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Web Design Geelong - Max Jacobs

Looking for a Web Designer in Geelong? Look No Further.

I’m Max Jacobs, a Geelong Web Designer and SEO Specialist who creates WordPress websites that are fast, accessible, follow best practices, and optimised for Google.

Fast Load Times

Optimised for Google

Easy to Manage

Geelong Web Design, Online Marketing & Ongoing Support

Website Design

Performance-focused websites that are optimised for Google Search, user experience, and conversions.

Website Packages

eCommerce Websites

Speed Optimisation

Digital Marketing

SEO, Google Ads, and Social Media Marketing campaigns to help scale your business.

SEO

Google Ads

Facebook Ads

Ongoing Support

I’m here to help maintain your website, provide support, and help your business grow.

Maintenance Plans

Hourly Work = $120

Read This Before Hiring a Web Designer

According to data from 10 billion user visits of top online retailers, over 50% of your mobile visitors will leave a page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. And for every 100ms delay, your conversion rate drops by almost 10%.

So, if your website is slow, you are losing business.

Unfortunately, most WordPress websites are extremely slow.

Before I get into why, it’s worth mentioning that when it comes to performance, WordPress is light years ahead of other content management systems like Wix and Squarespace. It’s also what most agencies use to build their client websites. It’s what most websites are built with (43% of websites are built with WordPress). Even newsrooms from big names like Spotify and Microsoft are built using WordPress. Don’t use it because other people are using it though. Use it because it’s open source, giving you full control over design, functionality, and performance.

So, here are four reasons why so many websites are slow…

Firstly, most websites are being built with heavy drag-and-drop page builders with a gazillion design options. This makes design easier, but the tradeoff is a heavy bloated website that loads unnecessary code. Heavy bloated websites are slow, which increases page load time and lowers your conversions.

Secondly, many websites are being built with off-the-shelf WordPress themes and templates from marketplaces like ThemeForest. Again, this can significantly speed up the design process. All you have to do is import the template’s demo content, replace the text and images with your own and you are done. Not much design is actually done, just a few clicks to import and upload. The website might look good on the front end, but these themes are almost always poorly coded, bloated, and error-prone.

Thirdly, plugins are being used as quick fixes to add functionality. I often hear people in web design saying, ‘There is a plugin for that’. Plugins can be great, but so often, poorly coded plugins are chosen. In addition, they usually haven’t been updated in months, sometimes years, and people wonder why their website is slow, broken, or has been hacked.

Lastly, most websites use poor hosting. From what I’ve seen auditing websites, poor hosting often plays the biggest role in making a website slow. Slow websites provide a bad user experience. If this rings a bell, make sure you read my guide to the best WordPress hosting.

Many website owners come to me because they need help to speed up WordPress sites. Sometimes it’s a quick fix but oftentimes it requires a full website rebuild using a performance-focused technology stack.

Another reason why Geelong business owners come to me is because they need help getting found on Google. I’m what you might call an ‘SEO web designer’. I build a solid SEO foundation into all websites I build so that they have the best chance of ranking for lucrative keywords from day 1. If you want some free SEO Tips, read my ultimate guide about how to improve local SEO in Geelong.

So, when hiring a WordPress web designer, make sure they aren’t using cookie-cutter template themes, heavy drag-and-drop page builders, outdated and unnecessary plugins, or slow hosting.

Got a question? Send me an email – hello@maxjacobs.com.au

Slow website? Request a website speed audit.

Website Design Inclusions

High Performance

Website design that loads almost instantly. Business websites built using WordPress.

Mobile Friendly

Website design that works well across all devices.

SEO

Website design that is optimised for Google with an SEO foundation.

Hosting Setup

Website design that uses high performance hosting with rock solid security.

eCommerce Setup

Website design for eCommerce websites and online stores.

Google My Business

I’ll help set up a Google business listing to get you in local search results.

Custom Email Setup

I’ll set up a custom email address through Google Workspace.

SMTP Setup

I’ll make sure your website sends notifications that don’t end up in spam.

View my website design packages.

Test Your Website Speed Using Google PageSpeed Insights

Page speed is now part of the Google ranking algorithm. So it makes sense to test your website using tools created by Google.

This website gets 100/100 for performance, accessibility, best practices & SEO and ~1s load times on mobile when using a slow 4G connection.

How does yours compare?

Test your website now using pagespeed.web.dev.

Go ahead and test my competitor websites too. You’ll be surprised how slow they are!

Google PageSpeed Insights Test - Max Jacobs
Google PageSpeed Insights test result for this website.
100-100 GT Metrix Speed Score for maxjacobs.com.au
GT Metrix speed test result for this website.

Test Your Website Speed Using GT Metrix

Another tool you can use is GT Metrix. This tool tests website speed using the same Google Lighthouse metrics. It also provides helpful charts that break down your page performance.

The desktop version of this website has a 100/100 GTmetrix score with a ~300ms load time when testing using a Sydney server, Chrome browser, and unthrottled connection.

How does yours compare?

Go to gtmetrix.com > set up a free account > run a test using a server closest to your target audience (e.g. choose a Sydney server if your target audience is in Australia).

Max has been great to deal with, quick response time and extremely thorough and pragmatic approach. Will definitely use Max for future projects. Our site is now rated A+.

Christopher Angrakian
managedservices.com.au

About Me

Hi there! My name is Max Jacobs and I’m a Web Designer, SEO, and Marketing Consultant based out of Geelong, Australia.

I love being my own boss and living life on my own terms. I also love helping others do the same. Many people come to me because they are starting a business for the first time. If this is you, welcome! I’m excited to help turn your vision into a reality.

I also love the technical side of things (I was an Engineer before web design). So I love building performance-focused websites. Everything from speed optimisation to search engine optimisation. If the service has ‘optimisation’ in it, I’m all about it. I also tend to work with marketing managers who need a technical guy in their team; someone who can optimise everything, consult, and put together standard operating procedures.

View my portfolio to see if you like my style.

Browse my website services and about page to see if we are a good fit.

Web Designer Geelong
Doing some work from a cafe in Ocean Grove.

Website Design FAQ

What does performance-focused web design mean?

Performance-focused web design means prioritising speed and user experience when building a website. Web design is more than just what you can ‘see’ on a website. It includes the full stack of technologies and software behind the scenes. e.g. DNS provider, hosting, WordPress theme, plugins, etc. Using better providers, lightweight themes and well-coded plugins are key to the performance-focused design. Doing so gives your website a solid foundation that is faster, more secure and less prone to problems. And all of this is done BEFORE basic speed optimisation.

What’s included in web design?

My web design services include performance-focused design, mobile-friendly design, search engine optimisation (SEO), website hosting setup, eCommerce integrations (if building an online store), Google My Business setup, and custom email setup (if you haven’t done this already).

How much does web design cost?

My web design packages include 5-page business websites for $2500 and online stores for $3500.

Do you use WordPress?

Yes, for performance-focused business websites, my first choice is WordPress. For performance-focused online stores, the platform I recommend will depend on your unique requirements. But in an ideal scenario, I would use WordPress + WooCommerce.