10 weeks, 10 supervised hours each week
We guide the student through planning, design, coding, content implementation, testing, technical SEO and deployment. They can also practise outside supervised hours using their own testing environment.
10 weeks · real client work · professional supervision
Real Projects. Real Experience.
We take on students studying website design in higher education and teach the practical skills that are hard to learn from classroom exercises alone. Suitable businesses benefit too: a bespoke, hand-coded local service website for just £250.
The programme
Learning website design by building websites that actually have to work
Students spend 10 hours per week under our direct supervision for 10 weeks. They work through genuine business briefs, deadlines, revisions, SEO requirements and launches rather than building throwaway practice templates.
Professionally backed
Senior developers review the work and the important technical decisions. The client gets the benefit of our hosting infrastructure, SEO knowledge and launch process as well as the student’s work.
Built for real local businesses
The programme focuses on straightforward service businesses such as plumbers, electricians, landscapers, cleaners, carpet cleaners and similar companies that need a strong lead-generating website.
Safeguarding built into the process
Student communication is controlled and supervised. Senior Smarter Search staff remain the point of escalation for anything the client needs to discuss.
Our approach
Website design the old-school way.
The programme deliberately removes the shortcuts that can hide weak fundamentals.
No WordPress. No page builders. No CMS. No pre-built templates.
Students build websites from the ground up so they understand structure, responsive layout, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, performance and how the browser actually renders a site.
Professional resources are allowed
Students can use professional stock photography and the professional AI resources we provide for appropriate research, planning, content ideas and copy assistance. The website itself still has to be designed and coded rather than generated from a template.
Their own testing environment
Each student has space to write code, experiment with layouts and test ideas outside their supervised hours without experimenting on a live client website.
For business owners
A professionally supervised website for £250.
The reduced fee exists because the project forms part of the student’s practical training. It is not a £250 template website: the student is expected to build it from scratch under supervision.
✓ Hand-coded responsive website✓ Essential business/service pages✓ Contact form✓ Technical SEO foundations✓ Professional supervision✓ 1 year of hosting included✓ 3 months of social media management included✓ Launch and testing support
Where the fee goes£200
goes to the student after successful completion.
The aim is to give students genuine paid experience and money they can put towards equipment, software, marketing and eventually starting their own business. Total earnings depend on the number of projects successfully completed.
The project cycle
A two-week sprint for each website
The programme is designed so students can work through several complete projects rather than spending ten weeks polishing one artificial exercise.
Understand the brief
Research the business, customers, competitors, service areas and what the website actually needs to achieve.
Plan & design
Site structure, content needs, responsive layouts and visual direction are developed on the testing server.
Code & optimise
Hand-written front-end code, forms, metadata, internal linking, technical SEO and performance work are implemented.
Test, revise & launch
The site is reviewed, client changes are completed and the finished project becomes genuine portfolio work.
Success story
Our first student website is live.
Carpet Cleaning Swindon became the first real-world website completed through the programme and gives businesses a much better idea of the standard we expect from student projects.
View the live website →First student project
Carpet Cleaning Swindon
www.Carpet-Cleaning-Swindon.co.uk99%reported launch SEO score
2reported paying customers on day one
Hand-codedno template or page builder
Built as the first project in the programme, the site launched with a reported 99% SEO score and generated two paying customers on its first day live.
That does not guarantee the same commercial result for every website, but it demonstrates the standard we want students to work towards: technically strong work built for a genuine business outcome.
View Carpet Cleaning Swindon →Apply / enquire
Business owner or student?
Use the same form and tell us which side of the programme you are interested in. For businesses, tell us what you do and whether you already have a website. For students, tell us where you study and the area of web design you want to improve.
Business: website for £250Student: supervised real-world experienceWe reply by email