About Me
My name is Bruce Titus and I'm the Owner of Custom Websites For Less.
I've been creating websites for the past eighteen years, first as a volunteer and later as a freelance designer.
I hold a BS in Journalism so I can assist you in writing the copy for your business website if necessary.
I have an extensive background in sales and marketing and I've owned and managed several businesses, so I have an insiders perspective on small business marketing that I'll use to your advantage.
Custom designed, small business websites at affordable prices.
Feel free to call any of my current clients
and ask them if they'd recommend me.
You don't have to settle for a generic, "fill in the blanks" website to represent your business. I'll build a website to your specifications, for a fraction of the cost of a custom designed website anywhere else.
I offer "one stop shopping" for all the website products and services you or your company are likely to require.
I live in Reno, Nevada but I have clients in five states so I can work with you no matter where your business is located.
Reasonable hourly rates
I have very low overhead so I'm able to charge a flat rate of $50 per hour. Most custom website design companies charge upwards of $100 per hour for their design time, which makes even a basic website cost at least $1000. My websites typically cost less than half of what other website design companies are charging for the same work.
What does a website typically cost?
These two links will give you a ballpark idea of the cost of a website:
- A simple, one-page website with the content in glider panels will cost around $200 to design, plus an initial cost for the domain name registration and a year of hosting of around $60.
Northern Nevada Genetic Counseling is an example of a basic website. - A much more elaborate website, such as Everett Veterinary Hospital, could cost upwards of $2,000, plus the same initial fee for the domain name and hosting of around $60.
Everett Veterinary Hospital is also on a $10 per month maintenance plan, since they have a number of changes to the website every month.
Reduced Site Maintenance Costs
- Affordable Website Hosting:
My current annual rate for website hosting is $56... which works out to less than $5 per month. - Affordable Domain Names:
I charge a flat rate of $11 per year for each domain name you require. Some companies are still charging $35 per year or more for domain name registration. - Inexpensive Site Maintenance Plans:
I offer site maintenance plans starting at $10 per month. Compare my rates to the other custom website design firms who charge upwards of $50 per month for the same level of service. I can even set it up so you can do some or all of your own site maintenance and avoid having any maintenance costs.
Free Email Accounts
Each hosting plan comes with a free email account that can be divided into up to 100 separate email addresses. Additional email plans are available for around $20 per year.
"Platform Friendly" Design
I've recently begun designing my websites to be "platform friendly", which simply means they will render correctly regardless of the device being used to view them.
This is an increasingly important feature as a higher percentage of users access the Internet using iPhone, iPads, Droids, etc.
Advanced Features
Glider Panels... Tab Panels... and Elevator Panels
- The "Advanced Features" box is part of a glider panel, where the panels glide in from the left or right.
- This "Glider and Elevator Panels" box is an example of an elevator panel that slides in from the top or bottom.
- To see an example of a tab panel based website, click here.
Slideshows and Image Rotators
- awareness-village
- bat-images
- book-review-village
- chicago-ceiling-care
- concert-comfort
- custom-caps
- divot-diva
- drs-law-enforcement
- eastern-sierra-equine
- finleys-mountain-ranch
- first-glass
- Larissas-art
- magnolia-care-house
- mason-valley-residence
- masterworks-chorale
- mt-rose-scenic-corridor
- normas-art
- park-place-cleaners
- rcefcu
- rockin-rocks
- shade-ez
- sue-waite
- Treasure-Chest
This is an example of a simple image rotator.
I also have the capability of doing photo slideshows.
Advanced Navigation
- Jump Menus
The client list in the dark green box above is an example of a jump menu. A jump menu allows for a large number of links in a small screen area.
- Drop Down menus
A drop down menu is a fancier version of a jump menu. The navigation on my photography website... Bruce Titus Photography... is a good example of a drop-down menu.
Embedded Video
A good example of an embedded video is the landing page I created for VideoMations. You provide the video and I'll put in on your website.
I can also embed YouTube videos virtually anywhere on your website. YouTube videos can also be scaled up or down in size compared to the video below. This YouTube video is Jon Stewart on Crossfire.
Good luck putting a video clip on a generic website. They simply don't have the capability of doing that.
Internet Marketing Capabilities
From a few simple Paypal "Buy Now" buttons, to a full-blown shopping cart, I can provide the tools you need to market your products to the world.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
No website design company can promise top search engine ranking but I will design your website to be "search engine friendly." I will also create a site map to search engine specifications and submit it to the top search engines. Doing those things should significantly improve your chances of being found by people searching the Internet for your products or services.
Extra Security Features
There are lots of bad people out there on the Internet, which is why I build enhanced security features into the links and forms associated with every website I design.
Spambots
If you think you get a lot of junk mail now, wait until you provide an unencrypted email address on your website for the world to see. The "spammers" have automated programs, commonly known as "spambots" that search the Internet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, looking for email addresses. If you use a generic, website service, I guarantee the amount of junk email you get will only increase with each passing month as more spambots find your email address and add it to junk email lists around the world.
The "Email Me" link at the top of every page on this website, has been encrypted to it can't be read by the vast majority of spambots. There may be some very sophisticated spambots out there that can break the encryption but the vast majority will hit a dead end when the try to harvest email addresses from any of my websites.
Form Hijackers
Forms are especially vulnerable to being "hijacked" and used to send "spam" messages across the Internet. Most of the junk email you receive is sent through hijacked forms on unsuspecting websites. The "Quote Request" form on this site is a perfect example of the extra security features I build into my sites.
- It features a random code that must be typed into the form. Easy for a person... impossible for an automated program.
- It also features a security question that must be answered correctly.
- And finally, it features two hidden fields that are designed to trip up any efforts to hijack the form.