Case Study: A Fast, Secure New Website for Your Window Cleaner

We've just launched a brand new website for Your Window Cleaner, a local window and exterior cleaning company serving Eastleigh, Southampton and Winchester. Here's a look at what we built, the technology behind it and how it helps a busy local business spend less time on admin and more time out on the rounds.

The brief

Your Window Cleaner runs regular 6 and 12 weekly window cleaning rounds for homes and businesses, alongside gutter, fascia, soffit and conservatory roof cleaning. Their old website needed a refresh, and they wanted something that:

• Looked modern and professional on every device, especially phones
• Made it quick and easy for new customers to sign up to a round
• Showed clear, honest pricing
• Pointed customers straight to Direct Debit, their preferred way to get paid
• Was secure, fast and easy for us to look after

What we built

The new site has five main pages, each with a clear job to do:

• Home: what they do, the areas they cover, why customers choose them and how it works, in four simple steps
• Pricing: clear prices for window rounds and additional services, with no hidden costs or contracts
• Sign Up: a short online form for joining a round
• Payments: an explanation of how Direct Debit works, with a button to set it up securely through GoCardless
• Terms and Conditions: written in plain English, with a helpful FAQ

We kept their existing navy, blue and sky blue brand colours and gave the design a fresh, modern feel with new fonts, photos of each service and plenty of space. It's fully responsive, so it looks just as good on a phone in a customer's hand as it does on a desktop.

The technology

Rather than a heavy content management system, we built the site in lightweight PHP 8, HTML and CSS, with no database. For a focused business website like this, that brings real advantages:

• It's fast. Pages are small and quick to load, with compression and browser caching switched on.
• There's less to go wrong. No database and no plugins means fewer moving parts and far fewer security updates to worry about.
• It's easy to update. Business details such as phone numbers, the email address and Direct Debit links live in one settings file, so a change in one place updates the whole site.

The site is hosted on our UK servers with free SSL, so every page loads securely over HTTPS.

Microsoft 365 email and online sign-up

Your Window Cleaner's email runs on Microsoft 365, giving them a professional address on their own domain that works on their phone, tablet and computer.

When a new customer fills in the Sign Up form, their details arrive straight in the business inbox in a consistent, easy-to-read format. The team can see the customer's address, round preference and contact details at a glance, and simply reply to get them booked in.

Payments are handled by GoCardless Direct Debit. Customers set it up once, and payments are only collected after the windows have been cleaned. No card details ever touch the website.

Security built in from the start

As a cyber security company, we never treat security as an afterthought. Even a simple brochure website can be targeted by bots, spammers and attackers, so we built in several layers of protection.

Security headers. The site sends a full set of modern security headers, including HSTS (forcing secure connections), a Content Security Policy (controlling exactly what the browser is allowed to load) and protections against clickjacking and content sniffing. It also hides the version of PHP it runs, so attackers can't easily target it.

Spam and abuse protection on the Sign Up form. We didn't want customers struggling with "I'm not a robot" puzzles, so we built protection that works quietly in the background, with no third-party service:

• A hidden "honeypot" field that only bots fill in
• A security token that blocks automated and cross-site submissions
• A check that the form was submitted from the website itself
• A timer that rejects anything filled in faster than a human could type
• Rate limiting, so no one can flood the form with submissions

Email can't be hijacked. The address the form sends to is fixed on the server and can never be changed by someone submitting the form, and everything submitted is cleaned before it's emailed. That stops attackers from using the form to send spam to other people.

Private files stay private. Settings files and the site's internal folders are blocked from public access, and directory listings are switched off.

Found on Google and by AI search

A new website is only useful if people can find it. We set up:

• Unique page titles and descriptions for every page
• Structured data telling Google exactly who Your Window Cleaner is, what they do and the areas they serve, plus FAQ data on the Terms page
• An XML sitemap ready for Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
• Branded share images, so links look great when posted on Facebook or WhatsApp
• Descriptive alt text on every image, for accessibility and search

We also made sure AI search tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI can read the site, so the business can be recommended when people ask for a window cleaner nearby. Our guide to optimising your website for AI search explains why that matters.

Supporting local businesses

Your Window Cleaner is a local business, just like us. They're based in Eastleigh, and so are we. Helping local businesses look professional online, win more customers and spend less time on admin is what we enjoy most.

For trades and service businesses, the things that matter are simple: a website that works on a phone, a quick way for customers to get in touch or sign up, email that just works, and someone local to call when you need help. That's exactly what we've delivered here, and we'll keep looking after the site, hosting and security going forward.

Need a new website?

Whether you're a window cleaner, plumber, electrician or any other trade, we'd love to help. Take a look at our websites for trades, our website design service and Microsoft 365 business email, or see how we host websites on fast, secure UK web hosting.

Get in touch or call us on 03303 410 910 for a friendly, no-obligation chat.

Visit the new website: yourwindowcleaner.co.uk