What a free website design really means

"Free" usually comes with a catch. Mine comes with terms instead, and they fit in one paragraph.

Seeing your design is free. I build your whole website and send you a private link. If you want it, it's $375 for my first 10 customers (regularly about $875, depending on how complex it is), and you get the exact price with the preview. You have 7 days to decide. If you don't want it, you owe nothing: the preview comes down, and the design can go to someone else. Changes and custom work are $80 an hour.

What exactly is free?

Seeing your design, and it is not a sketch. It is a working preview of your whole website on a private link, with your real menu, your own photos and your own words. You can open it on your phone and tap through every page, the way a customer would.

What do I pay for?

Keeping it. Right now a website is $875 $375, a launch price for my first 10 customers. After that it is about $875 again, depending on how complex it is. The exact price comes with your preview, before you decide.

After that there are three ways to run it. Take it with you: I hand over your pages, words, photos and menu as files, and there is no monthly fee. Have me run it: I host it and make your changes at $80 an hour. Or run it yourself with the dashboard, at $99 a month, which is optional.

Can I ask for changes to the free design?

No. The free design is my take on your business, and you get what you get. If I got a fact wrong, I fix it. Changes of taste, or a website built to your exact wishes from the start, are custom work at $80 an hour.

What if I say no?

Then you owe nothing. There is no bill for design time and no fee for changing your mind. You have 7 days to decide. After that the preview comes down, and the design can go to someone else.

Why would a designer work this way?

Because a website is hard to judge from a proposal. A proposal shows how well someone writes proposals. A finished preview shows how your business will look to a customer on a phone, deciding where to go tonight. I would rather be judged on that.

It is also a fair trade. I take the risk of doing the work first. You take none.

What should I ask anyone who offers a free website?

• What exactly is free, and what is paid? Ask for the answer in one sentence.

• Will I hear the price before I decide?

• Can I change the site myself, or do I have to email someone for every new price?

• What happens to my reservations and online ordering? They should keep working where they are.

• Can I take my website with me if I leave? Pages, photos, menu and all.

My answers: seeing the design is free, and keeping it is $375 for my first 10 customers (regularly about $875). Yes, with the preview. Yes, from your phone, with the dashboard. They stay on the systems you already use. And yes: your pages, words, photos and menu, as files.

How do I start?

Tell me about your business. I reply to say whether I can take it on, and your design arrives within 24 hours of that.