Ethical website design/Support and SEO, for thriving UK small businesses with purpose

The Smart Bear offers eco-conscious small businesses and charities ethical website design and development, website maintenance, SEO and practical mentoring/training – from a pay-as-you-go support service to a fully done-for-you solution, to suit your budget and values.

The Smart Bear sat looking to his left surrounded by leaves

Let’s get your website sorted!

Whether you need a new website or help with an existing one, we’re here to help

What would you like to achieve with your website?

image of a bear paw pointing upwards

A new, ethical, accessible and SEO-friendly website

‘Done for you’ Website Design to Suit your Business and your Budget that’s Inclusive and Sustainable

An organisations’ website must be their wisest investment; it’s a business asset, and a professional modern website will help you stand out in a competitive market. But sometimes you just want someone to do it all for you, and that’s why we have a ‘Done for you’ package.

We’ll help you with the wording, the images and the customer journey to help your website convert visitors into customers.
We build our websites so they are effortless to edit, and easy to develop in the future but also as sustainable and inclusive as possible from the start.

We believe websites should grow as your business does without having to start from scratch if you pivot, and we always build with ethical values so we will never oversell services you don’t need, whilst also considering accessibility and sustainability to help you spend responsibly.

If you don’t need a full ‘done for you’ service, we also have a range of ‘pay by the hour’ services as well as smaller packages, or a pay-by-the-hour option, to suit a range of budgets.

Website redesign, support and WordPress improvements

Increase your sustainability, add accessibility, upgrade your site, improve the style, increase traffic and conversions, or simply get some help with a project…

Website development and care that works for you and not against your budget.
Whether your site needs a small tweak or a significant overhaul, we can help. From boosting traffic and improving conversions, to fixing that one thing that’s been quietly driving you mad – we’ll take an honest look and tell you exactly what we’d recommend, and why.

We can help with things like:

  • Making your site faster, cleaner, and easier to navigate
  • Improving functionality so managing it doesn’t feel like a chore
  • Making it more accessible and ethical, because good websites work for everyone
  • Fixing bugs, broken elements, or anything that’s quietly letting you down
  • Giving it a more professional, polished look without a full rebuild.

No hard sell. No pushing you towards solutions you don’t need. We’ll give you a clear quote, a range of options, and let you decide what’s right for your budget.

And if you’d rather hand over the keys entirely? Our monthly website care and maintenance packages take the stress off your plate completely – updates, security, backups, and all the unglamorous-but-important stuff, handled for you.

SMART WEBSITE HELP
AND ADVICE ARTICLES

Our subjects cover accessibility, website design, WordPress, blogging, content creation, digital sustainability, building your first website, maintaining websites, websites on a budget and much more!

SEO and GEO Support for Small Businesses and Charities

Affordable Keyword Optimisation, Search Engine Help and Improving your AI Mentions

If your website gets traffic but not enquiries, or you’re simply not showing up where your customers are searching – we can help. That starts with getting to the root of the issue and building a strategy that actually makes sense for your business.

Search has changed. It’s no longer just about ranking on Google. AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are becoming the new search engines – and a growing number of your potential clients are finding businesses through them instead. That’s where Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) comes in: making sure your website and content are structured so that AI tools understand, trust, and reference your business too.

Alongside that, traditional SEO still matters. That might mean technical fixes – making sure your site loads quickly, displays properly on mobile, and doesn’t have broken links holding it back. Or it could be more content-led: keyword research, competitor analysis, local visibility, backlink building, or refreshing the copy and design so visitors actually convert.

We offer training and mentoring, one-off overhauls, and ongoing monthly packages – all without blinding you with jargon or charging you the earth.

WordPress, Website, and SEO Training for your Business or Charity

Training and Mentoring that Actually Fits your Organisation

Forget one-size-fits-all courses that leave you more confused than when you started. Our bespoke training is built around you – your platform, your pace, and the specific digital headaches you actually need solving.

Whether you want to get to grips with WordPress, make sense of Google Analytics (including GA4), understand SEO and accessibility, or get more out of your CRM or digital tools, our qualified trainers will guide you through it without the overwhelm.

No jargon. Just practical, confidence-building support from people who genuinely want to see your business thrive.

Suzi Brown The Smart Bear looking right

Why choose The Smart Bear Digital?

Impact-driven, Sustainable and Inclusive website design, without any hidden charges


The Smart Bear is a business website design and development company now based in Stalybridge, within the borough of Tameside, Manchester, having moved from Urmston, Trafford. We’re a small team so you’ll always know your point of contact and we pride ourselves on being honest and trustworthy. We understand how scary it can be in a ‘techy’ world where the experts try to blind their clients with science; so, we cut the fluff – avoiding using jargon and endeavour to explain everything in plain English.

Our mission is simple, we want to help facilitate small businesses, B Corps, charities, and not-for-profits to be more ethical and sustainable, whilst looking better and working better online – and our ethos is to never oversell, confuse people with redundant technical jargon, or over-complicate the process.

We know how to design impactful websites using platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify, and we’re here to help create good looking sustainable and accessible websites of a professional standard; but at an affordable price by removing anything unnecessary, or anything not required by the client. We feel there is a huge gap between the prices of big-client-big-budget web agencies, and the little guy who wants to be more responsible but who are on a tight budget and working hard to make their organisation work. And, as we work independently (we’re a small business too!), our overheads are kept low and we can pass these savings on.

We keep our website designs clean, simple and functional whilst also retaining a modern feel, making them easy for the client to edit and develop themselves instead of being tied to using our services if they don’t want to.

We specialise in helping like-minded entrepreneurs achieve their goals. Combining our decade plus of website experience with newer developments such as search engine optimisation/marketing – and mobile first responsive websites – so our clients obtain a business website which helps to grow their business or organisation.

Our values are the heart of everything we do so if this sounds like a company you want to help to build your new website or modify/rebrand an existing website, then book in for a free consultation to find out how we can help.

We are super nice, straight-talking, no-nonsense, professional, creative, experienced, flexible, oh! and….we’re a purpose-led small business striving for sustainability and inclusivity, too!

Suzi Brown, Founder of The Smart Bear Digital

CUSTOMER REVIEWS FOR WEBSITE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, SEO and Mentoring

 

EXCELLENT
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5
Based on 35 reviews
Posted on Google Google
Shona Garner profile picture
Shona Garner
6 August 2026
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.
I had an SEO report and power hour with Suzi. The report was great, easy to read, visually appealing and well structured.The power hour gave me a chance to discuss this with Suzi, ask questions and understand a lot more! Thank you so much, highly recommend Suzi, report and power hour!
Posted on Google Google
Kathryn Davies profile picture
Kathryn Davies
24 November 2025
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I really enjoyed my session with Smart Bear. I've worked in communication for years, and yet Suzy still had ideas for me that I hadn't considered. She was really practical and well informed and I recommend her without hesitation.
Posted on Google Google
Joanne Pearce profile picture
Joanne Pearce
25 April 2025
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I've just finished my mentoring sessions with Suzi and she has been so helpful. She gave me some brilliant advice on how to optimise my website to ensure it was reaching the right people, showed me how to use and understand Google analytics, helped me with keywords and suggested other ways to get my business out there. She was warm and friendly and most importantly explained things in a way that was clear and easy to implement. I highly recommend Suzi for anyone looking for help with their website or business mentoring!
Posted on Google Google
Sophie Greenwood profile picture
Sophie Greenwood
12 September 2024
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I booked Suzi to run an SEO workshop for a community I run that's focused on creative businesses and the workshop was just what we needed! Thorough, easy to follow and really interesting - I would 100% recommend Suzi for a workshop - she really knows her SEO!
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Showcase Studios by Emma Lewis profile picture
Showcase Studios by Emma Lewis
10 September 2024
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Suzi and the smart bear are amazing! I have been a client of Suzi’s for several years and involved in varying projects around website design, hosting and development. Suzi has taken my business and many brands that I have created from concept to completion with wonderful results providing me and my business with creative and easy to use customer facing websites and product. Suzi is incredibly reliable and trustworthy something that was very important to me and my business as we needed to know that we had support in the design and for continued maintenance and development. I would highly recommend smart bear and Suzi for all their services and expertise. Thanks for everything Suzi
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Julie Phillips profile picture
Julie Phillips
5 September 2024
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Working with Suzi from Smart Bear was a fantastic experience from beginning to end during the design, build and launch of our website. Suzi takes the time to understand your needs and utilises online platforms to assist with content creation and revisions. The entire process was seamless, quick, and truly enjoyable! I highly recommend reaching out to her for any website services you may need.
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Jennifer Rodgers profile picture
Jennifer Rodgers
1 September 2024
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I booked in for an SEO Power Hour and Report from Suzi, and it was fantastic! Suzi is so patient and lovely to work with. I'm working my way through a lot of improvements to my website, but I can already see the benefits in my analytics. I would definitely work with Suzi and The Smart Bear again and cannot recommend enough! Very happy customer!
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Becky Vanden profile picture
Becky Vanden
30 August 2024
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The most amazing website company I've ever worked with. Suzi is patient, kind and so talented.
Posted on Google Google
DaisyBank Camp profile picture
DaisyBank Camp
30 August 2024
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.
Suzi has helped us so much over the last couple of years, initially conducting a free review of our website and recommending changes, to getting us out of various scrapes when something 'weird' happens on the website! Her pricing is very competitive and transparent, and she charges in 15 minutes increments which is so helpful to small businesses like ours. We trust her completely, she never wastes time trying to upsell us, just gives honest, open and straightforward advice and even shows us how we could do things ourselves in the future. Everyone with a website needs a Suzi!
Posted on Google Google
Emily Fletcher profile picture
Emily Fletcher
2 December 2023
Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.
Suzi was fantastic from start to finish and understood exactly what my requirements were and even came under budget! For a small business it can feel quite daunting investing in parts of our business we’re unfamiliar with so trust is paramount. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Suzi at the smart bear!
 

The Smart Bear Websites and Digital
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