Global VAT professional, elected Labour councillor, maker of focus music for Neurodivergent brains, and writer about whatever's currently occupying the hyperfocus slot. AuDHD. Based in Burntwood.
Aardvark Web
I build websites for small businesses and community organisations. Clean, fast, honest websites. No bloat, no lock-in, no WordPress.
My name's Paul. Online, I'm theaardvark — this is my personal blog, and this page is the current home of my web development side hustle. A proper standalone site is on the to-do list. So is a lot of things.
What I build
Static websites, built by hand.
I write the HTML and CSS myself. Hugo handles the content and structure. The files go straight to the server, clean and simple. No themes, no page builders, no drag-and-drop. Every site is made for the client, not pieced together from templates.
Static sites are fast. No database to slow things down. They're secure, because there's nothing to hack. They're cheap to host. And you won't have to waste a Sunday fixing plugin updates.
Static sites aren't for everything. If you need logins or live inventory, I'm not the right fit. But for most small business sites, community info pages, or service portfolios, a static site is the way to go. Agencies often talk people out of it so they can sell something more complicated.
Who it's for
Small local businesses. Community groups. Sole traders with no website, or with a site they're quietly embarrassed by.
I'm especially interested in working with people who run businesses or groups for those with chronic illness, disability, or neurodivergent needs. Accessibility matters to me, and I have lived experience. This isn't a marketing angle. It's just what I care about.
I work with people who want a website, not a content management system to tinker with. I'll build it and look after it. You don't have to learn anything new.
Where I am
I first got into web development when I was between jobs in 2002 — got as far as knowing enough to be dangerous, then life intervened for twenty-odd years. Recently I came back to it properly: tutorials, documentation, lots of things that didn't work, starting over.
My first client site is in progress. It's for a local cleaning business in the Burntwood, Cannock, and Lichfield area. I'm building it pro bono for my portfolio. Once it's live, I'll be ready to take on paid work.
It's early days. But I know what I'm doing, and the work is mine. I'd rather be straight with you than sell you something I can't show yet.
How I work
I use Hugo for the site structure. I have my own CSS framework, aardCSS, which I tweak for each project. That way, sites look different, but the build stays solid and up to date.
I use Krystal for hosting. They're UK-based, B Corp certified, and run on renewable energy. Not some reseller of a reseller on a mystery server farm.
I use GitLab for version control and deployment. Sites go live automatically when I push changes. You don't need to know the details. The main thing is, it's set up properly, not cobbled together.
Get in touch
If you have a project in mind, or just a feeling your website isn't right, send me an email.
No commitment, no sales pitch. If I'm a good fit, great. If not, I'll say so.
