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"Hello, I used to use both Wix and Wordpress but found Square Space, have been building sites in it for 6 months and not had a problem and Google loves it."

Actually Alan, that is not entirely true...

• Alt Tags and Meta Descriptions on images are placed on the screen as opposed to in the back end, something Google doesn't like.
• No 301 redirects when changing URL's, something Google also doesn't like. (Yes you can manually redirect pages but the majority of people forget to do this which has a detrimental effect on your ranking)
• No built-in SEO checking, meaning that users will have to use external services to monitor the SEO properties of their pages (something the majority of people have no idea about).  Bad on page SEO = Detrimental effect on rankings
• Unable to edit rich snippet information without uploading to the Data Highlighting Tool from Google (again something the average user will not have a clue about)
• Unable to change URLS for a cleaner presentation.

The bottom line is that the things that SquareSpace shorts out on are the exact things that cause detrimental effects to the SEO of a site or page.  Unfortunately, with services like SquareSpace, there is little you can do to rectify the situation unless the provider deems that it needs to change it themselves.

These code free websites such as Wix, SquareSpace, Weebly etc all look good from the outside, and do a lot of things right, however, if you ever need to scratch the surface or tweak things, particularly in regards to SEO, then you soon find out their limitations.

I am in the process of creating a full comparison matrix which I am going to include with other resources so that people can make informed choices about the services they choose to use, instead of going on the "it works for me" brigade who in all honesty usually have very little knowledge themselves.

"It was a web designer that recommended Wix"

Nearly spat my tea out at that one.  No web designer worth their salt would recommend Wix as a platform for any business website I m afraid.  

Although it might seem to tick all the right boxes, the fact is that it is a confined environment and you are limited to what you can do with it.  Great for a simple website, but if you want to add extra functionality, then you will hit the buffers.

Wordpress is a pain in the bum, there is no denying it, but its flexibility is what has made it popular.  Stick with it, there are loads of tutorials online and endless forums and facebook groups for one to one help.

I would suggest that you, and the majority of web design services vying for the same clients, spread themselves too wide when trying to target customers and end up not targetting a few if any.

Finding your niche and then your ideal client is really the only way to stand out from the crowd in an already crowded marketplace, where the race to the bottom is more prevalent than the quality of the work being offered.

As for your questions, I'd start by asking your previous and current customers, after all, they have spent money with you in the past and are better informed with regards to your services and performance.

On a personal note, if I were to be looking at hiring a web designer for my own business, I would put the requirement of the firm to want to know my business and what I am trying to accomplish along with how the website would fit in with my overall marketing efforts, over and above the cost of your services and what extras you could bolt on.  

But that's just me

I think your problem is going to be making yourself stand out among all of the other agencies in London. 

I know Notting Hill very well, and the amount of hipser agencies that have come about in the past few years is ridiculous!  Googlemaps, Facebook, Twitter etc will not help you due to your location and the saturation of services in London as a whole.

I assume you have done some research so what is your ideal client and where do they currently go to get their services? What are they after particularly? What problems can you solve for them that other agencies cannot?

Think about who you are marketing to, let's start there. I can help going forward but need to know where you are in the process first.

Regards