# Marbl Codes: the full guide > Web design, build and management studio in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK. We design and code websites from a blank page on WordPress or Astro, look after them month to month, and help them get found by people and by AI assistants. Trading name of MEM Digital Limited. The routine work is done by Serene [AI], an AI colleague built on Claude by Anthropic; Richard Bland, founder, reviews and decides. The short map is https://marbl.codes/llms.txt. This file is the detail, built from the site's own pages each time it is published. Every price is in pounds sterling and excludes VAT. ## How to cite us - Name: Marbl Codes (a trading name of MEM Digital Limited), Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK. - Link the page the fact came from; each section below gives its URL. - Prices change: quote the figure with the pricing page, https://marbl.codes/pricing. - Contact: https://marbl.codes/contact ## Monthly plans ### Marbl Sites: from £200 a month Your website, done for you: designed, built, hosted and managed by us, with your requests handled through our support channels by Serene [AI] and reviewed by a human. Ideal for startups and small businesses. Nothing to pay upfront. 12-month minimum, then month to month. Included: - Single website - Choice of Astro or WordPress - Domain, hosting and mailbox - Designed, built and managed - Security, backups, live monitoring - Weekly change request - Access to Serene [AI] - Site is yours after the minimum term ### Marbl Studio: £800 a month Our time as your digital partner: design, build and management of your website or online store as it grows, and general help with the digital side of your business. Hosting and other services, like SEO and paid ads, are billed separately. 12-month minimum, then month to month. Included: - Management of your site or store - Website or online store - Design and build as you grow - Content and campaign pages - Ongoing digital support - Priority change requests - Monthly plan and report - Richard and Serene [AI] on hand ### Marbl Stewardship: £1,600 a month We’re your web, AI and digital partner. Everything in Studio, with the scope for additional development across your digital presence within our fair-use policy. 12-month minimum, then month to month. Included: - Everything in Marbl Studio - Additional sites and builds - AI, automation and integrations - Strategy, reviewed with you - Your digital partner, not a supplier - Answered the same working day - Direct line to Richard - Room to grow within fair use ### Plan questions - Q: What does "from £200 a month" include? A: One website, on Astro or WordPress, designed, built, hosted and managed by us. The domain, hosting and a mailbox on your domain are in the price, so are security, backups and monitoring. There is nothing to pay upfront. - Q: Is there a minimum term? A: Yes, 12 months, then it continues month to month and either of us can end it with 30 days’ notice. If you leave during the first year the remaining months stay payable, billed monthly as they would have been, and the site is handed over with the last payment. There is no separate exit charge. - Q: Who owns the website? A: You do. The design, the copy, the images and an export of the site are yours, and the handover is included. We keep the licence to our own plugins and tooling, which is the normal arrangement, and we will say which pieces those are before you sign. - Q: How do change requests work? A: On Marbl Sites you send a request through our support channels, Serene [AI] plans and does the work, and a human reviews it before it goes live. Requests are handled one at a time, in order. Marbl Studio and Marbl Stewardship move you ahead of that queue and add a monthly plan, so the work is agreed before the month starts rather than asked for piecemeal. - Q: What separates Marbl Studio from Stewardship? A: Marbl Studio is ongoing support across your web and digital presence: your website or online store managed, design and build as the site grows, and general help with the digital side of your business. Marbl Stewardship is everything in Studio with us as your web, AI and digital partner: AI, automation and integrations, a strategy we review with you, and room for additional development within our fair-use policy. On both, hosting and other services such as SEO and paid ads are billed separately. - Q: Can I move between plans? A: Moving up is a conversation, any time. If your requests regularly go beyond the plan you are on, we tell you in writing before we do the work and you choose: reschedule it, have it quoted separately, or move to the next plan. We never add charges you have not agreed to. - Q: Does a plan cover more than one website? A: Plans are built around one website. Marbl Stewardship has room for additional developments, agreed with you as part of the monthly plan rather than as separate projects. If you run several sites, that is the conversation to have. - Q: What isn’t included? A: Third-party platform and licence costs, for example an e-commerce platform plan or a premium plugin, advertising spend, and third-party AI usage. Where we arrange them for you we pass them through at cost plus a 10% management fee, shown separately and agreed first. Specialist work such as video and photography is quoted separately. - Q: Can you just look after our existing website? A: Yes. Website maintenance starts at £80 a month and content management at £160 a month, with hosting as its own line from £40 a month. If what you need regularly goes beyond that, we will talk to you about a plan rather than adding charges. - Q: How quickly do you respond? A: We acknowledge every request the same working day. Routine changes are turned around within two working days, and anything bigger gets a date agreed with you before we start. ## Individual services and prices - Hosting, domains and email: from £40/month (https://marbl.codes/services/hosting-domains-email) - Marbl Sites: from £200/month (https://marbl.codes/services/websites) - Bespoke WordPress: from £4,000 (https://marbl.codes/services/websites) - Bespoke Astro: from £4,000 (https://marbl.codes/services/websites) - E-commerce theme builds: from £8,000 (https://marbl.codes/services/ecommerce) - Bespoke e-commerce builds: from £16,000 (https://marbl.codes/services/ecommerce) - Web applications: from £8,000 (https://marbl.codes/services/web-applications) - Touchscreen experience design: from £1,250 (https://marbl.codes/services/touchscreen-experiences) - Touchscreen kiosk hire: from £195/event (https://marbl.codes/services/touchscreen-experiences) - SEO, AEO and Google Business Profile: Quoted (https://marbl.codes/services/seo) - Google and social advertising (PPC): Quoted (https://marbl.codes/services/marketing) - Email marketing: Quoted (https://marbl.codes/services/marketing) - Digital platform support: Quoted (https://marbl.codes/services/web-applications) - Website maintenance: from £80/month (https://marbl.codes/services/website-maintenance) - Website management: from £160/month (https://marbl.codes/services/website-management) ## Services in detail ### Websites https://marbl.codes/services/websites Price: from £4,000 +VAT, plus VAT. Bespoke build on WordPress or Astro. Or from £200 a month, fully managed, on Marbl Sites. Designed and coded from a blank page, on WordPress or Astro. Bespoke builds from £4,000 plus VAT, or managed on Marbl Sites from £200 a month. - Q: WordPress or Astro, which should I choose? A: WordPress when you or your team will edit content often, need a shop, or want a large plugin ecosystem. Astro when the site is content-shaped and speed, security and low running costs matter most. We build both from a blank page and we will recommend one after hearing how you work, not before. - Q: How much does a bespoke website cost? A: Bespoke builds on WordPress or Astro start at £4,000 plus VAT, and the price for your site is written down after a first conversation, before any work starts. If you would rather pay monthly, Marbl Sites includes design, build, hosting and management from £200 a month with nothing upfront. - Q: How long does a website take to build? A: It depends on the size of the site and how ready the content is, which is usually what sets the pace. We agree the timeline in writing with the price, before anything is built, and you see progress on a staging link throughout. - Q: Do you use templates or themes? A: No. Every site is designed for the business it belongs to and coded by us. Our industry nemesis is the $69 theme sold as bespoke, and our ethos page explains why we will never do that. - Q: Will I own the website? A: Yes. The design, the code we write for you, the copy, the images and the domain are yours. We keep the licence to our own reusable tooling and we tell you which pieces those are before you sign. - Q: Do you work outside Northamptonshire? A: Yes. Most of our clients are in Wellingborough, Northampton, Daventry and the surrounding towns, and we work with businesses across the UK by video call. The process is the same. ### E-commerce https://marbl.codes/services/ecommerce Price: from £8,000 +VAT, plus VAT. Our own theme on a shop platform. Fully bespoke shops from £16,000. Hosting and management are separate monthly lines. Shops on WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce or SureCart from £8,000 plus VAT, and bespoke Stripe shops from £16,000. We host and look after every one. - Q: WooCommerce or Shopify for a small business? A: WooCommerce when you want to own the whole shop, keep monthly platform fees down and have room for custom features. Shopify when you want a hosted platform that handles more of the running for you and are comfortable with its monthly plan and transaction model. We build on both and will recommend one after understanding your products, your volume and who will run the shop day to day. - Q: How much does an e-commerce website cost? A: A shop on WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce or SureCart, with a theme we design and build for you, starts at £8,000 plus VAT. A fully bespoke shop, a website with its own basket and checkout connected to Stripe and built on Astro or similar, starts at £16,000 plus VAT. We never install a bought theme. The price for your shop is written down after a first conversation, before any work starts. Platform plans, premium extensions and payment fees are third-party costs, passed through at cost plus a 10% management fee and agreed first. - Q: Can my shop and my till share the same stock? A: Yes. For Battlefield Hobbies we built a bespoke till that sells from the same stock as the website, so a product sold at the counter is no longer available online a moment later. Whether that is a bespoke build or an integration with an existing till depends on what you use now. - Q: Can you move my shop from another platform? A: Yes. Products, customers and order history can usually be migrated, with redirects so the pages Google already knows keep their rankings. We plan the migration in writing and test it on a staging copy before switching over. - Q: Who looks after the shop once it is live? A: We do, month to month. Website maintenance starts at £80 a month, with hosting as its own line from £40 a month. On Marbl Studio and Marbl Stewardship the shop is covered as part of the plan. - Q: Do you build bespoke online shops? A: Yes. A fully bespoke shop is a website with its own basket and checkout, connected to Stripe and built on Astro or similar, with no shop platform underneath. It suits businesses who want the fastest possible shop and no platform plan to pay every month. ### Web applications https://marbl.codes/services/web-applications Price: from £8,000 +VAT, plus VAT. Every application is scoped and priced in writing before the build starts. Software your business uses in a browser, such as a booking system, client portal or internal tool. Scoped with you first, from £8,000 plus VAT. - Q: What counts as a web application? A: Anything your business or your customers use in a browser to do something rather than just read. Booking systems, client portals, member areas, jobs boards, tills and point of sale, quoting tools, dashboards and internal admin tools are all web applications. If you are copying information between spreadsheets by hand, there is often an application waiting to be built. - Q: How much does a bespoke web application cost? A: Web applications start at £8,000 plus VAT. What yours costs depends on what it does, so it is quoted in writing after a scoping conversation. We always price the smallest useful version first, so you can see it working before committing to the rest. - Q: Should I build bespoke or buy software? A: Buy it if good software already does the job. Build when the off-the-shelf options force the business to work around them, charge per user in a way that punishes growth, or cannot talk to the systems you already have. We will tell you honestly if an existing product is the better answer. - Q: Who owns the application? A: You own the code we write for you and your data. We keep the licence to our own reusable tooling and say which pieces those are before you sign, which is the normal arrangement. - Q: Do you use AI to build applications? A: Yes, as part of how we work. Serene [AI] drafts, checks and tests alongside us, and every line that ships is reviewed by a person. It makes the work faster. It does not change who is responsible for it. - Q: How do you stop projects running away? A: By scoping them properly and starting small. We agree a written scope, build the smallest version that proves it works, and put it in front of the people who will use it. Each step is agreed before it starts, so there are no surprise invoices. ### Hosting, domains and email https://marbl.codes/services/hosting-domains-email Price: from £40 /month +VAT, plus VAT. Shared hosting. Private hosting is £60 a month. Pay yearly and save two months. Domains from £20 a year. Managed hosting on Krystal or Cloudflare from £40 a month plus VAT, with domains from £20 a year. Hosting is included in Marbl Sites. - Q: How much does website hosting cost? A: Managed shared hosting is £40 a month or £400 a year, and managed private hosting is £60 a month or £600 a year, both plus VAT. Paying yearly saves two months. Both cover SSL, security, backups and monitoring. Domains are from £20 a year. Hosting is included in Marbl Sites, and is a separate line on everything else. - Q: How do shared and private hosting differ? A: Both are managed by us. On shared hosting your site sits on a server alongside other client websites we look after. Private hosting is a hosting package that is just yours, not shared with our other clients. We recommend the one that suits your site and quote accordingly. - Q: Who hosts my website? A: We use two suppliers and pick the one that suits the site. Most of the websites we build and manage are hosted with Krystal, an independent UK host running LiteSpeed web servers on 100% renewable energy. Cloudflare is for specific builds that need its global network, which serves a site from more than 330 cities, including London. We always tell you where your website lives. - Q: Why not go direct to the host? A: You can, and it would cost a little less. What you pay us for is everything on top of the server, which is our time managing the site, AI-based support and monitoring that spots problems early, and one team to talk to when something needs doing. We are open about who we use, so there are no secrets about where your money goes. - Q: Can you move my website to your hosting? A: Yes. We copy the site, test it on our hosting, then switch the domain over at a quiet moment so visitors and email are not interrupted. If the site needs work before it can move safely, we tell you first. - Q: Do I own my domain? A: Yes. The domain is yours. We manage the renewal and the DNS so you do not have to, and if you ever leave we hand it over to you. - Q: Can you set up email on my own domain? A: Yes. We set up Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, move existing mailboxes where needed, and configure the records that prove your email is really from you, which is what keeps it out of spam. The Workspace or 365 licence is billed by the provider. - Q: Do you monitor my site for problems? A: Yes. We know when a site is down or slow, usually before you do, and we fix it. ### Touchscreen experiences https://marbl.codes/services/touchscreen-experiences Price: from £1,250 +VAT, plus VAT. The design is a one-off fee. Kiosk hire starts at £195 per event, and stands and delivery are priced separately. A branded touchscreen for trade shows and events, for lead capture, quizzes or a till. Design from £1,250 plus VAT, then £195 per event to hire. - Q: How much does touchscreen hire cost? A: Kiosk hire starts at £195 plus VAT per event, and the design of the experience is a one-off fee from £1,250 plus VAT. Stands, and delivery outside our local area, are priced on top. Because the design is only paid once, every show after the first costs the hire and the delivery alone. - Q: What can a touchscreen experience do? A: Anything a visitor can do by touching a screen. The common ones are email and lead capture, quizzes and games with a leaderboard, product finders and configurators, show guides and maps, feedback forms and simple tills for selling at an event. If it runs in a web browser, it can run on the kiosk. - Q: Does it need wifi or an internet connection? A: No. The kiosk is built to work offline, because exhibition hall wifi cannot be relied on. Everything a visitor enters is stored safely on the device and sent on as soon as a connection is available, so a bad signal never costs you a lead. - Q: What if the kiosk stops working at the event? A: Call or message the show-day line and we fix it remotely, talk you through it, or bring a replacement if you are near us. Every kiosk keeps a log of what it recorded and any errors, so if one fails through our fault we refund the hire for the time it was down, and all of it if it never worked. - Q: Do you supply the stand? A: We can. The kiosk can be mounted out of sight on your existing stand, or we can source a purpose-built kiosk stand for you and hire it alongside the screen. Stand hire is priced separately, so you only pay for it if you need it. - Q: How does delivery work? A: You choose. We can send the kiosk by courier, you can collect it from us, or we deliver and set it up in person if the event is local. Further afield, delivery and set-up by us is charged by distance. The kit travels in its own case and goes back the same way. - Q: Who owns the visitor data a kiosk collects? A: You do. You are the data controller and we process the data on your behalf under a written agreement. Leads are exported to you within 48 hours of the event, wiped from the kiosk when it comes back and deleted from our systems after 30 days. The consent wording on the screen is agreed with you before the event. - Q: How far ahead do I need to book? A: For a new design, four to six weeks before the event is comfortable. Hiring a kiosk with a design you already have needs about a week. Cancelling more than 28 days out costs nothing, and you can move the booking once for free with 14 days' notice. ### Website maintenance https://marbl.codes/services/website-maintenance Price: from £80 /month +VAT, plus VAT. A starting price, tailored to your site. Hosting is its own line. Tested updates, security fixes, backups and uptime monitoring, from £80 a month plus VAT. Tailored to your site and what it runs on. - Q: How much does website maintenance cost? A: Website maintenance starts at £80 a month plus VAT and covers updates, security, backups and monitoring. That is a starting price. A large shop or a site with many plugins takes more looking after than a five-page brochure site, so we look at yours first and tailor the package to it. Hosting is a separate line, from £40 a month. - Q: Can you maintain a website someone else built? A: Yes. We start by checking the site: what it runs on, what is out of date, and anything that could cause trouble. We tell you what we found and fix the urgent things first. Some sites are in good shape; some need work before they can be looked after safely, and we will say which. - Q: What happens if an update breaks something? A: We check the site after every round of updates, so we usually find it before you do. If something has broken we put it right, from a backup if we need to, and tell you what happened in plain English. - Q: How is maintenance different from management? A: Maintenance keeps the site healthy: updates, security, backups and monitoring. Website management is the content side: the changes, new pages, blog posts and images you want made. Most businesses that update their site regularly want both, and we price them together. - Q: Do you only maintain WordPress sites? A: WordPress is the most common, and we also maintain Astro, WooCommerce, Shopify and BigCommerce sites. If you run something else, ask, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right people. - Q: Is the monthly price fixed? A: It is a starting price. A brochure site on a handful of plugins is a smaller job than a busy shop, so we look at what you have and build the package around that. You will know the monthly figure before you agree to anything. ### Website management https://marbl.codes/services/website-management Price: from £160 /month +VAT, plus VAT. A starting price. We tailor the package to what you need each month. We run your website's content: changes, new pages, blog posts and the social shares that go with them. From £160 a month plus VAT. - Q: How much does website management cost? A: Website management starts at £160 a month plus VAT. It is a starting price, because a business posting twice a week needs a different package from one changing its opening hours twice a year. We ask what you expect to need, suggest a package, and you see the monthly figure before you agree to anything. - Q: What counts as a change? A: Anything to do with what the site says or shows. Text, images, prices, staff, offers, new pages, removed pages, blog posts and news. If a request is really a new feature or a redesign, we tell you, and quote it separately before doing anything. - Q: How quickly do you make changes? A: We acknowledge every request the same working day. Routine changes are turned around within two working days, and anything bigger gets a date agreed with you before we start. - Q: Do you write blog posts or just publish them? A: Either. Send us finished words and we format and publish them. Send us notes, a voice memo or a few photographs and we write it up for you to approve. Nothing is published in your name until you have said yes. - Q: Do you use AI to make images? A: When there is no photograph and one is needed, yes, and we say so. We never generate images of real people or pass a generated image off as a photograph of your work. Your own photographs are always the better choice, and our team includes a photographer when you want them. - Q: How is management different from maintenance? A: Management is the content: what your site says and shows. Maintenance is the health of the site: updates, security, backups and monitoring. Most businesses that update their site regularly want both, and we price them together. ### Digital platform support https://marbl.codes/services/digital-platform-support Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Quoted after a look at the platforms you already have. Platform subscriptions are separate. Your email platform, CRM and social accounts set up, joined to your site and kept working. Quoted once we have seen what you use. - Q: What is digital platform support? A: It is help with the online tools a business runs on beyond its website. The three we are asked about most are email marketing platforms, CRMs and social media accounts. We set them up, connect them to your website and to each other, and keep them working. - Q: Which platforms do you work with? A: We work with the platform you already have wherever it is a sound choice, because moving is expensive and usually unnecessary. If you are choosing for the first time, we recommend one that fits your size and budget and explain why. We are not tied to any one platform. - Q: Why do my marketing emails go to spam? A: Most often because the sending domain has not been authenticated. Mail providers now check that a message really comes from the domain it claims to, using records called SPF, DKIM and DMARC. We set those up, check them, and test delivery before you send to your whole list. - Q: Can you connect my website forms to my CRM? A: Yes. An enquiry should land in your CRM with the person's details, what they asked about and their consent recorded, without anyone retyping it. We build that connection and test it with real submissions. - Q: Do you write and send emails and posts too? A: Writing and publishing content is website management, and paid campaigns are marketing. Platform support is the layer underneath, making sure the tools work. Most clients take a combination, and we price them together. - Q: How much does it cost? A: It is quoted, because a one-off set-up of a mailing platform is a different job from looking after a CRM every month. We look at what you have, tell you what it needs and give you a price before anything is done. Platform subscriptions are separate from our fee, and we recommend they sit in your name so you always own your data and your accounts. ### Branding and communications https://marbl.codes/services/branding-and-communications Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Part of your Marbl project or retainer, and quoted with it. Deciding what a business stands for and saying it the same way everywhere, from the website to social posts. Led by Jet Bielecka, as part of your Marbl project. - Q: What is brand positioning? A: Positioning is the decision about what your business is known for, who it serves and why someone should choose it over the alternatives. It comes before logos and colours, because it decides what the website, the social posts and the sales conversations all need to say. - Q: Do I need branding before a new website? A: If you cannot say in a sentence what you do and who it is for, yes, because the website will inherit that uncertainty. If your positioning is clear, we can go straight to the site and write the content as part of the build. - Q: Can you write the words for my website? A: Yes. Jet writes website content that customers understand and that search engines and AI assistants can read and quote. It is written alongside the design, not poured in at the end. - Q: Do you work with B2B businesses? A: Yes. Jet brings B2B experience to our clients, where a clear offer and good case studies do much of the selling before anyone picks up the phone. ### Marketing https://marbl.codes/services/marketing Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Quoted after a look at where you stand. Advertising spend is separate and agreed first. Google and social advertising, and better pages for turning visits into enquiries, reported in plain English. Quoted once we have seen where you stand. - Q: How much does digital marketing cost? A: It depends on what you need, so marketing is quoted after we have looked at your site, your search presence and your competitors. Advertising spend is always separate from our fee, agreed in advance and paid to the platform, and we cap it so it cannot run away. - Q: Do you run Google Ads for small businesses? A: Yes. We build search campaigns around the work a business actually wants, exclude the searches that waste money, target the areas you serve, and report what the spend produced in plain English. Small budgets need more care than large ones, not less. - Q: Do you do SEO? A: Yes. Search engine optimisation, answer engine optimisation for AI assistants and Google Business Profile are led by Sam King, our web design and SEO lead, and have their own page at marbl.codes/services/seo. When you hire us for marketing, the two join up. - Q: Do I need to be on social media? A: Not necessarily. It depends on where your customers spend their time and how you want to be found. For many local service businesses, a strong Google Business Profile and a site that answers customers' questions does more than daily posting. We will tell you which channels are worth your time. ### AI automation https://marbl.codes/services/ai-automation Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Scoped after a look at where the time goes. AI usage costs are separate and agreed first. AI automation hands the repetitive work, such as copying data, chasing and drafting, to software on systems you own. A person still decides anything that matters. - Q: What can AI automation do for my business? A: The most useful automations are usually unglamorous. Moving enquiries from a form into a CRM, sending follow-ups, sorting email, producing reports, reconciling stock, drafting routine replies for a person to approve. The test is simple. If someone does the same steps by hand every week, it is worth a look. - Q: Is my business data safe with AI tools? A: It can be, if the tools are chosen and set up carefully. We choose tools with business data-protection terms, keep personal data out of tools that do not need it, and prefer automations that run on your own accounts. Anything sensitive gets a person's review before it goes anywhere. - Q: Will AI replace my staff? A: That is not how we work. We automate the repetitive tasks people dislike doing so they can spend the time on customers and judgement. A person stays in the loop for anything outward-facing or consequential. - Q: How much does AI automation cost? A: Each project is quoted after we have looked at where the time goes, starting with the smallest automation that saves real hours. AI usage charged by the providers is separate and agreed first. Sometimes the honest answer is that you do not need to build anything, and that costs you nothing. - Q: Do you run AI workshops? A: Yes. We run practical AI workshops for business owners and teams, covering what the tools are good at, where they go wrong, and how to use them safely. See our workshops page for formats. - Q: Who owns the automations? A: You do. We build on your own accounts and systems wherever we can, so the automations keep running if you ever stop working with us. ### Business audits https://marbl.codes/services/business-audits Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Part of your Marbl project or retainer, scoped and quoted before we start. A structured look at where your hours go and which work a computer should do instead. Led by David Perkins, a former internal auditor. - Q: What is a business process audit? A: A business process audit is a structured review of how work actually gets done in a business, from the first enquiry to the final invoice. It finds the manual, repeated and duplicated steps, sizes what they cost in time, and recommends what to change. Ours are led by David Perkins, who spent over a decade as an internal auditor. - Q: Is the audit just a way to sell me software? A: No. David has no software to sell, so he has no reason to talk anyone into anything. The audit is a paid deliverable you can act on with us or without us, and it will tell you when not to build something. - Q: Do I need AI? A: Maybe not. Most of what an audit finds is not an AI problem. It is two systems that should talk to each other, or a step nobody needs any more. Where AI genuinely helps, we say so and explain what it costs. - Q: What happens after the audit? A: You decide. Some businesses act on the findings themselves. Others ask us to build the automations, with David, on their own systems so they own them, then train the team and look after what we build. ### Videography and drone https://marbl.codes/services/videography-and-drone Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Part of your Marbl project or retainer, quoted with it. Planning, filming and editing. Film that helps people understand and trust a business, from interviews to drone footage. Led by Michal Spisiak, planned with your site rather than bought separately. - Q: How much does business video production cost? A: It depends on what is being filmed, for how long, and how much editing is involved, so every project is quoted after a first conversation. Michal can handle the whole production or just the part you need, such as filming or editing alone. - Q: Do you film with drones? A: Yes. Michal films with drones and FPV, which suits building sites, venues, large premises, outdoor work and anything that looks better from above or in motion. - Q: What is FPV filming? A: FPV, or first-person view, is filming with a small, agile drone flown by a pilot wearing goggles. It can fly through buildings and along routes a normal drone cannot, which makes for a single flowing shot through a space. - Q: Where do you film? A: Across the UK. Michal is based in Northampton, and films wherever our clients need him. ### Photography and story https://marbl.codes/services/photography Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Part of your Marbl project or retainer, with the pictures prepared for the website. Photographs of your business as it really is, its people, places and work, made for your website. Taken by Sophia Polson, as part of working with Marbl Codes. - Q: Why use real photos instead of stock? A: Because customers can tell. Stock images show people who do not work for you in places you have never been, and the same pictures appear on hundreds of other sites. Real photographs show who customers will meet and what they will get, which builds trust before anyone gets in touch. - Q: How much does brand photography cost? A: It depends on the length of the shoot, the number of locations and how many finished pictures you need, so every shoot is quoted after a first conversation. - Q: What does "photography and story" mean? A: It means the pictures are planned around what the business needs to say. Sophia works out the story first, so every photograph has a place on the website or in the marketing, rather than ending up in a folder. - Q: Can the photographs be used beyond the website? A: Yes. Usage is agreed when the shoot is booked, and pictures can be prepared for social media, print and presentations as well as the site. ### SEO, AEO and Google Business Profile https://marbl.codes/services/seo Price: Quoted, plus VAT. Part of your Marbl project or retainer, quoted after a first look at where your site stands. SEO, AEO and Google Business Profile: ranking in Google, cited by AI assistants and on the map. Led by Sam King, reported in plain English. - Q: What is the difference between SEO and AEO? A: SEO, search engine optimisation, helps your pages rank in search results like Google's. AEO, answer engine optimisation, helps AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode read your pages and cite you in the answers they give. Much of the groundwork is shared, such as clear structure, accurate facts and fast pages, which is why we do them together. - Q: Do I need a Google Business Profile? A: If people find you locally, yes. A Google Business Profile is what puts your business on Google Maps and in the local results, with your hours, reviews and photos. It is free, and for many local businesses it brings in more enquiries than the website itself. - Q: What is Screaming Frog? A: Screaming Frog is a professional website crawler. It reads every page of your site the way a search engine does and reports the problems it finds, such as broken links, missing titles, duplicate content and redirect chains. We use crawlers like it to audit a site before we change anything, and again each month to catch new problems early. - Q: Can you do SEO on a site you did not build? A: Yes. Most SEO work starts with a site someone else built. The audit tells us what is worth fixing where it is, and whether anything would be better rebuilt. We will say so plainly either way. - Q: How long does SEO take to work? A: Technical fixes can show within weeks. Rankings for competitive searches usually take months, and depend on the competition and on how much content the site needs. We report every month so you can see what is moving, rather than being asked to wait and trust us. - Q: What will I get each month? A: A short report that says what changed, what it did, and what comes next, in plain English. No dashboards you need a course to read. ## Industries we know ### Schools https://marbl.codes/industries/schools One site for prospective parents, families, pupils, staff and alumni, with hundreds of pages behind it. We built Wellingborough School's four-hundred-page site and look after it. - Q: What should a school website include? A: Clear routes for each audience, an admissions journey with open day booking front and centre, news and events, term dates, the policies and statutory information a school publishes, contact details and a strong sense of the place. The hard part is organising hundreds of pages so every visitor finds theirs quickly. - Q: Can school staff update the website themselves? A: Yes. We build the content the office publishes regularly, such as news, events and term dates, as simple entries that appear in the right places automatically. Anything bigger, you send to us. - Q: Do you build school websites on WordPress? A: Yes. The Wellingborough School site is a bespoke WordPress and Elementor build with custom post types and hand-coded navigation, which lets the school team edit visually while the structure stays solid. - Q: Who looks after the school website after launch? A: We do. Hosting, backups, updates, security and the changes the school sends us, month to month, so nobody at the school has to become the website person. ### Charities https://marbl.codes/industries/charities Charity websites that get someone who needs help to the right page fast, often on a phone. For Northampton Hope Centre, help is now one click away. - Q: What should a charity website prioritise? A: The people the charity exists for. Someone facing a crisis on a phone does not browse, so the route to help must be obvious on every page. After that, a clear story of the work, easy ways to give and volunteer, and the information funders and partners look for. - Q: Can a charity website connect to our CRM? A: Yes. For Northampton Hope Centre we connected the forms and donation systems behind the site to their CRM, so donor and enquiry details land where the team works instead of being copied by hand. - Q: Can our staff and volunteers update the site? A: Yes. We build templates for the content you publish most, such as news, events and audio or video stories, so your team can add them without a developer. We are there for anything that needs one. - Q: Do you support the charity after launch? A: Yes. We host and look after the site, keep the donation and form integrations working, and provide guidance when the team wants to do something new themselves. ### Trades and home improvement https://marbl.codes/industries/trades Window, door and conservatory firms run on offers and seasons, and every one is a website change. We turn those around for Park Lane Windows, month to month. - Q: What should a trade website include? A: Clear services and product ranges, photographs of real installations, the areas you cover, reviews that mention the town and the job, current offers and finance details, and a quote or survey request form that is quick to fill in on a phone. - Q: How quickly can you update our offers? A: We acknowledge every request the same working day, and routine changes are turned around within two working days. - Q: Can you look after more than one site? A: Yes. For Park Lane Windows we look after their site and their sister brand's, month to month, under one relationship. - Q: How do homeowners find trades online? A: Mostly through Google's local results, where the Google Business Profile, recent detailed reviews and consistent business details matter as much as the website. We set up the site so it supports all of that. ### Estate agents https://marbl.codes/industries/estate-agents Websites for independent estate agents, with the properties first and a valuation never more than a click away. We built and look after J Lord & Co's. - Q: What should an estate agent's website include? A: Your properties presented properly, a valuation request that is never more than a click away, a clear sense of who you are and how you work, reviews from vendors and buyers, and your contact details on every page. Independent agents win on trust, so the site should feel like the agency. - Q: Can our property listings feed onto the website? A: Usually, yes. Most property software can publish listings to your own site. The details depend on the system you use, so we check it before quoting. - Q: Why have our own site when portals list us? A: Portals show your stock alongside everyone else's. Your own website is where vendors decide whether to trust you with their home, and where your valuation enquiries come from. It is the part of your marketing you fully own. - Q: Who looks after the site? A: We do. Hosting, updates, speed and the changes the property market brings, month to month, so the agency's time goes on selling homes. ### Industrial and machinery https://marbl.codes/industries/industrial Catalogues built for machines rather than shop goods, with enquiry in place of checkout. STV Machinery's site is one we built and look after. - Q: What should a machinery website include? A: A searchable stock list or product catalogue with full specifications, clear routes to enquire or request a quote, the brands and agencies you represent, and the credentials and history that give a trade buyer confidence. - Q: Can we sell machinery without a checkout? A: Yes. For STV Machinery we used WooCommerce as a catalogue, with enquiry in place of checkout, so each listing leads to a conversation rather than a basket. - Q: Can our team update stock themselves? A: Yes. Stock changes weekly for most dealers, so listing and removing items is built to be quick for your team. We handle the platform underneath. - Q: How do trade buyers find machinery online? A: They search for specific makes, models and specifications. Listings with accurate, structured details are far more likely to appear for those searches, in Google and in AI assistants. ### RC racing https://marbl.codes/industries/rc-racing Price: £30 /month +VAT, all in, plus VAT. Club websites. Hosting, domain, email, a simple design and build, connected to your social channels and live results, nothing else to pay. Teams and shops on Marbl Sites from £200 a month; larger online shops from £8,000. We race RC cars ourselves and run Marbl Racing, so we already speak the language. A club website is £30 a month plus VAT, all in. - Q: What is Marbl Racing? A: Marbl Racing is our own UK marketplace for used 1/10th and MTC touring car gear. It is free to list, there are no seller fees, and every listing is checked. It is built by the same studio that builds Marbl Codes websites, because we race too. - Q: How much does a website for an RC club cost? A: £30 a month plus VAT, all in. That covers hosting, your domain and email, a simple design and build, and connecting the site to your social channels, YouTube and live timing results. Nothing to pay upfront and nothing else to pay. It is a club rate, for clubs; teams and shops run on Marbl Sites from £200 a month. - Q: Can a racing team have its own website? A: Yes. A team site shows your drivers, results, sponsors and news in one place, which gives sponsors a proper home for their logos and a reason to keep backing you. Marbl Sites covers it from £200 a month. - Q: Can you build a store for an RC hobby shop? A: Yes. A smaller shop can run on Marbl Sites, and a larger catalogue gets a WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce or SureCart shop with a theme we build from £8,000, or a fully bespoke shop with its own checkout from £16,000. For Battlefield Hobbies we run a WooCommerce shop with thousands of products and built the till behind their counter. - Q: Do you actually race? A: We do. We race radio-controlled touring cars ourselves, which is why Marbl Racing exists and why club and team sites are close to our hearts. - Q: Who runs the club website day to day? A: We do. Design, hosting, domain, updates and security are included. You send us photos, results and changes, and we do the rest. ## Where we work ### Web design Wellingborough https://marbl.codes/web-design-wellingborough Price: from £200 /month +VAT, plus VAT. Marbl Sites, fully managed. Bespoke builds from £4,000. A web design studio on Wellingborough High Street, building and looking after sites for local businesses, schools and charities. Clients here include Wellingborough School and MEM Recruitment. - Q: Where is Marbl Codes based? A: Our office is at 24-25 High Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4JZ. We work with businesses across the town and the county in person, and further afield by video call. - Q: How much does a website cost in Wellingborough? A: A fully managed website on Marbl Sites starts at £200 a month plus VAT, with design, build, hosting and management included and nothing to pay upfront. Bespoke builds on WordPress or Astro start at £4,000 plus VAT. Online shops start at £8,000, or £16,000 fully bespoke with their own checkout, and web applications at £8,000. Every price is written down before work starts. - Q: Can you take over a site another firm built? A: Yes. We check the site first, tell you what we find, then host and look after it. Website maintenance starts at £80 a month plus VAT, with hosting at £40 a month. - Q: Do you work with local schools and charities? A: Yes. We built and look after the Wellingborough School website, and we work with charities across Northamptonshire. - Q: Can we meet in person? A: Yes. Most conversations start with a call or a video meeting, and we are happy to meet at our office on the High Street when that is easier. - Q: How do we get started? A: Tell us what you are trying to do. We reply the same working day, have a conversation, then write a short plan with a price before anything is built. ### Web design Northampton https://marbl.codes/web-design-northampton Price: from £200 /month +VAT, plus VAT. Marbl Sites, fully managed. Bespoke builds from £4,000. Websites for Northampton businesses and charities, from our studio a short drive up the A45. Clients here include Park Lane Windows and Northampton Hope Centre. - Q: Do you build websites in Northampton? A: Yes. Our studio is in Wellingborough, a short drive from Northampton, and we design, build, host and look after websites for Northampton businesses and charities, including Park Lane Windows and Northampton Hope Centre. - Q: How much does a website cost? A: A fully managed website on Marbl Sites starts at £200 a month plus VAT, with design, build, hosting and management included and nothing to pay upfront. Bespoke builds on WordPress or Astro start at £4,000 plus VAT. Online shops start at £8,000, or £16,000 fully bespoke with their own checkout, and web applications at £8,000. Every price is written down before work starts. - Q: Can you manage our existing website? A: Yes. We check the site first, tell you what we find, then host and look after it. Website maintenance starts at £80 a month plus VAT, with hosting at £40 a month. - Q: Do you work with Northampton charities? A: Yes. We rebuilt the Northampton Hope Centre website around the people who need it most and connected the donation journey to their CRM. - Q: Can we meet in person? A: Yes. Most conversations start with a call or a video meeting, and we are happy to meet in person when that is easier. - Q: How do we get started? A: Tell us what you are trying to do. We reply the same working day, have a conversation, then write a short plan with a price before anything is built. - Wellingborough, Northamptonshire (0 miles from our Wellingborough office): Our home town. The office is on the High Street, and most of our clients are within a few miles. https://marbl.codes/areas/wellingborough - Earls Barton, Northamptonshire (3 miles from our Wellingborough office): The village next door, three miles along the A45, with a Saxon tower and the Nene at the bottom of the hill. https://marbl.codes/areas/earls-barton - Rushden, Northamptonshire (6 miles from our Wellingborough office): Six miles down the A45, where Richard meets people for coffee at Rushden Lakes. A boot and shoe town full of small businesses. https://marbl.codes/areas/rushden - Raunds, Northamptonshire (8 miles from our Wellingborough office): A small boot and shoe town eight miles up the A45, with Stanwick Lakes on its doorstep. https://marbl.codes/areas/raunds - Kettering, Northamptonshire (9 miles from our Wellingborough office): Nine miles up the A509, with Wicksteed Park, a proper high street and plenty of the small businesses we build for. https://marbl.codes/areas/kettering - Thrapston, Northamptonshire (10 miles from our Wellingborough office): A small market town on the Nene, ten miles north-east of our office, with lakes, a nature reserve and plenty of trades. https://marbl.codes/areas/thrapston - Northampton, Northamptonshire (11 miles from our Wellingborough office): The county town, eleven miles down the A45, and home to two of our longest-standing clients. https://marbl.codes/areas/northampton - Olney, Buckinghamshire (11 miles from our Wellingborough office): A market town of independents on the Great Ouse, eleven miles south in Buckinghamshire. Famous for its pancake race. https://marbl.codes/areas/olney - Brixworth, Northamptonshire (12 miles from our Wellingborough office): A large village north of Northampton, with one of England's oldest churches and a reservoir on its doorstep. Twelve miles from our office. https://marbl.codes/areas/brixworth ## How a project runs 1. Onboarding: You send a message, Richard replies himself, and we find out whether we can help. No sales sequence afterwards. https://marbl.codes/process/onboarding 2. Discovery: Eight questions answered by asking, not assuming, plus who holds your domain, hosting and email. It ends as one page in your own words. https://marbl.codes/process/discovery 3. Proposal: An honest, measured assessment of what you have and one recommendation, delivered as a small private website. Richard agrees the terms with you directly. https://marbl.codes/process/proposal 4. Moodboard: Your logo and real colours first, then boards of references, each linked to its source. Richard picks a direction before anything is drawn. https://marbl.codes/process/moodboard 5. Design system: Every colour, size and spacing value decided once, on a kit page. Once Richard says "lock it in", nothing in the build is freehand. https://marbl.codes/process/design-system 6. Mock: Two or three sections a round, hero first, each built from the locked kit. Three rounds on one section means we stop and rethink. https://marbl.codes/process/mock 7. Staged build: A written plan, then the build phase by phase on a staging site you can open. Each phase is proven, and the code reviewed, before the next. https://marbl.codes/process/staged-build 8. Delivery: Proof on a real phone, Lighthouse on the live domain, forms watched delivering and a rehearsed rollback, all before DNS changes. https://marbl.codes/process/delivery 9. Offboarding: When you leave, our access goes and yours stays, with credentials, backups, hosting and domain handed over. If you stay, this step becomes Care. https://marbl.codes/process/offboarding ## Knowledge hub Feed: https://marbl.codes/knowledge-hub/rss.xml - Is your site easy to use on a phone? (Insight, 2026-10-13): A good phone website lets someone find what they came for and act on it with one thumb. Here is what that means in practice, and how to check yours. https://marbl.codes/knowledge-hub/what-makes-a-small-business-website-easy-to-use-on-a-phone - Whose code runs on your site? (Insight, 2026-09-28): Most websites load code from other people's servers. Two real incidents show why that matters, and how we keep the list short. https://marbl.codes/knowledge-hub/what-is-running-on-your-website-that-you-did-not-write - What does AI in the browser mean? (Insight, 2026-09-28): Chrome now runs AI on the visitor's own device, with no server and no API bill. Here is what that makes possible, and where we would be careful. https://marbl.codes/knowledge-hub/what-it-means-that-ai-now-runs-in-the-browser - Do the rules matter more than the AI? (Insight, 2026-09-28): A better model does not fix a badly briefed one. What makes AI useful is the rules, context and review around it. https://marbl.codes/knowledge-hub/why-the-rules-around-ai-matter-more-than-the-ai - What is answer engine optimisation? (Guide, 2026-09-14): AEO is the work of making your website the source an AI assistant cites. Here is how it differs from SEO, and what to do first. https://marbl.codes/knowledge-hub/what-is-answer-engine-optimisation ## Client stories - Wellingborough School, Education, Wellingborough: Wellingborough School is a co-educational independent day school founded in 1595. We built their site from a blank page in WordPress and Elementor, and we look after it month to month. https://marbl.codes/clients/wellingborough-school - Battlefield Hobbies, Retail, Daventry: Battlefield Hobbies is a wargames store and gaming venue in the centre of the country. We run their online shop and built the point-of-sale system that sits behind the counter, on the same stock. https://marbl.codes/clients/battlefield-hobbies - MEM Recruitment, Recruitment, Wellingborough: MEM Recruitment has placed people across industrial, commercial, automotive and healthcare roles since 1994. Their website, job listings and candidate registration are ours to run. https://marbl.codes/clients/mem-recruitment - Northampton Hope Centre, Charity, Northampton: Northampton Hope Centre supports people facing homelessness, hunger and hardship. We rebuilt their site around the people who need it most, and connected the donation journey to their CRM. https://marbl.codes/clients/hope-centre - Dan Fitzsimons Fitness, Fitness, Wellingborough: Dan Fitzsimons has trained clients in Wellingborough for nine years. He wanted a site that matched the service. Built on our own stack, delivered ahead of schedule, and already paying for itself. https://marbl.codes/clients/dan-fitzsimons-fitness - Park Lane Windows, Home improvement, Northampton: Park Lane Windows has improved homes across Northamptonshire since 1989. We look after their site and their sister brand's, so their team can send us a task and get on with the day. https://marbl.codes/clients/parklane-windows - J Lord & Co, Property, Cheshire: J Lord & Co are independent estate agents with two decades in the Cheshire property market. Their site is built to match the way they sell, and we look after it. https://marbl.codes/clients/j-lord-and-co - STV Machinery, Industrial, Northamptonshire: STV Machinery buy, sell and refurbish used plastics machinery, and are the UK and Ireland agent for new Yizumi machines. Their site is a working stock list first and a brochure second, and we look after it. https://marbl.codes/clients/stv-machinery ## Team - Richard Bland, Founder: Founder and project lead. Designs, builds and looks after websites and online shops, and has been writing code for {years:coding} years. https://marbl.codes/team/richard-bland - David Perkins, AI + business auditing: Works out where a business's time goes, then builds the thing that fixes it on the client's own systems. https://marbl.codes/team/david-perkins - Jet Bielecka, Branding + communications: Defines a business's positioning and puts it into words, from the website to the case studies. https://marbl.codes/team/jet-bielecka - Michal Spisiak, Videography: Films and edits the video that gives a business a face, from interviews and events to drone and FPV. https://marbl.codes/team/michal-spisiak - Sam King, Web design + SEO: Designs and builds websites, then makes sure they actually bring in customers. https://marbl.codes/team/sam-king - Serene [AI], AI colleague: The AI at Marbl Codes. Does the routine, keeps a diary, has opinions about typography. https://marbl.codes/team/serene ## Technical - Sitemaps: https://marbl.codes/sitemap-index.xml and https://marbl.codes/sitemap-news.xml - Robots: https://marbl.codes/robots.txt > Implementation note. Architecture internals (auth, data model, observability, AI pipeline, prompt patterns) are retained as Marbl Codes intellectual property and discussed under NDA only. Contact hello@marbl.codes.