From first call to a live site
Every step, what I need from you, the deadlines, and what happens after launch. Your pages, price, deadlines, changes and who owns what are all in your written contract before you pay anything.
1 Start with a free site check or a call
Send me your web address and I'll pull it up on my phone. You get a short, plain list of what I see, and the price of a new site if you need one. Or skip ahead and book a 45-minute call. Both are free.
No website yet? Book the call.
2 The 45-minute call
On Google Meet, or in person if you'd rather. It's 45 minutes, and here's where the time goes:
- I pull up your current site the way your customers see it: on a phone.
- If a competitor shows up above you on Google, I pull up their site too.
- You build your site off the menu. You pick each page and its design, and the price adds up on screen as you go.
- I tell you straight what a website can and can't do for you.
- You get the total. No discount games. The price you built is the price.
- If it's a yes, I send the contract and the deposit link while you're still on the call. If it's a no, that's fine.
Early morning or end of the day works. I know you're on a job midday.
3 Sign and pay the deposit
Your contract spells out your pages, your price, the deadlines, the two rounds of changes, and who owns what. You sign it online. Then you pay the 50% deposit through a secure link, by bank transfer or card. No work starts before both.
Before you hang up, you get your content checklist.
4 Send your content (within 14 days)
Fill in the checklist and send your photos. You don't need polished writing. Short, plain answers about your services are fine.
The 14-day deadline
Your content is due within 14 days of signing. If I don't have it by then, the project closes and the deposit is not refunded. I'll tell you in writing if that happens. I'd much rather build your site, so if you're stuck, call me.
5 Set up your accounts (about two minutes)
You make a free Cloudflare account. It takes about two minutes and I walk you through it. Then your domain gets bought inside your account, on your card, for about $11 a year. That's the only account you need.
Your domain and your account are in your name from day one.
6 I build your site
I put your chosen pages together and drop in your content: your words, photos, logo and colors. Every page gets checked on phones, tablets and computers, and run through an accessibility check and a speed check.
7 Review: two rounds of changes
I send you a link to your finished site. Look it over on your phone. Send me your changes as one list and I make them. That's round one. Then you get one more round.
Two rounds are included. After that, changes are $75 an hour.
Tip: Show it to whoever else gets a say before you send round one. One combined list goes further than two.
8 Launch and final payment
I point your domain at the site, turn on SSL (the padlock), and run one last check. Then the other 50% is due. Once it's paid, the site and the files are yours, in writing.
9 After launch
- Support plan: $12 a month or $144 a year. 2 small edits a month, monitoring, DNS, a domain renewal reminder, email replies within 2 business days. Optional.
- Your site runs in your own Cloudflare account. It doesn't depend on me to stay online.
- I keep backup copies of your source files on two drives, one stored offsite.
- Want your source files? Ask any time.
- Want to leave? You keep everything.
- Need another page later? $100.
What I need from you
- Your logo, in any file you have. (Rough? Logo cleanup is $150.)
- Your colors, if you have them
- Your services, and what you want said about each one
- Your hours
- The phone number and email to show on the site
- Photos of your work and your team. (Short on good ones? A photo session is $250 to $400, plus 6% PA sales tax.)
- Reviews from your customers, if you want them on the site
- The towns you cover, if you're getting a Service Area page
- A free Cloudflare account and a card for your domain
- About 45 minutes for the call, and a little time to look over each round of changes
Deadlines, all in one place
| What | When |
|---|---|
| The call | 45 minutes |
| Your Cloudflare account | About 2 minutes |
| Your content | Within 14 days of signing |
| Your launch date | Set before the call ends |
| Rush job (+$200) | Your build goes to the front of my line |
| Changes | 2 rounds included, then $75 an hour |
| Payment | 50% when you sign, 50% at launch |
| My replies on the support plan | Within 2 business days, by email |
| Domain renewal | Once a year, on your card |
What these sites don't do
Better you hear it now than find out later.
No editing panel.
You can't change the site yourself. Changes go through me, on the support plan or by the hour.
No online store, no booking system, no customer logins.
If you need those, I'll tell you on the first call and point you to someone who builds them.
Your contact form runs through an outside form service, free up to 250 messages a month.
A website is not SEO.
It won't put you at the top of Google by itself.
Why build them this way?
No login page to break into, no plugins to update, no database, no monthly hosting bill. They load fast and there's very little that can break.