Web design in Bicester

Bicester sits north-east of Oxford and has grown quickly, helped by its rail links and by the Garden Town status the government awarded it in 2014. It is one of the few towns its size with two stations. Bicester North is on the Chiltern main line, and Bicester Village station, reopened in 2015, sits on the Chiltern line between Oxford and London Marylebone.

That second station was largely built around the town's most famous business. Bicester Village, the designer outlet, draws large numbers of shoppers from around the world. On the other side of town, Bicester Motion has transformed the former RAF Bicester airfield, a 444-acre site regarded as the best-preserved pre-1945 bomber base in the country, into a home for more than fifty companies in classic car restoration, motoring, engineering and events.

Add the older town centre, a large commuter population and thousands of new homes, and you get a town with several quite separate economies.

Motoring and specialist engineering

Classic car restorers, specialist parts suppliers, coachbuilders, motorsport engineers and event businesses at Bicester Motion serve enthusiastic, knowledgeable customers who spend a long time on websites before getting in touch. They want detail: the cars you work on, the processes you use, the facilities, and photographs of real projects from start to finish.

A good motoring website lets the craftsmanship show. That usually means:

• Project galleries with descriptions of what was done, with the owner's permission.
• Service pages for each discipline, such as bodywork, engine rebuilds, trim and paint.
• Information about how a restoration project runs, how estimates work and how customers are kept informed.
• Galleries that load quickly on a phone, with images sized properly rather than straight from the camera.
• A clear enquiry route that asks the right questions about the car.

We build these as bespoke sites and, where a business also sells parts or merchandise, add an online shop.

Retail and hospitality

Away from the outlet village, the older town-centre streets have independent shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants. Visitors often discover them on the way to or from the outlet, and many are from abroad. A well-made website, a booking link and an online shop where it suits can turn a one-off visit into repeat custom. Our e-commerce websites are built with international shipping and clear delivery information from the start.

For hospitality, opening hours, menus, directions from both stations and an easy booking route matter most. Our notes on getting ready for the visitor season apply here as much as in Oxford.

How Bicester customers search

Three patterns stand out. Residents, many of them new to the town, search for everyday services with "Bicester" attached. Motoring customers search for a specialism, often a marque or model plus a service, from anywhere in the country. Visitors search on the day for food, drink and things to do near the outlet. A site that serves one of these groups well is better than one that tries to speak to all three at once.

New businesses for a growing town

With new neighbourhoods built and planned around Bicester, there is steady demand for nurseries, fitness, healthcare, trades and home services. For these businesses we keep projects modest and practical: a clear site, set up properly for local search, that the owner can run without help. If a business already has an older site, a focused website redesign often makes more sense than a full rebuild.

Commuters and professional services

Rail links to London and Oxford mean many residents commute, and the town has a growing number of accountants, consultants, recruitment firms and small tech businesses working from offices or home. Their sites need the same qualities as professional firms anywhere: plain service descriptions, real people and an easy way to make contact.

What we would do first

For most Bicester businesses we start by looking at how people find them today: which searches bring visitors, which pages they land on and where they give up. That tells us whether the job is a new site, a redesign or a handful of focused changes, and it keeps the budget pointed at what will make a difference.

Also nearby

We work with businesses in the surrounding villages too, including Launton, Ambrosden, Chesterton and Upper Heyford.