Introduction
For small businesses, especially those in competitive service industries like plumbing and heating, a website isn’t just an online presence—it’s often the first impression a potential customer gets. When that website is outdated, hard to navigate, or difficult to update, it can silently undermine the business’s growth and credibility.
That’s exactly the situation Amber Heating Plumbing & Gas Services, a family-run company based in Whitby, North Yorkshire, found themselves in.
Their existing website had become a source of frustration. It was outdated in both design and technology, updates required going through a third party (which caused delays and extra costs), and the overall look no longer reflected the professionalism and trustworthiness of the business.
Amber Heating came to LemonTop Creative with a clear goal:
“We want a modern, user-friendly website with a content management system so we can update it ourselves—whenever we need to.”
About Amber Heating
Amber Heating is a local, family-run business providing plumbing, heating, and gas services to customers in Whitby and the surrounding North Yorkshire area. With years of experience, their services range from boiler installations and repairs to general plumbing work, central heating systems, and emergency callouts.
Their selling points are:
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Reliability – Arriving when they say they will, and doing the job right the first time.
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Trustworthiness – As a Gas Safe registered business, safety is paramount.
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Local Service – Being based in Whitby means they understand the community and respond quickly.
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Personal Touch – They’re not a faceless corporation; they build long-term customer relationships.
But their old website didn’t communicate any of that effectively.
The Problem
Amber Heating’s original website suffered from several issues:
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Outdated Design – The look and feel were stuck in the past, which gave visitors the wrong impression about the business’s professionalism.
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Hard-to-Update Content – Any text or image changes had to go through a web developer, slowing down updates and creating unnecessary costs.
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Poor Mobile Experience – The site wasn’t mobile-friendly, which was a major drawback considering most local service searches happen on phones.
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Lack of SEO Structure – Pages weren’t optimised for search engines, making it harder for local customers to find them online.
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Cluttered Navigation – Key information like services, contact details, and qualifications were buried or hard to find.
Amber Heating needed a modern, responsive, and easy-to-manage website—and they needed it fast.
Our Approach
At LemonTop Creative, we believe the best websites come from collaboration. We worked closely with Amber Heating to understand their business, customers, and goals before writing a single line of code.
Our approach followed these five steps:
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Discovery & Consultation – Understanding the business, audience, and requirements.
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Content & Structure Planning – Designing the site map and content layout.
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Visual Design – Creating a modern look that reflects the Amber Heating brand.
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Development – Building the site on a flexible content management system (CMS).
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Launch & Training – Going live and empowering the Amber Heating team to make updates themselves.
Step 1: Discovery & Consultation
We began with an in-depth meeting to get a clear picture of:
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The services they offer.
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Their target audience (local homeowners, landlords, and small businesses).
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Their pain points with the old site.
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Their wish list for the new site.
One key insight was that most of their customers find them via Google searches for terms like “boiler repair Whitby” or “plumber near me”. That meant our new site had to be built with local SEO in mind from day one.
We also discussed branding. Amber Heating already had a logo and colour scheme, but it wasn’t being used consistently. The new site needed to bring their brand to life visually, with consistent use of colours, fonts, and imagery.
Step 2: Content & Structure Planning
With the discovery phase complete, we moved on to planning the site structure.
Our goals for the navigation were:
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Simplicity – Make it easy for visitors to find key information in just one or two clicks.
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Service Clarity – Give each main service its own page for better SEO and customer understanding.
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Clear Calls-to-Action – Ensure that at every point, visitors know how to get in touch.
The proposed site map looked like this:
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Home – Clear introduction, value proposition, and contact options.
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About Us – Story of Amber Heating and their qualifications.
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Services
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Boiler Installation & Repairs
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Central Heating Services
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Plumbing Repairs
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Emergency Callouts
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Testimonials – Social proof from happy customers.
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Contact Us – Simple form, phone number, and service area map.
We also planned for SEO-friendly content on every page, using keywords identified during research.
Step 3: Visual Design
For the visual direction, we aimed for a look that was:
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Modern – Clean layouts, fresh typography, plenty of white space.
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Professional – Reflecting trustworthiness and technical expertise.
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Approachable – Warm colours and real images of the Amber Heating team, rather than generic stock photos.
We incorporated their existing orange and blue brand colours, balancing them with plenty of white space to keep the site feeling open and uncluttered.
We also designed with mobile-first principles, ensuring the site would look great and function flawlessly on phones and tablets.
Step 4: Development
We chose WordPress as the CMS because it offered:
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Ease of Use – Intuitive interface for adding/editing content.
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Flexibility – Ability to add new features later if needed.
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SEO Tools – Plugins for optimising pages and tracking performance.
Key features we built into the site:
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Fully Responsive Layout – Adjusts seamlessly to any device size.
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Fast Loading Times – Optimised images and clean code for speed.
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Service-Specific Contact Forms – Making it easy for customers to request quotes for specific jobs.
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Google Maps Integration – Showing their service area.
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Testimonial Slider – Displaying customer feedback in an engaging way.
Step 5: Launch & Training
Once the site was fully built, we migrated it to Amber Heating’s hosting and did thorough testing across devices and browsers.
We then provided hands-on CMS training, showing the Amber Heating team how to:
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Add new blog posts or news updates.
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Change text and images.
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Add new testimonials.
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Update contact details.
The goal was total independence—they should never again feel stuck waiting for someone else to update their site.
Results
The new Amber Heating website launched successfully, and the impact was immediate:
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Faster Updates – They can now post news, update services, or change prices instantly.
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Better Mobile Experience – The site is fully responsive, leading to improved engagement from mobile users.
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Higher Search Rankings – Within weeks, they saw better placement on Google for local service searches.
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More Enquiries – The simplified contact options have led to an increase in direct calls and quote requests.
Before & After Snapshot
| Feature | Old Website | New Website |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Outdated, cluttered | Modern, clean, brand-consistent |
| Content Updates | Through third party | Self-managed via CMS |
| Mobile-Friendly | No | Yes |
| SEO | Weak | Fully optimised |
| Load Speed | Slow | Fast |
Client Feedback
“The new website has been a game-changer for us. It’s modern, easy to use, and we can update it ourselves without waiting days for changes to happen. Customers have commented on how professional it looks, and we’ve definitely noticed more enquiries coming in.”
— Amber Heating Plumbing & Gas Services
Why This Project Worked
This project was successful because we focused on:
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Understanding the Client’s Needs – Listening first, designing second.
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Empowering the Client – Giving them the tools to manage their site long-term.
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Balancing Design & Functionality – A good-looking site that works hard behind the scenes.
Lessons for Other Businesses
If your website is outdated or difficult to manage, you’re probably losing business without even realising it. This project shows that:
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A modern design instantly boosts credibility.
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A CMS puts you in control of your online presence.
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Local SEO can make a big difference in attracting nearby customers.
Looking Ahead
With the new site in place, Amber Heating now has the flexibility to:
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Add seasonal promotions.
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Post blog articles on heating tips and plumbing advice.
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Expand service pages as they grow.
Their website is now a living, breathing marketing tool—one that can evolve alongside their business.