Sandymount is a village with a green in the middle of it, and the shops face the green. Pubs, cafes, pharmacies, a butcher, a newsagent, florists, hairdressers, a few restaurants, and the side streets off Sandymount Road and Sandymount Avenue with the clinics and the small offices. A couple of minutes east is Sandymount Strand, the long beach the tide leaves almost empty, with the Martello tower on Strand Road and the Poolbeg chimneys at the end of the view. The DART station is a few streets back from the Green. People here walk: to the shops, to the train, along the sea with the dog. Website design in Sandymount is for businesses that live on that walking trade and want to keep it as the faces change. We are Dublin based and we meet owners at the counter on the Green.
The walk, the strand and the DART
Sandymount is one of the few places in Dublin where a shop still gets most of its customers on foot. But the people walking are searching too. The couple who moved onto Tritonville Road in the spring search “butcher Sandymount” rather than asking. The strand walkers, who come from across the southside at weekends and before work, search “coffee near Sandymount Strand” from the sea wall. The DART commuters coming home search “pharmacy open now” at ten to seven. And on match days at the Aviva, a few streets away, crowds who have never been to Sandymount search for a pint and a bite before kick-off.
Recommendations here happen in the residents’ groups and the parents’ WhatsApps, as they do everywhere, and are then checked on Google before anyone walks over.
Getting the village right online
Say Sandymount, say Dublin 4, put the D04 routing key on the address, and mention the Green or the road you are on, because that is how people here give directions. Hours, including Sunday, because Sunday mornings on the strand bring people to the Green afterwards. Photos of the actual shop and the actual food or flowers. Buttons for call, WhatsApp and directions. A note on parking, which is tight around the Green, and on the walk from the DART. For a physio or dentist on one of the avenues, a plain list of what you treat and online booking that shows real times.
Who we build for in Sandymount
Cafes that want the menu and hours in their own hands and a steady flow of Google reviews. Pharmacies and opticians that want to be correct on Google for “open now”. Butchers and florists that want to take orders for Christmas and Mother’s Day without the phone ringing off the hook. Physios, dentists and counsellors on the side streets that want bookings. Dog walkers and groomers, because this is a village of dogs, who want a page with prices and a WhatsApp button.
Living on Instagram and the notice board
Sandymount has florists, cake makers, pilates teachers, dog walkers and tutors who run on Instagram, Facebook and a card in the newsagent’s window. That works for the people who already know them. It does not reach the new arrival searching Google, and it cannot take a booking or a deposit. A single page does both. We have written about what a small business website should include if you want the checklist.
Plans
Essentials: €499 to set up, €50 a month, for the site, the domain, the Google listing and a self-edit page. Complete: €1,499 and €100 a month, adding bookings, payments, review requests and chat. No contract. The pricing page lists everything; the florists page shows what a shop that takes orders gets.