Custom websites designed and coded from scratch, never from a template, by one person from first sketch to launch. Fast, search-ready and yours to own.
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Compare optionsMost websites fail before anyone reads a word. A visitor arrives, takes in the overall impression of the page in a second or two, and makes a judgment about whether this is a business worth engaging with. That judgment is based almost entirely on how the site looks and feels: the typography, the spacing, the colour, the sense of whether someone has thought carefully about this or just filled in a template.
Good web design is not decoration. It is the thing that determines whether a visitor stays or leaves, whether they trust what they are reading, and whether they take the action the site is trying to get them to take. A well-designed site does not just look better than a poorly designed one. It performs better.
The work I do treats design and function as the same thing. A site that looks right but does not convert is not a well-designed site. A site that converts but creates the wrong impression is not a well-designed site either. The goal is a site that does both: one that represents your business accurately, builds the right kind of trust, and moves visitors toward the outcome you actually need.
Creating my site was far less painful than I thought it would be. Mark accomplished the task professionally, efficiently and within the stated timescales.
Every project starts with a clear picture of what the site needs to achieve, who it needs to serve, and what success looks like in measurable terms. Design decisions follow from that, not from personal preference or trend.
Whether you have an existing brand that needs to be applied consistently online or you are starting from scratch, the design work begins with understanding what your business stands for and how that should translate visually. Typography, colour, spacing and imagery are chosen deliberately, not assembled from defaults.
How a page is structured determines what a visitor pays attention to and what they do next. Every page is designed with a clear hierarchy (what the visitor needs to understand first, second and third) and a natural path toward the action the page is designed to prompt.
Every site is designed to work correctly across all devices. Mobile is not an afterthought or a stripped-down version of the desktop site. Both experiences are designed intentionally and tested properly.
Design and development are handled by the same person. There is no handoff between a designer who produces visuals and a developer who interprets them. What is designed is what gets built, without the usual round of compromises and approximations that happen when the two disciplines are separated.
A well-designed site that loads slowly is not a well-designed site. Performance is built in from the start (optimised images, clean code, correct caching), not bolted on at the end. markexcell.co.uk scores in the top band of Google's PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals tests on both mobile and desktop.
Design decisions affect search visibility. Page structure, heading hierarchy, semantic HTML, internal linking and page speed all influence how search engines understand and rank a site. These considerations are built into the design process rather than addressed as a separate concern after the site is live.
Both are designed and coded from scratch, never from a template. The difference is whether you want to edit the site yourself. Every project gets a fixed, written quote, with no VAT to add.
The fastest, simplest option, with no content management system to look after or keep updated. Ideal when your content rarely changes.
A custom WordPress theme written from scratch, for businesses that want to publish and edit their own content without page-builder bloat.
Both include hosting set up in your name. Branding, larger sites and ongoing support are quoted to suit what you need.
Looking locally? See web design in Witney or web design across Oxfordshire.
Three live concept websites for typical Oxfordshire businesses, each designed around what that kind of customer needs to see before they get in touch. Try them on your phone.
ConceptTrades: a roofer in Witney
Built for someone with a leak who needs help now. The phone number is the biggest thing on the page, and on a phone a call button stays on screen.
ConceptProfessional services: a law firm in Oxford
Calm and trustworthy, with fees published in full the way the SRA’s transparency rules require, so visitors know the cost before they call.
ConceptHealth: a physiotherapy clinic in Witney
A “Where does it hurt?” guide answers the visitor’s first question, then leads straight to booking an assessment.
These are concept websites for fictional businesses, designed and coded from scratch to show my approach. None of the businesses is real.
Their expensive, agency-built website was rebuilt and moved to more affordable hosting, cutting their costs by 90%.
Pennies from Heaven can highly recommend Mark to any company wanting to grow or expand its reach. We have always been impressed by the very high-quality service we have received and in particular the focus on security.
This work suits businesses at a particular point: where the website is either holding them back or where they recognise that a better-designed site would meaningfully change how they are perceived and how many enquiries they receive. The clients I work with best are typically:
If you are not sure whether a full redesign is what you need or whether targeted improvements would achieve more, that is worth talking through before committing to anything. A short conversation usually makes it clear which approach makes sense.
Twenty minutes on your business, your goals and your current website.
A written price for the agreed scope. It only changes if the scope does.
You see and approve the design before it is built, and stay involved throughout.
Live on hosting in your name, with training if it runs on WordPress.
Certified in
Including a hand-coded HTML website for a national trade association, and HTML email templates.
Global trade publication
Rebuilt for about a tenth of the original cost, with its global ranking lifted from around 1,150,000 to 229,000.
Read the case studyWork completed while running my previous business. Client names are withheld. All case studies
A conversation about your business, your current site and what you are trying to achieve is the right starting point. From there it becomes clear relatively quickly what the right approach looks like and whether there is a good fit.
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