You're losing work you never hear about.
A quote that lands in your customer's spam folder. A search where you don't show up. ChatGPT recommending the firm down the road. We find where the work is slipping away, fix it, and keep your email, website and Microsoft 365 running so it stays fixed. For small businesses across Darlington, Teesside and Durham.
5 need attention
| Check | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Google can find your pages | 23 of 24 pages | Pass |
| Mobile load timeCustomers on 4G wait almost five seconds | 4.8 seconds | Fail |
| Emails landing in spamYour quotes and invoices are being filtered on arrival | 1 in 4 flagged | Fail |
| Email set up correctlyThe settings inboxes check before trusting you | 2 of 3 missing | Warn |
| Google Business ProfileOpening hours last updated 2023 | claimed, stale | Warn |
| Recommended by ChatGPT"electrician in Darlington" asked 12 ways | 0 of 12 | Fail |
| Place on Google for "electrician darlington"Nearest competitor sits at 3rd | 11th | Warn |
| Website backups | none we could find | Warn |
Three places small businesses lose work.
Customers can't find you, their enquiry never reaches you, or the systems behind it let you down. We look after all three, and we run every one of them on our own business first. Pick one to see what's included.
- Get foundBe the name customers find.
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Get found
Get found on Google
We check every page of your site, read what Google and Bing say about it, and time it on a cheap phone. Then we look at who shows up above you, what they charge and what they've just changed. You get a list of what's stopping customers finding you, in order of what it's costing you, and we fix it.
You getA plain-English list of fixes, done by us or handed to your web company, and a weekly eye on your competitors.Ask about this -
Get found
Get recommended by ChatGPT
More people now ask ChatGPT or Google's AI for a plumber in Stockton than scroll through results. We ask the questions your customers ask, see who gets named, and change your site so it's you.
You getA list of the questions that matter for your trade and area, who's being recommended today, and the changes that get you named.Ask about this - Get the enquiryMake sure it reaches you.
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Get the enquiry
Emails that reach the inbox
If a quote lands in spam, the customer doesn't chase it. They ring the next name on the list, and you never find out. Gmail and Microsoft have tightened the checks they run on incoming email since 2024, and most small businesses have never looked at theirs. We put your settings right so every inbox trusts your email, then keep watching with ShieldMarc, the service we built for exactly this.
You getSettings fixed, a monthly note confirming your email is getting through, and a warning the moment that changes.Ask about this -
Get the enquiry
A website that works on a phone
A new site, or the one you have made faster. Tested on a cheap Android phone on 4G, because that's what your customers use. Hosted on servers we run and watch ourselves, backed up every day, with a proper @yourbusiness.co.uk email address. We also check that ChatGPT and other AI assistants aren't being turned away at the door, which happens more often than you'd think.
You getA site that loads in a couple of seconds on a phone, one bill, and one number to ring.Ask about this - Run smoothlyThe systems behind the work.
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Run smoothly
Microsoft 365 and business email
Email on every phone and laptop, shared calendars and files, secure sign-in, and nothing lost when someone leaves. We set Microsoft 365 up properly or move you onto it, then we're the people you ring when an account locks out or email stops arriving. On a plan, that help comes out of your monthly hours.
You getA working setup, a handover document, the admin logins held by you, and someone to ring.Ask about this -
Run smoothly
Know you're backed up and safe
Who can get into what, what's actually backed up, and what's open to the internet that shouldn't be. Half a day of looking, findings in plain English, and a short list of what to fix first.
You getA prioritised findings list and, if you want, the fixes done.Ask about this -
Run smoothly
Cut your software bills and admin
We go through every subscription you pay for and tell you what you could drop, what you could pay less for, and where a free, open-source alternative would do the job. Then we look at the admin that eats your week, like reports, sorting enquiries and quotes from your own price list, and automate what saves real hours. If you want, we move you across and run it on our servers, billed at cost with no charge per user.
You getA list of what you pay for and what it could cost instead, a fixed price for any change, and the hours saved measured.Ask about this
Are your quotes reaching your customers?
Gmail, Outlook and every other inbox check a few settings on your web address before they trust an email from your business. If those settings are missing or wrong, your quotes and invoices can land in spam, and nobody tells you.
Send us your web address and we'll check yours for free. A person does the check, not a robot, and you get the answer in plain English within one working day. No call, no obligation.
- Who's allowed to send as youThe list of services allowed to send email from your address, like Microsoft 365, your invoicing software and your website.
- Your digital signatureProof that each email really came from you and wasn't changed on the way.
- Your instructions to inboxesWhat Gmail and Outlook should do with email from your address, and whether you get told when something fails.
- Spam blocklistsWhether your email is on any of the lists inboxes use to turn mail away.
Two ways to work with us.
A monthly plan where we look after your website and tell you, in plain English, how it's doing and what we're doing about it. Or one-off projects on a fixed quote. No surprises on the invoice.
Why monthly? Because what Google and ChatGPT show changes every month, and a one-off fix wears off. The plan keeps you on top of it, and you see the visitor numbers to prove it.
Your website looked after, and a monthly report you'll actually read.
- Your website hosted, secured and backed up every day
- Your own @yourbusiness.co.uk email address, set up on every device
- We find out the moment your site goes down, and fix it
- A monthly report in plain English: how many people visited, where they came from, what they looked at
- What we changed this month to bring in more visitors, and what we'll do next
- A free software audit: what you pay for each month, what you could drop, and the free alternatives
- Small changes to the site whenever you need them
- A full website redesign included, available from month two
Everything in Essentials, plus we work every month on bringing you more customers.
- Everything in Essentials
- Where you show up on Google compared with your competitors, checked every week
- Whether ChatGPT and Google's AI recommend you when people ask, and the changes to make sure they do
- Your emails kept out of spam, watched every day by ShieldMarc
- 2 hours a month of help with your email, Microsoft 365 or website, and unused hours roll over
- A call every three months to go through the numbers and decide what's next
One-off work, priced before it starts.
- Stop your quotes and invoices landing in spam
- Find out why the phone's gone quiet, and fix it
- A new website, or the one you have made faster and easier to find
- Moving to new or cheaper systems: bookings, invoicing, customer records, Microsoft 365
- Check what's backed up and who can get into what
- Automate the admin that eats your week
- Fixed price agreed before work starts
The 90-day guarantee
If more people aren't visiting your website after your first 90 days on a plan than were before you started, we refund every penny you've paid. We take the starting numbers in your first report, so there's nothing to argue about.
How that compares.
In September 2026 we read the websites of 20 IT companies that cover Darlington. This is what we found, next to what you get from us.
| Question | Typical local IT company | IBD Digital |
|---|---|---|
| Can you see the price? | 17 of the 20 don't publish one | Yes, on this page |
| How it's charged | Where it's shown, per user or per device, so the bill grows as you hire | One flat monthly price for the business |
| Contract length | Rarely stated before you ask | Month to month, cancel any time |
| Checking your emails reach inboxes | Not offered as a service by any of the 20 | Checked every day on Growth |
| Your website and Google | Usually a separate agency and a separate bill | Same people, same bill |
| If it doesn't work | No guarantee published | 90-day money-back guarantee |
Plans include everything listed, in your name, with the admin logins held by you. Leave and you keep the site, the domain and the email.
Three steps. The first one is free.
No pitch deck, no discovery workshop. A conversation, a written list of what we found, a fixed price.
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1
We talk
Thirty minutes on the phone or at your premises. You tell us what's bothering you: the phone's gone quiet, quotes aren't getting replies, the website's slow, Microsoft 365 has become a mess.
Free · 30 minutes -
2
We look
We look at the part of the business that matters and write down what we find, in plain English, ranked by what it's costing you. Every item gets a fixed price to put right.
Findings within 5 working days -
3
We fix it, or you do
We do the work at the quoted price, or you hand the list to your existing supplier. Either way the findings are yours.
Fixed quote · no retainer
Nothing we set up locks you in. Accounts are opened in your name, passwords are handed over, and documentation comes as standard.
Tested on our own business first.
IBD Digital built and runs ShieldMarc, a paid email-security service used by UK businesses. Everything on this page is what it takes to keep that product found, fast, secure and selling.
We're offering the same routine to businesses in the North East that can't justify a full-time IT person. We're based in Darlington, and we'll come to you.
- NightlySecurity scans of every service we run, with findings reviewed the next morning.
- Every changeA speed and accessibility check that blocks the change if it makes the site slower.
- WeeklyOur own visitor numbers from Google and Bing pulled and compared with the month before.
- WeeklyThe questions our customers ask ChatGPT, tested to see whether we get named.
- ContinuousOur own email deliverability watched around the clock, so our messages land where they should.
- AlwaysNothing is claimed here that we haven't done for ourselves.
Darlington outwards.
On site anywhere in the North East. Remotely anywhere in the UK. If you are looking for IT support in Darlington, Teesside or County Durham, we will come to you.
- DarlingtonHome
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Middlesbrough
- Hartlepool
- Durham
- Sunderland
- Newcastle
- Northallerton
Also Bishop Auckland, Gateshead, Redcar, Yarm, Richmond and everywhere in between. Most of our work is with trades and professional services: electricians, builders, accountants, solicitors, estate agents and clinics. Anyone whose work arrives as an enquiry and is won with a quote.
The things people ask first.
If your question is not here, email us and we will answer it properly rather than send you a brochure.
What kind of IT support do you do?
Support for the systems your customers see and your business runs on: email, Microsoft 365, your website, hosting and backups. On a plan, help with those comes out of your monthly hours. We don't repair laptops, printers or other hardware; a local repair shop will be quicker and cheaper for that.
My emails are going to spam. Can you fix that?
Usually, yes. It is almost always a few settings on your web address that tell Gmail and Outlook your email is genuine, and they are either missing or wrong. Send us your web address for a free check and we will tell you what we find. Fixing it is a fixed-price project, and on the Growth plan we keep checking it every day.
How much does it cost?
Plans start at £39.99 a month for Essentials: hosting, business email, monitoring and a monthly report. Growth is £99 a month and adds two hours a month of help with email, Microsoft 365 and the website, search and ChatGPT visibility work, and daily checks that your email reaches inboxes. One-off projects get a fixed price before work starts. Many IT companies charge per user per month, which grows as you hire; our plans are one flat price for the business.
How do you get a business recommended by ChatGPT?
We ask ChatGPT and Google's AI the questions your customers ask, in the ways they ask them, and record who gets named. For local businesses they mostly name firms whose own websites answer the question clearly, so we change your site to do that and check that AI assistants are not being blocked from reading it. Then we test again every month.
Which areas do you cover?
We are based in Darlington and cover the North East on site: Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Durham, Bishop Auckland, Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead, Northallerton, Redcar, Yarm and Richmond. Anywhere else in the UK we work remotely.
Can you take over a website somebody else built?
Usually yes. We take on sites built in WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and hand-coded sites. The first thing we do is check you actually own the domain and the hosting, because that is the most common nasty surprise. If a site is genuinely beyond repair we will say so and quote to rebuild it rather than charge you to patch it.
Do I have to sign a contract?
No. Both monthly plans are month to month and you can cancel any time. Projects are a fixed quote for a defined piece of work. Accounts and domains are registered in your name, you hold the admin logins, and if you leave you keep the website, the domain and the email.
What happens on the free call?
Thirty minutes, by phone or at your premises. You tell us what is bothering you and we look at whatever is relevant. Within five working days you get a written list of what we found, ranked by what each problem is costing you, with a fixed price to put each one right. You can hand that list to somebody else. There is no obligation and nothing to sign.
Start with a call.
Tell us a little about your business and what's bothering you. We'll reply within one working day with a time to talk. For the free email check, just give us your web address.
Prefer email? Write to us directly.
hello@ibd-digital.co.uk