How We Build Starter Websites for Old Town
Every Starter project begins with a brief discovery conversation: what does the business do, who is the primary customer, what does the business want the site to accomplish, and what content does the owner already have (photos, menu, product images, descriptions). For Old Town's new restaurants, bars, and entertainment-adjacent businesses, the priority is fast turnaround and a site that works well on mobile, because most Old Town customer searches happen on a phone.
We design and build a 3 to 5 page site on a modern, performant platform chosen for ease of content updates and long-term reliability. The standard pages for an Old Town restaurant or bar are Home, Menu or Services, About, and Contact. For a boutique retailer, the pages are Home, Shop or Products, About, and Contact. For a new professional services business, the pages are Home, Services, About, and Contact. The structure is flexible and tuned to each business's specific needs within the Starter scope.
Every Old Town Starter site includes: domain setup and DNS configuration, mobile-optimized responsive design, a contact form with email notification, Google Analytics installation, Google My Business setup and verification, and basic on-page SEO for the neighborhood and business category. The Google My Business setup is particularly important for Old Town businesses because local map results appear for nearly every "restaurant near me" or "bar in Old Town" search, and being properly verified and complete in Google My Business drives discovery before most users even click through to the website.
We complete Starter projects in two to three weeks from kickoff to launch, with one round of revision included. The fixed price covers everything above. There are no surprise costs.
Industries We Serve in Old Town
New restaurants and bars on Wells Street and North Avenue launching into Old Town's established dining and nightlife corridor need a fast, professional web presence before they open. We build restaurant Starter sites with menu display, hours, location, and reservation or contact links that show up in Google searches and convert first-time visitors.
New retail boutiques in Old Town Triangle launching in the neighborhood's established independent retail zone need a site that signals the quality and curation of the business before a customer walks in. We build boutique Starter sites with product category pages, brand story, and location information that establish the store's identity online.
Comedy clubs, performance venues, and entertainment businesses in the Second City corridor need sites that communicate the entertainment offering, show ticket and reservation links, and rank for local entertainment searches. We build performance venue Starter sites with event calendar display and ticket integration.
New professional services businesses setting up in Old Town, including interior designers, therapists, consultants, and specialists in the medical and dental practices near Lincoln Park Zoo, need clean professional sites that establish credibility and generate inquiry. We build professional services Starter sites with service descriptions, about page, and contact form.
New coffee shops and neighborhood cafes launching on the residential side streets and the Wells Street corridor need Starter sites that show the menu, hours, and location clearly and rank for neighborhood coffee searches. We build cafe Starter sites with a focus on local search visibility and mobile usability.
New home goods and design boutiques entering the Old Town market need sites that capture the aesthetic of the brand before the customer visits in person. We build home goods and design Starter sites with strong visual presentation and contact or visit-us calls to action.
What to Expect Working With Us
1. Discovery and content collection. A brief kickoff conversation and a content checklist: what you have (photos, logo, copy) and what we need to create or request from you. For most Old Town Starter projects, we can work with whatever the business has, including helping write page copy if needed.
2. Design and build. We design and build the site on a modern performant platform, optimized for mobile and tuned to local search. One round of revision is included in the fixed price.
3. Domain, Analytics, and Google My Business setup. We configure the domain, install Google Analytics, set up Google My Business, and verify the listing. These setup tasks are included in the Starter package.
4. Launch and handover. We launch the site and walk you through how to update content, add hours changes, and manage the site going forward. You own the site and the accounts. We provide 30 days of launch support for questions.