Website Design, SEO,
and Programming Services

I'm an independent professional website designer and programmer in Minneapolis. I've been working with computers since 1969. I've written many articles for computer magazines. I published a computer users' newsletter in the 1980's and I ran two Special Interest Group bulletin boards (the original online forums) on CompuServe from 1981 to 1988, and I published my own software for personal computers. With my partner Maggie Ramirez, I've been publishing Rainbo Electronic Reviews, an online book and software review column, since 1982 - first on CompuServe, then on Genie (another similar service), and now on the Internet at www.rainboreviews.com.

Since 1987, Maggie and I have also been selling animation art and collectibles. Our business, Rainbo Animation Art, sells animation-related collectibles and we have been selling online since the day we opened. We started in 1987 by using direct mail, EMail and online forums for marketing, and we opened our website in 1996.

These two side businesses thrived when I was living in the San Francisco area, with its proximity to Hollywood and the Los Angeles markets. I used to joke about them with friends, "The hours are good, there's no heavy lifting, and the trips to Disneyland are tax-deductible." Now that I'm back in Minneapolis, these other businesses are no longer a major focus, although I still enjoy them both.

Now that high-speed Internet service is available in most of the US, your customers will be more likely to check the Internet for information than ever before.

A website can be a useful tool for any business - even companies that don't sell by mail order. Well over 80% of all households in the United States now have at least one personal computer. The numbers are bound to increase as prices fall and online services expand. And it's not just students and young males that are online. A recent survey showed that women use the Internet in roughly equal numbers to men now, and nearly 30% of Internet users are over 50 years old. Consumers are flocking to the Internet for many reasons. They're often turning to the Internet now for answers that they used to look for in the local newspaper or Yellow Pages because it's faster, easier, and more convenient. By visiting a website they avoid being put on hold or having to wade through Voice Mail Hell when all they want is a quick answer to a simple question. Think of a website as a multi-purpose marketing tool.

A single click on your listing on Google or other search engine will let your neighbors easily find answers to those common questions that a simple listing in a telephone directory or newspaper ad don't include. And with a website you can compliment that information with an attractive display of your company's products and services using full-color photographs. Think of how much more likely they are to actually visit your store or make an appointment for your services if they already find that you offer the product or service they've been looking for and you're a neighbor as well.

For about the price of a single display ad in a local weekly, having a web site for your business means you can essentially publish a multi-page full-color brochure for your business delivered at no charge to every Internet-connected household that wants a copy. For most service-oriented businesses, a simple one or two-page site can tell your whole story and provide all of the information and incentives your customers need to get them to make that critical first phone call, visit, or EMail. And if you do sell merchandise, an e-Commerce cyber-shop is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, selling for you to customers both here in Pacifica and literally around the world. Our collectibles business routinely ships orders to customers all over Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, and South America as well as all 50 states and the possesions.

A web site can answer your customers' questions like:

Where are you located?
What about parking and driving directions?
What are your business hours?
Does your business accept the credit card I prefer to use?
Do you deliver to or service my part of the city?
How soon can you deliver your product or service?
Are you properly licensed and fully bonded?
What is the owner's background and relation to the community?
What industry accreditations, awards, and certifications does your business have?
Does your business participate in local events?
Is your business currently offering sales, brochures, or discount coupons?

And speaking of doing business on a personal basis, a web site is also a wonderful way to showcase your personal credentials, your business and your merchandise. Its a powerful way to let customers learn something about you, your special skills and areas of expertise, and what lines of merchandise you carry - all while letting them browse through your best items in full-color photographs.

A web site is like sending a full-color multi-page catalog to people all over the world with no postage costs and practically no printing costs.

There are several ways to let people know you have a web site. Being listed in an online directory focusing on your state, city or neighborhood will certainly be a good first step to let local customers find you if that's appropriate. Directories that include your business sector are good for reaching broader markets. Another vital part of promoting your website is to include your website address (the "www.something.com", etc.) in all of your advertising materials and on your business cards. This takes advantage of your knowledge of the best ways of reaching your customers. And once people become aware that you have a website, your site can be found in the search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Live.

Search engines are the way that most people use to find websites that offer products and services. So it is vital for your website's long-term performance to have a prominent presence in the major search engines. To help improve your site's performance in the search engines, I offer a separate service called "Search Engine Optimization."

For more information about search engines, see my Search Engine Optimization Services page.

There are many companies that will let you create a simple website free of charge on their service, usually in exchange for allowing them to put small advertisements on your main page.

However, a website with E-commerce online ordering capabilities requires using a full-service hosting company that has monthly fees and modest start-up fees. But many small businesses will never want or need to be able to take orders online. All they need is a simple website that lets customers know who they are, their address and telephone number, hours of service, and what goods or services they offer. For these businesses our Basic and Advanced Website Design Packages are perfectly sensible choices.

The time may well come that you need to update or expand your web site. A change of address or telephone number is a common reason. I naturally hope that the site I design for you is so successful that you are inspired to expand and enhance it over time. You can update the site yourself or hire someone to do it for you. After I've designed your web site, I give you all of the account names and passwords required to control and update your site. In other words, you get the keys to all of the locks. Everything will be registered in your name. You own it all and nothing will be held back.

I charge $50.00 per hour for Website Design services, with a half-hour minimum. Mailing address or telephone number changes can be handled easily within the minimum charge. Additional fees may apply if you expand your site to add eCommerce services or other capabilities that require an upgrade of the hosting service.

Hardly a week goes by that the television or newspaper doesn't have a story about the online auction site eBay®. No doubt about it, auctions are the hottest area of the Internet for electronic devices, collectibles and other products. Almost half of our collectibles business comes from eBay® now. It's a lot of work and the competition is fierce, so we use the auctions to expand our regular business by attatching an advertisement for our web site to every item we sell through an auction.

We also do promotional mailings by EMail to get repeat business from our past customers. I'm not talking about so-called "SPAM" EMail. We ask people to sign up for these mailings so we don't annoy our customers who don't want to receive our advertising EMails. I have tools that will help you sell through the online auctions and take full advantage of other opportunites for even more sales using the Internet.

For more information, see my FREE! eBay® auction ad creator, Ad-Maker© III.

OK, I'm Sold. How Do I Get Started?

To order my web design services online, visit our Website Design Services Ordering page.

You can also call me at 612-408-4057 from 9AM to 5PM Central time Then I'll send you a list of information I need from you about your company, and we'll get started building a web site for you right away!