A one page website
Built by hand, on your own domain, registered in your name. What you offer, where you are, when your season runs, and an enquiry form that goes to an inbox you actually read in February.
Opening up
First season on the lake? Open already found.
A resort, a guide service, a shop on the main street. You have the lease or the licence and a list of things that all need doing before the ice goes out. This is the version that gets the website off that list for $699.
What you get
One fixed number, and four things inside it.
Agreed in writing before anything starts, and it does not move afterwards.
A business card
Designed to match, handed over as print ready files you own. Take them to any printer. In a town that runs on handshakes you will need cards before you need a fifth web page.
A logo, if you need one
Same price. Bring the one you have and we use it. If it is a placeholder from the week you signed the lease, say so and you get a proper one, drawn to still read when it is shrunk onto a boat sticker.
Three months of care
Hosting, the domain, the certificate, backups and small edits, covered through your first three months. After that it is $49 a month, and plenty of people carry it through the season and drop it in October.
Live in about two weeks, and the number is in writing before any work starts.
Timing
Build it in the off season. Not in June.
This is the one piece of advice that is worth more than the website itself, and it is free.
- November to February
- Right
- The site goes up, Google finds it, and it has settled by the time a family in the Cities starts planning. You open with people already able to find you.
- March to April
- Late but fine
- You will catch the back half of planning season. Worth doing, and better than waiting another year for the perfect moment.
- June
- Too late to help this year
- The decisions were made in March. A site built in June spends your whole first season being found by almost nobody, then earns its money the following spring. I will still build it, and I will still tell you this first.
Who this is for
First year only, and that is what the price is for.
You are early, the money is going into the building and the boats, and the job right now is existing properly rather than perfectly.
This is you if…
You opened in the last twelve months, or you open next season. One cabin, one boat, one counter. Guests are already asking where they can look you up, and right now the answer is a Facebook page and a phone number.
Run a season already? This is not it.
I will say so rather than take the money. You know what guests ask, which is exactly what a page per cabin or per service should be built around. That is the custom site from $1,495, and it is the better spend.
Not sure yet?
Start with the free homepage. I build it, put it on a real address, and you look at it before spending anything. It counts toward this package, so you never pay twice for the same work. Five slots at a time across all my sites.
Questions
What people ask before they book this.
How new does the business have to be?
Under a year old, or not open yet. One season changes the answer: once you have run one you know what guests actually ask, and that is worth building pages around. At that point the custom site from $1,495 is the honest recommendation.
What is included for $699?
One page, an enquiry form that still reaches you in February, a business card as print ready files, a logo if you need one, and the care plan through your first three months. After that it is $49 a month and you can stop any time, including for the winter.
When should I have it built?
The off season. A site built in November is indexed and settled by the time people start planning in February. A site built in June spends your first season being found by nobody.
What if I add cabins or services later?
Then you move up to the custom site, a page per cabin or per service, from $1,495. The one page is not thrown away. You will also know by then what guests actually ask, which is what those pages should be built around.
Do I own it?
Yes. The domain goes in your name on day one and the source code is handed over at the end. Take it to anyone you like later and I will help with the move rather than make it awkward.
Tell me what you are opening.
What it is, which lake, and when you plan to open. You get a reply within 24 hours with a fixed price and a straight answer about timing, hire me or not.