The best starting point is to review the top-ranked websites in your industry. This shows you the pages and content your type of business typically includes. Our First Website Guide covers domains, hosting, content, and more. When you have a sense of what you need, email us for a free, no-pressure assessment and estimate.
We start by reviewing your current website, social media, logo, and marketing materials. If there are websites you like, send us the links with notes on what appeals to you. From there, we’ll work out a list of pages and what each will contain. During development, we’ll need your images, logo, and any files to be added to the site (PDF, Excel, video, etc.), and brief notes about your business for the written content. Files can be sent as email attachments or through Dropbox, Google Drive, or WeTransfer. Learn more on our Development Steps page.
Once we have your content, small sites usually take about two weeks, medium sites about a month, and large sites a couple of months. Delays most often happen when content is incomplete, new content is requested mid-project, or feedback is slow.
Email is our preferred way to work. It provides a complete record of the project details, makes it easy to share documents and images, and gives everyone the opportunity to review information carefully as the project progresses. When a conversation is the better option, we’re available by phone. Most development and troubleshooting is done in the evenings and on weekends, when site traffic is low and changes are least disruptive, and we respond promptly to email, including nights and weekends. We don’t schedule in-person meetings.
Pricing and Payments
No. Every website we build is custom, so estimates are based on your project’s specific needs. You pay only for the work your project requires. Our Estimate Calculator gives you a starting point, and we provide a free, detailed estimate once we understand your goals.
Yes. New websites and full redevelopments are invoiced in four milestone payments: 20% once a WordPress theme or HTML template has been selected, 30% once the home page and common page elements are in place, 30% once preliminary content is added to all primary pages, and 20% once the site is complete and approved by you. Full terms are in our services agreement.
Once your website is paid in full, you own the finished website, with no rental or usage fees. Licensed materials such as stock photos and premium plugins remain under their own licenses, and third-party services like hosting have their own ongoing costs. See our services agreement for details.
We’re a small company with low overhead, no sales staff, and we manage our own marketing. AI tools have made our work more efficient without any change to our rates. Our goal is excellent service at a fair price, which leads to long-term clients and referrals. Some of our client relationships go back more than a decade.
Content updates are billed at our hourly rate of $45 in quarter-hour increments, with changes taking six minutes or less billed at $5. WordPress administration (platform, theme, and plugin updates, backups, and security monitoring) is billed at a discounted rate of $20 an hour and typically costs $15 to $20 a month. We invoice quarterly. See our pricing page for the full rate table.
Our estimates include about 30 minutes of routine changes per page. Changes beyond the original scope are billed at our hourly rate, with your approval before the work is done.
Yes. We work with clients throughout California and beyond, and since our projects are managed by email, location is never an obstacle. All payments are made in US funds.
For 30 days after launch, we fix display issues and technical problems related to our development work at no charge. After that, updates are available at our hourly rate, and small improvements that are quick to implement are sometimes made at no charge. Our goal is a website you’re proud of, and we’ll work with you to get there.
Design and Development
We build WordPress websites using the popular visual builders, including WPBakery, Elementor, and Avada, as well as traditional static HTML5 websites. WordPress is the right choice if you want to make your own updates, run a blog, or sell online. A static HTML site is fast, secure, and well suited to smaller sites that don’t change often.
WordPress websites include an admin panel where you can edit content, add blog posts, and make other updates. Static HTML sites require coding knowledge to change, so updates are usually handled by us. If you want to manage your own content, let us know so we can build your site on WordPress.
We review top-rated, recently updated WordPress themes or HTML templates suited to your industry, and send you the live demos of the best options so you can see their actual features in action. After we discuss them, you choose one, and we customize it to fit your business.
Yes, including sites built by another developer. We work with every HTML version from HTML3 to HTML5, as well as WordPress and Squarespace. Updates are billed at our hourly rate, and we offer a free initial assessment covering design, content, and SEO.
We primarily build online stores with WooCommerce for WordPress, and have also worked with Squarespace. We integrate payment gateways including PayPal, Authorize.Net, and Elavon Converge, along with shipping integrations such as FedEx. Learn more on our Online Stores page.
Yes. Recent examples include payment buttons, class schedules, newsletter signup forms, call tracking, and text message opt-in forms. AI tools allow us to build custom integrations and resolve plugin and script conflicts much more quickly than before.
We test performance on desktop and mobile, optimize images, and configure caching so your pages load quickly. Hosting also plays a large role in site speed, which is one reason we recommend quality hosting providers.
We follow accessibility best practices, including proper heading structure, descriptive image alt text, readable color contrast, and clear navigation. If your business needs formal compliance with accessibility standards such as WCAG, we recommend an audit by an accessibility specialist.
Content and AI
In most cases, we do. Clients typically send brief notes about their business, and we follow up with specific questions about your services, experience, and service area, then write the copy for your review. You’re also welcome to write your own content, and we can edit it for the web. Copywriting is billed at our hourly rate unless it’s included in your estimate.
AI is part of our daily workflow. Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet and Claude Opus provide backend support, including performance optimization, custom integrations, and scripting troubleshooting. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini support content writing, social media, creative graphics, and industry and SEO research. AI models are updated frequently, and we use the best providers available at any given time. For our clients, the biggest benefits are faster troubleshooting of scripting issues and faster development of custom solutions.
Yes. All AI-assisted copy is reviewed and edited before it’s published, and page content is revised to match your business and voice. Scripts and integrations are tested on your site to confirm they work as intended. AI speeds up the work, but every decision and final check is made by Edmund Price.
We use paid, commercial AI plans, not free versions. The information we work with in these tools is almost always content meant for your public website, such as service descriptions and page copy.
Yes, for some graphics, alongside licensed stock photography and your own photos. AI images work well for promotional and illustrative graphics, such as showing a product or service in a real-world setting. We never use AI to depict real staff. For photos of your team, your location, or your completed work, real photos are always best. AI-generated images generally can’t be copyrighted, so they’re best used for supporting graphics rather than brand assets like a logo.
Google’s guidance is that it rewards helpful, original content regardless of how it’s produced, and penalizes content mass-produced to manipulate search rankings. Our AI-assisted copy is written specifically for your business, edited for accuracy and voice, and cleaned of the stray formatting AI tools sometimes leave in page code.
Edmund Price has extensive experience writing for businesses and institutions, including print journalism, hospitality training and management, business proposals, and academic tutoring in English and composition. He has been building websites professionally since 2002, which has given him a clear understanding of how to write content that engages visitors and performs well in search.
SEO and Marketing
No. Rankings depend on factors like domain age, content quality, inbound links, and competition in your industry. Anyone promising guaranteed organic rankings is being misleading. All our sites are built with SEO in mind, and most clients see improvements within a few months, sooner for established domains.
Every business has different needs, so we don’t sell SEO packages. One site may need extensive new content, while another may only need structured data added. Our work can include industry and competitor research, performance testing, desktop and mobile checks, content and meta tag review, plugin review, and backlink recommendations. We specialize in local, on-page SEO, and offer advanced optimization for competitive industries such as legal, accounting, and contracting.
Yes. We add structured data (schema markup) that tells search engines who you are, what you offer, where you’re located, and how to contact you. It helps search engines understand your site accurately and can make your business eligible for enhanced search results.
No one can guarantee it, but the same things that help AI tools such as Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Gemini understand and reference a business also support traditional rankings: clear and specific content, accurate business details, and structured data. We build all of these into our websites.
Yes. We include a Google Search Console report with our quarterly invoices, showing how your site is performing in Google search.
We set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics for client websites. Advertising campaigns aren’t part of a standard website project, but we can help with Google Ads by separate arrangement. Tracking code supplied by you or your marketing agency is added as provided.
Yes, with a focus on Facebook, where we assist clients with weekly posting. We can also help with YouTube, X, and LinkedIn. Since social media accounts are tied to your personal login, you create the account and then add us as a manager. From there, we help with content, settings, and security. We don’t manage Instagram or Pinterest.
We can draft or update a privacy policy based on the information you provide. It’s general website content, not legal advice, so you should review it and have an attorney check it if you need legal assurance. For text messaging, advertising, and tracking tools, the required consent and opt-in or opt-out wording should come from the provider of that tool or from your attorney, and we add it as supplied. See section 9 of our services agreement.
Hosting and Maintenance
Not long-term. If you don’t have hosting for a new site, we can build it on our own hosting account for up to one year, then transfer it to your hosting account once it’s complete. For long-term hosting, we typically recommend InMotion Hosting for its reliable servers and support.
You do. Your domain and hosting should always be registered in your name and paid for by you, so you keep full control of them. We’re happy to help you choose providers and get set up.
Yes. We run weekly checks for WordPress, theme, and plugin updates, back up your files and database, monitor security, manage caching, and visually inspect your pages after updates. If a security issue gets past the measures we’ve put in place, repairs are made at no charge.
Once final payment is received, we’ll provide any documentation that came with your theme and point you to additional resources. We can also create a PDF guide with screenshots for editing your main content areas, or record a screen video walkthrough, at our hourly rate.
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About E. Curtis Designs
E. Curtis Designs is owned and operated by Edmund Price, and you work with him directly on every project. In place of a staff of designers and assistants, we use leading AI models for coding, content, design, and research support, with all work managed and reviewed in-house.
Edmund Price has training in HTML, PHP, and JavaScript coding, graphic design and page layout, and server networking, and has been building websites professionally since 2002. He has worked with everything from early HTML and CSS to modern WordPress builders, and codes by hand when a project calls for it.
Many developers use the same layout and platform for every client. We choose layouts suited to each business, build on both WordPress and static HTML, and bring experience in design, content, and SEO to every project. You work directly with the developer, from the first estimate through launch and ongoing support.
Yes. We help with domain registration, business email setup, graphics, fillable forms, newsletters, brochures, and business cards. See our Graphic Design page for more.