Yours might be doing all four.
We've audited a few hundred sites in twenty years. The same four habits keep showing up. Sadly, it's how the industry sells web design. All of them are fixable.
Stock photo. Handshake.
Two strangers shaking hands in front of a window. We've all seen it. It says nothing.
"We are passionate about…"
Three sentences that could belong to any business in any sector on any continent. Wallpaper.
Sitemap-first builds.
Pages decided in week one, before anyone's asked why you're different. The site is a brochure, not a tool.
Built for the founder's mum.
Approved by the people who don't buy. Designed in committee. Edited until it's safe and forgettable.
Four conversations. Then we design.
4 hours, split across sessions if you need, before we open a design file. By the end we know all about you, what you like and how your audiecne works. Let's not forget a website brief that writes itself.
A single sheet. What you actually do, who you do it for, and why anyone should care. We rip up the "we are passionate about" and write the line your customer would.
- , Founder's why statement
- , One-sentence positioning
- , Three proof pillars
- , 20 banned phrases
Not personas. Real customers, named. We profile the three audiences that actually pay you, the one you wish would, and the one you keep accidentally attracting that you'd rather not.
- , 3 primary audience cards
- , 1 stretch audience
- , 1 anti-audience
- , Buying triggers per group
A website doesn't sell on facts. It sells on a feeling that lasts about four seconds. We pick the one emotion that makes the right people lean in and design every page to land it.
- , 1 dominant emotion
- , Tone-of-voice rules
- , Visual mood board
- , Word + image bank
From "never heard of you" to "told a mate". We map the eight to twelve touchpoints between, then design pages that move the customer through them.
- , Full journey map
- , Page-by-page intent
- , CTA hierarchy
- , Tracking plan
Not just "a website". A working asset, with receipts.
The thinking
- ✓ Workshop overview doc
- ✓ Site map & intent map
- ✓ Tone-of-voice rules
- ✓ Content matrix
The look
- ✓ Mood board + visual direction
- ✓ Colour matching
- ✓ Full design system
- ✓ Page-by-page hi-fi
The site
- ✓ CMS build (WordPress / Webflow / Shopify)
- ✓ Tracking + analytics
- ✓ Forms + lead routing
- ✓ Speed + SEO baked in
The first 90
- ✓ Two iteration sprints
- ✓ CMS training session
- ✓ A chance in search engines
- ✓ Performance report
Tool follows the job.
We're stack-agnostic. We pick the platform that fits the build, not the one our last contractor knows. And every login lives in your name.
A site that pours like the bar.
Five sites for five locations, all under one parent. The brief: don't make us look like every gastro-pub. The workshop unearthed an editorial voice the founder had been hiding for years. The site runs on it.
Recent work.
A handful of sites we’ve shipped recently. Click any image to see it full-size. Hover for the project name.
Got any freebies? Yes.
We’re not scared of sharing what we know. Take our advice and implement it yourself, brilliant. Watch these and think “I need someone to do this for me,” even better. Either way you’re winning, and the tools are free.
Cost-per-lead calculator
Tap in your spend and your leads. See your true CPL across every channel in seconds, the number most agencies hope you never find.
Lifetime-value calculator
Work out what a customer is worth across every year they buy from you and the spend ceiling you can hit to win one.
30 days of CEO marketing tips
A short film a day for thirty days, aimed at directors who need to understand what their marketing team is actually doing.
What are we thinking?
The real stuff. Not “10 tips to boost engagement” clickbait. We call out the BS in our industry and share what twenty years of doing this has taught us. Here’s the last few.
Why AI Tools Shouldn’t Have Paid Adverts, but they are going to…
Google’s testing ads in AI Overview results. Perplexity’s considering sponsored answers. ChatGPT’s exploring “promoted content.” We’re about to ruin AI the same way we ruined everything else. We’ve Seen This Film Before There’s a brilliant video from The Naked Brand where B. Bonin Bough – PepsiCo’s head of digital – talks about the early internet: […]
SEO is NOT dead
Ladies and Gentlemen, SEO Is Still Alive I’m writing this today because, quite frankly, I’ve seen blogs and threads sent out today that are already out of date. I’ve seen one particularly about the history of Google – how it went from 10 blue links to position zero, then moved to AI overview, and how […]
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to… flip flop marketing
What on earth is Corbett on about now. Well unfortunately people I’m seeing this happen so much at the moment because everyone is looking for their silver bullet. Something has happened to society, personally I blame Amazon, but in reality it’s the internet and social media. We can get our groceries delivered, we can buy […]
Pick a band. We'll tell you the rest.
Three named price bands. No "talk to us" tax. The number on the box is where it starts, we'll write the final scope after the first workshop, in plain English, signed both sides.
Brochure
A site that does its job. One workshop, five pages, six weeks.
- , 1 workshop session (Why + Audiences)
- , 5-page brochure site
- , Mobile-first design
- , WordPress or Webflow build
- , Forms + basic analytics
- , 30-day post-launch support
Considered
Full workshop. Site built around the customer journey. Most clients land here.
- , All 4 workshops (Why · Audiences · Feeling · Journey)
- , 8–12 pages
- , Custom design system
- , CMS of choice
- , Tracking + lead routing
- , CMS training session
- , 90-day iteration sprint
eCommerce
For sites that have to earn. Full strategy, full build, CRO baked in for the first six months.
- , All 4 workshops, in person
- , 15+ pages, ecommerce or complex flows
- , Bespoke design system
- , Headless or full-stack build
- , Heatmaps, A/B, attribution stack
- , Quarterly CRO sprint × 2
- , Discounted iteration retainer offered
Five weeks to launch. Eighteen to prove it.
Why, audiences, feeling, journey.
Overview written, site map agreed, content matrix locked.
Mood, system, page-by-page. Two review rounds built in.
CMS, components, content. You start filling it on Wednesday.
Migrate, redirect, test. Champagne optional.
We can help promote your site.
The bits everyone asks.
Eight things we get asked on every call. If yours isn't here, ring it in.
Yes. The workshop is sold standalone from £500. You leave with the strategy doc, brief, and audience cards. Build with us, your in-house team, or another agency — we won't mind.
You do. Every login, every domain, every account is in your name from day one. Repo, hosting, CMS, analytics, ad accounts etc. If we part ways, you keep everything.
Stock photography licences, paid plugin licences, paid hosting, and translation are billed at cost. Photography days, copywriting beyond the workshop scope, and ongoing content are scoped separately.
Two on design, two on build. That's usually more than enough — because the workshops did the arguing up front, design tends to land first time.
Yes. Shopify for D2C, Webflow or WordPress with WooCommerce for hybrid, headless on Next.js if traffic justifies it. The Conversion Engine package is built for it.
Great. We work with what you have. We'll pressure-test it in the Feeling workshop — if it lands, we use it. If it doesn't, we'll tell you why before we waste a design round on it.
30% off the published bands. We've worked with Loughborough foxes, Molly's Gift and a handful more. Email tired@fatherof4.co.uk and quote your charity number.
Loughborough, LE11. Most workshops happen in person if you're within 30 miles. Further afield we run them on Zoom or come to you.
Start with a conversation. Not a sales call.
45 minutes with Spike. No pitch, no slide deck. We look at your current site, your last six months of traffic, and tell you whether we'd take the job.
Book the call →