One studio for the whole county
M1 Studio is based at 69 Adelaide Road, Chichester, PO19 7NQ, in the west of the county. I work with businesses anywhere in West Sussex and across the UK, mostly by WhatsApp, phone and video call, so it makes no difference to the price or the timescale whether you’re in Bognor Regis or Crawley.
West Sussex is bigger and more varied than people outside it expect. At the 2021 Census it had about 882,700 residents across seven districts and boroughs:
| District or borough | Residents, 2021 Census |
|---|---|
| Arun | 164,800 |
| Mid Sussex | 152,600 |
| Horsham | 146,800 |
| Chichester | 124,100 |
| Crawley | 118,500 |
| Worthing | 111,400 |
| Adur | 64,500 |
That spread matters for your website. A business in one town is often trying to win customers in the next one along, and Google treats those as different searches.
Who runs a business in West Sussex
The Office for National Statistics counts 37,405 businesses registered for VAT or PAYE in West Sussex in its 2026 figures, and 33,515 of them employ fewer than 10 people. Businesses registered for neither, such as some small sole traders, aren’t included, so the real number is higher.
The five biggest groups in that count are:
- Professional, scientific and technical services: 6,260
- Construction: 5,965
- Business administration and support: 3,435
- Information and communication: 2,795
- Arts, entertainment, recreation and other services: 2,720
So the typical West Sussex business is small, and very often a trade or a professional service. Those businesses win work by phone and by quote, which is why the websites I build lead with enquiries, and why follow-up matters as much as design. See the pages for builders, electricians, roofers, cleaners and accountants.
Getting found in more than one West Sussex town
A common question from businesses that cover several towns is “I’m based in Bognor, so why don’t I show up in Worthing?” The honest answer comes from how Google says local results work.
- Distance counts. Google names distance, “how far each business is from the customer who’s searching”, as one of three factors, alongside relevance and prominence. You can’t fake being closer.
- One profile, one service area. Google says a service-area business should have one profile for its base with a service area, and that the area “shouldn’t extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time”. All of West Sussex fits inside that from most bases.
- No extra addresses. Google says you can’t list a virtual office unless it’s staffed during business hours. A mail forwarding address in another town isn’t a way in.
- No town names in your business name. Your name on Google must be your real business name.
What does help: a clear service area on your profile, a website page for each service that says which towns you cover, a separate page for a town only when you have something real to say about working there, and reviews from customers across the area. NAP consistency, your name, address and phone the same everywhere, helps Google trust your details.
Google’s spam policies are clear about the shortcut: pages “targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page” count as doorway abuse. This site follows the same rule: I only publish a town page when there’s something genuinely local to say, which is why there’s a Chichester page and this county page, and not a page for every town.
Your options for a website in West Sussex
There’s no single right answer, so here are the usual routes, fairly:
- Build it yourself on a website builder. Cheapest in money, dearest in time. Good for a new business testing an idea. See web designer vs Wix and Squarespace.
- A local freelancer or agency. Easy to meet, and some know your market well. Prices vary widely, so ask for a fixed written quote.
- A remote studio anywhere in the UK. The work is the same; you trade face-to-face meetings for video calls.
- No website yet. For some businesses a well-kept Google Business Profile is enough to start. The do I need a website guide helps you decide.
Whichever route you choose, get the domain in your own name, get the monthly costs in writing, and test the enquiry form yourself on launch day.
What M1 charges
These are the same published prices for every client, in West Sussex or anywhere else in the UK. No VAT is charged.
| What you need | Price | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry Page: one page for your main service, with the words written for you | £800 fixed | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Foundation Build: a full small business website | from £3,500 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Growth Build: a website with follow-up built in | from £6,500 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Local Search Fix: your Google Business Profile and local search basics | £800 fixed | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Website Care Plan: hosting, security, backups, updates and small changes | £250 a month | Month to month |
Not sure which you need? The Foundation Blueprint is £200: a written plan within 5 working days, and the £200 comes off a build started within 14 days of the call. Every price is on the pricing page, and the website cost estimator maps your answers to these offers.
Towns and areas served
M1 is based in Chichester and works with businesses in and around:
- Chichester
- Bognor Regis
- Littlehampton
- Arundel
- Worthing
- Shoreham-by-Sea
- Horsham
- Crawley
- Burgess Hill
- Haywards Heath
- East Grinstead
- Midhurst
- Petworth
- Selsey
And anywhere else in the UK, remotely. The trading address is 69 Adelaide Road, Chichester, PO19 7NQ; you can reach Sammy on 01243 908096, on WhatsApp at 07340 896045, or at hello@m1studio.co.uk.
Sources
Figures on this page come from these official sources. M1’s prices come from its own price list.
- Census 2021: Population estimates (Public Health Briefing, June 2022), West Sussex County Council, West Sussex JSNA, accessed 30 September 2026
- UK Business Counts: enterprises by industry and employment size band (2026), Office for National Statistics, via Nomis, accessed 30 September 2026
- UK business; activity, size and location: 2026 (what the counts cover), Office for National Statistics, accessed 30 September 2026
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help, accessed 30 September 2026
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help, accessed 30 September 2026
- Spam policies for Google web search, Google Search Central, accessed 30 September 2026