Website alternative
Some businesses need a website. Plenty just need somewhere good to send people.
We are not going to tell you websites are dead. They are not. But a five-page website with a content system, a hosting bill and an annual redesign is the wrong tool for a lot of small businesses — and knowing which situation you are in saves real money.
OpenWren & Willow Flowers
myshopwindow.co.uk/wren-and-willow
Seasonal British flowers, arranged in a converted garage in Frome.
Start here
The question is not “website or no website”.
The useful question is what job the page has to do. If your business needs to sell dozens of products with stock levels, run a blog, take payments directly, publish a lot of pages or rank for many different search terms, that is a website — and you should build one.
If your business already sells and takes bookings somewhere else, and what you really lack is one professional place that explains the business and points people to the right destination, a full website is more machinery than the job needs.
That second situation is what My Shop Window was made for.
Choosing honestly
When a full website is the better answer.
Build a proper website when
- You want to take payments on your own site, with stock, shipping and refunds.
- You need many pages: services, locations, case studies, policies, a blog.
- Search traffic is a main channel and you plan to publish content regularly.
- You need booking, membership, courses or accounts built into the site.
- You have someone to keep it updated, or the budget to pay for it.
A Shop Window is usually enough when
- You already sell on a marketplace, a social platform or your own booking system.
- You mainly need one link that makes the business look established.
- Your enquiries come by message, phone or email rather than a checkout.
- You don't want a monthly subscription for something that rarely changes.
- You would rather send content to someone than build a site yourself.
If both lists sound like you, a Shop Window is a reasonable first step — and nothing about it stops you building a website later. Your Window can point at it.
What you actually get
One page, made properly, doing the work of a small site.
Your own address
myshopwindow.co.uk/your-business, yours to share.
A real introduction
What the business is, in words that sound like you.
The work, shown
Photographs of products, jobs, spaces or people.
Prices where useful
Fixed prices, from-prices, or nothing at all.
Every route out
Shop, booking system, WhatsApp, email, phone, socials.
Made for you
No template wrestling, no editor, no maintenance evening.
Compare the Mini, Full and Signature packages to see how much a Window can hold.
The costs nobody mentions
Where the monthly money usually goes.
Subscriptions that never stop
Site builders, plugins and add-ons keep charging whether the page changes or not.
The build that stalls
A half-finished website that has been “almost ready” for a year still shows nothing to customers.
The maintenance evening
Updates, broken layouts and password resets are a real cost when you are also the business.
Paying to look professional twice
Many businesses buy a website and still send people to a link list, because the site is too slow to update.
My Shop Window is one payment for the Window, from £19, with no monthly subscription. We do not claim lifetime hosting — the terms set out exactly what is included and for how long.
If you're still deciding
Tell us what your business does and we'll say honestly which you need.
If a Shop Window is the wrong fit, we will tell you so — including when the honest answer is that you need a full website instead. Packages start at £19 as a one-off payment for the Window itself.
Related reading: what a digital shop window is and online presence for sole traders.