Frequently asked questions

My typical turnaround for new websites and rebuilds is typically 2 weeks from start date to fully functional website preview, depending on scope. Then however long is required for back-and-forth edits before we launch the site. But typical timeline from start to launch is 30 days.

For edits and updates to existing sites, my turnaround is 5 business days and Partner Plan clients get priority.

• Access to your current site (if any) is helpful but not required
• Your logo and brand materials
• Any photos or videos you’d like me to use
• Any copy you’d like me to use or work off of (I’ll gladly rewrite/workshop copy for better brand positioning, SEO, and conversion)
• Access to your domain and/or DNS prior to launch

Part of my design process is to rework the copy for:

• Stronger brand positioning
• SEO and AI search
• Max conversion rate

It’s always easier to do that if you have some existing copy. If this is a brand new site / brand new business, I’ll gladly workshop all that with you.

A beautiful website with poor positioning and bland messaging is worse than having no website at all – because you spent money on something that won’t help your business.

Yeah, of course. Nothing changes for your visitors until we finalize everything and set the new site live. Then I set up redirects so your old links show your new pages.

Simply email or text me. Most clients never log in to their website. They send the new team member, press release, etc., and I get it knocked out in a few days.

I despise ticket systems, so you’ll never have to deal with one of those.

If you’d like to. I can set up a simple editor for the things that change often, like team members, blog posts and news. Each person gets their own invite and any mistake can be undone in seconds.

All edits are done as quickly as possible, usually within 5 business days. Partner Plan clients get priority and guaranteed turnaround.

New websites and rebuilds get a fixed quote, usually $3,500–$7,500. Ongoing work is either covered by a Partner Plan’s monthly update allowance or billed from my published price list. See Pricing and Partner Plans.

Yes. The price only changes if the scope changes, and I’ll always confirm a new price before doing extra work. No surprise invoices.

40% to reserve your start date, 40% when you sign off on the working preview, and 20% at launch.

No. Partner Plans are month to month, and you can cancel anytime.

Monthly, to a card on file.

Updates beyond your monthly allowance are billed at my standard prices on your next invoice, and anything larger is always quoted first. Unused updates don’t roll over.

Domain renewals and email hosting are between you and those service providers. It’s important that you own these accounts and keep your card-on-file current.

Any paid assets like stock photography or third-party services a project requires are billed at cost.

On a Partner Plan, web hosting and form handling are included, so there are no separate bills. Without a plan, you’ll have pay third parties for those services. But I’ll gladly point you in the right direction and help you set it up.

Yes. Just let me know what you need and I’ll send it over.

You do. Your domain, your DNS and your content stay in your name. If you’re on a Partner Plan, I host your site for free. Otherwise, you can host it wherever you’d like. Either way, I never hold a website hostage, and you can request a copy of your website files at any time.

Your website goes with you. The domain is already yours, and I’ll help move your site to a hosting account of your choice. A competent developer will have no problem taking the handoff and running with it.

Your website keeps running. I’ll move it to a hosting account in your name and help with the technical setup. Changes and updates are then quoted from my standard price list as you need them.

Your site doesn’t depend on one person being at a desk. Every version of it is saved, it’s monitored 24/7, and there’s a documented continuity plan with a business partner who knows every client and has secure access to keep things running.

A network of trusted partners backs everything I do. And because you always hold the keys to your domain and DNS, and your site is built on a widely used framework, any capable web professional could step in and manage it.

Agencies are built for scale: account managers, overseas subcontractors, and crazy monthly fees to cover their overhead.

When you work with me, you get one-on-one guidance, faster turnaround and fixed prices. The average client has stayed with me for more than 7 years.

I’ve been building websites since 1999 and have run this business since 2013 (as Exton Web Design until 2026). I’ve worked with more than 200 businesses in virtually every industry. But I have an insatiable hunger for learning and self-growth. Technology is always changing, and I have fun keeping up with it.

These days, I pref Astro: a modern, crazy fast, widely-used framework. Pages load in an instant, and these sites seem to rank better in Google and AI search.

I used to build exclusively on WordPress, but it’s painfully slow, behind the times, and a security nightmare.

If there’s anything you need to change frequently, like team members and news articles, I can add a small editor. I no longer use bloated themes or page builders, which slow sites down and make them harder to maintain.

If you’re on a Partner Plan, I host your site on my Cloudflare account. Otherwise, it can live at the host of your choosing and I’ll help you set it up. The nice thing about Astro sites on Cloudflare is that there’s no server to maintain, so there’s virtually zero attack surface, from a security standpoint.

By ruthlessly limiting the attack surface, leaving out the parts attackers target.

Since I no longer use WordPress, there are no plugins, no database and no admin login on your site – so there’s nothing on the server to break into. The code behind your site is kept in a private, version-controlled repository with two-factor authentication on every account that can change it. Contact forms are protected by Cloudflare Turnstile and further spam filtering.

Across 200+ clients since 2013, only two client sites were ever infected with malware. Of course these were on WordPress. And worse than that, they were on cheap, self-managed hosting outside my control. The clients neglected to update their plugins.

When a serious PHP flaw hit in October 2026, my WordPress servers were patched before many of the major hosts. But it was enough of a scare to push me into quitting WordPress and pivoting to Astro.

My current platform doesn’t use PHP or a server, so there’s nothing to patch or maintain from a security standpoint. Just 2FA logins and simple security best-practices like that.

Your live site doesn’t run any software that needs patching. I keep the framework behind it up to date for Partner clients, and every update is tested on a private preview before it goes live.

Every version of your site is saved, so any change can be undone in minutes. Contact form submissions are saved for 90 days as a backup, in case an email ever goes astray.

They’re emailed to the people you choose the moment they arrive, after spam filtering. Each one is also stored securely for 90 days in a Cloudflare database, so nothing is lost if an email is delayed or filtered. Submissions older than 90 days are automatically deleted.

While you’re on a Partner Plan, your site is hosted in my Cloudflare account, and changes to its code are made only by me, through accounts protected with two-factor authentication.

If you host it in your own account, you decide who has access, and I’m added as a member when you need me. If your team requires a DIY editor, each person gets their own invite, and every edit is recorded.

Your DNS stays in your own Cloudflare account (or wherever you host your DNS), with me added as a member. Your domain stays in your name.

Gladly. I regularly coordinate with client IT staff and external IT vendors on DNS, email, and security requirements. If your firm requires a specific host, I’ll talk it through.

I still look after the WordPress sites I’ve built, and I can build a new WordPress site if your business absolutely requires one. But most don’t, and for security reasons, I now recommend Astro.

AI has made it faster and cheaper to find and exploit flaws in WordPress and its plugins. Astro sites don’t have this issue, because there are no plugins, no database, and no admin login to attack.

Astro sites are also significantly faster, with pages that typically load in half a second. Visitors like this and search engines reward it.

If you want to, you and your team can still update staff and news themselves through a small editor I can set up. Each change is noted with who made it, version-controlled, and can be rolled back in a second.

Every site is built with accessibility in mind: Things like proper structure for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and strong color contrast – all checked against the latest WCAG guidelines.

Every Partner Plan review includes an accessibility check, because sites change as content is added. This is one reason it’s best for clients not to DIY their own edits – because they’re likely to accidentally break accessibility.

No one can honestly promise legal compliance, but prioritizing accessibility is simply the way I build and maintain websites nowadays.

Every site is built using on-page and technical SEO fundamentals: Great content intentionally built for a great user experience, a clean DOM, fast load times, proper schema, internal linking, meta titles and descriptions, etc.

For off-page SEO, I can help plan a campaign for getting high-quality backlinks (no black-hat garbage), managing brand mentions, and winning the Local SEO game.

Rankings also fluctuate over time, and it’s important to stay ahead of your competition. So part of each Partner Plan review is measuring how you’re doing and showing you what to improve.

More and more people ask ChatGPT, Claude or Google’s AI for information and recommendations. I structure every site so these tools can understand and accurately describe, cite, and recommend your business. Part of each Partner Plan review is to measure how you’re doing in AI search and working on things we can improve together.

Yeah, totally. I actually have a lot of clients that come to me after trying that. We take a look at what they build and they end up hiring me to finish their draft – which I’m always happy to do.

Generating a site takes a few minutes. But making a site that’s fast, secure, accessible, optimized for Google and AI search, scalable, and maintainable for years is the hard part. That’s what I do.

I don’t do social media management. I personally quit all social media a few years ago. And I think social media might be the downfall of western civilization. But it is crucial for some businesses (definitely not all businesses). Anyways, we can chat about it and I can offer advice, but I rightfully won’t manage those campaigns.

For paid ads on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., I know specialists I can refer you to. It’s such a deep rabbit hole and I don’t like gambling with other people’s money. But I would avoid any agency that’s offering to bundle ad services unless they have a dedicated, experienced, and current ad manager (meaning someone who can explain how Google’s AI ad management works, and how to curtail it when needed, for example).

Regarding monthly SEO, the agencies that charge for this probably aren’t doing anything useful or helpful. SEO is better measured in quarters because campaigns take a while to play out. You have to have enough data to know what’s working and what isn’t working. Measuring SEO by the month is like measuring body fat by the hour – it’s futile and nonsensical.

SEO is part of the Partner Plan review – and the Accelerate plan does come with monthly reviews. But we’d really just be reviewing the numbers from month-to-month and then adjusting any campaign from quarter-to-quarter.

Not anymore. I’ve built a few using Shopify or WooCommerce in the past. I’d probably just recommend Shopify these days as I no longer endorse WordPress.

But I exclusively focus on websites for professional firms and service-based businesses. I am happy to connect your e-commerce store (or your e-learning platform, client portal, etc.) to your marketing site.