Fixed-price web design.

Fixed-price websites for small Niagara businesses

Nobody buys a transport truck to carry two ladders and a compressor around Ridgeway. You buy a half-ton, sized to the job, and you get back to work. That's the whole spec, and anybody who's ever priced a work truck understands it without needing a meeting about it.

A website works the same way. This is a small, plain, working website, sized to a small business, at a price I'll give you before I start rather than after.

Most small business sites here start from $1,800.

Three sizes, not one

You don't build the big site when a small one will do, and you don't overbuild "just in case" either. Pick the size that fits your business today. Most Niagara businesses only need Starter. You can move up a size later, and nothing you paid for the first time gets thrown away.

Every size is yours, full stop. The domain, the hosting account, and every file are registered in your name from day one, not mine. If you ever want to leave, you take the whole thing with you.

Every size above is a one-time fee, not a monthly bill. Financing is available too, if spreading the cost works better for your business: just ask when we talk.

Photos that make people trust you

Three good photos do more for whether a stranger picks up the phone than another paragraph of copy ever will. Most small business sites either skip photos entirely or run the same stock shot half of Niagara has already used, and a visitor reads both the same way: nobody's actually here.

You don't need to hire a photographer for this. What actually gets you there is somebody telling you what to shoot before you pick up your phone: the angle that keeps a small room from looking smaller, why four in the afternoon beats noon, when to step in close instead of standing back. I'll walk you through that on a call, you take the photos yourself, and I finish them here, correcting the colour and exposure so a shot taken on a grey Tuesday looks as good as one taken in perfect light. That's part of every size above, not an add-on.

How the work goes

The call comes first, and it takes about twenty minutes. What do you sell, who buys it, and what do you want somebody to do when they land on the site.

The quote comes next, in writing, with a number and a scope you can read in one sitting. If the number doesn't work, say so: we'll cut the scope until it does, look at financing so the cost spreads out, or you can walk away owing me nothing.

The build follows. You'll see it while it's still rough, and we'll fix what wants fixing before it goes anywhere near the public.

The handover is the part most people forget to ask about, and it's the part that matters five years from now. The domain and the hosting stay in your name, you get the logins, and I'll show you how to change your own hours and prices so you can update a holiday closure yourself on a Sunday night.

Meet Christopher Ross

Me. Christopher Ross. I've been building things on the web since 1996, and these days the focus is helping small businesses market themselves online, not just the site itself. I live in Fort Erie, so most of Niagara is a short drive and a familiar map. My bigger, more complicated projects run under my own name at thisismyurl.com, priced for that scale. A Niagara business's website matters just as much to that business, so Niagara Web Design is its own practice, built specifically for local businesses, done properly and priced plainly.

Call 905.682.4642. If I miss your call, I'll call back the same day.

Common questions

Do I own the site when it's done?

Yes. The domain gets registered in your business name, the hosting account is in your name, and the logins are yours. If you ever decide to move the site to somebody else, you can, and I'll help you pack it up.

I already have a Facebook page. Do I need a website too?

A social page is ground you rent, and the landlord changes the rules whenever it suits them. Your own site is ground you own: it turns up in search, it says exactly what you want it to say, and it's still sitting there the quarter a platform decides to bury business posts. Most shops run both, and that's the sensible answer.

What does it cost to keep running?

Hosting and the domain renew every year, and they're small. Budget something in the range of a phone bill, nothing more.

Do you offer financing?

Yes. If spreading the cost works better for your business, say so when we talk and we'll set up a plan that fits.

Tell me what you sell and I'll tell you what a site for it costs. Call 905.682.4642, or email hello@niagarawebdesigner.com if that's easier.