Shared Success website pricing

Pay less to launch. Pay more when it works.

Instead of charging the full standalone value of a new website upfront, I reduce the initial build fee and remain responsible for improving the website after launch. You pay a monthly management fee, then a success fee only when the agreed website result grows beyond its benchmark.

See if your business is suitable Discuss Shared Success

three ways to pay

Pay monthly, pay once, or share the growth.

Every website gets the same developer and the same attention. What changes is how much you pay up front and what happens after launch. Changes to an existing site are by the hour.

Pay monthly

Small setup. Quick build. One monthly fee.

For businesses with a modest budget that need a good website quickly. A small setup cost, a fast build on a proven structure, then a monthly fee that keeps it hosted, updated and supported.

What you get

  • Design and build on a proven structure
  • Hosting, SSL and backups
  • Updates, security and support
  • Your content added and you shown how to edit it

After launch

  • Add-ons when you are ready: SEO, content, extra features
  • Upgrade to a custom build or Shared Success later
  • Minimum term and notice agreed in writing

Best when

  • The budget is a few hundred pounds to start, not thousands
  • You need to be live quickly
  • You would rather pay monthly than all at once
Ask about pay monthly

Fixed cost

Build and launch. Job done.

A custom website, designed and built for one agreed price. You own it on launch day and can run it yourself, with me available by the hour if you want changes later.

What you get

  • Strategy, custom design and build
  • Custom WordPress theme and editor blocks
  • Testing, launch and handover
  • Training and documentation

After launch

  • Ad-hoc support and changes, by the hour
  • Optional hosting and maintenance plan
  • No ongoing commitment

Best when

  • You want a defined project with a clear end
  • You have your own people to run the site
  • There is no dependable history to set a benchmark yet
Discuss a fixed-cost build

Shared Success

Lower setup. I stay involved. I earn more when it works.

A custom website with a lower setup fee, a monthly fee for management and improvement, and a success fee only when the result we agree (enquiries, bookings or orders) grows beyond its benchmark.

What you get

  • Everything in a fixed-cost build
  • A lower setup fee
  • Hosting where agreed, monitoring and security
  • Monthly improvements, experiments and new features

After launch

  • I stay responsible for performance and results
  • Quarterly reviews against your benchmark
  • The site is fully yours at 24 months

Best when

  • The website already brings in enquiries or orders
  • A fair benchmark can be set from real history
  • You want an expert to stay involved
How Shared Success works

Not sure which? Tell me about the business and the budget and I will recommend one. None of these is a lesser option, they suit different situations.

The three charges

Three charges, all agreed before work begins.

  1. Setup fee

    Covers strategy, UX, design, development, testing and launch. It is lower than the standalone project price because part of the website’s value is recovered through the ongoing partnership.

  2. Monthly management fee

    Covers hosting where agreed, maintenance, monitoring, support, development and ongoing improvements. The exact scope is agreed before work begins.

  3. Success fee

    Applies when the single agreed website outcome performs above its benchmark and included growth allowance. The metric and fee are fixed in advance.

I do not publish “from” prices. Every business has a different lead value, traffic profile and technical requirement, so all three figures are written into your proposal after the first conversation.

What counts as a result

One clear outcome, not a basket of convenient metrics.

Before the project starts we choose a single website result that the business already values and can measure objectively. It becomes the only basis for the success fee.

  • Valid website enquiries
  • Consultation or demo bookings
  • Confirmed online bookings
  • Completed online orders
  • Another objective website conversion that both of us agree is commercially meaningful

Page views, impressions, time on site and other vague engagement figures never count. Neither does anything that cannot be measured consistently across the whole agreement.

A worked example

How the success fee is calculated.

An established business historically generates 100 verified enquiries in the comparable quarter. The agreement includes the first 10% of growth, taking the allowance to 110. The new site produces 137. Only the 27 enquiries above that allowance attract the agreed success fee.

137
verified enquiries in the quarter
100
historic benchmark for the equivalent quarter
10
included growth allowance (the first 10%)
27
enquiries that attract the agreed success fee

The fee per result is agreed with you according to the value and nature of that result. There is no public rate card.

Seasonality and settlement

Measured all year. Judged fairly.

Performance is monitored throughout the year, reviewed quarterly and reconciled annually, so a good quarter and a quiet one are both treated in context.

A Christmas retailer should not be judged by comparing January with December. Performance is assessed against the equivalent period in the agreed baseline, so normal seasonal peaks and quieter months are respected.

  1. Continuously

    Performance is monitored

    The agreed result is tracked throughout the year with the measurement method we fixed at the start.

  2. First 90 days

    Settling-in period

    No success fee applies while the new site beds in and the data settles.

  3. Every quarter

    Quarterly review

    Results are reviewed quarterly rather than judged on isolated months.

  4. Like for like

    Equivalent-period comparison

    A quarter is compared with the equivalent historic period, not the immediately preceding quarter.

  5. Yearly

    Annual reconciliation

    A yearly reconciliation keeps heavily seasonal businesses fair.

Initial partnership and ownership

Yours from day one. Fully yours at 24 months.

The reduced launch fee is based on an initial 24-month partnership. If you leave during that period, you can purchase the remaining deferred value of the website. That amount reduces over time and reaches £0 at the end of the initial term.

Remaining deferred website value over the initial term A straight line falls from the full remaining value at launch to £0 at 24 months. Launch 6 12 18 24 months
Remaining deferred website value £0 at 24 months

After 24 months, the website is fully yours, the buyout is £0 and the relationship continues on a rolling basis with the agreed notice period. If you stay, the performance benchmark is refreshed so I am rewarded for continuing to improve the website, not for one improvement made years earlier.

Fairness

Six commitments in every agreement.

  1. One agreed success metric

    A single outcome, chosen together, written into the agreement.

  2. A benchmark agreed before work begins

    Based on your own history, not a number picked after launch.

  3. A settling-in period

    No success fee for the first 90 days.

  4. Seasonal comparisons

    Equivalent periods, never adjacent months.

  5. Transparent quarterly calculations

    The working is shown every quarter.

  6. No charge for outcomes outside the agreed measurement

    If it is not the agreed result, it is not billed.

Who it suits

Shared Success works best when the website already matters.

The model needs an established business, a result we can measure and enough history to set a fair starting point.

Likely a strong fit

  • An established business with a proven product or service.
  • Enquiries, bookings or online sales with meaningful value to the business.
  • A website that already contributes to revenue, or clearly should.
  • Enough history to set a fair benchmark.
  • A wish for an expert to stay involved after launch and keep improving the site.
  • A preference for investing monthly over risking a large one-off build fee.

Probably not the right model yet

  • A startup with no validated offer or meaningful history.
  • A requirement for the cheapest possible brochure website.
  • A wish for someone to copy a template.
  • A business unable or unwilling to measure website performance.
  • Occasional low-value content changes as the main engagement.

New businesses without dependable history are usually better served by a conventional fixed-price first phase. Once there is a fair benchmark, we can talk about Shared Success.

Let’s work out whether the numbers make sense.

If there is no fair way to measure the website’s contribution, I will not force the model. The first conversation is about your business, the value of a result and whether it makes sense for both of us.

Discuss Shared Success See the work