Absolutely. Should you make your own website? Absolutely not. As a business owner, your time is best spent on your business, not learning how to use web design software. While there are many “do it yourself” tools available, they’re not as simple to use as they seem. However, everyone’s situation is different. If you can say yes to these three questions, go for it: 

1. Do you have lots of free time? 
2. Do you easily learn new software and pick up new skills? 
3. Do you have an artistic eye and great attention to detail? 

If you said no to even one of these questions, your time and efforts creating your own website will prove to be more frustrating and costly than you may think. Plus, what the website looks like is just one part of a professional business website.

It can take as little as 3 months or as long as 1 year (or even more). It all depends on: 

• What you want your site to accomplish & the project scope
• How fast you can provide needed information & materials
• When approvals are given in order to move on to the next phase

My process involves 3 phases: discovery/planning; design; and development. Before we begin you’ll receive all the details of each phase. We’ll adjust to suit your timeline as best as possible. We’ll work together on your branding strategy and copywriting before any designing begins.

Yes! Web design projects can be paid in installments. After the non refundable retainer is paid, the remaining balance can be divided into: 

• 10 monthly payments, OR
• 3 “milestone” payments (due at start of project, start of development, and at project completion)

Your contract will clearly state all details and dates in the Payment Schedule section so you can plan for your web design investment accordingly.

Not at all. I’m a freelancer who enjoys working closely with other freelancers and founders to design a website that will have a positive impact on a business.

A brand strategy is a plan that helps you achieve the business goal of acquiring the right customers and showing them why they should prefer you over your competitors. I’ll walk you and your team through a process designed to identify how your business can achieve this over time. Your brand strategy then becomes an integral part of your overall business strategy.

All of the words on your website is called copy. Whether a heading or a paragraph, it’s copy that needs to be written in a way that turns visitors into customers. Much more is involved than simply describing you, your business, or your services. I offer copywriting services with every web design project I take on so you don’t have to do it yourself nor hire again for this service.

For at least the following reasons: 

1. It’s a well known CMS that has a long history. Because of this, it has a large following of users and developers invested in its success. This means there are a ton of tools available to do anything you need and support options. 
2. WordPress websites are 100% customizable so I can design the site you want and not just a copy of a template that other businesses are also using. While there are WordPress templates out there, I don’t use them for the sites I design. 
3. It’s free to use. Yes, free. Unlike other CMS’s, WordPress does not cost anything to use. While you do need to pay for your hosting plan (as with any website), you do not need to pay anything at all to use the WordPress software. 
4. Your WordPress website is completely owned by you, the business owner, not WordPress. There’s no fine print or complex ways of gaining access to or the rights of your site and content. 
5. You can choose the hosting provider you prefer, and many providers cater to WordPress. Other CMS’s only let you host on their servers. This is very limiting and can sometimes contain hidden fees for things like “too much” traffic (visitors) to your site. Having the freedom to choose your own hosting provider gives you more control and freedom to do what’s best for your business. 
6. Business owners or their staff can manage, maintain, and update content on their website themselves if they’d like. While I do offer maintenance services, some businesses have enough employees to do this in house, and WordPress makes it possible for them to do so.

As a designer, I see the appeal of a great looking template. But since that template was not created for your business and with your needs in mind, you will always run into branding and customization issues. Often templates will have more than you need, making your site “heavier” in the background (can result in a slower site). Or, it won’t have everything you need so you will have to add or move things around, which changes the way the template looks and was intended to be used.

To avoid these and other issues, I design every website “from scratch” and use a theme builder to develop each part of the site in WordPress. This gives me total control of what goes into the site and I don’t have to worry about conflicting settings or formatting issues.

I use the extremely versatile theme builder, Elementor. Every site I design and develop receives a complimentary Elementor Pro license (not the free version). This means you get all the features of this powerful tool without paying the annual fee!

Not at all! I’ll help you get one by explaining your options and walking you through the process. If needed, I can even set it up for you.

Yes! If you’re already a WordPress user, then you know how powerful and versatile this CMS is. If your site needs an update or you just never quite got it to where you wanted, there are several options for us to change that.

In addition to discussing your business goals, we can explore the backend of your WordPress website on your free consultation call. I’m more than happy to share how things can be improved in the design as well as in the development and maintenance of your site.

I’m more than happy to discuss the possibility of designing your website. Schedule your free consultation call so we can see how I can work with your developer to get the site you want!

Every website, no matter which platform or hosting it uses, needs to be monitored and secured. If it isn’t, it’s more vulnerable to attacks. WordPress and the software (called plugins) used to make your site even better are constantly updating to ensure you have the best version at your disposal. But this means someone has to update and monitor how everything is working together, just to prevent any mishaps.

When you invest in a maintenance plan, you’re ensuring someone is always on top of your site. This is something that you can definitely do yourself, if you can afford the time. My maintenance plan comes with a complimentary security software license so you don’t have to pay an annual fee for this tool.

Yes! Request my services and pricing brochure and I’ll send full details of each service I currently offer right to your inbox.