Shopify Website Design & Build
Complete stores for startups and small businesses, plus safe theme migrations for shops already trading
I build Shopify stores for startups and small businesses, and I re-theme existing stores without wrecking their Google rankings. That second part catches a lot of people out who don’t realise the SEO and UX implications, and I’ll come back to it further down.
Most of my 15 years has been spent running ecommerce operations, not just building the sites. So when I build for you, I’m not handing over a pretty template and disappearing. I’m setting the store up the way someone who has to grow it would want it set up: search-ready, tracked properly, and easy for you to run day to day.
I’m based in the North East of England and happy to meet clients around Newcastle, Sunderland, Washington and Durham in person. Everyone else, we do it over a call. It’s never been a problem.
What I Do
I can build your website from scratch on Shopify or give your existing Shopify store a facelift.
New Shopify Store Build End-To-End
You've got a business and no store yet, or a store that's holding you back. I build the whole thing: theme, products, structure, tracking, the lot. Built to be run by you afterwards, with me on hand for the tricky parts.
Safe Theme Migration For Stores Already Trading
You want a new look but you're already ranking and taking orders. This is the risky one, and it's where I add the most value. I move you onto the new theme without dropping the rankings and traffic you've worked to build.
HOW IT WORKS
Here's how a Shopify build would typically run when working with me.
- 1. We talk it through. What you sell, where you are now, what you need the store to do. No charge for this.
- 2. I scope it and price it. You get a clear plan and a fixed idea of cost before anything starts. No surprises.
- 3. I build or migrate. For a re-theme, the SEO safeguards happen here, before go-live, not after.
- 4. We launch. Tracking checked, redirects in place, everything tested.
- 5. I hand it over. You get a store you can run yourself, and me on call for the jobs you'd rather not do.
FULL SHOPIFY BUILDS
Shopify is where I'd point almost every startup and small business. It's quick to get running, it scales with you, and you don't need a developer on retainer to keep the lights on. I only recommend moving off it once you're past roughly £10m a year, and most businesses never need to.
When I build a store, I do the parts that actually decide whether it sells, not just the parts that look good in a screenshot:
- Theme setup and deep customisation to match your brand, editing HTML, CSS and Liquid where the theme won't do it out of the box
- Product structure, collections and navigation that make sense to a shopper
- SEO foundations baked in from day one: page titles, headings, alt text, clean URLs
- Analytics and Search Console set up correctly so you can actually see what's happening (GA4, Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools)
- Domain and sender email verified properly (CNAME, DMARC) so your emails land
- Cross-sells and product recommendations to lift average order value
- Third-party integrations where you need them, like shipping and fulfilment
- Email marketing set up so you're capturing sign-ups from launch, not six months later
I keep costs lean. Hidden Hideout, one of my first builds, went live running on a single paid app at £10 a month. You don't need a stack of expensive plugins to launch well.
Shopify Build Example
How I Helped Hidden Hideout Build Their Shopify Startup
The team in Glasgow came to me with a brand idea and no website. I built the whole store: two themes across pre-launch and launch, all the tracking and email, product cross-sells, a fulfilment integration, and the design and image work on top.
They've gone from strength to strength since. A pop-up in Braehead Shopping Centre did well enough that they were asked to extend it through Christmas. The point of the build was that they could run it themselves once it was live, with me stepping in only for the harder jobs. That's exactly how it's played out.
IMPLEMENTING NEW SHOPIFY THEMES SAFELY
Here's the one so many people get wrong when wanting to give their Shopify store a refresh.
Swapping your Shopify theme feels like a design job. It isn't. It's a design job and an SEO event at the same time, and the SEO half is invisible until your traffic drops three weeks after launch.
A client came to me recently wanting me to launch a new theme a previous developer had spent weeks building. Easy money for me. I told him not to do it yet. The theme changed his heading tags, swapped out images and stripped the alt text off them, and altered the internal linking. Google reads all of that. Push it live as-is and the pages that rank today can quietly fall off tomorrow. He'd have been paying me to damage his own store.
So before any re-theme goes live, I check the things that actually move rankings:
- Heading structure (H1 to H6), so the new theme keeps the on-page signals Google's already rewarding
- Alt text, audited and carried across rather than lost in the swap
- Image sizing and optimisation for the new theme, so speed and quality hold up
- Internal linking, kept intact so link equity flows where it should
- Structured data and schema, verified on the new templates
- Meta titles and descriptions, mapped over rather than reset to theme defaults
- URLs and redirects, planned before launch so nothing 404s
Then I watch Search Console and rankings after go-live, so if anything does move we catch it early instead of finding out at the end of the month.
If you're mid-re-theme, or someone's built you a theme and told you it's ready to switch on, talk to me before you press the button. This is exactly the stage where a second opinion saves you.
Why Work With Me
I spent 14 years at Aphrodite, an independent menswear retailer, and left as Head of Ecommerce after we grew it from under £1m to £5m a year and the business was acquired by Frasers Group. I ran the site, the SEO, the feeds and the team. We ranked really well for industry leading competitive terms.
I've now left and in addition to running my own ecommerce consultancy, I am also a Shopify Partner, and I build hands-on. You're not being handed to a junior. The person who scopes your store is the person who builds it and the person who answers the phone afterwards.
Most importantly for a build or a re-theme: I understand what happens to a store after launch, because running stores is my actual job. That's why I care about the heading tags and the tracking as much as the homepage banner. A good-looking site that doesn't get found or can't be measured isn't much use to you.
Broader Skillset Than A Typical Hire
I'm well versed in all facets of ecommerce management and digital marketing across all channels
No recruitment or long-term commitment
Avoid common recruitment headaches and the man-management of hiring an in-house role
Senior-level experience from day one
15 years experience of leading, optimising and scaling online stores
WHAT IT COSTS
PRICING
If you need any further information or wish to discuss your project, please get in touch.
Frequently Asked Shopify Website Build Questions
Building a new Shopify store is not something to do without thinking through thoroughly. I’m sure you have a raft of questions that I’m happy to answer but in the meantime here’s some FAQ’s relating to my Shopify build service.
Do you only build on Shopify?
Yes. It’s what I build, it’s what I’d recommend for almost every startup and small business, and focusing on one platform means I know it properly rather than half-knowing five. If you’re on something else and thinking about moving, that’s a conversation worth having.
Will changing my Shopify theme hurt my Google rankings?
It can, and it often does when it’s treated as a design job alone. A new theme changes your heading tags, your alt text, your internal links and sometimes your URLs, all of which Google reads. Done without checking those, you can lose rankings within weeks. That’s the whole reason my re-theme service exists. Handled properly, you get the new look and keep the traffic.
Can I run the store myself after launch?
Yes, and I build with that in mind. You won’t be redesigning it from scratch, but you’ll be able to add products, edit content and keep things moving without needing me for every small change. Hidden Hideout have self-managed their store since launch, with me only for the harder work.
How much does a Shopify build cost?
Builds start from £3,000 and depend on the size of your catalogue and how much custom design work is involved. Re-themes are quoted per project. You’ll always have a clear price before we start.
How long does a build take?
It depends what you need. A tight store for a new brand is much quicker than a large catalogue with hundreds of products. I’ll give you a realistic timescale once I’ve seen your wishlist.
Can we meet in person?
If you’re around Newcastle, Sunderland, Washington or Durham, yes, easily. Anywhere else, a video call does the job just as well.
Interested in a Shopify build or re-theme? Tell me a bit about your business and what you're after, and I'll get back to you.
Call Me
Other services
Ecommerce Consultancy
I'll analyse your online site and give you the playbook to turn your online store into a revenue generating commodity.
Fractional Ecommerce Management
Not ready to pay for a full-time ecommerce manager? Or maybe you're underwhelmed with your current performance? I offer flexible options for ongoing management of your online store.
Ecommerce SEO
Stop paying for spammy tactics that don't work. I conduct SEO work across on-page, off-page and technical avenues.
Product Feed Creation
Need a product feed for Google Shopping or another ecommerce platform? I can create professional csv / xml feeds following the specified taxonomy
Google Analytics & CRO
Using Google Analytics to review your site performance, we can look at how close you are to achieving your goals and add some conversion rate optimisation tips.
Mark has come on-board and totally revamped our online experience. He has implemented front-end design changes, added new functionality and always keen to add value. More importantly our revenue has massively increased.
Oliver Davies
Director, Ragazzi Clothing
I was recommended Mark by one of the directors at a fashion brand. His expertise in ecommerce mixed with the fashion knowledge was a perfect fit for us starting a new brand. We needed a new Shopify store and he talked us through the entire journey and kept us up to date throughout.
David Tierney
Director | Hidden Hideout