Custom Website Design
Unlike online web builder platforms, with a custom-designed website, you are not limited to forcing your content into a template. With a custom-designed website, you tell us what design elements you like and we work with you to create your vision. The home page can have a different design than the content pages, you can have a spiffy photo slideshow, an interactive calendar, or perhaps a professional survey with the results stored in a database. Just let us know what you want with your custom website!
Stock Web Designs
Select one of our demo sites and have a website up fast! The header will be modified to include your title, logo and/or photos you provide, and you can choose the font styles and colors. Or you can choose one of our demo sites as a starting point for a fully custom design.
To Blog or Not?
Join the blogging world … or not. We can create a custom website for you that emphasizes your business or organization or your blog. For examples of designs with blogs, view our demo sites or check out our client portfolio. Many of our clients opt to include a blog with their site, some don’t. The choice is yours.
Forms and Database Applications
Do you have data you want web users to be able to query and see displayed on a web page? Perhaps a web survey or online test with the results stored in a database? We can create web applications like these in PHP using MySQL as the storage database.
Site Updates and Maintenance
With WordPress, you can maintain your website yourself if you choose. Don’t worry, we provide detailed instructions on how to edit your website, and you are welcome to email us with questions. However, if you need additional help, you can pay us to provide technical support or complicated updates. With content updates, we bill in full hours with a minimum charge of $50.00.
If you want the most control over your website, we recommend a WordPress site hosted on a third-party web host. This is what most of our clients choose. However, if you want less maintenance tasks and increased security, we can build you a custom website on WordPress.com providing you have their Business plan. Either way, you will be able to edit your content directly.
E-Commerce
Need to sell products online or collect membership fees and donations? We can set up a shopping cart on your site and you can sell items, services, memberships, or events directly! For examples of our demo sites that use a shopping cart, check out our Ecommerce, Reflection, and Visual sites. For membership ideas, look at our Membership site. For events, check out our Nonprofit demo site. For appointment bookings, check out our Bookings site. Several of our clients handle donations, event registrations, and memberships on their sites.
Note: to accept payments on your website, you will need to set up a merchant payment account with PayPal or Stripe.
Site Tracking Statistics
Many web hosts provide web tracking statistics for free. You simply enable the web tracking service from within your web host account. If your host doesn’t offer this service, you can sign up for a Google Analytics account. Once you sign up, you provide us with the tracking code and we install a plugin on your site to handle the link between your website and your Google Analytics account. Another alternative is the Jetpack plugin, which provides basic site statistics.
Search Engine Optimization
WordPress is by nature highly SEO capable. Yet the content you write for your pages is equally important. Use descriptive page titles and make sure your content contains key phrases that your customers would use to search for your services. Also, the more frequently that other websites link to your website, the higher your site popularity rises, a factor taken into account by search engine algorithms. So don’t be afraid to promote your site to others!
Hosting and Domain Registration
We do not host websites, but we can guide you through the process to obtain an affordable web host provider where you can register your domain name and set up a hosting account. For a custom website, we do not require you use any specific web host provider; however, we have found GreenGeeks | SiteGround | Hostinger to be the best hosts in terms of site speed, management, and technical support.
If you decide to have your site built on WordPress.com, rather than a WordPress site hosted on a third-party web host, you will pay your hosting fee directly to WordPress.com; they offer several different plans, all of which include site maintenance and security. Only the Business and Commerce plans allow a custom-designed theme.