York website design studio
Web design for York businesses, built like the city: to last.
We design and build bespoke websites for small businesses and growing firms across York and North Yorkshire. Clear words, careful design and fast pages that bring the right visitors to your door.
Professional web design services, without the agency padding
Ashlar & Ink is a small York web design studio. Ashlar is dressed, squared building stone: cut carefully, laid true, and the reason so much of old York is still standing. That is roughly how we think about websites. We would rather build you something solid and well made than something flashy that needs replacing in two years.
Every project is bespoke. We do not sell templates with your logo swapped in. We start by learning how your customers choose, what they ask before they buy or book, and where your current site lets them down. Then we plan the pages, write or edit the copy, design for phones first and build a site your team can update without calling us.
Most of our clients are York businesses with between one and fifty people: independent shops and cafés in the centre, guest houses and attractions, professional firms, science and engineering companies, food producers, trades and charities. Some need a five-page site. Some need an online store, a booking system or a custom integration. All of them need a website that works.
What we do
Services
Website design
Bespoke website design for York businesses: clear structure, honest copy and mobile-first layouts built around how your customers decide.
WordPress and custom development
Clean, fast WordPress builds and lightweight custom sites for York organisations. No bloated page builders, full ownership, documented code.
Ecommerce websites
Online shops for York and Yorkshire producers, makers and retailers, built on Shopify or WooCommerce with clear product pages and a simple checkout.
Website redesign
Redesigning a tired website without losing the search rankings and enquiries it already earns. Audit-led redesigns for York businesses.
SEO-ready builds and local SEO
Websites built to be found: technical SEO, local search, Google Business Profile and content planning for York and North Yorkshire businesses.
Hosting and website care
Managed hosting, updates, backups, monitoring and small edits for York business websites, with a named point of contact and plain monthly pricing.
Accessibility and speed audits
Accessibility checks against WCAG 2.2 and page speed audits for York organisations, with a prioritised list of fixes and help to make them.
Branding and copywriting
Simple, practical brand identities and clear website copy for York start-ups, spin-outs and independents getting ready for a new website.
Why York is different
A city of visitors, scientists and makers
York's economy is unusually mixed. Visitors come in large numbers for the Minster, the Shambles, the walls and the museums, so hospitality and retail sites must work for people standing in the street with a phone. At the same time the University of York, York Science Park and the biotech campus at Sand Hutton support research-led companies whose websites are read by investors and specialists.
The city grew up around the railway, and rail engineering and operations still matter here, as does the long chocolate and confectionery tradition. Out in the county, agri-tech, farming and food producers around Malton and Ryedale, Harrogate's events and professional firms, and Selby's industrial and energy supply chain all need different things from a site. We build for each on its own terms.
How a project runs
- A conversation. In person in York or on a video call. We ask about your business, your customers and what the site needs to do.
- A plan and a fixed price. Pages, features, timeline and cost, in writing, before any work starts.
- Words and wireframes. We agree the structure and copy first, because that is what visitors read.
- Design and build. Mobile first, accessible, fast. You see progress on a private preview link.
- Launch and handover. Redirects, search set-up, analytics, training and a short video guide.
- Looking after it. Optional hosting and care, or we hand everything over and you run it yourself.
A typical small business site takes four to six weeks. Larger builds with ecommerce or integrations take longer, and we tell you up front.
Search, hosting and the rest
A website is only useful if people find it. Every site we build is set up for search from day one: fast loading, sensible structure, structured data, a sitemap and Google Search Console. For businesses that rely on local customers we also help with Google Business Profile and pages that describe the areas you actually serve, from the city centre to Harrogate, Selby and Malton. If you want ongoing SEO or a broader digital marketing plan, we can help with that, and if you do not, we will not push it.
We also offer managed hosting and care plans, so updates, backups and small edits are handled for you. And if your brand identity needs tidying before a new site, we can produce a simple, practical one as part of the project.
What we will not do
We will not lock you in. Your domain, content and code belong to you. We will not promise first place on Google. We will not fill your site with stock photography of handshakes. And we will not invent reviews, statistics or awards for you, or for ourselves.
Case studies
Recent case studies
A guest house inside the city walls
Most bookings arrived through listing sites that took a commission on every stay. The owners' own site had been built years earlier, was hard to use on a phone, hid prices behind a contact form and said nothing about parking or stairs. The owners spent part of most evenings answering the same three or four emails.
Read the case study
A research spin-out on the science park
The company had a holding page written for a grant panel. Investors doing early checks, candidates considering a role and commercial partners all landed on the same dense paragraph and could not tell quickly what the company did or for whom.
Read the case study
A specialist rail engineering consultancy
The firm had a one-page site full of general claims about "solutions". Procurement teams had to email to check basic capabilities and accreditations, and the site did nothing to help recruitment, which the directors saw as their biggest constraint.
Read the case studyFrom the journal
Practical guides for York businesses
- What visitors check before booking: websites for York tourism businesses
- Building a website for a York science park spin-out
- Websites for York's rail supply chain: what buyers look for
- How to redesign your website without losing your Google rankings
- Selling food and confectionery online: a guide for York and Yorkshire producers
- Websites for rural and agri-tech businesses: built to work on a poor signal
Next step
Tell us what the website needs to do
A few lines about your business and what is not working is plenty. We reply within a working day with honest thoughts and, if it fits, a rough plan and price.