Websites that bring in work.

The prototype is your own website, rebuilt. Every page, every paragraph and every photo came from your current site. I didn't add stock photos or invent anything about your business, and I only touched the wording where something was clearly broken, like a typo.

It's a first draft, made to show you what's possible before you spend a cent. A few things are left out on purpose:

• The forms don't send anywhere yet.
• Search engine setup hasn't been done, and the prototype is hidden from Google on purpose.
• It carries extra code for previewing and customising the design, which slows it down. The finished site doesn't have any of that.
• It lives at a temporary address, not your domain.

The prototype comes down on its own on the date in my email. If you'd rather it came down sooner, the remove link in that email takes it down right away.

Because showing you beats telling you. I could have sent an email listing what's wrong with your site, but a working draft of a better one makes the point on its own. I picked your business because I could see where I'd make a real difference.

I'll be upfront about the bigger reason too. A website is how I get to know businesses I can help in bigger ways. My main work is building software. If something in your business eats hours every week, like drafting quotes, sorting incoming emails or answering the same customer questions, software can often take it off your plate. I also built the platform behind VirtuOHS, which our safety team uses to help businesses run a proper workplace health and safety program, and I'm happy to introduce you to them.

No catch, though. If all you want is a great website, that's all you'll get, and I'm happy to keep it running and up to date for you.

The prototype is where we start, not where we finish. Here's how it goes:

1. We talk. A short call or a few emails. You tell me what you like, what's missing and what your customers usually ask about.

2. I give you a quote. One fixed price for the whole job, so there are no surprises later. Most business websites land between $1,000 and $4,000. Anything that works more like an application, such as online booking or a customer portal, is quoted on its own.

3. I finish the design. The prototype is a quick first pass, put together to show you the idea, so it's rough around the edges. This is where the real work happens. I go through every page by hand and tighten up the layout, colours, spacing and type, and make sure it all reads well on a phone and a desktop. If something in the draft looked off, this is where it gets fixed.

4. You review it. We go back and forth until you're happy.

5. It goes live. On your own domain, with your old page addresses pointing to the new ones so nobody hits a dead link.

Most sites can be up and running within a few days. The timeline usually depends more on how quickly we can go back and forth than on the build itself.

• A site built to score 100 on all four Lighthouse checks: performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO
• Pages that load fast, even on a weak phone signal
• A layout built for phones first
• Your phone number and a clear next step on every page
• Contact forms that actually reach you
• Search engine basics done properly: titles, descriptions, a sitemap and clean structure
• Old page addresses pointing to the new ones, so you keep the search ranking you've built
• All your existing content and photos, organised so people can find things
• Small updates for the first year after launch: new photos, changed hours or prices, an extra page
• A site that belongs to you

Your website is where a lot of that work starts. Someone searches for what you do, opens a few results, and picks one within a minute or two. If yours is the one that loads slowly or looks abandoned, they hit back and call the next business, and you never knew they were there.

It loads fast. Google's own research found that 53% of mobile visits are abandoned when a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load (Google). Every site I build is made to score 100 on all four checks in Lighthouse, Google's free tool for grading performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO (Chrome for Developers). This one does: run it through pagespeed.web.dev, then run your current site and compare.

It works on a phone. Nearly half of all web browsing in Canada now happens on phones, 47.8% in September 2026 (StatCounter). If someone has to pinch and zoom to find your hours or tap a number that's too small to hit, you've lost them before they start.

People can find it. Google confirms that its ranking systems use Core Web Vitals, its measures of how fast, responsive and stable a page is, and that good scores don't guarantee the top spot (Google Search Central). Nobody outside Google can promise you a ranking, and I'd be wary of anyone who does. What I can do is get the fundamentals right: fast pages, clean structure, proper page titles and descriptions, a sitemap, and redirects so you keep whatever ranking your old site already earned.

People trust it. In a Stanford study of 2,684 people judging real websites, a site's overall look came up more than anything else when they decided whether to trust it (Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab). People read your website as a sign of how you run your business, fair or not.

Good design matters, but it's there to do a job. I build every site around one question: when the right person finds you, how easily do they become a customer?

Most business websites land between $1,000 and $4,000, depending on the size of your site and what you need. Anything that works more like an application, such as online booking or a customer portal, is quoted on its own. After a quick conversation I'll give you one fixed price for the whole job.

Most sites can be live within a few days of you saying go. The timeline depends more on your side than mine: how quickly you can send photos and feedback, confirm your content, and get me access to your domain. If you're quick, I'm quick.

A little. Your current site gives me most of what I need, but I'll usually ask for a few things: more photos of your work, a couple of customer testimonials, and a quick check that what's on your current site is still accurate, like your services, hours and contact details. After that I mostly need your feedback, plus access to your domain when it's time to go live.

No. Everything on your current site carries over, and old links still work.

Just ask. For the first year after launch, updates like swapping photos, changing your hours or prices, or adding a new page or section are included. I'm not going to send you an invoice for every small change. Where I'd quote separately is anything that turns your website into an application, like online booking, customer logins, a system that stores your orders or customer details, or building out your own app idea. I'll tell you up front and quote it before I start. After the first year, if you want me to keep handling updates, we can set up a simple monthly or yearly plan.

No one can honestly promise that. Google decides, and it weighs a lot of things a website can't control, like your reviews and how close you are to the person searching. What I can promise is a site that gives Google everything it says it looks for: fast, mobile-friendly, secure and clearly organised.

If we work together, it's the starting point for your finished site. If not, it comes down on the date in my email, or sooner if you use the remove link.

I chose to build a prototype for you because of the state your current site is in: things like a dated look or pages that load slowly. Whether or not we work together, it's worth planning a refresh soon.

Reply and say so, or use the remove link. You won't hear from me again.

The easiest way is to reply to the email I sent you. Otherwise, reach me directly at james@virtuohs.ca or 250-617-0145.

I'm a software developer in Northwestern Ontario. I build and bill client work through my company, VirtuOHS.