Short version: I design and build custom websites, usually in Astro, that load fast, read well to both people and search engines, and do not depend on a stack of plugins to stay alive.
What is wrong with most small-business sites
Almost every site I get asked to fix has the same three problems, and none of them are about taste.
- It is slow. A theme plus a page builder plus fifteen plugins means a homepage that takes six seconds on a phone. Most visitors are gone before the hero image resolves.
- It says nothing specific. "Quality service you can trust" is on ten thousand sites. It gives a visitor no reason to pick you, and gives Google nothing to rank.
- Nobody can find anything. The thing you actually sell is three clicks deep behind a menu built around your org chart instead of the visitor's question.
What I build instead
A site built around the handful of things a visitor is actually trying to do: understand what you sell, decide whether you are credible, and take one obvious next step.
- Custom design. Real typography and layout decisions, not a purchased theme with your logo dropped in.
- Fast by construction. Astro ships almost no JavaScript by default, so the page is fast because of how it is built, not because of a caching plugin patching over the problem.
- Structured for search and AI. Clean heading hierarchy, schema markup, a real sitemap, and pages that answer a question directly enough to be quoted by an AI assistant.
- Editable if you want it. A CMS when your team will use it, and no CMS when they will not.
Sites I have shipped
Darioo is a manufacturing company site plus an internal app, running live. Scott Greenleaf was a client rebuild. This site, busqueneil.com, is also mine, and you are reading it, so you can judge the work by the thing it is written on.
Browse the full list to see what shipped and what it does.
How the build runs
- One call. What you sell, who buys it, and what the site currently fails to do.
- Structure and copy first. Pages and words before pixels, because a beautiful layout wrapped around vague copy still does not convert.
- Design and build. You see it live on a real URL early and can redirect it while it is cheap to change.
- Launch. Domain, analytics, Search Console, sitemaps. Then it is yours.
What it costs to keep running
Usually very little. A static Astro site hosts free or nearly free on Vercel, there is no license to renew, and there is no plugin subscription stack. That is not a sales point so much as the reason I build this way: the cheapest site to own is the one with the fewest moving parts.
FAQ
How much does a custom website cost?
It depends on how many pages carry real work and whether you need copy written. A focused marketing site is the cheapest starting point; a site with a CMS, a blog, and location pages costs more. I quote per project after one call rather than posting a number that would be wrong for most people.
Do you use WordPress?
I work in WordPress when a client already lives there and the team needs to edit without a developer. For new builds I usually reach for Astro, because it ships far less JavaScript, loads faster, and does not need a monthly security-patch routine. I will recommend whichever one fits how your team actually works.
Will my site rank on Google?
A fast, well-structured site with real content is the floor, not the ceiling. I build clean technical SEO in from the start: proper headings, schema markup, fast Core Web Vitals, a real sitemap. Ranking beyond that depends on how competitive your market is and whether you keep publishing. I will tell you which one you are in.
Can I edit it myself afterward?
Yes, if you tell me that upfront so I wire in a CMS your team can use. If nobody on your side wants to touch it, I skip the CMS, which makes the site faster and cheaper, and you send me changes instead.
If you want a site that earns its keep, tell me about your business. If a single focused page is closer to what you need, read about landing pages instead.