When you’re searching for website design services, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed by all the options. Should you use a DIY platform? Hire a freelancer? Work with an agency? And what’s this going to cost you anyway?
After nearly 15 years helping small business owners navigate these exact questions, I’ve learned that the answers aren’t as simple as “use this platform” or “expect to pay X dollars.” The truth is, your website needs are as unique as your business—and finding the right partner matters more than finding the cheapest option.
Let me walk you through what we’ve learned about website design services and how we’ve structured our approach to give you the best possible outcome.
Understanding Website Design Services: Beyond Just Building a Site
Here’s what most people don’t realize when they start shopping for website design services: You’re not just buying a website. You’re investing in your business’s online presence, marketing strategy, and future growth.
A website isn’t a standalone thing. It’s connected to your branding, your marketing, your customer experience, your systems, and your business goals. That’s why we’ve moved away from one-off website projects to true partnerships that address all of these elements together.
Our Website Design Services: The Vision-Driven Approach
After years of refining our process, we’ve developed a partnership model that ensures you get more than just a beautiful website. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Discovery Call (Free)
We start every potential partnership with a Discovery Call to learn about each other and see if we’re the right fit. This isn’t a sales pitch—it’s a genuine conversation about your business, your challenges, and your goals.
During this call, we’ll explore:
- What’s working (and what’s not) with your current online presence
- Where you want your business to go
- Whether our partnership approach aligns with how you want to work
- If we have the expertise to help you achieve your vision
This is about connection and alignment, not just checking boxes. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you honestly and point you toward resources that might serve you better.
Step 2: Vision Session ($1,250)
If we’re aligned after the Discovery Call, your project moves to a Vision Session. This is where the magic starts.
The Vision Session is a deep-dive strategy session where we dig into your business to understand:
- How your business actually works (not just what you sell, but how you operate)
- What your pain points are (the things keeping you up at night)
- What you’ve already tried (so we don’t repeat what hasn’t worked)
- Who your ideal customers are and how they find you (so we talk to the right person)
- What makes you different from your competition (because there is always something)
- Where you see your business going in the next 1-3 years (because we want to help you get there!)
Yes, we’ll talk about your website. But we’re really talking about your VISION—where you see your amazing business moving toward, and how we can help you get there.
This session typically lasts 90 minutes, and by the end, we’ll have uncovered insights about your business that will shape everything we build together.
Why we charge for this: The Vision Session isn’t just a consultation—it’s a strategic deliverable. Even if you decide not to move forward with us after this session, you’ll walk away with clarity about your direction and actionable insights you can implement immediately.
Step 3: Vision Blueprint (Included with Vision Session)
After your Vision Session, we don’t disappear. We create a comprehensive Vision Blueprint that lays out exactly what we recommend for your website, branding, and marketing systems for you to move forward.
Your Vision Blueprint includes:
- Recommended website structure and navigation
- Content strategy and messaging framework
- Design direction that aligns with your brand
- Technical recommendations for integrations and functionality
- Marketing automation suggestions
- Timeline and investment breakdown
- Clear next steps for moving forward
This is your roadmap. You can take it and implement it yourself, hire someone else to build it, or move forward with us to bring it to life. The choice is yours—we want you to have clarity either way.
If the Vision Blueprint resonates with you and you’re ready to move forward, you’ll schedule a dedicated week on our calendar for your Vision Launch.
Step 4: Vision Launch Week
Your Vision Launch Week is when everything comes together. This is a dedicated week on our calendar—and yours—where we work intensively to finalize all your branding, technology, and marketing.
What happens during Vision Launch Week:
- Branding finalization: We’ll refine your visual identity, color palette, typography, and brand voice
- Website development: We’ll build your website in WordPress using Breakdance (more on why we love this platform in the FAQs below)
- Content creation: We’ll work with you to craft compelling copy that speaks to your ideal customers
- Technical setup: We’ll configure your hosting, security, integrations, and any necessary automations
- Marketing foundation: We’ll set up your email marketing platform, contact forms, analytics, and conversion tracking
- Training and handoff: We’ll teach you how to make basic updates and manage your new systems
By the end of that week, you’ll have all the pieces you need to launch your vision to the world—not just a website, but a complete foundation for your online presence.
Why a dedicated week? Focus and momentum. When we dedicate an entire week to your project, we can maintain context, solve problems quickly, and ensure everything integrates seamlessly. You also have our full attention, which means faster decision-making and better results.
Step 5: Ongoing Partnership
Here’s where we’re truly different from traditional website design services: We don’t disappear after launch.
After your Vision Launch Week, you have our partnership available when you need us:
- Answer questions as they come up
- Make updates to your website
- Provide strategic marketing tips
- Troubleshoot technical issues
- Implement new features as your business grows
- Offer guidance when you’re stuck
- General Hosting, Maintenance and Updates
Your business will evolve. Your needs will change. Having partners who already understand your business, your systems, and your vision means you can adapt quickly without starting from scratch with someone new every time. You can learn more about our partnership packages here.
Why We Built Our Services This Way
The Problem with Traditional Website Design Services
Most website design services work like this:
- You fill out a form or have a brief call
- They give you a quote
- You pay a deposit
- You get a website
- They move on to the next client
The result? You have a website, but you don’t have:
- A deep understanding of how it all works
- Strategic guidance on what to do next
- Support when something breaks or needs updating
- A partner who cares about your business success
We’ve seen too many business owners left frustrated, confused, and stuck with a website they can’t manage or grow with.
What We Do Differently
We’re not just website designers.
I’m a marketer who understands branding—both design and voice—and how that plays into your website and overall marketing strategy. I also understand the technical side: what the code needs to say, how to test user experience, what questions to ask, and how to translate it all into plain English for you.
Nic takes the technical side even further. He knows how to analyze your systems, saving you both time and money, and provide automations within your business that you might not have even thought of.
Together, we’re kind of like hiring a CMO, CTO, Art Director, and Copywriter all-in-one. But instead of the overhead of four full-time employees, you get strategic partnership when you need it.
Who Our Website Design Services Are For
Our approach works best for:
Purpose-driven small businesses who care about making an impact, not just making sales. If you’re a therapist, coach, contractor, nonprofit, or heart-centered entrepreneur, we speak your language.
Business owners ready to invest in growth. Our services aren’t the cheapest option, but they’re designed for businesses ready to see their website as a strategic asset, not just an expense.
People who value partnership over transactions. If you want a vendor who disappears after delivery, we’re not the right fit. If you want partners who become your biggest cheerleaders, let’s talk.
Businesses in York County Maine or the Seacoast New Hampshire area (or those willing to work remotely). We love serving businesses in our local community and supporting businesses that strengthen our region (but we’ve also worked with clients all over the United States remotely and love that too. Small Businesses are awesome and worth supporting no matter where they are!).
Ready to Explore Website Design Services That Actually Support Your Vision?
We can’t wait to learn about your business and explore whether our Vision-driven approach is the right fit for what you need.
Your website should do more than just exist on the internet. It should work for your business, connect with your ideal customers, and grow with you over time. That’s what true website design services deliver—and that’s what we’re here to help you create.
Schedule a Discovery Call to Get Started
Frequently Asked Questions About Website Design Services
What’s the best platform for building my website?
We’re big fans of u003cstrongu003eWordPress with Breakdanceu003c/strongu003e for small business websites, and here’s why:u003cbru003eWordPress powers over 40% of all websites on the internet, which means it’s well-supported, constantly updated, and has a massive community of developers behind it. You’re not locked into a proprietary platform that could disappear or change its pricing overnight.u003cbru003eBreakdance is a visual page builder that sits on top of WordPress, giving you the flexibility to create beautiful, custom designs without needing to know code. Unlike some other builders that can slow down your site or create messy code, Breakdance is lightweight, fast, and produces clean HTML.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eThe combination gives you:u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eFlexibility:u003c/strongu003e You can create virtually any design or functionality you needu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003ePerformance:u003c/strongu003e Fast-loading websites that Google (and your visitors) loveu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eOwnership:u003c/strongu003e You own your website and can move it to any hosting provideru003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eScalability:u003c/strongu003e Your website can grow with your business without hitting platform limitationsu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eAffordability:u003c/strongu003e After the initial build, hosting and maintenance costs are reasonableu003cbru003eOther platforms we’ve worked with include Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify—each has its place. But for small businesses that want long-term flexibility and control without technical overwhelm, WordPress + Breakdance is our sweet spot.
What are affordable website builders for small businesses?
If you’re asking about DIY platforms you can use yourself, options like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com offer affordable monthly plans (typically $15-$40/month) where you can build your own website.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eThe tradeoff?u003c/strongu003e You’re trading money for time and expertise. These platforms are affordable, but they require:u003cbru003eYour time to learn the platformu003cbru003eDesign skills to make it look professionalu003cbru003eTechnical knowledge to set up properlyu003cbru003eMarketing expertise to make it convertu003cbru003eOngoing maintenance and updatesu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eOur approach with WordPress + Breakdance is different.u003c/strongu003e Yes, our Vision Launch investment will be more than a $29/month DIY platform, but that’s because you’re getting:u003cbru003eProfessional design and developmentu003cbru003eStrategic marketing guidanceu003cbru003eCustom functionality built for your specific needsu003cbru003eTraining so you can manage it yourselfu003cbru003eOngoing partnership supportu003cbru003eThink of it this way: A DIY platform might cost you $500/year, but if it takes you 40 hours to build (at even a modest $50/hour value of your time), you’ve actually invested $2,500. And that doesn’t account for the opportunity cost of not having that time to spend serving clients or growing your business.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eThe most u0022affordableu0022 option is the one that delivers ROI.u003c/strongu003e A professionally built website that converts visitors into customers and saves you time is worth far more than a cheap DIY site that sits there looking pretty but not performing.
What are the best platforms for small business website creation?
For small businesses, we recommend u003cstrongu003eWordPress with Breakdanceu003c/strongu003e for all the reasons we mentioned above—flexibility, performance, ownership, scalability, and affordability over the long term. That said, the u0022bestu0022 platform depends on your specific needs:u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eWordPress + Breakdanceu003c/strongu003e is ideal for:u003cbru003eService-based businesses (consultants, therapists, coaches, contractors)u003cbru003eContent-heavy websites (blogs, resource libraries, educational content)u003cbru003eBusinesses that want custom functionalityu003cbru003eAnyone who values long-term flexibility and ownershipu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eThe platform matters less than the strategy behind it.u003c/strongu003e We’ve seen gorgeous Squarespace websites that don’t convert and simple WordPress websites that generate consistent leads. The difference? Strategy, messaging, user experience, and ongoing optimization.u003cbru003eThat’s why our Vision-driven process starts with understanding your business first, then choosing the right tools to support your goals.
How much does a professional website design cost?
Professional website design costs can range from:u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e$500-$2,000u003c/strongu003e for template-based designs from freelancers on platforms like Fiverru003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e$3,000-$10,000u003c/strongu003e for small agency or experienced freelancer custom designsu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e$10,000-$30,000u003c/strongu003e for comprehensive strategic projects with agenciesu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e$30,000+u003c/strongu003e for large-scale, complex websites with custom functionalityu003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eWhat creates the range?u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e1. The designer’s expertise and rate.u003c/strongu003e A designer charging $50/hour in theory will cost less than one charging $150/hour—but you’re also getting different levels of strategic thinking, design skill, speed, and experience.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e2. Overhead costs.u003c/strongu003e Freelancers working from home have lower overhead than agencies with office space and full-time staff, which affects pricing.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e3. Scope of the project.u003c/strongu003e A 5-page brochure website costs less than a 50-page resource site with custom functionality, integrations, and complex content.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e4. What’s included.u003c/strongu003e Are you getting just design? Design + development? Strategy + copywriting + SEO + marketing setup? The more comprehensive the service, the higher the investment.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e5. Ongoing support.u003c/strongu003e Some prices include ongoing maintenance and support; others are build-and-disappear.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eThe better question isn’t u0022how much does it cost?u0022 but u0022what ROI will I see?u0022u003c/strongu003e A $3,000 website that doesn’t convert visitors into customers is expensive. A $15,000 website that generates $100,000 in new business is a bargain.
How do I find the top website design agencies specializing in small businesses?
u003cstrongu003eStart by looking at other small business websites you admire!u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eSeriously—this is the best research method. When you visit a small business website that impresses you, scroll down to the footer. Most designers link back to their own website with a small credit like u0022Website by [Company Name]u0022 or u0022Designed by [Designer Name].u0022u003cbru003eClick those links and explore their portfolio. Do they work with businesses like yours? Does their design style resonate with you? Do their values align with yours?u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eOther places to look:u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e1. Local organizations and chambers of commerce.u003c/strongu003e Many designers join local business organizations to connect with potential clients. Check your chamber of commerce, business networking groups, or industry associations—you might find designers who are already embedded in your community.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e2. Ask other business owners for referrals.u003c/strongu003e Who built their website? Would they recommend working with them? What was the process like?u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e3. Search for location-specific terms.u003c/strongu003e Try u0022website design [your city]u0022 or u0022small business web design [your region]u0022 to find local providers.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e4. Look for designers who specialize in your industry.u003c/strongu003e Some designers focus specifically on therapists, contractors, nonprofits, or other niches. They’ll understand your unique needs better than generalists.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e5. Check portfolios for businesses similar to yours.u003c/strongu003e Don’t just look at pretty designs—look for websites serving businesses at your stage of growth with similar goals.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eWhat to look for in a top agency:u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eClear process and pricing (not vague u0022contact us for a quoteu0022)u003cbru003ePortfolio showing businesses like yoursu003cbru003eTestimonials that speak to partnership, not just deliverablesu003cbru003eEvidence they understand marketing and strategy, not just designu003cbru003eCommunication style that matches how you want to worku003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eRed flags to avoid:u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003ePushy sales tactics or pressure to sign immediatelyu003cbru003ePromises of u0022ranking #1 on Googleu0022 or guaranteed resultsu003cbru003eUnwillingness to share pricing or process upfrontu003cbru003ePortfolio that’s all over the place with no clear expertiseu003cbru003eFocus only on aesthetics without discussion of business goals
Where can I find professional website design freelancers?
u003cstrongu003eThe same strategies for finding agencies apply to finding freelancers:u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e1. Check the footer links on websites you admire.u003c/strongu003e Many solo designers credit themselves in website footers.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e2. Ask for referrals from other business owners.u003c/strongu003e Personal recommendations from people who’ve worked with a freelancer are gold.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e3. Look at local business organizations.u003c/strongu003e Many freelancers are active in chambers of commerce, coworking spaces, and networking groups.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e4. Search LinkedIn.u003c/strongu003e Look for web designers in your area and review their profiles, recommendations, and portfolio work.u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e5. Explore platforms carefully.u003c/strongu003e Sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Dribbble can connect you with freelancers, but quality varies dramatically. Look for:u003cbru003eDetailed portfolios with case studiesu003cbru003eClear communication in their profileu003cbru003eReviews that mention professionalism and process, not just u0022fast deliveryu0022u003cbru003eSpecialization in your industry or business typeu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eQuestions to ask freelancers before hiring:u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eWhat’s your process for new projects?u003cbru003eHow do you handle revisions and feedback?u003cbru003eWhat happens after the website launches? (Do they offer support?)u003cbru003eCan you show me examples of websites you’ve built for businesses like mine?u003cbru003eWhat platform do you recommend and why?u003cbru003eWhat’s included in your pricing?u003cbru003eWhat’s your timeline for a project like mine?u003cbru003eHow do you communicate throughout the project?u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eThe difference between freelancers and agencies:u003c/strongu003eu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eFreelancersu003c/strongu003e often offer:u003cbru003eLower pricing (less overhead)u003cbru003eDirect communication with the person doing the worku003cbru003eMore flexible timelinesu003cbru003ePersonal investment in your successu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eAgenciesu003c/strongu003e often provide:u003cbru003eMultiple specialists (designers, developers, strategists)u003cbru003eMore structured processesu003cbru003eBackup if someone is unavailableu003cbru003eScalability for larger projectsu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eAt Creare, we’re kind of a hybrid.u003c/strongu003e We’re a small team (Nic and me), so you get the personal attention of working with freelancers plus the diverse expertise of having both a marketing/design specialist and a technical development specialist. You’re not paying for a large agency’s overhead, but you’re getting more comprehensive support than most solo freelancers can provide.
