What does $180 a month cover?
Design and build of your site (up to five pages to start), hosting, SSL, your domain, security and software updates, and ongoing content changes — new hours, a new service, a photo swap. Email me the change and it's done within a few business days. There is no separate maintenance plan and no hosting bill.
When does the first payment happen?
When the work starts. The first month's $180 is what starts the work — there's no lump sum up front and no deposit on top of it. From there it's the same $180 every month, while the site is being built and after it's live.
Is there a contract or a minimum term?
Yes: twelve monthly payments, starting with the first one. The build takes weeks and nobody pays for it up front, so the first year's payments are what pay for it. That's the trade for $0 down. After the twelve months you're month to month and can cancel with 30 days' notice.
What if I have to cancel during the first year?
You still owe the remaining months of the first year — no penalty on top. After month twelve, cancelling costs nothing but 30 days' notice. Either way, your domain, your files and anything you've written on the site stay yours.
Do I keep my website if I cancel?
The site itself, no. What you always keep: your domain; every logo, photo and file you sent me; and anything you wrote on the site — if you added a blog, every post is yours. I'll make sure you have all of it and point the domain wherever you tell me. Nothing that belongs to your business is ever held hostage.
What if I need more than five pages?
Extra pages are a one-time $100 each — not a monthly increase. If you need something much larger, we can work it out.
What happens after the first year?
The price doesn't move and the service doesn't change. Every four years I'll refresh the design so it doesn't go stale — that's included too.
How long does it take?
Typically two to four weeks from our first call to a live site, depending on how quickly we can get your content together. A simple site with content ready can be faster.
What do you need from me?
A short call about your business, your logo and any brand colors you have, some photos if you have them (I can source stock if not), and about an hour of your time reviewing drafts. The copy is written for you from our call — you don't need to sit down and write your website.
What if I don't like the design?
Then we don't launch it. You can watch the build on a private preview link, so there are no surprises, and we keep revising until it's right — I'd rather spend another week on the design than put something live that you don't like.
Can I update the site myself?
Yes. For simple things such as hours or blog posts I'll include a content editor. Most clients find it faster to just email me the change, and that's included, so it's your call.
Will it show up on Google?
Every site gets the technical SEO basics: fast load times, mobile-first layout, clean structure, local business markup, and copy written around what your customers search for. That puts you ahead of most small business sites. But nobody can promise a specific ranking — how fast you climb depends on your competition, your reviews, and time.
How is this different from Wix or Squarespace?
Wix and Squarespace sell you a tool; I sell you a finished, looked-after website. With a builder you pay $20–40 a month and then do the design, the writing, the SEO and every update yourself, on a template thousands of other businesses use. With me it's $180 a month for a custom site that's designed, written and maintained for you, built to load faster and rank better than a template. If you enjoy building websites, a builder is cheaper. If you'd rather spend that time on your business, this is what it's for.
Where is the site hosted, and how secure is it?
On professionally managed hosting — not a shared server or a computer in my office. Sites without a content editor are served as plain pre-built pages, so there is almost nothing to break into; sites with one are kept patched as part of the subscription. Either way, SSL and backups are handled and you never see a hosting bill.
Do you build online stores?
Small ones, yes — a coffee roaster selling a dozen coffees and some merch, a shop with a short list of products, a practice taking payment for a service. A handful of products with checkout is squarely in scope. A large catalog with inventory, shipping rules and thousands of SKUs is a different kind of project, and not one I take on.
Do you work with businesses in my area?
Yes — anywhere in the US. Everything happens over calls, email and a private preview link, so it works the same wherever you are. I never meet most of my clients in person, and it has never mattered.
What if something happens to you?
Fair question to ask a one-person business. Your site runs on professionally managed hosting, not on a computer in my house, so it doesn't go offline because I'm unreachable. Your domain is in your name and your content is yours, so if I ever wound the business down you would get a full export and any web designer could rebuild from it. You are never locked out of your own site.
Do you offer other languages?
Sometimes. For Spanish and some other languages I bring in a professional translator (not machine translation) for an extra fee based on how much content there is. Ask, and I'll tell you whether I can do yours.