What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 6pm Tuesday 9am - 6pm Wednesday 9am - 6pm Thursday 9am - 6pm Friday 9am - 6pm

Toad's Island Productions, Northwich (2026)

Name: Toad's Island Productions
Address: Northwich, CW83DP, GB
Telephone: 0837607799

Toad's Island Productions provides web design, SEO, video, and digital media services for small businesses and independent professionals across the UK.

24/08/2026

I keep seeing a lot of posts in groups offering "free websites."

At first I was worried, because I make a living building and managing websites, and doing SEO. But then I went to check a few of these "free" websites.

No favicon (the little icon in the browser tab), the same look and feel on almost every site, no privacy or cookie policy, exposed email addresses (spam bot heaven!), etc...

Having a bit of a deeper dive, I also noticed that most, if not all of these sites aren't SEO friendly at all. Page copy with no clear keywords, broken heading hierarchies, images with pointless names and no alt text, no schema. The list is endless.

If you're a small business or a sole trader, here's a question for you: Do you want your website to help your business grow?

If your answer is yes, then please get in contact with an actual web designer. If a website is "free" or cheaper than anywhere else, it's most probably going to do more harm to your business than good. Trying to fix that will be a much costlier endeavour than doing it properly from the beginning.

I'm a freelance web designer and SEO specialist. I don't build free websites. I do, however, offer affordable web starter packages that will get your business online using best practices. The package is designed to grow with your business, so when you need more pages or more functionality, everything is set up to do this quickly and effectively.

If you've been caught out by the "free website" malarkey, or even if you need some help with your current website, then drop me a line.
I don't build free websites, but I do offer a free 10-point website audit to people who would like to improve what their website can do for them.

You can find more details about the web starter package I offer by visiting https://webstarter.toadsisland.com/

Feel free to contact me here on the old Book of Faces, or email me at [email protected]

30/06/2026

Do free website builders cost people in the long run?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a few people asking for quotes to either rebuild old websites, or clone what they already have so they’re able to edit the site. This isn’t something new or rare. I get these requests all the time, but lately, they all have a common theme: They’ve used a DIY website builder.

Their site look great at first, and they’re happy with it. The website is easy to update with drag-and-drop functionality. The bells and whistles are all there. The £10 monthly subscription seems affordable. All is good. But then…

They want to add a new feature or add more details to a contact form. Either the DIY builder doesn’t support it, or there’s an additional fee. Or they’re wondering why their business site isn’t showing up in Google searches, when the DIY builder says the site is “SEO optimised.” When the cracks start to show, that’s usually when I get the call or the email.

So what actually goes wrong? From what I’ve seen lately, it seems to be the same handful of things time and again.

Failing SEO

DIY website builders have come a long way since they first started appearing. One thing they still don’t seem to get right is basic SEO. Simple things like schema markup or page titles aren’t correctly implemented. The settings often aren’t clear or accessible.

One Template to Rule Them All

People get excited when they build their site. It looks fantastic! But then they suddenly start to see a load of other websites that look very similar to theirs. Perhaps the colours and pictures are different, but the layout, sections, menus, and footer look like they came straight off the same production line.

Growing Pains

When they need more features, that £10 a month rarely stays £10 a month. More storage? A more expensive tier. A custom form? Another fee for a plugin. Want to remove the DIY builder’s branding? Yup, another, more expensive tier.

The Big, Bad Bloat

Their website has been around for a while, but suddenly it’s getting sluggish. Perhaps there’s a load of duplicate pages from when they first started building the site. Redirects that don’t go anywhere. Crucial settings get switched on and off without knowing exactly what they do.

The End Game

By the time I get the panicked phone call or email asking if I can fix their website, they’re already pulling out their hair. Explaining to them that this is a rebuild, not a repair, is often quite a slog. When the penny drops that they can’t just export the website to another, more manageable CMS, they realise that they never truly owned their website.

Have you ever had an experience with a DIY website builder? I’d love to hear your love or horror story in the comments.

Also, if yours is a horror story, but you’d like to fall back in love with your business website, drop me a line. I’d be more than happy to be the Cupid that repairs the relationship.

24/03/2026

Recently completed a full website rebuild for AseptA Occupational Health, including design, development, and SEO optimisation.

The old site had become outdated and wasn’t performing well in search, so the new one was built from scratch to be faster, clearer, and properly structured for modern search engines.

Since launch, several service pages are now appearing in search results and AI overviews, and the website is generating more enquiries. All through organic search, without paid ads.

A good website should do more than look nice. It should help your business grow.

https://aseptaoh.co.uk/

https://toadsisland.com/

20/03/2026

Toad’s Island Productions provides web design, SEO, video, and digital media services for small businesses and independent professionals throughout the UK.

I work as a freelancer, which means clients deal directly with the person designing, building, and delivering the work. This keeps projects flexible, practical, and focused on what actually helps a business grow.

Services include:
• Website design and rebuilds (WordPress / modern responsive sites)
• SEO and Google Business optimisation
• Video editing and promotional content
• General digital media and online presence support

If you need a website, your website needs updating, your search visibility could be better, or you need help presenting your business professionally online, feel free to get in touch.

🌐 https://toadsisland.com

Address

Northwich
CW83DP

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 6pm
Tuesday	9am - 6pm
Wednesday	9am - 6pm
Thursday	9am - 6pm
Friday	9am - 6pm

Telephone

0837607799

Website

https://toadsisland.com/

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