Taking on three projects this fall
I design and build websites and brand identities for small businesses in Tuscaloosa and West Alabama. Fast pages, honest pricing, and one person who answers his own phone.
What it costs
Most people quoting this work won't tell you a number until you've sat through a meeting. Here are mine.
A complete site, written and built. Loads fast, works properly on a phone, and carries the metadata that lets people find you in search.
A real vector logo in every format you'll need — web, print, embroidery, signage — plus colours and typefaces that hold together.
Text changes, new photos, updated hours, seasonal announcements. You send a message, I make the change. No dashboard to learn.
Selected work
Everything here is built and running. No mockups, no concepts dressed up as client work.
A national archive platform for collegiate music. I designed the identity and built the whole stack — site, custom domain, database, form handling, and transactional email — then debugged it end to end until a submission reliably produced a stored record and two emails.
A search-first listening interface: faceted filtering across institution, ensemble, director and repertoire, a persistent bottom player with a waveform, and program notes alongside each recording. Designed to feel like a national library rather than a music app.
A licensed voting tool for boards and member organisations. Ballot creation, a voting interface, an administrator back end with authenticated access, and a database behind it. Built, deployed, and priced as a product.
A working site for a construction business — services, past work, and a straightforward way to get in touch. Custom domain, hosting, and DNS all configured and handed over running.
The part you can't see
Google can't see your photographs or your layout. It reads the labels underneath. Below is the actual code at the top of the page you're on right now — and on most small business websites, these lines are blank or filled with something a template put there years ago.
<!-- the headline Google shows, and the browser tab --> <title>Web Design & Branding in Tuscaloosa, AL — Stuart Nelsen</title> <!-- the grey paragraph underneath it in search results --> <meta name="description" content="Websites and brand identity for small businesses in Tuscaloosa and West Alabama. $1,250 for a site, $250 for a logo."> <!-- the preview card when the link is shared --> <meta property="og:image" content="/social-card.jpg"> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"> <!-- what produces the business panel with your hours --> "@type": "ProfessionalService", "address": { "addressLocality": "Tuscaloosa", "addressRegion": "AL" }, "telephone": "+1-228-239-5217" <!-- and every image says what it actually shows --> <img alt="A student and teacher at the piano during a lesson">
Capabilities
About
I'm Stuart Nelsen. I live in Tuscaloosa, I taught myself to build websites, and I've spent the last year building a national music archive platform from the ground up — brand, interface, database, and all the plumbing in between.
That project is where I learned this properly. Not from a course, but from having to make a form actually deliver an email at two in the morning, and finding out why it didn't.
I take on a small number of local projects at a time, which is why the prices are what they are and why I can tell you honestly whether your site needs rebuilding or just needs fixing. Sometimes the answer is the second one, and I'll say so.
Before this I spent years in retail management and commercial banking, which mostly taught me that people can tell the difference between being sold to and being helped.
Get in touch
Send me your website address and I'll tell you the three things I'd fix first — free, and with no expectation attached.