Popple + Kharlamova is a branding-led web design and digital agency based in Middlesbrough, creating distinctive websites for businesses across Teesside, the Tees Valley and beyond.
For more than 20 years, we’ve helped businesses build stronger brands and create websites that do more than simply look good.
We combine brand strategy, creative design, website development and SEO to create digital experiences that represent your business, engage your customers and help you grow.
Whether you’re starting from scratch, refreshing an established brand or replacing a website that’s no longer working hard enough for your business, we’ll create something that’s built around you.
It needs to make the right impression quickly, communicate what you do clearly and give people a reason to choose you.
That’s why we don’t start with a template.
We start by understanding your business, your customers, your competitors and your ambitions.
Then we bring together strategy, branding, design and technology to create a website that’s genuinely yours.
Our websites are designed to:
Represent your brand properly
Make it easy for customers to find what they need
Turn visitors into enquiries or sales
Work beautifully across desktop, tablet and mobile
Provide a strong foundation for SEO
Give your business room to grow
Contact us
Every business is different.
A professional services company doesn’t need the same website as an eCommerce business. A growing manufacturer has different requirements from a start-up. An established brand may need a completely different digital experience from a new business finding its feet.
We design websites around those differences.
Our web design and development services include:
Distinctive websites designed around your brand, audience and business objectives.
Flexible, scalable WordPress websites that give you control over your content while providing a strong foundation for growth.
Online shops designed around your products, customers and sales journey, including WordPress/WooCommerce and Shopify solutions.
If your existing website looks dated, performs poorly or simply isn’t generating enough enquiries, we’ll help you understand what’s wrong and create something better.
From straightforward business websites to more complex functionality, our technical team can turn creative ideas into robust digital solutions.
We consider search visibility from the beginning, creating sensible site structures, content and technical foundations that give your website the best opportunity to perform in Google.
This is what makes Popple + Kharlamova different.
We’ve spent more than two decades working in branding, creative design and digital, so we understand that your website shouldn’t exist separately from your brand.
Your colours, typography, photography, tone of voice, messaging, user experience and website should all tell the same story.
That’s particularly important if you’re an established business whose website no longer reflects the quality of what you do.
We can help you bring everything together.
Brand strategy → Creative direction → Website design → Development → SEO → Digital growth
One joined-up approach.
We’re based in Middlesbrough, Teesside, and work with businesses throughout the wider Tees Valley, including Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Yarm, Hartlepool and the surrounding area.
But our experience doesn’t stop at the Teesside boundary.
We’ve worked with businesses and organisations across the UK and internationally, bringing a broader perspective to every project.
That combination gives our clients something valuable:
A local team who understands the area, with the experience to think much bigger.
We’ve been building brands and creating digital experiences for more than two decades.
That experience means we’ve seen technology change, design trends come and go and digital marketing evolve dramatically.
What hasn’t changed is the importance of understanding people.
Your customers need to understand your business, trust your brand and be able to take action easily.
That’s what we design for.
We’re not simply developers putting your content into a website. We understand how your brand should look, sound and behave.
We don’t believe in making every business fit the same mould. Your website should be recognisably yours.
Our creative and technical expertise work together throughout the project, rather than being treated as separate stages.
A website needs to be seen as well as admired. We build with search visibility, performance and user experience in mind.
We’ve worked with businesses and organisations across a wide range of sectors, giving us a broad understanding of different audiences, markets and challenges.
Launching your website is only the beginning. We can continue to support your website, SEO and digital activity as your business develops.
We keep the process straightforward.
We start by understanding your business, your customers, your competition and what you want the website to achieve.
We establish the structure, content, user journeys and creative direction before we start building.
Our creative team develops a distinctive visual experience that brings your brand to life online.
Our technical team turns the approved designs into a responsive, robust and user-friendly website.
We consider performance, accessibility, technical SEO and the foundations needed to help your website compete in search.
Once everything has been tested and approved, your new website goes live.
And we’re still here after launch if you need us.
There’s little point having a beautiful website if potential customers can’t find it.
That’s why we consider SEO during the design and development process rather than treating it as an afterthought.
We look at:
Site structure
Search intent
Page content
Technical SEO
Mobile performance
Page speed
Internal linking
User experience
Search visibility
For businesses targeting customers in Middlesbrough, Teesside and the wider Tees Valley, this means building a website that is not only designed for people, but has the right foundations to compete in Google.
Contact us – start your project
Every website project is different, so we don’t believe in forcing businesses into a standard package.
The cost depends on the size and complexity of the website, the functionality required, the amount of content, eCommerce requirements and the level of branding and strategy involved.
We’ll discuss your requirements with you and provide a clear proposal before any work begins.
The timescale depends on the project. A relatively straightforward business website can take considerably less time than a large eCommerce platform or complex bespoke website.
We’ll agree the project scope and timeline with you at the beginning so you know what to expect.
Absolutely.
We’re based in Middlesbrough and work extensively across Teesside and the wider Tees Valley, but we also work with clients throughout the UK and internationally.
Yes.
If your existing website looks dated, is difficult to use, isn’t generating enough enquiries or no longer represents your business, we can assess what needs to change and develop a strategy for improving it.
Yes. We design and develop bespoke WordPress websites, including sites with more advanced functionality and eCommerce requirements.
SEO can be incorporated into the website from the beginning and we can also provide ongoing SEO and digital marketing support after launch.
Creative Director
Principal Engineer
Brand Strategist & Consultant
Director - Zurich Office
Art Director
Communications
Based in Middlesbrough (Teesside) and with a presence in Frankfurt, we’re here to begin your project. We help our clients drive their brands forward across all media, disciplines and platforms.
hello@popplekharlamova.com
hello-frankfurt@popplekharlamova.com
We are fortunate enough to work with some amazing brands. Here are just a few.
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you are not in the room“
“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand``.
``A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is - it is what consumers tell each other it is``