Web design company in Des Moines
Websites for Des Moines businesses from $499 — designed, written and built page by page. The price is on this page. So are the exclusions. And every file is yours the day it launches.
Since 2011 · You own everything · Technical SEO built in · Veteran-owned
What a good website actually does for a Des Moines business
Not how it looks. What it changes about the way work reaches you.
By the time someone calls, they have usually already decided. If the site does not say what you do, roughly what it costs and where you work, the visitor fills those gaps with a guess — and the guess is often a competitor who did say.
Nobody types one word and buys. They type a service and a place, or a service and a problem. A site with a single page covering everything has nothing aimed at those searches, so it never appears on them, however good it looks.
A layout that was only ever checked on a laptop turns into tapping tiny links and pinching to read. People do not persevere with that. They go back to the results page, which is the one measurable way a website loses you money.
Forms stop delivering. A plugin update breaks a layout. An SSL certificate lapses and the browser starts warning people away. None of it announces itself — you find out from a customer, weeks late.
Every page written individually, against what already ranks
The same standard applies at every tier. The tier changes how many pages get built, not how well they are built.
- A custom design — not a stock theme with your logo dropped into it
- Every page written individually and structured for the search it is meant to win
- A page for each service you actually sell, rather than one page listing all of them
- Mobile and tablet layouts checked on real screen sizes, not just resized in a browser
- Technical SEO built in: titles, headings, structured data, internal links, sitemap
- An accessibility pass against WCAG 2.1 AA
- Forms that are tested end to end, so you know the inquiry actually arrives
- Domain, SSL and hosting set up in your name and under your billing
- Every file handed over on request, same day
You approve the design before a single page gets built
Four steps, and you can stop at any of them.
You tell us roughly what the business does and roughly how many pages you think you need. That is enough to quote from — there is no discovery phase and no scoping fee. You get a figure and a date in writing, with the things that would change the figure listed next to it.
Then the design. Nothing gets built until you have signed it off, and changes before that point are included and unmetered, because changing a design is cheap and changing a built site is not. After sign-off, small changes stay included and structural ones are quoted and move the date — said up front rather than discovered in an invoice.
At the end you get the logins, not a handover meeting. Domain, hosting and every file in your name, plus a walkthrough recorded on your own site so whoever ends up editing it can rewatch it in six months.
The price, the exclusions and who owns the result
Three things that are unusual enough to be worth stating plainly.
The price is published. Most firms on this search will not give you a figure without a call. Ours is on the page, along with the four things that move it. You can decide whether we are in your range before you spend an hour finding out.
The exclusions are published too. A price with no visible list of what it leaves out is not really a price. Ours is a section on this page, not a sentence in a contract you read after you have committed.
You own the result. The domain is registered in your name, the hosting is opened under your billing, and any premium license is bought on your account rather than ours. We do not resell hosting at a markup, so we earn nothing from you staying — which is the only version of that promise that means anything.
When we are not the right web design company for you
Cheaper to find out here than three weeks in.
If you want an agency in the room — quarterly strategy sessions, a named account manager, a team you can walk in and see — we are not that. We work remotely and we have no office in Iowa, and pretending otherwise would be the first dishonest thing on the page.
If you want someone to run paid advertising, manage your social accounts or take on brand identity from scratch, that is not what we do either. We build and write websites, and we would rather say so than take the work and subcontract it.
And if what you actually need is a single page with your details on it, do not pay us for a build. Say so and we will tell you the cheapest honest way to get one, even when that is not us.
What a website build does not include
Said plainly, so nothing here arrives later as a surprise.
- Ongoing SEO campaigns — technical SEO is built into the build, retainers are separate
- Paid advertising, ad accounts or media buying of any kind
- Logo and brand identity design from scratch
- Copy for pages beyond the page count of your tier
- Photography and video shoots — we will place what you have, or use licensed stock
- Online stores, booking systems, member logins and client portals — quoted separately
- Integrations with software you already run — scoped and quoted after we look at it
- Hosting and domain fees themselves, which you pay directly at cost
Every site is built by Elisabeth Samuels and the Salterra team — a company building websites since 2011. Not a reseller, not an offshore queue. The same person who scopes your project writes the pages and hands over the logins.
That one number is enough to price a build. Send it with what the business does and you get a figure and a timeline back in writing.
What a web design company in Des Moines should cost
Published, because a figure you have to book a call to hear is not a figure.
Up to 15 pages starts at $499. Sixteen to 50 pages starts at $999. Fifty-one or more starts at $1,499. Anything with a store, a booking system or an integration behind it is scoped and quoted before it is priced, because that work is not predictable from a page count.
These are starting figures rather than fixed quotes. What separates a $499 build from a $999 one is listed here rather than explained on a call, and there is a fuller breakdown on the pricing page.
What moves the number
- Page count — the honest driver, because every page is written and structured individually rather than duplicated from the last one
- Functionality — a store, a booking system, a member login or an integration with software you already run is quoted separately
- Content — if copy and photographs are ready it moves faster; if we write everything from scratch it takes longer
- How many structural changes you want after the design is approved — small ones stay included, structural ones are quoted and move the date
Frequently asked questions about hiring a web design company in Des Moines
What does a web design company in Des Moines actually do?
In our case: plans the pages, writes them, designs them, builds them, and sets up the domain, SSL and hosting in your name. Some firms only design and hand you a file to build; some only build and expect you to supply the words. Worth asking anyone you talk to which half they do, because the gap is usually where a project stalls.
Why does my business need a good website?
Because most of the buying decision now happens before anyone contacts you, and because the searches that actually turn into work are specific — a service plus a place. A site that answers the obvious questions and has a page aimed at each of those searches gets found and gets inquiries. One that does neither is a business card that costs money to host.
How do you build a website — what does the process look like?
You tell us what the business does and roughly how many pages you need. You get a price and a date in writing. You approve the design before anything is built. Then it is built, written, tested and handed over with the logins and a recorded walkthrough. Four to six weeks is typical.
Why should I choose you over another Des Moines web design company?
Three reasons, and you can check all of them without speaking to us: the price is published, the exclusions are published, and you own the domain, the hosting and the licenses rather than renting them from us. If another firm does all three, that is a fair fight and you should compare on the work.
Who owns the website when it is finished?
You do. The domain is in your name, the hosting is under your billing at a host you could have chosen yourself, and any premium plugin or theme license is bought on your account — because a license bought on a developer’s account does not transfer, and a site you cannot update is a site you will eventually have to rebuild.
When are you not the right fit?
When you want an agency in the room, when you want advertising or social media managed, when you want brand identity built from scratch, or when a single page would genuinely do. We would rather tell you that now than three weeks into a project.
Tell us what you sell. Get your number.
Send us what your business does and roughly how many pages you think you need. You will get the number and a timeline in writing.
Takes about a minute. No call, no obligation.
We reply to everything within one business day.