Proposal · prepared for T J Thornton · 1 June 2026
A few specific fixes for tjthornton.com
T J Thornton · Market Harborough · website rebuild
I rebuild small-business sites in my spare time when I can see they are leaving good work on the table. I spent some time on tjthornton.com and three things stood out, mostly around how little of what makes the shop special, the four generations, the hand engraving, the bench work, reaches a first-time visitor past the stock catalogue. Three findings below, then a working rebuild you can click through.
Finding 01
A four-generation jeweller is wearing an off-the-shelf shop template.
What I saw
The current tjthornton.com runs on a stock ShopWired e-commerce theme, and the footer still carries the Ecommerce Websites by ShopWired credit. The homepage opens straight onto a long product grid with a left-hand category menu, the same layout a thousand other shops use. Nothing on it tells a first-time visitor that this is a family that has made jewellery since 1911, or that Tim is the fourth generation. The craft that earns the reviews is invisible behind a catalogue.
What the rebuild does
The rebuild leads with the shop, not the stock list. A proper hero names Tim and the four generations, a slate-and-gold palette is taken straight from your own sign, and the hand engraving and the milestone charm are the first things a visitor sees. The catalogue still has its place, but the shop comes first.
Finding 02
The footer copyright still reads 2020.
What I saw
At the bottom of the live site the copyright line still says 2020. To a first-time visitor that is a small but real signal that the site has not been touched in years, which sits oddly next to a business that is open, busy and taking on new work. It is the kind of detail people notice without quite knowing why they hesitate.
What the rebuild does
The rebuild carries the current year and is built to stay current without you thinking about it. It is a small thing, but the whole point is that nothing on the page should make someone pause and wonder if you are still trading.
Finding 03
The hand engraving and the remodelling, the work people drive over for, is nowhere to be seen.
What I saw
Reviews single out your hand engraving and your bespoke remodelling, but neither has a place on the homepage. There is no maker story, no gallery of the bench work, and no structured data, so an insurance valuation by a qualified gemmologist, the Tuesday-to-Saturday hours and the Coventry Road address are all invisible to Google rich results and to the assistants people now ask for a Market Harborough jeweller. The social-share image is the thin grey logo strip, which unfurls as a bar when the link is sent in a message.
What the rebuild does
The rebuild gives hand engraving its own band near the top, with the milestone charm and the bow brooch shown close up, and a four-generations story underneath. It ships Jeweler and Store schema with the address, the hours and an FAQ, a written meta description and a proper share card, so the work you already do starts showing up where people actually look.
What it costs
No retainer. No contract. No in-person visits, fully remote from Switzerland.
- One round of revisions before launch
- DNS cutover handled (you keep the domain in your name)
- 30 days of post-launch tweaks at no extra cost
- Source code handed over on day 60 (you own everything)
A few things worth answering
What happens to the tjthornton.com domain and the tim@ email?
The domain stays exactly as it is, in your name. Only the site that answers it changes, from the ShopWired template to a fast static build. The tim@tjthornton.com address keeps working throughout. Nothing about how customers reach you changes, the page they land on just tells your story properly and loads quicker.
We are a traditional shop and not very technical. How much work is this for us?
Very little. I take the words, the pieces and the details that are already on your site, plus anything you want to add, and do the build remotely. You review one round of changes before it goes live. The only thing I would ask is a few minutes on a call to make sure the hand engraving and the four-generation story are told the way you would tell them.
Can new pieces and the cabinet be updated after launch?
Yes. The monthly care option covers small content changes, so when there is a new commission worth showing, a change to the hours, or a piece to add to the cabinet, you send it over and it goes up. No template editor to wrestle with.
If the proposal lands, reply with two or three 20-minute slots in the next ten days for a video call. I take on three Leicestershire builds this quarter, and the first confirmed wins the slot. If I do not hear back by 11 June, the proposal site comes down.
See the live rebuild ↗ A working preview you can click through. Opens in this tab.