01 / Websites, Built Right

Custom web design for local businesses

Saltwater Studio builds custom websites for local businesses: built in Next.js, fast on a phone, set up for Google and AI search from launch, and yours to own. A plan page goes live on your own domain within 3 business days of payment; bigger builds get a quote with a timeline.

Updated October 4, 2026

How much does a website cost?

A finished custom website is $149/mo on the Page Plan (no setup fee — 3-month minimum, then month to month), or $497 with Buy It (once, plus $29/mo hosting & care — no setup fee, no minimum). Live on your own domain within 3 business days of first payment. Local Growth adds monthly Google Business Profile care and up to 4 service or area pages for $297/mo. Larger custom builds and redesigns get a quote with a timeline.

What's included

• —Custom Next.js build — no templates
• —Schema.org structured data from day one
• —GA4 + GTM tracking configured before launch
• —Core Web Vitals optimized (LCP, CLS, INP)
• —Mobile-first, accessible, WCAG-compliant
• —Vercel deploy with www → apex redirect
• —GSC + Bing Webmaster submission on launch
• —Built to accept automation later without a rebuild

How long does it take to build a website?

A plan page goes live on your own domain within 3 business days of payment, on either the Page Plan or Buy It. You choose the plan, send your details and photos, and the page is written, built, checked, and launched. Larger custom builds and redesigns get a written quote that includes their own timeline.

Every step runs over text and email, so there is no meeting to schedule unless you want one. This is the order it happens in on a plan page:

• —Pick a plan and pay. The Page Plan is monthly; Buy It is one payment plus hosting & care. Neither has a setup fee.
• —Send what you have: your phone number, hours, services, the towns you serve, your Google reviews link, and real photos of your work.
• —The build: the copy is written answer-first, the page is built in Next.js, and the schema, analytics, and tracking are set up before launch.
• —Launch, within 3 business days of payment: the page goes live on your own domain and is submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
• —After launch: small changes (wording, photos, hours, prices) are unlimited while the site is hosted, and done within 2 business days.

Who are these websites built for?

Local businesses that get their work from people nearby: service-area businesses with no storefront, rental companies and shops with a catalog, and owners who would rather be on a job than editing a website. In person along the Gulf Coast, from Gulf Shores, Alabama to Panama City, Florida, and remotely anywhere in the United States.

The studio has built sites for a moving company, an event-rental catalog, and a mobile dog-conditioning business, so those are the trades it knows best. The situations that come up most often:

• —No website yet, or only a Facebook page
• —A site that looks fine but never shows up in Google or in AI answers
• —A site-builder site you've outgrown and want moved to something you own (that move is quoted as a redesign)
• —A service-area business that needs a page for each service and each town it covers
• —A catalog, price list, or menu that customers can't find online

Is a custom website better than a template site builder?

For a local business that wants to be found, usually yes. A site builder rents you a theme and keeps the site inside its platform; a custom build gives you files you can own, move, and extend. The difference shows up in speed on a phone, in how search engines read the page, and in what happens when you leave.

A builder is the right call if you want to change the design yourself every week and enjoy doing it. If you would rather hand that off and own the result, this is how the two compare:

• —Ownership: a builder site usually can't leave its platform as working files. With Buy It you own the files from day one; on the Page Plan they become yours after 12 paid months, or any time by paying the Buy It difference.
• —Speed: a builder loads the code for every feature it offers on every page. A custom build ships only what the page uses, which matters on a phone over a weak signal.
• —Search structure: titles, schema, and the order of the page are set for your business and the searches you want, not left to a theme's defaults.
• —Changes: on a builder, you make them yourself. Here, you text or email them and they're done within 2 business days.
• —Adding more later: a missed-call text-back, a quote form, or a booking flow plugs into a custom build without starting over.

What does a finished build look like?

One real example is WaterVue Event Rentals, an Emerald Coast event-rental company. Its customers plan weddings, corporate events, and parties, and the rental side needed a storefront that could win searches on its own instead of leaving the planners' questions to the wedding marketplaces and directories.

The site gives every rental item its own page with real sizes and options, groups the catalog into hubs for weddings, corporate events, parties, and holiday parties, and adds a build-to-your-budget page for the planner who starts with a number. Twelve answer-first planning guides cover the questions that come before a rental, with every permit rule checked against the official source. A multi-item quote cart sends the whole order in one request and keeps a copy of every lead even if an email fails to send. Search Console and the sitemap went in on launch day.

Full disclosure: Travis is a partner in WaterVue, so the method ran on his own money before a client's. The full case study is linked below.

Why should the website match your Google profile?

Because Google trusts both more when they agree. The site and your Google Business Profile should tell the same story: same name, same phone, same services, same service area. Most builds can be paired with Google Care so the profile stays as current as the site.

Who owns the website, the domain, and the accounts?

You do. Your domain, your photos, and your words are yours at all times, and the domain and analytics accounts are in your name, under your email. With Buy It the site files are yours from day one; on the Page Plan they are yours after 12 paid months. If you ever move on, you take everything with you. Nothing is held behind an agency login.

Common questions