The verdict in three sentences
A Douglas wealth firm that wins clients by referral does not need a large website: it needs a discreet, accurate and compliant one that confirms what an introducer has already said about you. In 2026 a redesign of that kind is typically quoted at GBP 6,000 to 16,000 by a small island agency, against a fixed £2,300 (Starter) or £3,900 (Growth) at Kolonell, delivered in 3 to 4 weeks once content is signed off. The real risks are elsewhere: regulatory pages that vanish, a contact form that collects too much personal data, and marketing copy that compliance never approved.
Is your current site quietly working against your referrals?
Most independent firms around Athol Street, Prospect Hill and Onchan do not advertise. A prospective client hears your name from a lawyer, an accountant or another family, then searches for it, often on a phone and often from outside the island. Your website has perhaps a minute to confirm that the firm is real, regulated, stable and easy to reach. These are the signals that a redesign is due:
| Signal | What the referred prospect sees | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Site not responsive, built years ago | Tiny text on a phone, pinch and zoom | High |
| Regulatory status page missing or out of date | Doubt about the licence and the supervisor | High |
| Team page lists people who have left | A firm that looks unsettled | High |
| Contact form asks for portfolio size or account details | Data risk and a poor first impression | High |
| Insights archive untouched for two years | A firm that looks dormant | Medium |
| Expired security certificate | A browser warning before the first contact | High |
| Generic stock photos and template fonts | Nothing that says private banking quality | Medium |
A firm that does not advertise can usually live with six to ten pages: home, approach, services described in plain words, team, regulatory information and legal notices, an optional insights section, and contact. Fewer pages also means fewer pages for compliance to sign off, which is often the longest step.
What does a redesign cost in Douglas in 2026?
The figures below are a 2026 ballpark drawn from typical agency quotes on the island and in north-west England, where many Manx firms also buy. They are not a survey.
| Option | Typical scope | 2026 ballpark | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance designer and developer | Template theme, 6 to 10 pages | GBP 2,500 to 7,000 | 4 to 10 weeks, depending on availability |
| Small Douglas agency | Custom design, CMS, 8 to 15 pages | GBP 6,000 to 16,000 | 8 to 14 weeks |
| Larger UK agency with a financial services team | Workshops, custom design, several stakeholders | GBP 15,000 to 40,000 | 3 to 6 months |
| Kolonell Starter | Compact site, essential pages | £2,300 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Kolonell Growth | Full site with insights section and CMS | £3,900 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Kolonell Premium | Multilingual tier, languages set in the quote, advanced design | £6,900 | 3 to 4 weeks |
Every Kolonell tier includes a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English copywriting and 3 months of support. Maintenance after those 3 months is on quote. Third-party costs stay separate: a local photographer for team portraits, or an external compliance consultant if you do not have one in-house. The details of each tier are on the international offer page.
Which risks matter, and who owns each one?
A small firm redesign rarely fails on design. It fails on the details below.
| Risk | Mitigation | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory pages disappear | Inventory legal notices, regulatory status, complaints procedure, terms of business, fee disclosure and privacy notice; keep each at the same URL or redirect it | Provider, checked by compliance |
| Loss of search visibility on the firm name | Crawl the old site, export every URL, build a 301 redirect map, verify the domain in Google Search Console, submit the new sitemap, watch coverage for 4 weeks | Provider |
| Excessive data in forms | Name, email, phone and preferred time only; a note asking visitors not to send account or asset details; a retention period set and written in the privacy notice | Firm and provider |
| Unapproved marketing copy | No promise of returns, no performance figures, no awards or testimonials unless local rules permit them and compliance agrees; every page signed off on staging | Compliance |
| Broken insights archive | Migrate articles with their dates and authors, or redirect retired ones to a relevant page | Provider |
| Email or site downtime | Switch DNS at a quiet hour, leave mail records untouched, keep the old site available for rollback for 30 days | Provider |
On the regulatory side, stay general and precise at the same time: the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority supervises licence holders, and the island applies GDPR-standard data protection through its own legislation, overseen by its Information Commissioner. Your compliance officer, not the web provider, decides what the site may say. This is not legal advice.
What stays on quote, and what should you ask the provider?
A fixed-grid site covers the public website. These items are quoted separately: a client portal or document vault, data feeds from custodians, CRM or e-signature integration, and ongoing search work beyond the technical migration. Links to your existing portal and custodian logins are simply kept, never rebuilt inside the site.
Questions worth asking any provider, local or remote:
- Who builds the 301 map, and who checks it the day after go-live?
- Where is the site hosted, and where do form submissions land?
- Can our compliance officer comment page by page on a password-protected staging site?
- Are the domain, the code and the content registered in the firm's name?
- What happens after the support period, and at what price?
When is a local agency the better choice?
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Be honest about it. A Douglas agency is the better fit if you want in-person workshops with partners, a full brand identity built from scratch, print and event material produced by the same team, or if your procurement policy requires an island-based supplier. A remote studio fits when the scope is clear, the content exists or can be written in a few interviews, and the priority is a fixed price and a short schedule.
Mini case study
*Illustrative example, hypothetical firm.* Fiona runs Laxey Street Partners, an independent firm set up in Douglas by three former private bankers. Clients arrive through two law firms and a handful of families; the firm has never run an advert. The old site has 14 pages, two of which describe services no longer offered, and a form that asks for "approximate investable assets".
The redesign keeps 8 pages and removes the asset question. Budget:
- Kolonell Growth: £3,900
- Local photographer for three portraits (third-party cost): £900
- External compliance consultant, 6 hours at £150 (third-party cost): £900
- Total: £5,700, against a local agency quote of £11,000, a difference of £5,300.
Content and approvals take Fiona's team 2 weeks; the build takes 4 weeks. Of the 14 old URLs, 8 map one to one, 4 redirect to the services page and 2 redirect to the home page.
FAQ
How long does a redesign take for a small Douglas wealth firm?
Kolonell delivers in 3 to 4 weeks once content and approvals are ready. The compliance review on the client side often adds 1 to 2 weeks, so plan 5 to 6 weeks end to end.
Will we lose our search ranking on the firm name?
Not if the 301 map covers 100% of indexed URLs and Search Console is checked for at least 4 weeks after go-live. A site of 15 to 40 pages can be mapped in a day.
Can the website show performance figures or testimonials?
Only where local rules permit and your compliance function signs off; many discreet firms show none at all. The redesign budget of £2,300 to £6,900 does not depend on it.
Is the client portal rebuilt during the redesign?
No. Links to the existing portal and custodian logins are kept; a new portal or an integration is quoted separately from the grid.
Which tier suits a referral-led firm?
Starter at £2,300 covers a compact site of essential pages. Growth at £3,900 makes sense if partners will publish market commentary at least 4 times a year.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your page count, your approval process and your target date, and we will return a fixed price from £2,300 with a 3 to 4 week schedule. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
