Premier WordPress Web Designer

• Give me names and links of up to five websites that you like and let me know why you like them. Do you like how certain sites functions, look, feel or ? This will give me a good idea of the style you like and what you want your site to do.
• What is the goal of your website?
• Do you want an e-commerce store front to you can start selling things on the online 365 days a year?
• Do you just need a basic 5 page website for a bio or as a place for people to contact you, something simple without a ton of bells and whistles?
• Do you have lots of pictures that showcase your talent or service and need a portfolio?
• Do you want to blog?
• Do you want someone to subscribe to your service monthly or download something for a fee?
• Do you want to get found in certain locations, Santa Monica for instance?  If so do you have a local address and phone number that you will add to the site?
• If you already have a website tell me the things that frustrate you about it.
• Let me know who your biggest competitors are.

After we’ve chatted and discussed your needs, if you and I feel we are a good fit, I will send you a price quote.

If pricing works for you, I will send you a contract and a statement of everything I’ll deliver.

Typically I can have your website up and running within 4 – 6 weeks of our initial call, as long as you have signed the contract and paid 50% deposit.

• Having a website will attract new customers to your business and make you more money – 81% of people research a business or service online prior to making a purchase decision. If you don’t have a website, you have no chance at capturing a share of this market.
• Always available – your website is available 24/7/365 – that means weekends, evenings, and holidays!
• Websites offer a a massive opportunity to help grow your business and a better return on investment than any other form of advertising. If you’re planning to market your business, a website should be your first priority.
• It’s a legitimate business expense and a tax write off.
• Add instant credibility – 56% of people stated that they won’t trust a business without a website.
• First impressions count, and websites allow you to make a very strong impression with a well designed introduction for your business.
• A website can help showcase your expertise and better position your business. A website can be your number one tool for standing out in a crowd.
• Show what you do quickly – visitors should know within 3 seconds of visiting your website – who you are, what you do/offer and how to contact you
• Having a website will end up saving you time – communicating with potential customers via phone and email takes time so provide answers to commonly asked questions in a FAQ page (like this!).
• Position yourself in the market and stay in control of your brand. A website shapes the online perception of your business and gets your message across in a way that your social media channels cannot provide. Allows you to position yourself in the market to get the exact type of customers you’re looking for.
• Get ahead of any negative online reviews your business may have  – 79% of users who read online reviews, believe them. Combat that negativity by posting your own positive testimonials on your website.

Price depends on what you want the site to do. There are many variables so that’s why I need to ask you some questions in a quick phone call.  Having on online store will cost more than a straightforward website. Having 20 pages will cost more than 5 pages. Having me write all the content and supplying all the images will cost more than if you have everything in a document ready to go.

A custom website can be a big investment and not all small businesses have the budget for it. I offer a 1 page “business card” website for $899 which will help get you online with a nice looking web page and you can add more bells and whistles later.

It’s  a placeholder website that you can grow into.

Price includes the DIVI theme worth $249. You need to supply all images and content. However, this package is not always available, due to my busy schedule.

Compare my rates to others, many of them will charge you extra for many of the services (theme, marketing and more) that I include in my prices. Plus, they will not have the experience I have.

I shoot for a four to eight week turnaround, more complex sites may take more time to develop.

Work will commence when I have received a signed contract, deposit and assets, typically, I will complete your website within 4 to 6 weeks from the start date. For me to complete the project on-time, your engagement is vital, please have your images and copy ready and be available with feedback. If you delay the project by not providing assets or feed-back to my design, within the 4 week time frame, I reserve the right to move on to other clients, and come back to finish your project at a later date.

ABSOLUTELY!! That’s why you hire an expert.

I implement my fully-rounded skillset in WordPress web design, SEO, social media and online marketing to deliver a beautiful, professional and effective website!

I stay on top of trends and the latest technology and will advise you when you have no clue what you want and also steer you clear of things that annoy visitors to a website. I will give you my honest opinion backed by 20 years experience of online marketing and web design.

I love to help clients reach and engage more customers. All of my clients learn a lot along the way! It is refreshing to see how energized my clients become and start to become way more involved in marketing their own business and coming up with their own ideas.

Need a checklist? Read this: 26 Features Every Business Website Needs!

One thing to remember though, I ain’t your momma!

• a domain name from Google Domains if you do not already have one.
• a hosting account –  SiteGround is the best in my opinion. They are the most reliable, your site will load quickly and they have amazing chat support. Google penalizes site that are slow! Use this link to sign up https://www.siteground.com/go/iaintyourmomma. (Disclosure: I will be paid a small commission if you click on this link, I decided to join their affiliate program and get paid for referring people to them, because I recommend them to all my clients, I should get paid for it, right!?!)
• a list of all your logins and links to all your social media and hosting account.
• all your assets (images, copy, logo etc.) at the time you sign the contract. Not giving me all the assets will delay the project.
• professional images, your web site will only look as good as your images, you can purchase stock images, if you feel your pictures are not up to par.
• written copy for each page. Write at least 300 words – I will tweak it for SEO
• signed contract and 50% deposit

Note: If you want me to source images and write your copy there will be an extra charge and the site will take a little longer to develop.

Need a checklist? Read this: 26 Features Every Business Website Needs!

DIVI theme is a premium WordPress theme that would cost you $89 if you bought it yourself, I include the lifetime version in your website which is worth $249.

WORDPRESS WEB DESIGN USING DIVI BACKEND BUILDER:

I will create your WordPress website using the DIVI back end builder, DIVI is a theme builder from the very well supported Elegant Themes, the theme will stand the test of time, it is future-proof. It allows me to customize your layout and functionality to suit your various needs, and to give you a site that looks and functions great in all devices, from desktops to smart phones. DIVI is a versatile, multi-purpose theme capable of so much more than an out-of-the-box theme. You will be able to add new features as the years go by and you will not be stuck with an outdated site in a couple of years, you can refresh your site and add new bells and whistles as needed.

in 2019 there are many brands and businesses competing for people’s attention. It is imperative that you maintain and keep your website fresh and in line with recent design trends, technological advancements and search engine algorithms (if you care about SEO).

Why don’t I work with other themes?

• because you are locked into the layout, design
• may run it to the possibility that a popular theme may be over-used in your niche.
• theme may not stand the test of time. It needs to be future-proof. The developer should provide frequent updates or you may not be able to update the WordPress version and plugins because an outdated theme may be incompatible and crash the site if you try to update it.
• Outdated sites are  very vulnerable to hackers and security issues
• your site will quickly become outdated in how it looks and functions
• never choose a pre-made theme on how it looks, because it may not function well, or a theme that has all the bells and whistles you want may not look that great.
• Any professional WordPress theme should come with full documentation including detailed videos and the like. Be very wary of themes that do not have a user manual.

ABSOLUTELY!! I work hard to ensure your website looks great on a variety of devices. Having a mobile-friendly (responsive) website is more important than ever!

See the tops reasons below…

1. Get Visitors – 57% of all web traffic in 2019 is via mobile devices. That is more than half of your customers that are checking you out from their smartphones. What kind of experience are you giving them? On average, people are spending 5 hours on their smartphones a day this is the most important reason you need a responsive/mobile friendly website is

2. Build Trust – 57% of online won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile website.

3. Stay Competitive – Your top competitors probably already have an amazing, mobile friendly website. Don’t let your customers choose your competition over you, because your website sucks!

4. Amplify Your Visibility – online sharing is simple via a phone, your web visitors are more likely to share your content on their social platforms.

5. SEO – mobile-friendliness is a ranking symbol on Google. That means that mobile-friendly websites appear higher in search results so you get more visibility.

6. Keep Their Attention – with a fast loading mobile site. A website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load will cause potential customers to click off your page immediately.

7. Create a Visually Appealing Experience for Your Visitors. The customer’s experience is vital when they interact with your company. Site navigation is simple and intuitive. Sharing content is natural and easy. Best of all, the site loads quickly and the text is easy to read and fits on the small screen.

7. Make it Easy for Customers to Contact You – A phone is a very convenient way for customers to reach you, via email and a clickable phone number.

Your input and feedback is crucial to the process. I’ll start with questions about your needs, your likes, your wants and work with you to develop just the right look, feel and functionality.

If you let me know up to 5 websites that you like how they look and/or function and why you like them that will be a big help in understanding your needs and personal taste.

You will be required to give me your images and copy within a week after me starting the project. Don’t worry, I will advise you of what type of content you need to deliver.

Need a checklist? Read this: 26 Features Every Business Website Needs!

CONTENT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! You are the expert on your business, so it’s best if it comes from you.

• You need to answer all the Frequently Asked Questions your client’s have (like this!).
• be transparent about your pricing and more.
• do not make them guess what you do, tell them every step of the way, “how it works”, “next steps” – guide them!
• tell them how you’ll SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM! The content should be about WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THEM and not all about you you, you!
• how will what you do make their life easier, better, more beautiful, and so on? And how are you the expert in delivering that promise?
• reviews and testimonials are great!
• Check out my blog post Tips on How To Write Website Content

I will clean up grammar, typos, spelling mistakes and organize your original content so it has great headlines and layout, so it pops and gets your audience’s attention!
I will tweak it so is optimized for the web (SEO and Conversion).

If you need me to write all content for you, please let me know and I will factor that extra charge into my quote, but you need to give me the details to work with.

Watch online marketing guru, Neil Patel’s video to understand how important content is!

Yes. If you are stuck I can write your copy.      If you provide written copy I will tweak it for you so it is SEO friendly and written for the web.

Yes. I can source suitable images and add up to 10 free stock photos from these FREE photo and video sites. Or you can choose your own! These sites have stunning library of over 1 million stock images and videos. Royalty free and safe for commercial use, with no attribution required and they are FREE! Checkout:

• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Pixabay
• Pikwizard

If you you want to buy stock images, I suggest you take a look at 123RF.com or iStock by Getty Images but they can get expensive, so checkout the FREE sites first!

I recommend Siteground for hosting, you will have to set up your new hosting account before I begin work on a new website.

Hosting is super important for a fast loading site and for web security! I use the Divi theme which is a powerful theme that requires a lot of host resources, professional websites on hosts like GoDaddy are NOT RECOMMENDED, they are best for amateur and simple websites, even then they get hacked. Read this about Why GoDaddy & BlueHost suck! and this The Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Best Hosting Option.

When it comes to hosting, you get what you pay for.   If you already pay for hosting we can talk about that on your consultation call.

Should you wish to proceed with my services, you will be required to sign a contract and give me 50% deposit* before I commence work.

Final payment is due upon completion – you will need to pay the balance the day the website goes live. You own the website 100% after final payment is made.

I accept cash, Zelle, Venmo or checks. I also accept PayPal – if you want to pay by credit card, please do that via Paypal – you are responsible for paying any Paypal service fees.

*Note: Your deposit is non-refundable if I commence work. The fee I charge is for research time, labor and expertise and is not just based on the finished product.

It depends.

I only support/make hands-on changes to websites that I have fully built and can 100% stand behind. There are risks involved with updating websites that multiple people have worked on. I do not want to be liable for bad coding, plugin issues, outdated themes and WordPress versions. You can however, hire me as a consultant – I am happy to give you recommendations to improve your website messaging and SEO – that your current web person can implement.

I can make you a new modern website, which I will support after completion, if you wish.  Most of my work is building a new, more professional, modern, and SEO friendly WordPress website from scratch to replace old, unstable and outdated websites.

Many website owners contact me to redo sites they had built by a “friend”. Or sites built with a D-I-Y, drag and drop website builder such as SquareSpace, Wix, or GoDaddy’s Website Builder. Or sites made a long time ago using outdated HTML or are running an old WordPress sites that is non- responsive, meaning they do not function or look good in mobile devices.

Once you approve the preview version, I will migrate/clone my site to your domain.

You need a professional email address like this yourname@yourdomainname.com

I DO NOT RECOMMEND you use a free email address @Gmail/Yahoo/AOL/Hotmail/Comcast etc on your website
For instance;  yourname@gmail.com, yourname@yahoo.com, or even worse yourname@aol.com or yourname@hotmail.com and so on, these look so unprofessional, untrustworthy, and can make you appear old and dated.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND you use free email address set up at your hosting company, even though you can get yourname@yourdomainname.com for free, it is a terrible idea. WHY? Read this… Know what’s a terrible idea? Mixing hosting with email.

IF YOUR EMAIL IS CURRENTLY WITH A HOSTING COMPANY, OTHER THAN SITEGROUND – Please note, that before the website goes live, you should download and save all emails from your Godaddy/BlueHost etc email servers.  When I switch hosting to my preferred Siteground, your emails will no longer be available in GoDaddy/BlueHost etc. account or in your inbox. ALL past emails you have received will disappear from your InBox, so you will not be able to search for them in your InBox. Don’t think past emails are stored.  Also note, you or a techie person will have to set up your POP3 or IMAP to your new email on your desktop, laptop and phone.

WHERE SHOULD YOU HAVE YOUR EMAILS SET UP – set up professional emails via Google Workspace $6 per user, per month – group email aliases such as sales@yourcompany and support@yourcompany are included free and don’t count as users.  Includes 30GB of cloud storage, file sharing, video conferencing, 24/7 support, live document editing, 14 days FREE trial and more.  Or use Outlook or similar.

I am passionate about the user experience (UX)  and conversion optimization (CRO) so visitors to your website take the action you want them to take (call you, fill out a form, buy something, what ever you want).

Psychology, color theory and persuasion tactics also included.

DON’T MAKE VISITORS THINK! In my web design and navigation I use the KISS METRIC – Keep It SImple, Stupid! (KISS)

NOT INCLUDED: Off-site marketing, for instance, paid ads, link building etc. is not included

On-site web design best practices and elements required for SEO and conversion tactics are included in my pricing.

I am passionate about the user experience (UX)  and conversion optimization so visitors to your website take the action you want them to take (call you, fill out a form, buy something, what ever you want).

Psychology, color theory and persuasion tactics also included.

Off-site marketing, for instance, paid ads, link building etc. is not included

YES! Absolutely! Everything I build will be 100% owned by you.  After websites launches and final payment has been made and cleared my bank account, you will receive all logins and passwords and the site will be all yours.

Yes, I love it when a client take control of their WordPress website and learns to manage it on their own.

I’ll provide you with <30 minute video tutorial that highlights specific things to be aware of when maintaining your site and show you how to clone a blog page and best way to add images and such.

I will also give you links to many DIVI THEME tutorials.

Future updates and maintenance are not included. Once your site launches, you own it and are responsible for its upkeep.

If you are familiar (or someone else) with WordPress you can make changes yourself. I can show you how to make simple edits. Please be aware that WordPress has a learning curve and you should keep your WordPress site up to date to prevent security issues (hackers) and crashes.

If you want me to maintain your website (update WordPress version, Theme Version, plugins, add or edit text, update images etc. etc.) I can give you an hourly/flat fee for that.

I work with a broad range of company types from small start-ups, large corporations, nonprofits, B2B, B2C.  Businesses industries include fitness, technology, food, apparel, medical, health + beauty, travel, finance, arts, and more.

I prefer to work with California based companies.

Plus, I’ve been making websites for 20 years. I love to help small- and medium-sized local businesses reach and engage more customers implementing my fully-rounded skill set in WordPress web design, SEO, social media and online marketing.

Pay to get your site built right the first time!

Click to read reviews on this website

Read my 5 star reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.

For existing clients who want to write a review – I have set up links to my Yelp & Google review page so it is super quick and easy.

GOOGLE: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJUYUbY0e7woARhQlZzHJWLes

YELP: https://www.yelp.com/writeareview/biz/UiHg_9W9dmZGJJxVmQ_CQQ?return_url=%2Fbiz%2FUiHg_9W9dmZGJJxVmQ_CQQ

I live in Santa Monica, California, and never outsource my work to offshore developers. I prefer to work with local businesses in the Los Angeles area. My mission is to help as many people start, build, and run successful businesses online, while having a ton of fun in the process.

Hiring locally comes with a series of benefits you might not find with hiring remotely. For one, face to face relationships often lead to trust, loyalty and understanding and there won’t be the challenges of cultural communication barriers, plus I am also in the same time zone.

NO, THEY ARE NOT INCLUDED: Off-site marketing, for instance, paid ads, link building etc. is not included.

Read this great article
Online Advertising: Everything You Need to Know in 2019 for tips on getting started with ads.