Strategic Web Design Services

that Target Specific Results

PROVEN RESULTS.
★ 20 Years Experience ★

Our Work

To truly make an impact, you need more than a “website.”

You need specific results, intentional growth,
and an accelerated way to expand your services, make a difference, and change the world.

Our “Hustle & Grow” Strategic Websites help progressive businesses do just that.

Here’s some of our past work:

Strategic web design services project: Hineskids.org

It was such a pleasure to work with Harmony at Excellent Presence. She was professional, listened well and was able to provide exactly what we needed at Hineskids. She took the time to understand our cause and our audience. What I really appreciated was that Harmony had a wonderful combination of current, relevant technical and marketing skills. She offered extremely helpful insight and suggestions. Harmony went above and beyond what was required for this project and fully designed and created a website that we could use immediately and we have been able to update ourselves as needed.

Since her work with us we have had many compliments about the look and function of our website and have greatly increased site activity. (Since your rescue in the fall we’ve been able to rotate through new kids available for sponsorship easily, and have added a fundraising page for a new “Donate A Plate” campaign.) Harmony gave us the ability to connect generous Americans (and even a few from other countries) with vulnerable children in Uganda and change their lives forever.

-Cindy, Hineskids

I am so excited to work with this professional web strategy company. My free consultation was timely, courteous, and very knowledgeable. HT answered any and all of my questions and guided me through each stage of the web design process. The company understands the importance of web accessibility, visibility, and convenience in an increasing mobile world; as well as the importance of co-creation and collaborative relationship with the client.

So proud of your work on my behalf. I really like the look and feel of the site. I appreciate the color scheme and the information flow. It is friendly and warm and invites the site visitor in. The work you did demonstrates Excellent Presence’s diligence and talent; therefore, I understand the value of your work. My website is a wonder!!

-Dr. Motiv8tion, The Pay it Forward Initiative

Excellent Presence did an outstanding job updating and revising my website. They also designed my Twitter page. Harmony was very efficient and easy to work with. She has a vast knowledge of website construction and social media platforms. I would highly recommend Excellent Presence for any website or social media project.

-James E. Rogers, PA

I love it. It is better than I could have envisioned. Wonderful job.

-Donna, EasyVoting101.INFO

Other Sites We’ve Done

Sure, We Can Build “Attractive” Websites… But Web Design Isn’t Decoration.

Fact: We create websites that help businesses achieve goals.

Companies come to us when they’re ready to truly grow, or reach the next level. Many have tried either building websites on their own, using “cheap” services or freelancers, or even using local Web design companies, but they still haven’t gotten good results from their Web presence.

We’re not a Web design studio.

We’re a strategic results improvement studio.

Website “design” is just one stage in creating an effective website. And it should always be a later stage. Detailed research and strategy must come first.

If not, there would be no foundation for the dozens of decisions that must be made for your website project, from choosing your brand colors, to laying out the website, to knowing what to say on every single page.

If research and strategy development isn’t done first (or is done incorrectly), your web design company is shooting in the dark on crucial decisions that should be helping accomplish your goals.

Do you really want to entrust decisions that directly affect your bottom line … to a rookie?

We didn’t think so.

Our Strategic Website Design Services Get RESULTS. Here’s Proof…

Case Study 1: Noble Properties, Inc.

Before

Excellent-Presence-Raleigh-Web-Design-Company-H-T-Major-NobleProps-Responsive-Web-Design_OLD001

After

THE COMPANY

Noble Properties
offers 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments and townhomes
in Garner, Cary, and Raleigh, NC.

THE PROJECT GOALS

  • More modern, professional web design w/more “pizazz”
  • Refresh content & remove outdated site offerings
  • Better organization of info, for better user experience

HOW THE REDESIGN IMPROVED RESULTS

A “bounce” is a visitor who views a single page, then leaves.
An “action” is a form submission, order, scheduled appointment, etc.

Case Study 2: Expect Perfection

Before

Expect-Perfection-Old-Site_REBRANDING+REDESIGN

After

Excellent-Presence-Raleigh-Web-Design-Company-H-T-Major-Website-Redesign-Expect-Perfection-Responsive-Website-Design-lg2

THE COMPANY

Expect Perfection
offers audio/video/text transcription to executives,
and was the first U.S. based digital transcription company
to guarantee accuracy.

THE PROJECT GOALS

  • A classy, more “corporate” brand, yet still approachable and human.

  • Better highlight vital content, so their busy users can find it quickly

  • Responsive, mobile-friendlydesign to serve increasing # of mobile visitors

HOW THE REDESIGN IMPROVED RESULTS

A “bounce” is a visitor who views a single page, then leaves.
An “action” is a form submission, order, scheduled appointment, etc.

How do we do it?

The Secret Sauce that Makes Us Better the Best

The Strategic Website Production Process

Our website production process is multi-faceted and intentional.

Below is an example of how the average project progresses (minus the required milestone deposits, which become due before your project enters a new stage).

Most Hustle & Grow Strategic WordPress Websites are delivered in 6 to 10 weeks.

The order and duration of stages varies based on project complexity, amount and level of research expected, whether yours is a new website or a redesign, your response times, and more. (You’ll get a specific delivery estimate with your customized quote.)

Our first discussion, here is where we get an overview of your needs. We seek to understand the specific challenges you’re facing, the statement you’re trying to make, the audience you’re trying to attract, and the budget you seek to do it with.

Or, if the strategist determines that a full website (re)design isn’t your TRUE next best step, we redirect you to the option that will bring you better results more quickly.

After our call and any further project discussions, you receive a custom proposal by email, which breaks down what will be included in the work we do for you.

When you give the go-ahead on the detailed custom proposal, you’ll receive an invoice from our billing system by email, containing a link to the full service agreement, with any customizations to be listed in the invoice notes.

While your invoice will outline the full project amount, you’ll pay a percentage of it as the initial retainer, sending payment securely online as credit, debit, or even through PayPal, if you prefer.

After your deposit, you’ll provide intel on your business, audience, mission, services, and more, in an easy, step-by-step format (submitted online). It’s critical that you put as much time and thought into your answers here as possible, as this info shapes the strategic plan for your website project.

Immediately afterward, you can schedule your Strategy Session at a time convenient for you.

This is a detailed phone call* with our strategist where we learn more of the intimate details about your business, your goals, the personality of you and your company, and the image you’d like to portray with your website.

It’s vital that this be held in a quiet, stress-free environment where we can have the time and focus needed to really dig in and fill in the blanks to ensure we’ve got all the info we need to be able to make those crucial decisions for you later on in the process.

* The option is available to make this an in-person meeting for local clientele.

After organizing and combining the intel you sent us with the notes from our strategy session together, we go off to do the research. This is one of the most important stages of your website project.

The level of research depends on the scope of the project. We perform basic competitive research for every strategic website project, as it provides crucial data on what other websites in your industry are doing, and what users in your industry expect to see.

That data is then used to develop your specific Website Layout Strategy (later in the project).

This stage also includes keyword research, if search engine optimization is added onto your project package. (It is not included as standard, for a few reasons.) The intel gleaned from the keyword research stage is applied later, in the website content writing/editing/refreshing stage, to ensure that your website (essentially, your company) is speaking to your audience in a language they understand, is using familiar terminology, and is using keywords that may help your site rank in Google.

Here’s where things start to come together. Now, we combine the data from credible sources, like Nielsen and ConversionXL that we’ve gathered on website design, conversion, and UX best practices with intel on your wants, needs, goals, and the image you want to project.

This data helps us strategize a plan for the exact way your website should be presented. 

This strategic plan is called the Website Layout Strategy (WLS) — and it’s critical.

The WLS is a document that looks a lot like an “outline.” It describes absolutely everything that will be included on your website, from the number of pages, to what should go on each page, to the order it should be laid out on the page, to your color strategy, to what forms will go where, what fields will be on those forms, and what will happen once those forms are submitted. (Will the user get information by email? Will the form show additional fields? Will they be taken to another page?)

The Website Layout Strategy also offers sample color patches that display your suggested color scheme, including info on the psychological color research that went into how we chose those colors.

Example: 

  • How does this particular shade of this exact color make people feel?
  • What impression will that color give off in relation to your company?
  • How will the exact combination of colors we chose impact your website visitors?
  • What colors will we use on which sections of your website to help influence which part of your audience to take action you want?

It sounds complex, and, well… it is.

Now you’re starting to understand how the behind-the-scenes decisions made during a website project all impact the results you get (or don’t get) from your finished website.

You can also see why this stage typically takes 2 to 4 weeks. :}

Your brand strategy is conceptualized before you ever “open your doors,” and is applied to every aspect of your marketing strategy — particularly your website. Our strategic process helps you get to the heart of what your organization is about, to help guide decisions both now and in the future. (For instance, it can even guide you on who to hire first, then help those first team members fully “digest” your company’s overarching message.)

We summarize your brand traits in the color strategy section of your Website Layout Strategy.

We send the Website Layout Strategy by email for your approval. Once approved, unless you’ve added Content Writing to your package, you’ll then provide us the website content (wording), as well as any images you’d like us to use.

Note: Website content must be provided before the design can be created.

Why?

This is something that perplexes clients that haven’t worked with a website strategy company before. The typical “website designer” creates the design first… then plugs the content in anywhere it looks good.

That is a recipe for failure.

Remember, website design is not decoration. THE CONTENT is the most important part of a website.

People don’t come to your website to look at pretty pictures. They come to get information.

So…

Your “design” can’t get in the way of people finding the info they need to decide whether to do business with you.

Here’s a simple example:

Let’s say you provide 200 words of content for your entire website.

It stands to reason that we’ll need to fill that space with more “stuff” to help you get your point across!

But what if you provided 20 pages or 10,000 words of information?

Hmm.

I guess we’d need to really think about how we can convey that amount of info succinctly, without overwhelming your visitors. And we’d use far less “imagery” on your website, because the content is there to fill that space.

If we design the website first, we’d need to spend extra time (also pushing out the site’s delivery date) to try to “fit” that content into an existing design. There’s a bigger risk that the site won’t look as good, because we “broke” the design with all the content we had to add.

But when we receive the content first, we can plan where it should go, creating aesthetics that SUPPORT and HIGHLIGHT the content that will “sell” (convince) your visitors to do business with you.

Make sense?

Your logo design is created before your website design.

Why?

Now that we’ve created your Website Layout Strategy, agreed on your strategic color scheme, and even gotten the chance to read some of your content, we’ve got a great idea of the message you’re trying to send.

Your logo is a bite-sized representation of the image you’d like to project and the style you’d like to embody.

Creating a logo you love first allows YOU to see that we really are on the same page in terms of design style.

It also saves time later in the process, making it less likely that we would ever create a website design you didn’t love. Because we understand your style through your logo, it helps give us a “baseline” for what to aspire to for your total website.

Cool, right?

Once you approve your logo design draft, we let the designer know. Once (s)he finalizes your logo, you’ll receive it attached to an email about a week after final draft approval. (Web-ready logos only, delivered in JPG & PNG. Additional formats are extra.)

This applies only if added onto your website package, and you are not providing your own content. Otherwise, this is a “Content Editing & Organization” stage that takes from 1 to 2 weeks.

However, if we do write your content, it takes 2 to 4 weeks. Content writing is a highly specialized creative and technical process.

It requires the writer’s ability to understand everything about your services or products, fully grasp the image you’re trying to project, and use language that sounds like YOU.

We take the time and put forth the care to ensure we’re able to do all of the above, then show you our final draft (generally delivered by email, as a link to a private Google Document). You offer comments on the draft, and answer any questions we have, right in that document.

We apply your modifications, finalize the content, and will plug it verbatim into your website design.

You sign up with those services & forward us that info, so we can immediately begin developing and designing your website.

Your package includes a website setup on our recommended Web host. (Tip: That’s a completely separate service, so hosting fees are paid direct to the Web host. Ditto with your domain name. We merely set things up for you following your order.)

We begin both the setup of your “behind the scenes” services and functionality that powers your website (forms, shopping cart software, membership software, payment systems — basically everything technical). If any custom development is required, we also do it during this stage.

We also start designing your website’s basic look and feel (applying color scheme, choosing fonts, designing your home page header, and designing a sample page layout and footer). This design implementation and customization will serve as a “template” that all of your pages will look similar to.

We send that example home page design for your feedback and approval, to ensure we’re on the right track, visually speaking. If we are, we continue building your website, and refining your design.

Finally, this stage may also include building your Privacy Policy and basic Website Terms & Conditions.

If not approved right away, we complete the revisions you request, up to the amount included in your package.

Once you’ve approved the idea for your design, we add all of your pre-approved website content and more supporting images, setting up the rest of your website pages. (Remember, you’ve already approved your content, and we’re using it verbatim here!)

All forms, payment processes, and functionality are also tested by us at this stage. In some cases, there may be additional customizations necessary after the next stage of testing, as there are often several rounds of testing involved.

Once we’ve tested that things are working as expected, we give the reigns to you. We fix any problems with functionality during this stage.

It’s important that you test everything thoroughly here, because changes requested after website delivery incur additional charges. This is your chance to make sure everything works exactly as you want and expect it (form submissions, payment, page redirection, emails, info display, membership access… all of it!).

If not, just let us know.

After your final installment, contact & payment forms and all functionality are taken out of test mode. All account info and logins are transferred to you, along with a basic written tutorial on how to edit and update your website, including any how-to videos you’ve added onto your package.

Then, your site is published live. Congratulations!

You’ve seen the work we put in.

What Will Your “Hustle & Grow” Website Include?

Our strategic sites are specifically designed for results-focused service businesses, from micro (5 or fewer team members) to small (50 or fewer).

While we’ve begun to serve companies selling tangible products, our primary focus is helping inclusive businesses provide services that solve socioeconomic problems. (This could mean just helping a diverse startup get up and running, regardless of what service you provide.)

Our flagship websites are branded “Hustle & Grow” sites.

Here are some things those websites do, or can, include:

What’s Included

We say “sections” because the number of pages isn’t determined until we finish your Website Layout Strategy described in “Our Process” above.

Many clients want everything on its own page, but that’s not needed — nor is it recommended, where results (and expense) are concerned.

First, more pages cost more money. Second, modern websites must be designed for mobile, since more Web users browse via mobile than desktops, as of 2016. Properly mobile-optimized websites use as few pages as possible (so users don’t have to wait for new pages to load).

The five sections included as standard with all websites are Home, About, Services, Contact, Schedule/Order/Etc. (which is your “call to action” section). Just let us know what other sections you need during your quote call conversation.

We build using the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world, powering 29% of Internet websites. It offers virtually limitless flexibility for the most common business needs.

If you’re set on using another CMS, let us know during your quote call conversation.

This is light editing of your provided website content for obvious spelling or grammar oversights, as well as light editing for flow and style.

We show you how to take winning photos, with pose and lighting tips. We also lightly retouch your provided photos (of product/service and team) to ensure you look your absolute best.

We make sure color blind users (1 in 12 men, and 1 in 200 women) are able to not only use your website, but also identify what’s most important to help you achieve the goals you intend

In a recent Google survey, 48% of users said that if a website didn’t work well on their smartphone, they felt the company didn’t care about their business.

That’s why we only offer mobile-friendly websites.

Your website will be “responsive,” meaning it will adapt to any sized screen (tablets, smartphones, PCs, etc.). No need to spend more on a separate “mobile website.” (Do people still do that?)

Your website will load quickly against industry standards and display well in major browsers (Firefox, Safari, Chrome).

Once your website is launched, your marketing strategist will monitor it regularly to see how it’s performing, to know which changes to make (or not!) in order to keep your business growing. We install the basic tools they need to do that.

As your website popularity increases (which it will, with a smart Google marketing plan), more and more hackers will start scanning your website regularly, looking for easy entry to wreak havoc. While no website is completely hack-proof (Equifax anyone…?), we’ll make your website much (much) harder to “crack.”

Random, frequent “gibberish” form submissions are annoying… but are exactly what you’d get if we didn’t install a spam protected contact form on your new website. You’re welcome.

Once you’ve purchased your domain name and hosting, we’ll set up one domain email account for you to ensure a professional image. (Other email accounts can be created at an additional charge.)

If you have existing accounts on social media that you use strictly for business, just provide the full account URLs. We’ll link to them from your website if you’d like.

Interested in updating your website yourself after launch? You’ll receive an easy “cheat sheet” with instructions and screenshots to help you make basic changes to page text and replace images.

Prefer a tutorial video instead? No problem. We can create one – or more – for a nominal extra charge. Just let us know in your Quote Call.

Optional Add-Ons

Sell 1 to 2 items online. We advise you on which payment processor is best for your needs. (This always depends on how your website has to function, and which processing fees are lowest.) Then, we connect and configure your existing, verified payment account so you’re able to seamlessly accept online payments.

Sell up to 10 (or more!) items with shopping cart functionality. We advise you on which payment processor is best for your needs. Once you sign up, we input your product info (description, options, images) and shipping or delivery info, and configure your store to accept credit cards through your existing, verified payment account.

We use the research we did into your industry & top competing websites to understand exactly how to write your wording to get your audience to respond, crafting winning sales copy for your website pages, and clear, concise copy for your automated email notices (if applicable).

Selling subscriptions, or otherwise need users to log in for special content or member accounts? Get two or more subscription plans installed on your website, plus at least four additional membership pages: Register, Log-in, Forgot Password, Member Home. Offer an unlimited number of subscriptions, both free and paid.

Using intel gathered in the research phase, we’ll optimize your website’s pages and metadata to increase your chances of getting ranked in Google. With this add-on, we not only write or edit your website copy, but optimize it for the key phrases your audience will most likely use to find you once you start marketing.

Get custom, 5-minute training videos to help you use the WordPress admin area (i.e., page creation, shopping cart product addition, etc.).

Data found in your website’s analytics must inform all changes, updates, and redesigns to ensure continued growth. Enhanced analytics allow you to see visitor origin, path taken through your website, pages visited, and where they dropped off. We can even includes real-time videos of actual users interacting with your website!

Data shows that customers actually prefer self-service. We’ll edit & organize your provided FAQ to help you give visitors what they want.

Excellent Presence is one of the ONLY U.S. Web design services that will expressly guarantee to improve or achieve industry standard results if you choose a Guaranteed Results Website. (This is a premium add-on service. Learn more here.)

Need Something Not Listed Here?

Your company website is almost endlessly customizable.
Just tell us exactly what you need, and we’ll discuss how to make it happen.

Interested in the investment? We got you.

What’s the Investment?

Just like building a house, building a website has no general “price.”

Many of our website projects range between $3,000 and $8,000.

However, your investment depends on the functionality and benefits you need,
and can only be figured out once we discuss your inclusions, growth goals, and timeline.

Basically: Your website investment may be less. Or, it may be more.

Quit wasting time & money on amateur websites that don’t work. Start a convo to see how we can help you work LESS, earn MORE, and get more and better clients — through strategic, goal-focused web design services.