Marv Web Design started in 2020 as a one-person freelance practice, building websites for local businesses that couldn't get a straight answer from larger agencies about why their sites were slow, or why they weren't showing up in search. Six years and over 120 projects later, that founding question still shapes how we work.
The problems have changed, but not as much as you'd think
In 2020, the biggest complaint we heard was that sites looked outdated and loaded slowly. Today, mobile speed and search visibility are still the top two issues we get called in to fix, the specifics have evolved, but the fundamentals a business actually needs from its website haven't changed much at all.
What we got wrong early on
In the early years, we occasionally over-built: adding features clients didn't actually need because they sounded impressive, rather than focusing on what would genuinely move the needle for their business. We've since become far more disciplined about scoping projects around outcomes, not feature lists.
What's stayed consistent
A few principles have held from day one, and now show up directly in how we work:
- Fixed pricing and timelines, so clients know exactly what they're paying for before we start
- Plain communication, no unnecessary technical jargon or vague status updates
- SEO built in from the first day of a project, not added as an afterthought once the site is already built
- Clean, documented handovers, so clients own what we build and aren't dependent on us to make basic changes
What growing the team taught us
We've grown from a one-person operation into a small, senior team, Aisha Nakato leading design, Brian Okello on complex engineering and integrations, and Daniel Mugisha driving SEO and content strategy. What hasn't changed is staying deliberately selective about the projects we take on, rather than scaling by taking on more than we can do well.
What the next stretch looks like
Uganda's digital economy keeps growing, and so does customer expectation of what a professional website should look and feel like. We're focused on staying ahead of that bar: faster sites, better local SEO for the specific neighbourhoods and industries we serve, and continuing to build things that do real commercial work, not just look good in a portfolio.
If you're considering a website project and want to work with a team that's been doing this specifically for the Ugandan market since 2020, get in touch.
