A Dorset Web Agency with a difference

Best Web Design Agency in Dorset

What a bold statement, but we have good cause to claim it. We’ve done the research and we genuinely have the lowest rates in the county. Despite this we had the highest average experience level apart from two exceptions that were marketed as agencies, but only have 1 developer skewing the stats. We’re one of the only to be carbon negative, offsetting more carbon than we produce. On top of this we also plant a tree for every review received.

Transparency is important when choosing an honest web design agency and we go above & beyond! We don’t charge a retainer, we just charge for the exact minutes used and no rounding up. Our time tracker writes off “unproductive time” and even takes screenshots of us doing the work. This means that unlike most agencies, we really do have a “no project is too small” approach. We start with your budget and work out a plan of best to use that, even if it’s not with us.

Efficiency and Value for Money are our two target areas. We have a whole host of processes that maximise the return on your investment. These won’t be for everyone. We recognise that some high budget customers may want more “fluff/sizzle” from their agency and that is fine, but you’ll need to tell us so we add that – by default we’re all about results and not about the fluff around them. We’re always trying new processes to improve efficiency and lower your bills. We even publish our diaries so you can see when your favourite hero is available for a call.

The Start To It All

In 2014 the team at Novus Digital, were sent a text message just before Christmas saying that they wouldn’t get paid. A few put their heads together and Chris Ryu (former Technical Director) founded “The Honest Agency” offering web design in Dorset, SEO and WordPress development.

It Was An Instant Hit

The secret to it’s success was simple, the team thought back to what was wrong with previous agencies they had worked for or hired and tried to flip the issues on their heads. This resulted in an agency that charged less for the work such as web design in Poole etc, gave their team more flexibility and then to take away greed, gave all of it’s profits back to the community!

It had founded an educational non-profit arm and opened a STEM education centre in North Dorset (read more below) and while other funding fell through for the centre, Honest stayed true to its word and kept putting money into the centre to keep the children’s activities going.

Dorset Tech Was Born

5 years later – Chris teamed up with another agency owner to agree a 1 year plan to merge 2 agencies as the Honest Tech Group, sharing resources and overheads, but cover 2 very different catchment areas. Both would be social enterprises sharing the original ethos of The Honest Agency, but rather than engaging in lots of community programmes to give back, we’re focused on helping start-ups and non-profits succeed.

High Street Location

Late 2019 the group expanded, adding a high-street head office in Gillingham, North Dorset. It makes us an accessible part of the community. Our high street location allowed us to now also provide computer repair too at some of the cheapest rates available in Dorset.

Tech Bar Created

Due to rapid growth and COVID social distancing guidance, another high-street office in Gillingham was added in 2020. It served as our Tech Repair centre. The Tech Bar served as our YouTube studio and housed our 3D printers.

HQ Expansion & Tech Bar given to the team

2022 has seen further growth of the team. Our Head Office was moved to a larger office upstairs and the tech bar was moved to our old HQ to help a neighbouring business that wanted to expand. The Tech Bar was split out from the group to stop some confusion and allow them to be on a different VAT scheme than the agency’s flat rate scheme. Tech Bar was given to the team that work there to reward them for their hard work and to reduce the demand on Chris’s time.

Sale of Honest Tech Group

The company had built up some debt during Covid and while we’d paid off £100k of debt in one year, it was still hard for one man to fund and run the agency. Along came Tyson who offered to buy the business, but allow Chris to keep the Dorset Tech name and a select few customers very loyal to Chris.

New Dorset Tech Created

June 2023: As part of the negotiation, Chris retained the trading name “Dorset Tech”, the web related projects and permission to “poach” team members from Honest Tech Group. Dorset Tech Ltd was founded and 60% of the company instantly given to it’s initial team members. From that day forth Dorset Tech would be employee owned and all full time team members would have equal voting. This brave move bought the support of various Honest Tech Group employees who joined Chris on this exciting journey.

New Office & Hybrid Working

August 2023: One of the first acts of the new board of Directors was to sign on a new office in Shaftesbury. The office was fitted out in a few manic days and while the team have voted to work hybrid, there’s normally a couple of members in the office every day.

Investment Received

February 2024: We received a large investment in the company allowing us to grow faster and implement new services.

Huge expansion, rebrand and more

April 2024: The team is back up to 19 full-time team members and growing rapidly. New niches were developed and our brand has a refresh.

Chris Ryu - You're in Safe Hands!

Chris is a serial social entrepreneur who has devoted the last 10+ years to trying to make the world a better place. He recognises he’s a small cog in a big wheel, but actively lives by the mantra of:

“Be the change you want to see in the world”

He’s an experienced marketeer, software developer and a proven problem solver. Notable achievements include:

Studied diplomas in Marketing & Mechanical Engineering
Former Audi Group Marketing Manager
Over 20 years web development experience in over 10 languages
Ran his own successful E-commerce web-stores
An integration specialist – achieving “the impossible” on multiple occasions for brands such as Audi and LV=
Long term editor of a magazine
Volunteers around 10-15 hours every month for good causes
Speaks and can read Japanese to JLPT N5 level

Testimonials

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ wonderful company, very helpful, professional & extremely competitively priced. Nothing was too much to ask with these guys. I'd highly recommend ?

We've worked with Chris off and on for over 10 years!!! He's never steered us wrong and I'd recommend him to anyone. They're big enough to deliver results, but small enough to care.

Chris and his team are incredible! Thank you so much for all your help and support. I will recommend you to all my friends in business.

I was referred to Honest by Tessa from Clubhub another customer. We'd been quoted £12K for our android app and were turned down for funding. Chris and the team had built Clubhub so we asked and they quoted £2,400! We were just amazing, it seemed too good to be true they even included an iphone app in the same price. Eventually we gave them a try just paying a deposit and quickly realised they are the real deal. Our app is now on version 2.2 and has had over 4000 downloads

Dorset Tech are easily one of the great local agencies when it comes to digital marketing. As a small agency owner myself I'm not afraid to say that they set a high bar of standard that we strive to match ourselves.

I can thoroughly recommend Dorset Tech. Everyone is so pleasant and helpful. I recently had a new battery in my husband’s iPad. As he is ill and very vulnerable, Chris took it into the shop to save me going twice. Unfortunately they had a break in, so the repair was a bit delayed. They gave me a discount for inconvenience, which I certainly did not expect and apologised as it took longer than usual. I cannot fault the team. Thank you.

Rosie Wrigley

The people I dealt with at Dorset Tech were wonderfully friendly and equally professional. They handled my need for urgent repair calmly and diligently; completing it in under 2 hours at a fair price. This is the second repair they have done for me and, each time, the service has been fantastic. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Peter

Peter Wareing

All round good experience, they weren't trying to "make money" unnecessarily, just do the best they could for the customer. Would certainly recommend, excellent. Thanks

Celia Harvey

"Tech Bar (Gillingham) replaced my cracked iPhone screen, same day, within an hour. Polite, friendly staff, good price, and phone looks and feels brand new. Thanks very much, I will recommend you to anyone who asks me."

Andy Scard

"Working with Dorset Tech has been absolute pleasure. At every stage they have patiently accommodated our requests for large and small changes to the design of the web site. They have really listened to us throughout the project and we are very happy with the results. We also look forward to having continued support from Dorset Tech as the website develops further in the future."

Richard Hull - Deputy Head - William Barnes Primary School

"Honesty and integrity are words flung around way too much. Chris embodies these ideals and it shows in his work and the way he conducts himself. With an absolutely solid understanding of the web as whole and a thorough technical background, he is the perfect mix between client facing communication and a skilled productive developer."

Jonjoe Whitfield - Competitor

"Chris is a very organised person with outstanding knowledge of the target market. It has been pleasure, both for myself and my team to be able to work with Chris."

Tomasz Dyl

"Chris possibly knows more about marketing than I've had hot dinners.... and I've had a few! He's also a very knowledgeable person in the specialist field of marketing. Put these two together and you have a formidable force on your side"

Paul Bennett

"Can’t recommend Dorset Tech enough they are absolutely amazing!"

Tessa Robinson

"Chris comes highly recommended by me as a creative and experienced Marketing expert. Being very intuitive into market trends his knowledge is very extensive."

Brian Bradly

Dorset Tech in the Community

How we've given back to the community

Ran our own children’s STEM education centre
Donate our time to produce village magazines
Run a kids robot combat club
Free advice service
Donations to local events

Donate hosting to various good causes
Discounted rate for non-profits & companies working with animals/children
Help run local community events
Free/heavily-subsidised projects for good causes
Provide free support to local Chamber of Commerce

May We Present Our Team

Chris - ``Raven``

Managing Director

Chris oversees the business and gives the Directors a strategy to work toward. He watches the business environment and watches out for hurdles - he is ``Raven``. With a marketing diploma, a dozen programming languages and 20 years experience under his utility belt, Chris is the leader of the Superhero Web Agency. He also happens to love ravens! When he's not here he's learning japanese and hanging out with the family.

Adam - ``Zeus``

Design Director

Adam is our Design Director and everything he touches turns to gold! He touches every project before it even starts and performs final sign-off to ensure that all our websites are godly! When Adam's not making something pretty, he's playing with his dog and beautiful children. He's obsessed with everything Apple and Lego!

Emma - ``Angel``

Customer Service Director

Emma is our resident comic book expert! She keeps us organised, ensures projects run smoothly and plays a vital role as our chief whip cracker, motivating us all throughout the week. When Emma's not helping you with your project, she's spending time with the family, learning Hawaiian or watching horror movies!

Aaron - ``Insomnia``

Support Director

I swear Aaron never sleeps! A member of our web development team with a focus for ticket support where everything is often considered urgent. Aaron spreads his hours out allowing him to be more responsive to tickets when needed the most. When he is off the clock, he's normally spending time with his small army of children!

Mikey - ``Eternal``

Marketing Director

As our marketing specialist, it's Mikey's job to not only get you found online, but to keep you there for eternity! When he's not doing your SEO and marketing campaigns, you'll find him reading Manga, watching Anime, streaming games (Eternal Ryu on Twitch) and studying martial arts.

Dave - ``Pioneer``

Developer

Dave is here to come up with solutions for your website problems. When he's not building sites, he's spending time with the family, eating healthily and keeping in top shape.

Andrew M - ``Neo``

Developer

Just like Neo in the Matrix, Andrew understands code in a fluent way. He leads our MODX/Laravel projects as our systems archetect and is our go too for APIs. Pizza night is like Déjà vu to Andrew - who doesn't love a good pizza night!

Krisha - ``Manga``

Designer

Krisha is a great all-rounder - great design flair & incredible illustration mixed with social media and pay per click skills. When she's not helping you with your branding, she's drawing insanely good manga!

Joanne - ``Oracle``

PA to Chris Ryu

Joanne is exactly what you want as your back-up. Great with numbers, perfect attention to detail and organised. When she's not busy keeping Chris organised, she's helping the team with admin and helping customers with their support questions.

Viraj - ``Gravity``

Developer

Viraj is a PHP developer that specialises in API integrations. He pulls in data from third parties just like gravity pulls matter into a black-hole. With 10 years freelance experience, he's already integrated most of the common APIs, so efficiency is a core strength.

Rose - ``Miracle``

Accounts Administrator

Just like using Miracle Grow in your garden, Rose helps us grow with her magic accounting skills. We've over 2,000 active customers, but Rose keeps it all in check. When Rose isn't invoicing you all and telling us we spend too much on coffee, she's hanging our with her lovely family.

Noman - ``Bright Spark``

App Developer

Our R&D Specialist Noman has over a decade of experience in R&D. There's little he doesn't know about electronics and as a result, he's our king of prototypes!