One person. The one you talk to.

Who you're hiring

When you hire me, I'm the person who takes the call, writes the scope, designs the pages, writes the copy, and answers the phone eight months later when something needs changing. There is no account manager, no junior handoff, and no team I'm quietly outsourcing to.

That's the trade. I take on a small number of projects at a time, so I can't start six clients next Tuesday. What you get instead is someone who knows your business well enough to make the small judgment calls without a meeting, and who is still around when the season changes and the site needs to change with it.

I work with local businesses because the results are measurable. You know whether the phone rang. I'd rather be judged on that than on how the homepage looks.

How I work

Diagnosis before design. The first thing I produce is a written account of what is actually costing you customers, with evidence: where visitors arrive, where they leave, what they can't do on a phone. Sometimes the answer is not a new website. When that's the case I say so on the first call, because a project that shouldn't start is the most expensive kind.

Specific beats polished. Real service names, real numbers, real photographs of real jobs. A page that says exactly what you do, for whom, and what it costs converts better than one that merely looks expensive. I write the copy myself, after asking you a lot of questions about your customers.

Fast, plain and yours. I build pages that load quickly on a phone with a weak signal and don't depend on a platform that can raise its prices or disappear. You get every file, the domain is in your name, and I record a short video showing you how to change things yourself.

Measured, not admired. Calls and form submissions are the score. I set up tracking so we both know where enquiries came from, and I report it monthly in one page of plain English. If something isn't working, the report says so, and what I'm changing.

What I won't do

• Hold your site hostage. You own everything from day one. Leaving is an email, and I'll help whoever comes next.
• Invent proof. No testimonials I wrote myself, no client logos for work I didn't do, no "trusted by 500 businesses". The case studies show the work and the reasoning instead, and I'll introduce you to people I've worked with if you ask.
• Present concept work as client work. When I rebuild a local business's site on my own time to show how I'd approach it, it's labelled as an independent concept, everywhere, every time.
• Promise a ranking or a date for results. Local search moves on Google's schedule, usually six to twelve weeks. I'll tell you what I expect and why, not what you'd like to hear.
• Take a project I'm not right for. Large e-commerce, custom software beyond what a small business needs, or a brief that really wants a bigger team. I'll point you to someone better placed.

Where I work

From Niwot, with businesses here in town and across Boulder, Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette and Erie. I'll come to you for the first meeting if you're in the county. Further afield works over video calls, and has, though I'd want to understand your market before quoting.

— James