We're an SEO agency first. We build websites because we got tired of spending 20% of every SEO retainer fixing sites that couldn't rank. So we build them properly from day one, fast, structured, ready to earn traffic the moment they go live.
To keep our website fast, some of the images are scaled down. Feel free to visit the live websites for the full experience.
Web design portfolio · Bristol
Seven builds across trades, professional services, consumer brands, and personal brands, all built to rank. Each card links through to a full case study with the brief, the build, and the result.
Emergency-ready site built for the local pack and "plumber near me" traffic. Service-area pages, booking CTAs throughout, structured for review snippets and local schema from day one.
Read the full case study → Full rebuild to unpick an older site that was never built to rank. SEO structure baked in; page templates purpose-built for service and location pages, and a new visual language that's now holding up three years in.
Read the full case study →Rebuild for a specialist firm who'd outgrown the site they inherited. Cleaner information architecture, typography-led design, built to convert the buyers the firm actually wanted.
Read the full case study → Consumer-facing site for a homewares and outdoor living brand. Category-led architecture, product storytelling, and a content structure that compounds as the catalogue grows.
Read the full case study → Portfolio-led site for a creative studio. Deliberately pared-back layouts, built so the work itself has room to land. A small site, done carefully.
Read the full case study →Marketing site for a B2B SaaS product. Hard focus on the two pages that drive trials, clean supporting content so marketing can ship pages without engineering.
Read the full case study → Why SEO-first web design
Most web design agencies build what looks good in the mockup and treat ranking as someone else's problem. That's fine, until the site goes live, the traffic doesn't come, and an SEO agency gets called in to retrofit a site that was never built for it.
We've done the retrofitting. It's slow, expensive, and half the time it requires ripping up templates the client just paid for. So we build sites the way we wish other agencies did.
Service and location pages built as templates, not one-offs. Schema, internal linking, and URL structure are all in the first draft, not bolted on later.
Core Web Vitals green on launch, not something an SEO audit has to flag six months later. We run Lighthouse on every page before handover.
Page templates your team can reuse. Adding a new service or service area is a half-hour job, not a new quote.
Calls-to-action above the fold, trust signals in the right places, forms that actually get filled. Ranking #1 for a term nobody clicks isn't a win.
Our web design process
Most marketing sites take 3–6 weeks from kickoff to live. Larger builds (lots of service/location pages, integrations, content writing) run 8–10. Here's what happens when.
Week 1
What you sell, to whom, where. What's already working. Keyword research done before design starts.
Week 1–2
Mockups of key pages. Not style tiles: real pages, real content, real structure.
Week 2–4
Development in WordPress. Content migrated or written. SEO structure built in, not bolted on.
Week 4–5
Core Web Vitals, mobile, every form, every link. Lighthouse report shared with you before launch.
Week 5–6
Migration, redirects, Search Console setup, analytics. Training for your team. You're never locked in.
60 days after
Anything that breaks or needs tweaking in the first 60 days, we fix it, no charge.
Timeline is indicative, not a promise. Complex scopes run longer. We quote the real timeline against the real scope on the video review.
Portfolio above covers the look. These reviews are about the build itself: timelines, handover, and whether it actually ranks.
Richard helped my local business through his expertise in SEO and digital advertising. We focused mostly on SEO, where we did a complete analysis of my current efforts, goals, and how to get there. He and his firm are not only knowledgeable, they find a way to deliver their advice in an easy to digest, understandable, way.…
Read full review on Google
Fantastic support throughout setting up and transitioning our digital services to Arken. Have used other companies before and would highly recommend Arken Digital. Thanks for all your expert help and knowledge.
Read full review on Google
Amazing support. Richard was a real lifesaver when we had to change our email and web provider. He went above and beyond and made sure everything was working correctly and even took time out to come down face to face to check our devices. Highly recommend, so glad we found him and will use him for all our IT support.…
Read full review on Google
Been using Richard since we started the business. Can’t rate him enough, built our website and maintains it for us. Helps you at a drop of a hat. Also got us ranked on first page on google within first couple months of us starting.
Read full review on GoogleRichard listened to my ideas and vision for my website. His attention to detail is amazing. Communication is key for me and the flow of communication was excellent. My website is exactly what I imagined. Minimal, simple and professional. I would highly recommend Richard. Thankyou.
Read full review on GoogleEvery now and then, you leave a five-star review because you’ve had a good experience, but this time, I genuinely cannot fault Richard and the entire team at Arkin Digital for the incredible work they have done on our website.…
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I wasn’t have much luck finding an SEO specialist who was honest, upfront and willing to put the hard work, time and effort in to my website to help me achieve a high organic listing. Then I met Richard and Lucas at Arken Digital. Their subject knowledge is incredible.…
Read full review on GoogleRichard has been hosting my business page for many years now. He’s professional, affordable and always quick to respond to any queries I may have. Highly recommended 👌👌
Read full review on GoogleVery happy indeed with the new website, it looks fantastic. Richard was great to work with, very attentive and went the extra mile in helping me to set up emails, Adwords etc. Would thoroughly recommend Richard's services, I'll be back to him again if I ever need more help with web design or SEO.
Read full review on GoogleWeb design pricing · Bristol
Every build is quoted against real scope: how many pages, how much content to write, how many integrations, what SEO groundwork needs doing alongside it. Packages only exist to make agencies' margins look clean.
What to expect
Marketing & lead-gen sites from
£3,000 typical £3k–£8k + VAT
Larger sites with lots of service/location pages or custom integrations can go higher. We'll tell you what we think on the video review before either of us commits.
Terms 30% upfront · 30% at first draft · 40% at launch
After launch
Every build comes with training so you (or your team) can update the site without us. You get the keys, the documentation, and enough walkthrough video to change a page header without a support ticket.
If you'd rather not touch it, we offer hosting and maintenance as a care plan. If you'd rather run it yourself or use your own host, that's fine too, we'll just hand over a clean site and get out of the way.
You host it. We train you. You own everything. No ongoing costs from us after handover.
We host, maintain, run updates, fix what breaks. Small retainer, month-to-month, quoted against scope. No lock-in.
What we don't do
Naming the no-goes early saves both of us a call.
WordPress, for the vast majority of builds. It's what we know best, it's what most clients can maintain themselves afterwards, and it gives us complete control of the SEO structure. We don't build on Wix or Squarespace.
3–6 weeks for a standard marketing site. 8–10 weeks for larger builds with lots of pages, integrations, or content to write from scratch. Specific timeline quoted against your real scope on the video review.
The build itself does the on-page SEO and technical foundations: structure, speed, schema, internal linking, redirects. That gets you the groundwork. Ongoing ranking (content, authority, the work that keeps moving the site up) is what our SEO retainers do. Many clients start with the build and roll into a retainer. You don't have to.
Yes. We can scope in content writing for any or all pages. Told upfront what's yours and what's ours so there are no surprises.
You'll need hosting (we can help). Everything else is optional. Care plan if you want it; nothing if you don't. No lock-in.
You can. Every build includes handover training for your team. You'll be able to edit pages, add blog posts, update copy. If you'd rather we do it, we'll do it without charging an arm and a leg.
Small scope, yes. Full brand identity work, no. We'll introduce you to a branding partner and come in to build the site once the identity's settled.
No. Most of our clients are, but we build for clients across the UK and internationally (see the portfolio). The Bristol framing on this page is because it's how local prospects find us.
Submit your site (or tell us you haven't got one yet). Richard records a 15-minute video with what we'd rebuild, what we'd keep, and what the site would look like if it were built to rank from day one. No pitch.
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