Custom Web Site Design

The Typical Small Business Web Design Experience…

The lack of knowledge by business owners is still exploited every day by someone with a good pitch. This happens in the web development field as much or more than any other. In web design, there is a big difference between a custom designed site and the various $25 templates and instant site creators like Wix, Square Space, Go Daddy, etc. out there for $10 per month. These “website in a box” solutions come with many shortcomings that are not immediately obvious to the small business owner. Unfortunately in this area of business what you don’t know can hurt you and cost you a lot of money.

In addition, too many businesses give no thought to why they want a website other than they were told they should have one and it is some item on a check list to do. So, most business owners give a designer a brochure and the “web designer” will buy a template for $25 and put the brochure on it. Most businesses will pay a lot of money thinking they got a great website because it was expensive. Thinking if it was expensive it must be good. Maybe they find a high school “techie” kid to do it on the cheap and think they got a deal. They are wrong on both counts.

Most business will then check off the list that they now have a website and move on. They never update them again and often forget about it altogether. Sadly, nobody ever finds these sites or visits them. Sites like this provide zero value to the business and might as well not exist at all.

Minimum Web Standards

Today having “a web site” is not enough by a long shot. At a bare minimum, a website needs to be:

• Responsive – The site can be viewed on a mobile phone or large screen and looks good on all devices and browsers. If your site is not responsive Google will not even list your website in their search index. With more than 50% of all web browsing being done on a mobile device nobody will find or use a site that is not responsive.
• Fast – Slow loading or poorly coded sites are now penalized heavily by the search engines. In addition, visitors will have a hard time using them and will simply leave. It is imperative that you have a well performing site. Your site needs to load fast and function well.
• Secure – Sites that are not secured by an SSL or protected against hackers are a liability to both you and your visitors. At a minimum your visitors will get a scary looking message presented to them when they land on your unsecured website that scares them away, which is typically bad for business. At worse your site becomes a conduit that actually attacks your visitors and infects them with a virus. You need to make sure your site is protected. Banks have safes, guards and alarms for a reason. Your website should be no different.
• Purpose Driven – Web sites today must do something. A well-designed site has a purpose. It will generate leads, boost sales, provide customer service, or educate customers. A good site does one of these at a minimum or more likely all of them. There are specific and effective processes and strategies effective web sites must have, but the wrong designer will not have a clue what they are.
• Branded – Your business has a brand even if you don’t know what it is. Your customers have already assigned it to you. A good brand will allow you to charge more and attract more customers. A poor brand will not. If you want a different brand you must create it. Your website is one large step in helping you create an effective brand. It should display your brand and attract your target audience. If you don’t know what your brand or target audience are than you have some pre-work to do first. We can help you with that.
• Content Rich – Simply putting your brochure online is a waste of time and nobody will visit a site like this. You need rich content that appeals to your target audience. The search engines will grade you on it and your customers and prospects will demand it. Content comes in many forms from text to video. Entire marketing strategies are built around creating effective content. We offer full content marketing services.

Our Product

Our company can build you a completely customized website that meet these criteria and many more that you probably didn’t even know you needed. We can build everything from simple websites to large complex sites including, but not limited to:

• Custom Functionality
• eCommerce
• Membership or Customer Portals

We utilize a variety of different platforms and technologies to create a website that is unique to you. It will display your brand, perform well, provide custom functionality and improve your business. In short it will bring in more leads, sales and profits. If you can think it up we can design and build it.

Our Process

We have a unique process that we guide our customers through that will define exactly what they need in a website and the content that will be on that site. When we are finished with the planning process you will have a precise blueprint of what you need and why. We include a detailed timeline for delivery with specified milestones and resource requirements from you and us. Our process ensures that you get what you paid for and that we stay on time and on budget.

Our Pricing

Our pricing falls into 2 basic models depending on the customer and their needs: Monthly Retainer and Project Pricing.

1. Monthly Retainer: Our preferred model is charging customers a monthly fee to develop and maintain a website for them. This is the future of software and website development. Companies from Microsoft to Adobe now charge monthly fees for access to their software. In the industry, this is called software as a service or Saas for short. It was a natural progression for website as a service to follow. A well performing website is never “officially finished”. An effective website is its own eco-system and is always changing and adapting. It has new content and features being added based on customer needs. The content and performance is always improving based on customer analytics and data. Our monthly retainer program insures that this is the type of site you get. Our monthly retainer fee is customized to the business and services you need every month. Our packages range from putting a site up and doing basic maintenance and hosting to serving as your outsourced digital marketing department and everything in-between. The exact monthly fee is worked out together and is based on the needs and desires of the client. This approach has many advantages to a business including:
   • Budget Friendly: No large upfront costs. Instead you get a budget friendly monthly fee that covers everything you need and want with no surprises.
   • Constant Improvement: Our monthly retainers range from the low end where we provide basic sites and maintenance all the way to full digital marketing campaigns. Depending on the specific plan we develop and design together for you we can create content, provide marketing services, build digital, email and social media campaigns, optimize sites for the search engines and much more. We are constantly improving and building out the site for this monthly fee. Every month that goes by makes your website better than it was the month before. We have a plan that will meet every business and every budget.
   • Maintenance Included: Websites require ongoing maintenance to help protect them from hackers and keep the site running at peak performance. Our packages include that.
   • Emergency Support: No matter how well a site is built things can break. Browsers are updated and patches are added. Sometimes one of these changes will cause your site to break or malfunction. If that happens our monthly retainer clients are always at the top of the list and receive priority support that is included in their monthly agreement.
2. Project Pricing: Some businesses have an internal marketing team and don’t need or want outside support in this area. They simply want a customized website built and turned over to them. We provide this service as well. For a single fee that is known upfront we will build a website to your exact needs and optionally will provide hosting and maintenance or leave that up to you.

Our Support

If you choose our monthly retainer at a minimum all support, hosting, and maintenance is included. If something breaks or doesn’t work your monthly fee covers it. If you choose an upfront project fee instead we still supply support but we charge an hourly rate for that support. It can be provided on a “as needed” basis or in a monthly agreement.

If you still have specific questions about our service please take a moment to review our frequently asked questions.