature look like they were designed in 1994.

For example:

Getting Started | A Guide to Effective Website Design

Web design and assessment - help and advice on how to build an effective website.

aerin.co.uk

Having a website that looks good and modern is important in the context of the project we are working on.
Having "great content" on a website that looks like it was designed in 1994 is not the way to go.
It's about great content, yes, but PLUS great design too.

I'm interested in what you say about the Google score.
How can I look at that myself?

I half agree with you when you say "people want a bank account and not an app".
Yes, we want to get people opening accounts with us.
However, a bank account in itself is undifferentiated.
Take Starling Bank as an example. Their bank account is a bank account pretty much the same as any other. What's different is the ease and convenience of how you interact with and manage your money compared with any other banks.
I have accounts with Starling, Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest, and TSB.
Starling is by far the best. Not because the account is different, but because of the ease and convenience.

 

[Dillon Lawrence Ltd]

We want this HTML theme, from Themeforest, to be made to load faster and multipage:

AppBeats App Landing Page Template

AppBeats app landing page template or product landing page template helps you easily create websites for your app or product, landing page template form promotion and many more.

appbeats.themetags.com

We like the animation of the moving phone screen on the landing page.

In addition, we want to insert an animated explainer video somewhere on the page.

We purpose of the website is to get people to download our banking app.

That theme is HTML only. How do you intend to manage the content? Just curious to make sure it’s the right way forward for you.

Having a website that looks good and modern is important in the context of the project we are working on.
Having "great content" on a website that looks like it was designed in 1994 is not the way to go.
It's about great content, yes, but PLUS great design too.

Agreed. The design will be a major factor in conversions (downloading your app). Presenting them with a non dynamic, non animated wall of text that looks like a Geocities site will not give off a good impression for a fluid, breakthrough/modern easy to use banking app.

Don’t get too hung up about the Google score.

 

[fisicx]

Different sites for different purposes. I don’t market banking apps, the sites I build have a different audience. Not interested in building yours, my expertise is making sure what you do have converts.

You still need to start with content. This will drive the design. Trying to fit your content to a theme you like may well end in failure. The design of the site should be what your target customer likes. Which means you may well go through many designs and a lot of market testing before finding the one that works.

 

[Maverick77]

That theme is HTML only. How do you intend to manage the content? Just curious to make sure it’s the right way forward for you.


Agreed. The design will be a major factor in conversions (downloading your app). Presenting them with a non dynamic, non animated wall of text that looks like a Geocities site will not give off a good impression for a fluid, breakthrough/modern easy to use banking app.

Don’t get too hung up about the Google score.

Yeah tbh we're not really bothered about what language we use. This is just a site to get us up and running and maybe 6-12 months down the line we'll get a bespoke site made, hence the reason why we don't want to spend 000's getting this theme tweaked.

 

[Maverick77]

Different sites for different purposes. I market banking apps, the sites I build have a different audience.

Yes but the purpose of the website I linked which, respectfully, looks as though it was designed in 1994, is designed to give advice on effective website design!

 

[fisicx]

Indeed. But that site ranks well, converts well and has earned me a lot of money. There is a lot of considered design in the site. It’s just not blingy. It’s purpose is not to make you go wow, it’s purpose is to advise.

Making a site look pretty is the last part of the process and often the most difficult as you don't yet know how your visitors will react. This is why you do market research and a lot of testing.

However, you seem intent on choosing a template for your venture. Just be aware that after the site launches you may well have to make a number of changes to get people clicking on the download buttons.

 

[zigojacko]

Yeah tbh we're not really bothered about what language we use. This is just a site to get us up and running and maybe 6-12 months down the line we'll get a bespoke site made, hence the reason why we don't want to spend 000's getting this theme tweaked.

Right okay so you don't want a custom theme made as you originally claimed, you want an existing one modified but as someone else pointed out above, that theme needs building to work with a CMS platform if you want some form of management over your content and pages etc. It doesn't sound like you have the budget to have a custom one made neither.

What does "not wanting to spend 000's mean" ? To make that SaaS theme into say for example, a WordPress theme, we'd probably charge upwards of £750 and this would ensure it is fully dynamic and is all manageable from the WordPress CMS backend. If you aren't bothered about having any control over your content, then you could just use the theme as is with all static content for a significantly lesser outlay.

If you don't want to spend much money though, there are loads of SaaS themes like this one for any CMS platform. Here is a collection that are already made for WordPress already:-

Saas WordPress Themes | ThemeForest

Get 490 saas WordPress themes on ThemeForest such as Fixora - SaaS & Startup WordPress Theme, Upshift - Startup & SaaS WordPress Theme, Sierra - SaaS & Tech Startup Elementor WordPress Theme

themeforest.net

22 Best SaaS WordPress Themes 2025

In this collection, you can find the best SaaS WordPress themes that will help you create a high-converting website with WordPress.

athemes.com

25 Best SaaS WordPress Themes [2022]

Looking for SaaS WordPress themes? Here is the latest collection of 25 best WordPress templates to create a compelling and professional online....

wpneon.com

I'm only using WordPress as an example as it is the most widely used CMS platform on the web. Do you have experience with WordPress or not? Maybe another platform might suit you better. Who knows at this stage. It sounds like you'd benefit from a consultation first so that you can actually build a proper specification of what you want. Otherwise we're all just guessing.

 

[James (iimttd)]

Just putting feelers out as we may need a website custom made.

I would usually just grab a half decent template from somewhere like Themeforest, work on it, and make do. However, I cannot find one that exactly matches our needs.

The website will be a fintech (financial technology) business website.
Think Monzo or Starling Bank, but you won't have to make the whole backend as that's all ready. The login button could just be a link to /login.

If this is something you're interested in, please post links to some of your previous work as well as a rough quote so I have a ballpark idea of price.

Thanks.

Hey, If you're still looking we're a small business that has worked and delivered for fin-tech, insurance companies, mobile networks and airports. If you'd like to know more about what we've done and how we can help you please drop me an email at [email protected] as publicly we cant say too much. At present though we have experience with Vanquis, CGI finance, SGB finance, CRMG consult and many more.