Independent refill shop
Marketing site and self-serve blog
The brief
Status: work in progressA small independent refill shop wanted a faster, easier-to-find public site, plus a way to write blog posts without paying someone every time they had something to say. The job covered the design, the build, the writing tools, and getting the shop found in search. The result is a homepage that shows the shop, the makers it stocks, the reviews it has earned, the hours, and where to find it, paired with a blog the owner publishes to in a few clicks.
How it looks
Homepage
Blog index
Blog post
Mobile view
What I built
A homepage that shows the shop
Hero photo, meet-the-makers grid, Google reviews, social feed, impact numbers, opening hours, and a full-width map. Built so the site reads as the shop, not as a template.
A blog the owner runs themselves
The owner logs in, writes a post, hits publish, and it is on the site. No developer in the loop, no waiting, nothing to send anywhere.
An editor that works like Word
Bold, headings, links, images. The owner writes the way they would write an email. Posts are saved in a format that can be moved to a different tool later, so the shop is never locked in.
Posts go live the moment they are saved
Hit save and the post is on the site straight away. No deploy step, no waiting, no sending it to a developer to publish.
Built to be found in search
Search engines get all the right signals on day one: a tagged-up profile of the business, a full list of every page, and clear rules for what to show. The shop turns up in local searches without paying for ads.
Tidy link previews everywhere
When the shop shares a link on Instagram, WhatsApp, or Facebook, the preview shows a proper image and headline instead of a blank box. Every page and blog post gets one automatically.
Built for phones first
Most local-business traffic is on a phone. The site was designed for a phone screen first, then scaled up to desktop. Big tap targets, fast loading, nothing cramped.
An 'open now' indicator at the top
Shows whether the shop is open right now, plus the next opening time if not. Reads the real opening hours, so closed days drop out automatically. Nothing for the owner to remember to update.
Tech stack
The approach
The starting principle: the shop owner is not a developer and should not need one to update the site. Anything they touch regularly, they own. Anything they touch rarely, I own. So the homepage and visit pages are designed once and stay put, while the blog is editable in a few clicks.
The blog has its own admin area. The owner logs in, writes a post in a familiar editor (bold, headings, links, images), and saves it. The post is on the site the moment it is saved. No technical step in between, no waiting. Posts are saved in a portable format, so the shop can switch tools later without losing a thing.
Search visibility is built in from day one rather than added on later. The site hands search engines a tagged-up profile of the business so they understand what it sells, where it is, and when it is open. A full list of every page is generated automatically. Preview versions of the site are kept out of search results, so customers only ever land on the real one.
When a link is shared on Instagram, WhatsApp, or in a group chat, the preview matters as much as the page itself. Every page and blog post gets a tidy preview image with the headline baked in, generated automatically, so the link always looks like the shop meant to share that page.
The site was designed for a phone screen first because most local-business traffic is phones. Big tap targets, no awkward sideways scrolling, no layout jumping around as the page loads. The opening hours and the ‘open now’ indicator share the same data, so the homepage always shows whether the shop is open right now without anyone having to remember to update it.
Want something similar for your business?
I build custom websites and self-serve content tools for small businesses. Modern, fast, and built so you can keep them up-to-date without calling a developer.
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