About us

Hello, we’re Lisa and Tom.

We’ve been building and looking after websites for other people for over 20 years. SiteVitals keeps an eye on the things we’ve seen go wrong most often, and tells you about them in plain English. And if you’re not sure what to do next, you can ask us.

From a team trusted by

NHS
BBC Two
Aardman
National Charities
Award-Winning Agencies

Our story

Twenty years of building websites, and fixing what goes wrong with them.

We founded 18a Productions in 2007, and between us and our team we’ve spent well over two decades building, launching and looking after websites for every kind of business, from sole traders juggling ten things at once to household names with millions of visitors a day.

When we started out, you couldn’t afford to specialise. To get a website live you had to understand all of it: the design, the code, the hosting, the domain, the speed and the security. Today even brilliant developers tend to go deep in one area, and the problems that don’t fall neatly into anyone’s job are often the ones that cause the most damage. That’s why SiteVitals checks all of it.

2007: Agency founded. A lot of late nights - because we just loved making the web, and that has never really changed.
2007–2009: Became the technical backbone for major design agencies across the UK - helping them build digital departments and start selling web services with confidence.
2010–2020: Portfolio grows to include NHS, BBC Two, Aardman, national charities and growing brands. Multiple award wins for innovation.
2021 onwards: The idea for SiteVitals starts to take shape: a tool that watches over your website around the clock, so you don't need a technical team to stay on top of it.
2026: 18a is named one of Small Business Britain’s Nation’s Favourite Businesses, and SiteVitals opens up to small businesses, with a monthly Ask Me Anything clinic for members and a £2.50pm Essentials tier.

Why it matters

Real things that happen to real businesses.

We did not build SiteVitals around hypothetical problems. Every scenario below is something we have seen — or helped someone recover from.

A note on Technical SEO: AI-powered search is changing everything. LLMs are increasingly deciding which websites to surface — and they rely on your site being technically sound. SiteVitals helps make sure it is.

01 — Performance

The slow homepage nobody noticed

Someone uploads a beautiful new hero image — 4 MB, straight from their phone. Your load time triples. Your bounce rate climbs. Your ranking dips. Three weeks pass before anyone connects the dots.

02 — Domain

The domain that almost disappeared

A client nearly lost a 20-year-old domain because the renewal email went to an inbox nobody checked. SiteVitals flags expiry well in advance — so there is never anything to panic about.

03 — Security

The SSL certificate that did not renew

SSL certificates are supposed to auto-renew — and usually do. But sometimes they don't. Browsers show a "Not Secure" warning and visitors leave immediately. SiteVitals flags expiry before any visitor sees that warning.

04 — Search Rankings

The Google ranking that slipped away

Performance is a ranking signal. A site that loaded in 2 seconds but now takes 6 will gradually slide in search results — until you're wondering where all the enquiries went.

05 — Monitoring

The monthly audit that misses everything in between

A monthly check is a snapshot, not a story. A lot can go wrong in 30 days. Continuous monitoring gives a far more accurate picture — and SiteVitals costs less than an hour of developer time per month.

06 — Uptime

The site that went down on a Sunday

Without monitoring, the first person to know your site is down is often a customer who has already left. SiteVitals checks uptime around the clock and alerts you the moment something goes wrong.

07 — Asset Integrity

The broken page nobody could explain

A restaurant chain's site suddenly looked visually shattered. The culprit was a third-party font whose license had been exceeded. SiteVitals monitors external dependencies so these hidden failures get caught before a customer has to tell you.

08 — Change Intelligence

The change nobody remembered making

Something dropped in performance last Tuesday — but what changed? Log your own site events and when something shifts, you have a timeline to look back at. Forensics, not guesswork.

What SiteVitals does

Everything a watchful developer keeps an eye on.

SiteVitals is the always-on technical oversight you web portfolio deserves. Built for the overworked marketer, the non-techy agency account manager, and the founder who wears every hat.

What does SiteVitals monitor?

Who it's for

You don't need to be technical. That is the point.

We designed SiteVitals to be easy for everyone to understand, and genuinely think it can be useful whatever your level of technical knowledge.

01 — Great for agencies

The Freelancer or Web Agency

Managing multiple client websites? SiteVitals lets you monitor all of them in one place, share access and reports with clients, and stay ahead of issues before they land in your inbox. Whether you are a freelance web designer, an SEO agency, or a full-service studio, one SiteVitals account covers your whole client portfolio.

02 — Marketers

The Overstretched Marketer

You are responsible for the website but you are not a developer. SiteVitals gives you clear alerts you can act on - or hand straight to your agency. You can share reports or give your agency direct access to the dashboard, so they always have the context they need without you having to translate it.

03 — Individuals

The Sole Trader

You built your website, got on with your business, and now there are a hundred things more urgent than checking if it is still performing. SiteVitals watches so you do not have to - and when it does flag something, it gives you (or whoever you hand it to) exactly what is needed to get it fixed.

04 — Account Managers

The Agency Account Manager

Your clients expect you to know when something is wrong with their site. SiteVitals helps you get ahead of problems before they become awkward conversations.

05 — Developers

The In-House Developer

You know what to look for - you just cannot watch everything at once. Let SiteVitals handle the monitoring so you can stay focused on building.

06 — Small Businesses

The Growing Business

You are scaling, you are busy, and your website cannot be a liability. SiteVitals keeps an expert eye on things while you focus on the things only you can do.

07 — Charities

The Charity Team

Important work, limited resource. The last thing you need is a website issue eating your time and budget. We have worked with national charities for years - we understand the pressures.

The humans behind it

A small agency. A very long track record.

Lisa Freeman — Lisa

Co-founder Client Experience The Bridge

I started out as a freelance web designer and developer, which means that even though I am not deep in the code these days, I can still navigate a server, hold my own in any technical conversation, and - crucially - translate between developers and the clients who just need their website to work.

SiteVitals was my idea. After years of watching clients encounter the same avoidable problems - slow pages, expired domains, ranking dips nobody noticed - I wanted a tool that would catch it all before it became a crisis. Tom then got his geek on and he and the team made it even better than I had imagined.

I read every piece of client feedback that comes in and bring it back to the product - most of the features we have added have started with a real conversation, a real problem, or a near-miss we never wanted to see again.

Tom Freeman — Tom

Co-founder Lead Developer The Builder

I have been building websites and web applications for over two decades. In that time I have worked on everything from small business sites to platforms handling millions of visitors a day. My work has ranged from providing the technical foundation for established design agencies, to unravelling problems that appeared to have no clear way forward.

When Lisa came to me with the idea for SiteVitals, working out the right technical approach took real thought - the web never stops moving and neither do the problems it throws up. Then we kept extending it, because there was always one more thing businesses needed to know about their site and simply did not.

If there is a technical problem to solve, I will find the most elegant way to solve it. Then probably add three more features while I am there.

The business case

Spot problems early and save money.

Ask before you pay for a fix

Not sure if something needs a developer? Members can ask us at our monthly clinic, including whether a quote sounds fair, before spending a penny.

Avoid emergency developer costs

A broken form, failed checkout or sudden performance issue is much easier to deal with when you spot it early. SiteVitals helps you catch problems before they turn into urgent, expensive fixes.

Protect your SEO investment

A performance drop can undo months of SEO work. SiteVitals keeps you informed so you can put it right before it costs you rankings.

Why it’s £2.50 a month

Monitoring like this usually comes bundled into tools built for big companies, with prices to match. We’re a small team without big sales overheads, and we’ve always believed good tools shouldn’t only be for the Big Boys. So checking your site is up is free, and everything else starts at £2.50 a month when paid annually. A certificate renewal caught three weeks out is a five-minute job. The same issue discovered by a customer is a very different kind of afternoon.

Free

uptime monitoring

From £2.50

per month, paid annually

Get your free report, and
a look under the hood
while you're there

Put in your website address and you will get an instant health report covering SEO and AI readiness, security, integrity, content and performance. These are all the things which, if you then choose to subscribe, SiteVitals will keep an eye on for you and alert you if anything changes that you need to know about.