Edinburgh
Web developer in Edinburgh: websites built in Portobello
WebLothian is a web designer and developer in Portobello, Edinburgh, building and looking after websites and the software behind them for businesses across the city. It is run by Ben Harvie, who spent twenty years building software for startups and some of the largest technology companies in the world before setting up two streets from the beach.
Towns
Towns in Edinburgh the work covers
Nearest first, in straight-line miles from the desk in Portobello. A town with a page of its own is a link.
- Portobello 0 mi
- Leith 3 mi
- Edinburgh city centre 3 mi
- Corstorphine 6 mi
- Ratho 8 mi
- Currie 9 mi
- Balerno 10 mi
- Kirkliston 11 mi
- South Queensferry 11 mi
Local
What the work looks like in Edinburgh
Edinburgh is a big enough city that no two parts of it want the same thing. Portobello and Leith are independents: cafes, salons, galleries, trades and small studios that need a site which loads on a phone and a Google Business Profile that puts them on the map. The city centre and the West End are professional firms, clinics and consultancies whose site needs to earn trust before anybody rings. Out at Corstorphine, Currie, Balerno, Kirkliston and South Queensferry it is garages, nurseries, trades and shops serving their own neighbourhood, and the search that matters is the one with the suburb in it.
Services
Every service, across Edinburgh
The same six services as everywhere else, each with a page of its own that says what it does, how the cost works and when it is a waste of your money.
Website creation or redesign in Edinburgh
A website for an Edinburgh business has to work for a visitor on a phone on Princes Street and for a regular in Portobello who already knows the shop. Every site is built to load fast on a weak signal, to say what the business does in the first line, and to show the phone number without scrolling.
More about Website creation or redesignBooking and reminder software in Edinburgh
Booking and reminder systems do the most for the businesses Edinburgh has most of: salons, clinics, tutors, garages and anybody else who sells an appointment. Reminders go out by WhatsApp and text, and a no-show in Leith costs the same as one anywhere else.
More about Booking and reminder softwareAI for your business in Edinburgh
An assistant that answers the same four questions an Edinburgh city centre business gets every day, about opening hours, parking, prices and availability, built into the site and answering from the business’s own information rather than from the internet at large, with anything it cannot answer handed to the owner.
More about AI for your businessSEO and Google Business Profile in Edinburgh
Local SEO in Edinburgh is mostly about the suburb: a search for a plumber in Corstorphine or a cafe in Portobello is won by the business whose Google Business Profile and website both say where it is, consistently, in words a person can read.
More about SEO and Google Business ProfileWebsite security in Edinburgh
Edinburgh firms that take bookings or hold customer details online need a site that is kept up to date, backed up and behind a proper security certificate (the padlock), and most small business sites are none of the three. A security check comes first and is often the whole job.
More about Website securityManagement and maintenance in Edinburgh
Year-round management for Edinburgh businesses whose site was built by somebody who has moved on: updates, backups, hosting (where your site lives), the web address renewal nobody remembers, and a person in the same city who answers the phone.
More about Management and maintenance
Questions
Questions people ask
Who builds websites in Edinburgh?
WebLothian does, from Portobello in the east of the city. It is a web designer and developer in one person, Ben Harvie, so the site is designed and built by the same pair of hands. The cost is kept affordable on purpose and the first conversation is free, in person anywhere in Edinburgh or on a call.
How much does a website cost in Edinburgh?
It depends on how many pages the site needs and whether there is software behind it, so every job is quoted in writing after a free consultation and the number is known before anything starts. WebLothian keeps it affordable on purpose: a single developer in Portobello does not carry the overheads an Edinburgh agency has to pass on.
What is the difference between a web designer and a web developer?
A designer decides how the site looks and reads; a developer builds it and the systems behind it, such as booking, reminders and payment. Most Edinburgh small businesses need both and are better served by one person doing both than by two companies passing files between them, which is the way WebLothian works.
Do you cover the whole of Edinburgh?
Yes. Portobello to South Queensferry is eleven miles, so anywhere in the city is a short drive or a bus, and a first meeting can happen at your premises. The rest of the work happens over email and Zoom, which is how most of it happens for every customer.
The honest answer
When not to bother
If you are a venture-backed startup that needs a product team, a single developer in Portobello is the wrong shape for you. WebLothian builds for businesses that sell things to people in Edinburgh, not for businesses that sell software to the world.
Free consultation
Talk to a web developer in Edinburgh
The consultation is free and there is no pitch at the end of it, because how the cost works is already explained on this site and every job is quoted in writing.
Edinburgh businesses get the local rate: heavily discounted, because the city is on Ben's doorstep, there is no travel to cover and every meeting can be face to face.