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Owning a small business is overwhelming sometimes, and this part of the business shouldn’t be anything but creative fun. I know that sometimes even the creative stuff can be tough, so I aim to gain trust with my clients. My goal is to make your online life easier.
While I offer a variety of web, media and print design services, I mainly design and develop websites. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve dealt with many different types of clients and industries over the years. If you have a site that is better off on another platform, I’ll tell you. If you want to be more hands-on with your website’s visual elements, I’ll explain options other than WordPress… My goal is to help you.
Websites aren’t a one size fits all for people, so I am here to advise and help people, not to rip them off.
Below is some information on websites to help if you’re feeling overwhelmed, confused or even just curious. Once you’ve read through it, please feel free to contact me about starting a project if this sounds like something you’d like to start up.
If you have any project inquiries that don’t need need a website, please contact me and we can chat about what you do need.
Getting Started
do you really need a FULL website?
In this modern world of free social media sites and apps, “low-cost” software/theme sites (that don’t offer full customization at the jump) and everyone being “mobile, mobile, mobile!” focused, I can see why having a dedicated desktop website might be questionable.
Yes, mobile is inching up as the majority – but there are still plenty of people sitting on laptops and desktops all day long. All of my sites are built with responsive design included, so you’ll be setup for both computers and phones/devices.
WEBSITES THAT SHOULD NEVER AUTOMATICALLY OVERLOOK DESKTOP WEBSITES:
Websites with shops, menus or portfolios of any kind.
While we’re living in a time where social media websites and apps are extremely beneficial, you should still want a hub of your own so you can expand your information without restriction. People want to explore you more in-depth — especially industries of the musical, artistic or portfolio sort.
Even if you only build a single page for your outgoing links all in one place, it’s a nice touch to have that existing within a custom domain name (linktree charges $35 per month for the premium plan, when you could be paying around $10 for your own web hosting account where you can build an entire website OR a one page site with all of your links in one place).
What kind of website do i need?
I only build and work in WordPress powered websites or static websites.
WordPress will allow you to make updates whenever you want to. You’ll be setup with a user account and you can login and update content at your leisure.
Static websites means you’ll have no login to update content yourself — I would have to update the code/content manually for you and will count as a paid service. If you only update your website 10 times or less per year, a static website might be a better option for you than investing in a WordPress website.
Investing in a WordPress site that you’ll own outright might cost you less than paying for a website building/hosting service in the long run.
WordPress Advantages
Customization: themes and hosting packages might end up costing you more with add-on services on site builder websites like SquareSpace and WordPress.com vs having your own WordPress installation. If you need a new featured area of your site with custom code, that will come with a reasonable custom work cost, but not an ongoing fee (unless tied to a 3rd party vendor that you would pay for directly, not to me). If I code it once, it’s done… there is no monthly charge to add something you need.
Technical Support: I personally code all WordPress themes from scratch. If something goes wrong with your website and it’s because of my incorrect development, it will be fully supported. The turnaround time for a fix will likely also be faster than opening a support ticket or trying to find guidance online. You don’t have to ask a support forum to troubleshoot and hope for the best, especially when you might not know how to adjust code yourself. I also provide all websites with general documentation, to avoid those types of situations.
Best Practices/Meeting Web Accessibility Standards: I setup your website so that you can’t break it, so that you stay within best practices and most importantly, so you’re setup within standards for UX and web accessibility.
i.e.: You won’t find any gaudy animations or scrolling marquees that violate web accessibility standards on sites that I build. Did you know that website owners can actually be sued for not following WCAG STANDARDS?! In the instances of the infamous Shopify and Squarespace scrolling marquee themes (sometimes with more than one on a page!), without providing a pausing or fully static, alternative option for those deprecated elements, you’re violating WCAG standards and setting yourself up for non-compliance.
We can still snazz up your site to look modern and fun while following web accessibility guidelines — look at the site you’re on right now!
Check this out: it passes the accessibility test!
WordPress websites are offered in two different options
WordPress.com: You login to their website that you don’t own and are given many restrictions/limitations. I do not build full sites on WordPress.com websites due to said restrictions, but I can work within your existing theme, if you need changes made.
You register an account, choose and setup your payment plan, then you sign in at wordpress.com to make your site edits. You pay a monthly fee with limitations (unless you pay extra).
WordPress.org: You download and install the WordPress CMS for free and you own the tool forever.
What you do have to pay for is your domain name and website hosting (on average, domain names cost under $20 per year and hosting can be $20-25 or less per month, depending on which company you go with). You can do this yourself or with the help of a web developer (recommended).
If you go the route of WordPress.org, you have full freedom to use it in any way you’d like and it still might be cheaper than a “full service” website like wordpress.com or squarespace).
working with me
your website should represent YOU.
There is only so much visibility, functionality and creative freedom that free social media sites have to offer. A post or a reel with a caption, a brief bio with a customized background or header image isn’t enough.
Social media is good to keep people up-to-date and catching/keeping attention, but should only be a marketing bridge between the user and your website. Interaction is important, so you can integrate social media directly into your website! This way the user isn’t completely disconnected and has the option to also be interactive with your brand. We can bring your website’s aesthetic into your social media branding, as well. Story highlight covers, blank templates for posts, etc.
In addition to having an attractive looking website, the clear intent of your mission is the most important factor. I’m here to craft my expertise into properly structured content and to work with you to get your site looking how you want it to. Collaboration is key.
Please visit my webfolio to view some of the different types of websites I’ve built over the years for inspiration or to browse some of my experience.
S2UDIO WORK ETHIC
I love designing and developing websites and doing graphic design. I’ve been immersing myself in all of this as a hobby since the late 90s (shout out to mario paint, kid pix and microsoft paint) – this is my craft and my passion, and my work and clients are very important to me. I’d like to assure any potential clients that my past and current clients typically turn into long-term clients, and I take pride in that.
I will listen to your ideas and project them into an organized, professional, functional, and easy-on-the-eyes kind of website. If you have any issues and emergency fixes, I can assure fast turnaround times.
I work around budgets. If you need to split up payments, or work around a strict budget, I’m flexible – so please don’t hesitate to reach out for pricing negotiations*.
If you have been serviced with a full website build or WordPress conversion service, I will give you free support for the lifetime of your website (custom work not included*).
* more S2UDIO service/payment info can be found here >
Ready to start your project?
Let’s figure out what it is that you need to get started.