Launch in Days, Not Weeks
Professional one-page website. Only a few slots left this month
You went independent six months ago. Your LinkedIn is busy. Your inbox is quiet. The site you keep meaning to build sits as a one-page placeholder. Here is the minimal site that punches above its weight and the content patterns that earn inbound briefs.
The Five Page Minimum
Most independent consultants either build too much (a sprawling site with sections they will never fill) or too little (a single paragraph with contact details). Five pages is the right starting point.
Home. One specific outcome for one specific buyer. Not your CV summary. Not your capability list. The answer to: “If the right client lands here, what do they need to understand in five seconds?” See the homepage structure section below.
About. Your story, your point of view, your track record. This is not a LinkedIn profile in web format. It is the page where you earn the right to be trusted. More on what to put here shortly.
Services or What I Do. What you offer, how engagements work, who they are for, and indicative pricing or scope. Vague “consulting services” pages do nothing. This page needs to be specific.
Writing. Even two or three published essays or substantial posts. This is how you demonstrate expertise without case studies, and it earns search traffic over time.
Contact. A form (not just an email address), a brief note on what happens after someone submits, and your preferred response timeframe. Keep friction low.
This is genuinely enough to win inbound work. Add pages as you have content worth putting on them, not before.
Homepage Structure for Solo Consultants
The homepage of a solo consultant site has one job: communicate relevance to the right buyer within five seconds.
Hero: one outcome, one buyer. Not “I help organisations improve performance.” The more specific version: “I help Series B SaaS founders build their first commercially led product organisation” or “I advise UK professional services firms on pricing strategy and margin improvement.”
The specificity feels risky. What about all the other potential clients? The ones who are exactly your ICP will feel immediately understood. They are significantly more likely to read further and make contact. The ones who are not your ICP would have been poor clients regardless of how broadly you positioned.
Three proof points. Not a wall of testimonials. Three specific signals that you are credible: a named client organisation (with permission), a notable outcome, or a published work that demonstrates your expertise.
Primary CTA. “Book a 30 minute discovery call” or “Send me a brief.” Specific about what the next step is and how long it takes.
That is the homepage. Three sections, focused, fast to build, and effective.
About Page That Builds Authority
The about page of a solo consultant site is where buyers decide whether to continue to the services page or leave. It is worth spending time on.
Your story. Not a career chronology. A narrative about how you developed your specific expertise. What you worked on that gave you the perspective you now bring to clients. Two to four paragraphs, specific and genuine.
Your point of view. One to two paragraphs on what you believe about your field that others don’t, or what you do differently from other consultants in your area. This is the most valuable and most frequently omitted element. Without it, your about page reads as generic credentials.
Named clients. Where you have permission, name the organisations you have worked with and in what capacity. “Advised the CFO of [Company] on [specific area]” is credible. “Worked with several leading businesses” is not.
Named results. A single specific outcome is worth more than a paragraph of general claims. “The pricing review I led at [Company] produced a 12 percent improvement in gross margin in the subsequent two quarters” is the kind of statement that earns trust.
Photo. A decent one. Not a corporate headshot from a staff directory, not a cropped holiday photo. A well-lit photo taken specifically for professional use. This is worth the cost of a half-day photographer session.
Services or “What I Do” Page
This page answers the questions a prospective client has after your homepage and about page have persuaded them to explore further.
Engagement shapes. How do you actually work with clients? Describe the formats: a three-day intensive workshop, a three-month advisory engagement, a day-per-week fractional role, a standalone project. Name the shape, the typical duration, and what the client receives at the end.
Who it is for. Named buyer type, company size, situation or problem context. “For founders preparing for a Series A fundraise who need to strengthen their commercial narrative” is infinitely more useful than “for growing businesses.”
Indicative pricing. Publish a starting point. “Engagements start from £X per day” or “Advisory retainers from £X per month” allows buyers to self-qualify on budget before investing time in a conversation you would not have continued anyway. The fear that this loses you clients is mostly unfounded: it mostly loses you conversations with people who cannot afford you.
Not for. Optional but effective: a brief statement of who you are not for. “I don’t take on more than three clients at a time and don’t work on projects under six weeks.” This signals demand, specificity, and is honest.
Writing as Proof When You Have No Case Studies
Most new independent consultants have no case studies because their client work is confidential, because they haven’t had time to write them up, or because they are genuinely new to independent practice.
The alternative that works better for senior buyers than most consultants expect: published thinking.
Two or three well-argued essays on a topic you understand deeply do more positioning work than a dozen brief case study summaries. They demonstrate how you think, what you notice that others miss, and what you believe about the problems you solve. These are the things senior buyers are actually trying to assess.
What to write: a genuine point of view on a problem your clients face. Not “the definitive guide to X.” Not a listicle of tips. A position paper: here is what I think about [specific problem], here is the evidence, here is the implication for how organisations should approach it.
If you publish two to three pieces at this standard and make them available on your website, you have demonstrated expertise more convincingly than most competitors with longer client lists.
Tools and Total Cost
The question everyone wants answered: what does this cost to build and run?
Fernside Studio Launch Sprint: £750. Covers a professionally designed one-page site (expandable to five pages with content you provide) built in five days, with hosted on Cloudflare Pages. No monthly hosting fee on top. Full details here.
Astro + Cloudflare Pages (DIY or with a developer): £0 to £3,000. Free hosting, framework is free, cost depends entirely on whether you build it yourself or hire a developer.
Webflow or Squarespace: £12 to £40/month. Easier to edit yourself. Slower than a custom build. Fine for getting started quickly.
The real cost question is not the build cost; it is the opportunity cost of not having the site. For most independent consultants, a single inbound brief earned through the site pays for it several times over.
If you are ready to build a site that reflects the quality of your work, Fernside Studio’s Launch Sprint delivers a professional site in five days for £750. It is the fastest way to go from placeholder to credible.
For a larger site with multiple service lines, case study pages, and a writing section, the Studio Site from £2,400 gives you the full structure. Book a scoping call to discuss your specific situation.