How do I choose a web design agency for my small business?

Ask three things. One: will the person doing the work actually talk to you, or will you get handed to an account manager? Two: can they do design, SEO and ads together, or are you about to hire three vendors who blame each other? Three: can they show you businesses like yours, not just pretty screenshots. We’ve built more than 500 websites since 2014, and we’re a small enough team that you talk to the people building it.

Who is The 215 Guys a good fit for, and who should go somewhere else?

Good fit: owner-operated small and mid-sized businesses, one location or a handful, usually within about an hour of us, who want one team for design, SEO and ads. Bad fit: anyone who needs a formal RFP and a procurement portal, anyone comparing us to a $99 template, and anyone who wants a site built and then never wants to hear from us again. We’re going to have opinions.

What should a small business website cost?

Builds are quoted per project because a five-page site for a roofer and a 200-product store are not the same job. What we can tell you flat out: a typical build takes 6 to 8 weeks, ongoing maintenance runs $250 to $500 a quarter, and conversion rate optimization starts at $1,500 a month. If someone quotes you a website sight-unseen, that is a template with your logo on it.

Is hiring a local agency better than using Wix or Squarespace?

Honestly, not always. If you need four pages up this week and nobody is searching for you yet, a builder is a fine answer and we will tell you that. Hire an agency when the website has to actually bring in work: when you need to rank locally, run ads that pay for themselves, sell online, or stop losing people on mobile. That is the point where DIY starts costing more than it saves.

What industries do you work in?

The ones we’ve done repeatedly: restaurants and food, law firms, contractors and building trades, education and nonprofits, financial services and insurance, architecture, and dental practices. Termini Bros, OCF Realty, 2SP Brewing Company, EwingCole, Temple and Philly PAL are all clients. If your industry is not on that list it is genuinely fine, because the fundamentals travel.

Can one agency handle design, SEO and Google Ads, or do I need three?

You do not need three, and you do not need to buy all three from us either. Most of our clients start with one thing, usually the website, and add SEO or ads later, or never. What it saves you is the handoff: when the site, the search strategy and the ad spend do sit with different companies, that is where the money leaks: landing pages nobody optimized, ad budget pointed at a page that does not convert, SEO advice the developer never implements. We can do all of it, plus e-commerce, maintenance and platform migrations, whenever you actually want it.

Who We Are - The 215 Guys

Q: Do you work with businesses outside Philadelphia?

Yes. Most of our clients are close to home and we’ve worked in just about every neighborhood in the city, plus the suburbs: Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Berks counties, the Main Line and the Lehigh Valley. Beyond that we work across all of Pennsylvania, with a good number of clients out in Pittsburgh, plus South and Central New Jersey and the state of Delaware.

The restaurant is GREAT!

Marc

Building websites since he was a kid, Marc makes the magic happen. Combining his love for technology and small businesses in Philadelphia, he’s continually solving the difficulties of effectively marketing local businesses online.

Pick-n-peel Shrimp All Day!

John

Advocating the role small business plays in the community, he brings expertise working with top Silicon Valley companies to the local businesses of Philly. Cafe connoisseur and cycling enthusiast, you've probably seen him out exploring the city.

KETCHUP!

Jeremy

Practically born with a camera, he’s been capturing the streets of NYC & Philly for years. As a Temple web design alum, he’s now combined passions – helping numerous small businesses in Philadelphia efficiently reach their photography and web goals.

If you haven't been to Anastasi's, do you even Philly?

Before you call

Are we a good fit?

We’ve been doing this since 2014, and we’ve built more than 500 websites along the way. Most of our clients are owner-operated, running one location or a handful, and most of them stick around for years.

You’ll like working with us if…

The owner is in the roomWe do our best work with small and mid-sized businesses where we can talk to the person whose name is on the door.

You want to buy what you need, not a packagePlenty of clients hire us for one thing, usually a website. Plenty hire us for all three. Either is fine, and if you come back for the next one it’s the same team that already knows your business, not a new vendor you brief from scratch.

You want a tool that helps you grow your businessNot a portfolio piece. A good-looking site is great, but the job is bringing in work, and that is what we build for.

Location, honestly, doesn’t matterMost of our clients are around Philadelphia, and we work across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. But the job is remote either way, so where you are is not really a factor.

You want a straight answerIf a site builder is genuinely the better call for where your business is right now, we’ll say so instead of selling you a project.

You’re planning, not panickingA real build runs 6 to 8 weeks, SEO takes months before it shows up in your numbers, and ads need a few weeks of data before they get cheap. We’ll tell you what’s realistic before you sign, not after.

Websites are quoted per project, because a five-page site for a roofing company and a 200-product store aren’t the same job. Maintenance runs $250 to $500 a quarter, and conversion work starts at $1,500 a month. SEO and ads get scoped against your actual market. Ask us and you’ll get a real number instead of a range.

The specifics

What we do, and where

What we do

All of it in-house, which is the entire point.

Where we work

PhiladelphiaEvery neighborhood in the city

The suburbsDelaware, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Berks counties, the Main Line and the Lehigh Valley

Rest of PennsylvaniaStatewide, including a good number in Pittsburgh

New JerseySouth and Central Jersey

DelawareStatewide

WorldwideThese are just where the work concentrates. We take clients wherever they are

These are where the work concentrates, not a requirement. We’ll work with you wherever you are. Our client locations page lists only the regions with projects tagged to them.

Who we work with

Restaurants & foodTermini Bros, Good Dog Bar, 2SP Brewing
Law firmsChurchman Law, Day Law
Contractors & tradesSmartRoof, DDP Roofing
Education & nonprofitsPhilly PAL, First Up, Get Fresh Daily
Financial & insuranceSteffey Insurance
ArchitectureEwingCole, Joshua Zinder
Dental & medicalDr. Todd Fleischman, Dr. Sophia Lee

Industries we’ve done more than once. If yours isn’t here, that’s genuinely fine, because the fundamentals travel.

Since 2014 we’ve built more than 500 websites, and there are a few hundred of them here.

Tell us about your project

What We're About

Velma, Websites, Noms

Overall, we’ve been told that we’re an amazing group of people to work with by pretty much everyone.

In all seriousness though, we’re just a group of creative friends doing what we do well.