`

About Philadelphia Web Design

Reliable • Personal • Transparent

Our standout skill is designing sites that are both attractive and quickly establish trust.

Our ‘old-school’, less is more, method lets us create sites that are both attractive and quickly establish trust – the core emotion that motivates the website visitor to inquire about a product or service.

Our Advantages

CSS hides this

Why do clients say they feel “peace of mind” working with us?

Because life already has enough stress. When you call, email, or text — I answer.
Not eventually. Not “when I get to it.”
I answer.

Even on a Sunday night at 7 PM when someone can’t log into their site, I don’t feel imposed upon. I actually like helping. If I can save someone a few hours of frustration for just five minutes of my time, that’s a fantastic return on investment.

Peace of mind isn’t a slogan. It’s a work habit.

What are the personal traits clients actually value most?

Everyone is overwhelmed. That’s universal.
What people really need from a web designer is:

  • Reliability

  • Clarity

  • Follow-through

  • Someone who won’t disappear

  • Someone who explains things simply

  • Someone who reduces the stress, not adds to it

In over 25 years, I’ve never met a client who wasn’t juggling something else. Our job is to make their digital life easier, not add another source of anxiety.

What makes your process different from most designers?

Most of the first call isn’t about design — it’s about education.
We end up talking for an hour or more because it’s interesting:

  • The difference between push and pull marketing

  • Why most businesses don’t need as much SEO as they think

  • How to make a site build actually enjoyable

  • How to use your website as a consulting tool, not just a brochure

Clients always tell us:
“I’ve never had anyone explain it this clearly before.”

Why do so many clients call after a bad experience somewhere else?

This is the inconvenient truth:
Almost every unsolicited call we receive comes from someone whose designer didn’t follow through.

Common reasons:

  • Things weren’t getting done

  • Promises weren’t kept

  • They couldn’t reach the person they hired

  • The designer disappeared

  • Simple tasks turned into complicated sagas

  • Too many people touched the site — and nothing improved

We’ve taken over websites where six people couldn’t fix six WordPress problems in six weeks.

Technical skill is common.
Reliability is rare.

What are your core traits as a web designer?

We’re:

  • Technically competent

  • Easy to work with

  • Thorough

  • Reliable

  • Consistent

  • Present

And we’ve never disappeared.
Not once.

After 25 years in this business, we’ve developed both the hard skills (coding, SEO, problem-solving) and the soft skills (listening, patience, clarity) that make projects run smoothly.

What do clients actually call about?

Interestingly, no one has ever called to ask:

“How did you learn to build nice websites?”

Instead, they almost always call because:

  • Something went wrong with their current designer

  • Something is overdue

  • Something was promised but never delivered

  • Something broke and no one knows how to fix it

It’s rarely a design issue.
It’s almost always a customer service issue.

Clients are looking for trust.
They’re looking for someone who will answer the phone.

What is the cost for a website?

As a general guideline small brochure websites (up to six pages) start at $595 while custom designs start at $995.

Please call us at (267) 567-5099 and we’ll be able to give you a quote based on site design styles you would like to emulate.

What details are included in your website estimates?

Our website design estimates are highly detailed and include low and high estimates based on completed projects of similar scale.

Estimates are based on per-hour work instead of a single fixed price.

As such if fewer hours than estimated are required to complete the project the final cost is lower.

The client is able to review the progress at any time during the project.

The maximum estimate could only be exceeded if the project scope changes and with written approval from the client.

CSS Hides This

Why emphasize a “human touch” in a technical field?

Because technology has made everything feel distant.

We choose the opposite approach.
Think of those old videos from 75 years ago: you’d pull into a gas station and be treated like royalty. People cared. Service mattered.

That’s the experience we aim for.

You’re never a ticket number.
You’re never “in the queue.”
You’re a person, and we treat you that way.

Who actually does the work?

I do — and the small team of self-taught specialists I’ve trusted for years.

I started hand-coding sites in 1998.
Every helper I bring in has the same DNA:
self-taught, disciplined, reliable, and extremely good at problem-solving.

What types of businesses do you focus on?

Upscale, niche, service-oriented industries where:

  • Trust matters

  • Clean design beats noisy design

  • Clients are really buying consulting, not products

We create websites and videos that immediately establish:

  • Competence

  • Professionalism

  • Human connection

  • Confidence

The more a prospect feels taken care of, the more likely they are to call.

How do you keep projects simple instead of overwhelming?

We use:

  • Clear, simple proposals

  • No legal mumbo-jumbo

  • Straightforward explanations

  • A single point of contact — always me

  • A workflow that doesn’t bury clients in decisions

We believe in removing stress, not creating it.

What consulting or advisory support comes with the project?

A lot.

Clients often tell us the consulting they receive along the way is just as valuable as the website itself. Throughout the process you’ll get:

  • Marketing guidance

  • Positioning advice

  • Industry-specific insight

  • Ideas for videos, messaging, and communication

  • Straight answers about what matters and what you can ignore

We try to give you “strength in numbers” — more understanding, more clarity, more confidence.

Can you write content?

Yes, we offer copywriting services for an additional fee. We work with you to create content that is tailored to your brand and target audience.

Will my website be mobile-friendly?

Yes, it will be responsive for desktop, tablet and phone.

Do you offer website hosting and maintenance?

Yes, we offer both hosting and maintenance services to ensure that your website is secure and accessible.

Website Design FAQ

How long does it take to build a website?

It takes approximately two weeks after receiving all the materials needed to create a website.

Where is your office? When will we meet you?

We’ve love to meet you! … if needed.

But we’ve actually not needed to for over two decades. Instead we’ll regularly meet by phone, email and video chat.

What's the cost of a website?

As all our work is by the hour, with a discounted rate for 501c, we can upgrade your site for a little as few hundred dollars. Visit our website design pricing page for more details.

What is the payment structure?

We provide a line-item proposal with low and high estimates and ask for a 50% deposit of the low estimate. The new website is created at a temporary website address and invoice remainer is due once the new website is approved to go live.

What happens if the site costs more than your estimate?

This has actually never happened. With 25+ years of experience and several hundred websites created we have honed our process to three website sizes: small, medium and large, and no client has ever received an invoice for more than the high estimate even if additional hours were needed on our part.

Will I need to change hosts?

If your current host is affordable and reliable then you’re welcome to keep them. We do offer hosting, only to our clients, through GoDaddy from $145 to $245 per year depending on site size and database requirements.

Will you create our new site using WordPress?

If needed. Before we were web designers we were programmers, designers and copywriters and learned to create sites ‘by hand’ well before WordPress.

It’s good practice to always hire a web designer who is not limited to WordPress websites. On occasion our competitors have hired us to fix complex WordPress problems. 

How much extra does it cost to add a contact form?

Basic contact forms are already included with every new website design. Longer, complex forms, such as an detailed career application will require extra time and we’ll provide an accurate and detailed estimate.

Can you write the website text?

Typically yes. We’ve written copy for legal, financial, technical and industrial websites. We’ve even written two software manuals including one for a smaller version of Excel.

Search Engine Optimization FAQ

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization (S-E-O) is refining your website to convince search engines, especially Google, that your site deserves more visibility so it generates more inquiries.

Is SEO guaranteed?

Yes. We stand by everything we do with an honest and genuine money-back guarantee.

How long does SEO take?

SEO takes as little as two weeks depending on the competition and number of targeted terms.  Please call us at (267) 567-5099 and we’ll be able to assess your goals and paths to success.

What is Smart SEO™?

Smart SEO™ is adding your contact number to your search listings so you stand out and get called first.

How can I achieve a perfect SEO score?

The majority of our SEO client websites achieve an SEO score of at least 85% from Google’s SEO Page Speed tool. Some, such as our own, achieve a perfect score of 100 which speaks to the quality of our best Smart SEO™ plans.

How can you guarantee SEO?

SEO can seem like a gamble, but not with us.

It’s been around for ages, and the rules for success haven’t really changed.

That’s why we offer a money-back guarantee—because why wouldn’t we?

If we don’t agree on realistic expectations, we won’t take the job.

It’s that simple.

We’ll either get you results in 4-6 weeks or you’ll get a full refund.

SEO is never a guessing game. It should always be honest and straightforward.

 

Are there common SEO misconceptions?

1) Inbound Links are important

2) Social Media is important

Why is SEO usually expensive?

The ideal formula for SEO is a trade secret, like the recipe for Coca-Cola.

Often SEO companies exploit this and claim quality SEO requires hundreds of steps, over 12 to 24 months, and cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars each month.

But our experience is that excellent SEO requires only a dozen or so steps and you should see results in as little as 3-4 weeks.

Can Social Media help my SEO?

Despite endless claims to the contrary we’ve seen no examples of Social Media helping a site gain better search rankings. In fact we often see it hurt search engine ranking as it results in a drop in performance when added to a website.

About Randy Zeitman

Randy M. Zeitman is the founder of The Philadelphia Design Web Company and brings forward a diverse background as a graphic designer, small business consultant, marketing director, author, software trainer, programmer, magazine columnist, copywriter, and technical editor.

Mr. Zeitman also conducts a variety of small business marketing seminars for Staples®, Temple, Widener, and Delaware County Community College. Our credo is “We Give Small Business A Big Voice!

Below is a small sampling of Mr. Zeitman’s graphic design portfolio: