Ed Gaskey’s author website
A home for Creating Your Next Chapter, Ed’s writing, reader resources, and media information, with connected content and inquiry management.
Custom Website Design & Development
Custom website design and development, built around your work.
Work directly with Ryan on the structure, design, development, and launch of a custom website. Start with the public site your audience needs, then add content management or integrations where the project calls for them.
Custom websites, in practice.
Two clients with different audiences and different reasons for someone to get in touch. The structure and design follow the work.
Rafa’s Junk Removal
A Louisville service-business website organized around removal jobs, real service areas, customer proof, pricing information, calls, and quote requests.
Start with what people need to understand, not with a template.
A custom website gives the structure, content, and technology room to follow the business instead of forcing the business into a prebuilt layout. We start with what visitors need to understand, what actions they should be able to take, and what systems the website needs to connect to behind the scenes.
For Ed Gaskey, the work connects a book, ongoing writing, media information, and reader inquiries. For Rafa’s Junk Removal, it organizes services, coverage, customer proof, and quote requests. Those are different websites because the visitors have different decisions to make.
What a custom website can include
Site structure
Page structure, navigation, messaging hierarchy, and calls to action organized around the questions visitors actually have.
Responsive design & development
One coherent experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile instead of a desktop layout patched down for smaller screens.
Forms & lead capture
Project inquiries, contact forms, notifications, attribution, and customer-data flows connected to the systems that need them.
Content & integrations
CMS connections, CRM, email delivery, analytics, APIs, and other integrations selected around the way the business operates.
From the current problem to a site that works in production
The build is organized around the job the website needs to perform, then refined through structure, development, testing, and launch.
Discover
Define the audience, business goals, current problems, content, and required integrations.
Structure
Map pages, navigation, content hierarchy, conversion paths, and the information each page needs to answer.
Build
Develop the responsive interface, forms, content systems, integrations, metadata, and technical foundation.
Launch & improve
Verify production behavior, indexing, forms, devices, and continue improving the site as real usage creates better information.
A custom build is worth considering when
The business has outgrown a generic website builder or rigid theme.
The website needs to connect directly to CRM, content, forms, customer workflows, or other software.
Clear positioning, performance, maintainability, and long-term flexibility matter more than launching from a template as quickly as possible.
A clear scope.
A firm project quote.
The proposal separates design and development from any content management, integrations, hosting, or ongoing work. You know what the build includes before it starts.
Work directly with Ryan
Discuss your existing website, audience, content, and priorities with the person designing and building the project. The page list follows that conversation.
Know what is included
The agreed scope identifies the pages, content responsibilities, features, revisions, and launch work. Account access, ongoing costs, and handoff are settled before development.
Plan for life after launch
Content management and ongoing support are scoped to how you expect to use the site. New features and substantial changes are separate work, rather than hidden in a maintenance promise.
Useful reading
Questions that come up around custom website design & development.
A few practical guides for the decisions that usually come before a project.
Business websitesHow much does a small business website cost?
Learn what affects small business website cost, including pages, custom design, content, forms, SEO, CRM integrations, CMS, hosting, and ongoing support.
Read the guide →Business websitesWhat should a small business website include?A practical small business website checklist covering messaging, service pages, trust, contact paths, forms, mobile design, analytics, SEO, and integrations.
Read the guide →Business websitesCustom website vs. Wix or Squarespace for a small businessCompare custom website development with Wix or Squarespace for design, content control, SEO, integrations, CRM, maintenance, ownership, and business growth.
Read the guide →Business websitesHow long does it take to build a business website?Learn what affects a business website timeline, including content, design, approvals, forms, integrations, migration, testing, and launch preparation.
Read the guide →Business websitesWhat SEO foundation should a new business website have?SEO foundations for new business websites, including service pages, metadata, canonicals, schema, internal links, redirects, performance, and Search Console.
Read the guide →Need something more specific than a template?
Tell us what the site needs to accomplish, what exists today, and what needs to connect behind it.
Start a project ↗