Provider facts
What does Steel Cap Digital charge, and what do you get?
Disclosure: Appear is run by creativebyjake, which appears in this comparison. Every fact is from each provider's own pages with the date we read them, ours included.
Steel Cap Digital (Newcastle NSW: "Based in" "Newcastle, NSW"; "Happy to grab a coffee if you're local." No street address shown (contact page).): Fixed prices from $800, SEO built in at no monthly cost, and a former plumber who says plainly he has one case study so far. Below is everything its own pages say about price and packages, read 13 Oct 2026, with each source linked.
Steel Cap Digital, from its own pages
Named by: ChatGPT (8 Oct) for "affordable website for a tradie in Australia".
- Website price shown
- "Tier 01: Starter" "$800" "fixed price, once"; "Tier 02: Professional" "$1,800" "fixed price, once (hosting setup included)"; "Tier 03: Enterprise" "$3,500" "fixed price, once (full setup included)". Deposits: "Pay $900 Deposit - Start Today" (Professional), "Pay $1,750 Deposit - Start Today" (Enterprise). Starter to Professional: "just pay the $1,000 difference". No GST note on the pages read.
steelcapdigital.com.au/websites - What a build includes
- Starter: 8 to 10 pages ("home, about, services, contact and more"), "All content written for you", "Mobile-first design, loads fast", "SEO basics: titles, meta, schema", "Contact form with email forwarding", "Google listing setup guidance", "Unlimited reasonable changes". Professional: "10 suburb / service-area landing pages", "Google Business Profile setup (done for you)", "5 SEO blog posts written", "One interactive tool (quote estimator or quiz)", "Schema markup throughout", "Google Search Console + sitemap submitted", "Hosting setup included". Enterprise: "20+ suburb landing pages", 8 to 10 blog posts, "Both estimator & quiz tools", "Gallery / project portfolio", "Full domain, hosting, SSL and email setup", "Month 1 Hosting & Support included free", "Google Business Profile setup ($385 value) included", "Conversion tracking + GA4 analytics access ($475 value) included".
steelcapdigital.com.au/websites - Ongoing fees
- Managed plans: "Basic" "$120" "per month, cancel anytime" ("Website hosting managed", "Security and uptime monitoring", "1 SEO blog post per month", "Minor text updates (up to 1hr)", "Priority email support"); "Growth" "$220" ("2 SEO blog posts per month", "Up to 3hrs content / page updates", "Quarterly SEO check and report", "Priority phone and email support"). "DIY Option" "Free" "guide included with your build": "Cloudflare Pages is free for static sites, and you'll only pay for your domain (~$15/year)." "Cancel anytime. No minimum term. Switch plans anytime."
steelcapdigital.com.au/hosting-support - Local SEO or marketing
- SEO is in the build price: "SEO built in. Not an add-on."; "Do I pay monthly for SEO?" "No. SEO is built into the site from day one. Not an ongoing cost." Lead Engine (Google Business Profile setup plus conversion tracking): "$750 once, or free in Enterprise builds." Google Ads: "Free setup · 20% of spend". No AI search (GEO) service shown on the pages read.
steelcapdigital.com.au - Platform
- Hand-coded static site, as stated: "Every site I build uses plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript." Comparison table: "Static HTML/CSS, no plugins to break". "No WordPress, no templates, no plugins to break."
steelcapdigital.com.au/websites - Named person
- One person, Shannon White: "I'm Shannon, the bloke behind Steel Cap Digital. I'm a former plumber." "My day job is Google Ads". "One person. Direct line. No handovers".
steelcapdigital.com.au/about - Reviews on its own site
- Testimonials only, both from one client, "Nate McRae" of "Nate's Rates Electrical - Wallsend": "That looks so good mate!" and "I called 10 other places and the cheapest price I got was 8 grand." No Google rating or review count shown on the pages read.
steelcapdigital.com.au - Example builds
- One case study: "Nate's Rates Electrical", "Electrician · Wallsend, Newcastle", "Enterprise build. 52 pages built from scratch, including 20 suburb landing pages, service pages, interactive tools, blog content and full schema markup." "One case study in the portfolio right now."
steelcapdigital.com.au/work - Page for tradies
- The whole site is for tradies. Websites page title: "Tradie Websites Newcastle | From $800 | Steel Cap Digital" at /websites. Service area named on every page: "Newcastle, Maitland, Port Stephens & Hunter Valley."
steelcapdigital.com.au/websites - Based
- Newcastle NSW: "Based in" "Newcastle, NSW"; "Happy to grab a coffee if you're local." No street address shown (contact page).
steelcapdigital.com.au/contact
Other things its pages say
- "Steel Cap is new. Nate was the first client. That's the only case study on this site right now." steelcapdigital.com.au
- Home page tier card for Starter reads "5-page site · quote form · fast turnaround" (the websites page lists 8 to 10 pages for Starter) steelcapdigital.com.au
- Hosting FAQ: "First year is included. After that it's $120/month for Basic or $220/month for Growth" steelcapdigital.com.au
- "Worked in the trades"; "Built by Shannon. One person."; "Fixed price from $800. No surprises."; "Live in 3-14 days." steelcapdigital.com.au
- Lead Engine line items: "Google Business Profile Setup" "$385"; "Conversion Tracking + Analytics Access" "$475"; "Bought separately: $860. Bundle: $750." steelcapdigital.com.au/lead-engine
- Google Ads: "Setting up Google Ads properly usually costs $500" to "$1,500 elsewhere. I do it free." "No separate management fee. If you spend $1,000 on ads this month, you pay me $200." steelcapdigital.com.au/google-ads
- "Every site I build targets WCAG 2.2 AA from the first line of HTML." steelcapdigital.com.au/about
- "ABN: 73 351 134 947" steelcapdigital.com.au
Is Steel Cap Digital right for you?
Best for: Newcastle and Hunter tradies who want a hand-coded site with SEO built in and one person to deal with.
Worth asking them: how many pages the Starter has (one page says 5, another 8 to 10) and about hosting after the first year ($120 or $220 a month).
How does creativebyjake compare?
creativebyjake runs this site, so read this as our side of it. Same date, same kind of source.
| Steel Cap Digital | creativebyjake (ours) | |
|---|---|---|
| Website price shown | "Tier 01: Starter" "$800" "fixed price, once"; "Tier 02: Professional" "$1,800" "fixed price, once (hosting setup included)"; "Tier 03: Enterprise" "$3,500" "fixed price, once (full setup included)". Deposits: "Pay $900 Deposit - Start Today" (Professional), "Pay $1,750 Deposit - Start Today" (Enterprise). Starter to Professional: "just pay the $1,000 difference". No GST note on the pages read. steelcapdigital.com.au/websites | $500 + GST for a two-page site, paid once; going live on a domain in the client's own name is $100 plus the domain's own fees creativebyjake.com.au/tradie-websites/ |
| Ongoing fees | Managed plans: "Basic" "$120" "per month, cancel anytime" ("Website hosting managed", "Security and uptime monitoring", "1 SEO blog post per month", "Minor text updates (up to 1hr)", "Priority email support"); "Growth" "$220" ("2 SEO blog posts per month", "Up to 3hrs content / page updates", "Quarterly SEO check and report", "Priority phone and email support"). "DIY Option" "Free" "guide included with your build": "Cloudflare Pages is free for static sites, and you'll only pay for your domain (~$15/year)." "Cancel anytime. No minimum term. Switch plans anytime." steelcapdigital.com.au/hosting-support | Maintenance at $50 + GST a month, no contract, two weeks' notice to stop; hosting: not stated on its pages creativebyjake.com.au/tradie-websites/ |
| Local SEO or marketing | SEO is in the build price: "SEO built in. Not an add-on."; "Do I pay monthly for SEO?" "No. SEO is built into the site from day one. Not an ongoing cost." Lead Engine (Google Business Profile setup plus conversion tracking): "$750 once, or free in Enterprise builds." Google Ads: "Free setup · 20% of spend". No AI search (GEO) service shown on the pages read. steelcapdigital.com.au | Appear at $250 + GST a month: the Google listing kept up, details matched across directories, a review kit, a local page every second month, Maps read weekly and AI answers monthly; Appear and maintenance together are $300 a month including GST creativebyjake.com.au/appear/ |
| Reviews on its own site | Testimonials only, both from one client, "Nate McRae" of "Nate's Rates Electrical - Wallsend": "That looks so good mate!" and "I called 10 other places and the cheapest price I got was 8 grand." No Google rating or review count shown on the pages read. steelcapdigital.com.au | Not shown on the pages read creativebyjake.com.au |
| Example builds | One case study: "Nate's Rates Electrical", "Electrician · Wallsend, Newcastle", "Enterprise build. 52 pages built from scratch, including 20 suburb landing pages, service pages, interactive tools, blog content and full schema markup." "One case study in the portfolio right now." steelcapdigital.com.au/work | Example builds for made-up businesses, labelled as such: Pipeworth Plumbing Co. and Brushmore Painting Co. creativebyjake.com.au/tradie-websites/ |
Worth asking us: about how new it is: its examples are builds for made-up businesses and its site shows no reviews, so ask Jake for a call and judge for yourself.
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