Web development
Website development
Most websites get rebuilt because they became impossible to maintain, not because the design got old. That is the problem I try to solve when I build.
- Same-day reply
- Fixed price
- No lock-in
- Editable without a developer
- Fast on mobile
- SEO from day one
- You own the code
Service
Website development
Choosing the platform
There is no single right answer. If marketing needs to build landing pages themselves and you publish content weekly, WordPress is usually right. If the site is more static but needs to be very fast and closely integrated with other systems, I build it in Next.js.
What I advise against is a heavy page builder on top of WordPress. They look great in the demo, and two years later you have a front page pulling three megabytes of JavaScript to render four sections.
What usually goes wrong
- Nobody has thought about who edits what. So everything gets hardcoded and marketing has to call whenever a headline needs changing.
- Images get uploaded at full resolution. It is still the most common cause of a bad LCP on Danish sites.
- No redirects at launch, and six years of accumulated Google rankings disappear within a month.
- Forms send to an inbox nobody checks anymore.
What you get
The code sits in your own git repository from day one. There is no licence on a theme I built, and you are not tied to me afterwards. If you want to move on to someone else at some point, it should be because you want to, not because you cannot get out.
I hand over with a short video walkthrough, so the next person who opens the project can find their way without calling me.
Deliverables
What you get
Concrete deliverables, not a report of recommendations someone else has to find time for.
- A site that can be edited
Fields built around what you actually need to change. Not access to everything else that can break.
- Fast on mobile
Images scaled and converted on upload, fonts hosted locally, JavaScript only where it is needed.
- SEO from day one
Sitemap, metadata, structured data and redirects from the old site. Not something bolted on at the end.
- The code is yours
In your own repository, with no licences or lock-in. If you want to move on, it should be because you want to.
Process
How it works
Four steps. You know what happens when, and you can stop after any of them.
- 01
Get on a call
Twenty minutes where you explain what is going wrong and I ask the questions that decide the scope. I say so immediately if the job is not a fit.
- 02
I read the code
Before quoting I spend half a day to a day reading the project. You get an honest assessment of the state of things, including when it is worse than you hoped.
- 03
Fixed price and scope
You get a written quote with what is included, what is not, and when it is done. Not a three-month range you cannot plan around.
- 04
Delivery in your workflow
I work in your git repository and open pull requests that can be reviewed. Everything I touch is documented, so knowledge does not walk out the door with me.
Who does the work
I am the person you will be working with
My name is Mikkel and I have been building for the web since 2010. There is no project manager in between, and you will not get a junior on the job because the senior was busy. What you agree is what gets built, and I am the one building it.
Day to day I am a partner at Bigum&Co, and I have worked on more than 400 projects across ecommerce, pharma, construction and the public sector. Call or write — I usually reply the same day, and I will say straight away if the job is not a fit.
- Experience
- 16 yrs
- Projects
- 400+
- Rating
- 5.0
- Reply time
- Same day
In depth
Website development
Why websites get rebuilt
Almost every rebuild I get asked about is justified by the design. The site looks old, it does not match the new identity, competitors have something newer. That is rarely the real reason.
The real reason is usually that it has become impossible to work in. Marketing cannot make a landing page without calling someone. Every change takes three weeks because nobody dares touch the code. The site is slow and nobody can say why. After two or three years of that, a rebuild is the exit that feels easiest to justify.
It is an expensive pattern, because it repeats. Rebuild without changing what made it unworkable and you are in the same place in three years. So I always spend the first conversation finding out what concretely does not work day to day, rather than talking about how it should look.
Sometimes the answer is not to rebuild. A site that looks slightly dated but is fast and editable beats a new one that is not. Then there is usually a smaller job that fixes what actually annoys people.
The four things that most often go wrong at launch
Redirects. The old site had URLs that earned rankings in Google over several years. If they are not redirected one by one to the right new place, the traffic disappears within a month or two. A blanket redirect to the front page does not count — Google treats it as a soft 404.
Images. They get uploaded at full resolution because nothing was set up to scale them. It is still the most common cause of a poor LCP on Danish sites, and a couple of hours' work solves it permanently.
Forms. They get tested once before launch and send to an inbox nobody checks six months later. I always set up a confirmation to the sender, so it gets noticed if something stops working.
Indexing. A noindex from the staging site travels across, or robots.txt blocks a whole section. It is the classic accident, and it typically gets discovered three weeks later when someone wonders about the traffic.
Reviews
What people say about me
I have never come across a developer as dedicated and capable as Mikkel.
Jonas Krogslund(translated from Danish) Mikkel is seriously good, helpful, lightning fast to reply — and on top of that he is a nice person.
Trine Handskemager(translated from Danish) Mikkel delivered competent, professional work setting up my website. Everything ran quickly and without a hitch.
Sisse Find(translated from Danish)
Services
Why me
- 16 years of experience
I have built for the web since 2010 and seen most of the ways a project can come off the rails. It makes the estimates more honest.
- 400+ projects
Across ecommerce, pharma, construction and the public sector. Chances are I have seen something close to your job before.
- You talk to the person coding
No project manager in between, and no junior on the job because the senior was busy. What you agree is what gets built.
Brands I have worked with
A selection. Some freelance, some through agencies, some across several years.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
- How long does a website take?
- A regular company site with ten to fifteen pages typically takes four to eight weeks from approved design. What usually drags it out is not the code, it is that the copy has not been written yet.
- Can we edit it ourselves afterwards?
- Yes. I build the editing fields to match what you actually need to change, and leave out access to everything else. It is easier to use and there is less that can be broken by accident.
- What does it cost?
- It depends entirely on scope and integrations. Send me two lines about what you need and I will come back with a concrete quote rather than a range you cannot use for anything.
- Do we need a design first?
- It helps, but it is not required. If you have a visual identity I can build from it. If a look has to be created from nothing you need a designer — that is not my field.
- Can you move the content from the old site?
- Yes. What matters is that it moves with its structure rather than as one big field of HTML. Otherwise you have the same problem again in two years.
- Who hosts it afterwards?
- You do. I do not sell hosting, but I will happily say what I would choose and set it up. It is one of those decisions where the cheapest option costs the most in the end.