Frequently Asked Questions

Most projects run from $3,000 to $10,000, and you get one fixed price for the whole project before any work starts. That number does not move unless you ask for something outside what we agreed. There is no hourly billing and no invoice at the end that is bigger than the quote. What sets the number is how many pages you need, whether anything has to be built rather than assembled (online ordering, a booking system, a members area), and whether we are writing the content or you are supplying it. Tell us what the site has to do and we will give you the number before you commit to anything.

Monthly work is a flat retainer, quoted after we look at what you have. It is scoped to a set amount of time that gets reserved for you, so you know what you are buying and we know we can deliver it. Some clients keep us on for social and content, some for search, some just to look after the site. You can start with one and add later.

No. Ongoing work is month to month. If you want to stop, you stop, and the site, the domain and the files go with you. We have never held a client's website hostage and we are not going to start.

No. Projects are split across the work, typically a deposit to start and the balance at launch. The exact split is written in the proposal you sign, so there are no surprises about when money is due.

Ray leads every account and is who you talk to. Depending on the job, a specialist he has worked with for years may handle part of the production, and Ray stays responsible for it either way. You never get routed to an account manager who relays messages to somebody you have never met.

The honest answer is that the build is rarely what sets the timeline. Content is. A site where you already have your photos, your service list and your copy moves quickly. A site where we are waiting on menu photos or a list of staff bios takes as long as that takes. We give you a schedule with your dates on it as well as ours, so you can see exactly which piece is holding things up at any point.

Less than you think. A conversation about what the business does and who you want calling, whatever photos and copy you already have, and access to your domain. If you do not have photos or written content, say so early, because that changes the plan and the price rather than stalling the project halfway through.

Usually, yes. Monthly work is scoped and the time is set aside before we start, so a new client does not come out of an existing one's hours. If we cannot fit you in properly, we will tell you that instead of taking the work and stretching it thin.

Often, yes. We take over sites other people built and left to drift. Sometimes the honest answer is that a rebuild costs less than fixing what is there, and we will tell you which one you are looking at before you spend anything.

Yes. The domain stays in your name, the site is yours, and you get the files. If you leave, you leave with everything. Ask any agency this question before you sign with them, because the answer is not always yes.

Yes. We build and manage WordPress sites when WordPress is the right fit, and we take over sites built by someone else. Most new builds are custom, because a custom site is usually faster to load, cheaper to run and has far less that can break or be exploited. If you are on WordPress now and it is working, we are not going to talk you into replacing it for the sake of it.

Every existing address gets redirected to its new home, so the pages that already rank keep their credit instead of turning into dead links. That is the single most common way a rebuild damages a business, and it is entirely avoidable. We map the old site before the new one goes live.

No, and neither can anyone else. Google does not sell that and nobody controls it. What we can tell you is what is realistically winnable for your business, which terms are worth chasing and which are already owned by companies with a decade of head start. For most local businesses the map listing matters more than the search results underneath it, and that is a fight you can actually win.

One page a month, in plain language, showing what came in and where it came from. Not a forty-page dashboard export. If something is not paying off, we say so and change it rather than keep billing you for it.

Longer than anyone selling it wants to admit. Local listing work can move within weeks. Ranking for competitive search terms is a matter of months, and it is cumulative rather than sudden. Anyone promising you page one in thirty days is either buying ads or lying.

Yes. Miles Media is owned and run in Pittsburgh's North Hills, and most of our clients are within an hour of the city: Ross, McCandless, Hampton, Pine, the North Shore, and out into Western Pennsylvania. We meet in person when it helps.

We use modern tools in production, the same way we use a code editor or a camera, and every word that goes on your site is reviewed, edited and approved by a person before it ships. Nothing is published on autopilot. The substance comes from the conversation we have with you about your business, because that is the part no tool has access to. You approve the copy before it goes live, and if it does not sound like you, we rewrite it.

Yes. Fifteen projects are written up with the client named and the live site linked, so you can go look at the real thing rather than a screenshot. Have a look at our work.