(262) 220-7884
Web Development · Whitewater, WI

Fast websites. Built to rank, built to last.

Small business websites built on Next.js and deployed on Cloudflare. Modern, fast, SEO-ready, and not held together by 42 WordPress plugins. Project-based pricing with an optional hosting and maintenance retainer after launch.

// Why speed matters

Slow sites don't rank and don't convert.

Google ranks faster sites higher. Visitors bounce when pages take more than a few seconds. Every second of load time costs you real money, especially on mobile.

The numbers behind this aren't marketing fluff. They come from Google's own research and decades of industry studies.

53%
of mobile users leave sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.Google research
1s
of delay drops conversions by 7% on average.Akamai / industry averages
25%
average SEO ranking boost when Core Web Vitals move from failing to passing.SEO industry studies
0.8s
is what a Next.js site on Cloudflare typically loads at.Real-world measurement
// The stack

The tech under every site we build.

Modern frontend framework, global edge hosting, and a headless CMS where it makes sense. Nothing you'll get locked out of, nothing that needs weekly patching to stay secure.

Next.js
Framework
React-based framework that generates fast, static HTML where possible and server-renders where needed. Supported by Vercel and the broader React community. Portable — your site isn't locked into a proprietary platform.
Cloudflare Pages
Hosting
Global edge network with 300+ points of presence. Your site loads from the nearest Cloudflare data center to the visitor. Free tier handles more traffic than most small businesses will ever see; paid tier is a rounding error compared to managed WordPress hosting.
Cloudflare D1
Database
Serverless SQLite database running at the edge. For sites that need a database (forms, booking, CMS), this is where data lives. Scales automatically, no server to maintain.
Sanity / Payload
CMS
Headless CMS for sites that need content editing. Your staff edits pages, blog posts, and images in a clean admin interface. The site stays fast because the CMS is separate from the public-facing site.
Schema.org + OG
SEO
Every page gets proper JSON-LD schema for Google rich results (LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, Breadcrumb), plus Open Graph metadata for social shares. Built in, not an afterthought.
Git + GitHub
Version Control
Every change is tracked. Deploys happen automatically from the main branch. If something breaks, we roll back in seconds instead of hunting through a WordPress plugin graveyard.
// What you're actually choosing between

Small business website options, honestly compared.

There are three ways a small business typically ends up with a website in 2026. Each has real trade-offs — here's how to think about it.

Option 01

Wix / Squarespace

$20/mo
Plus your time
  • Cheapest option upfront
  • You can edit it yourself
  • Okay performance
  • Locked to their platform
  • Generic template look
  • Limited SEO control
  • Slow on mobile
Option 02

BadgerLayer

$3.5K–$15K
Plus $150/mo retainer
  • Custom design, not a template
  • Fast by default (Lighthouse 100s)
  • You own the code and the domain
  • Built-in SEO + schema markup
  • CMS for self-editing (optional)
  • Local, reachable support
  • Modern stack (Next.js + Cloudflare)
Option 03

Big agency

$25K+
Plus retainer
  • Full-service design & copy
  • Often good performance
  • Expensive for small business
  • 6-month project timelines
  • Handed off to junior staff
  • Variable platform lock-in
  • Client #847 of 900
// Pricing

Three tiers, transparent ranges.

Real numbers, not "contact us for a quote." The actual project cost is fixed in your engagement agreement after the discovery call.

Starter
01 / Entry
$3,500
Project · 3-4 week timeline
  • 5–7 pages, custom design
  • Fully responsive
  • LocalBusiness schema + SEO basics
  • Contact form + email routing
  • Hosting setup on Cloudflare
  • Clean handoff + docs
  • 90-day post-launch support
Start a starter →
Custom
03 / Scoped
$15K+
Quoted · 8-16 week timeline
  • Unlimited pages or dynamic templates
  • Custom integrations (CRM, booking, payments)
  • Multi-language / multi-region
  • Custom design system
  • Member area / gated content
  • API integrations with your stack
  • Extended post-launch support
Start a custom project →
// After launch

Hosting and maintenance retainer.

Most clients sign a monthly retainer after the project wraps. It covers hosting, security, content changes, and having someone on call when you need a tweak. No minimum term after year one.

$150/mo
Starting · Scales with site size
01

Hosting on Cloudflare

Global edge network, automatic scaling, SSL certificates managed for you. Fast from anywhere.

02

Security updates

Dependency updates handled monthly. No plugins to patch, no surprise vulnerabilities.

03

Content changes

Up to 2 hours of content updates per month included — page edits, new photos, new blog posts.

04

Monthly backups

Full site snapshots taken monthly and retained for 12 months. Rollback in minutes if needed.

05

Uptime monitoring

Automated uptime checks every minute. If your site goes down, we know before you do.

06

Direct support

Call or email Riley directly. No ticket queue, no L1 helpdesk. Same tech who built the site.

// The process

Discovery to launch in 6 weeks, typically.

Real timeline for a Growth tier project. Starter sites are faster; custom projects take longer. You'll know the dates for your specific project in the engagement agreement.

Week 01
Discovery
30-minute call to understand your business, goals, audience, and what the site needs to do. You leave with a written scope and timeline.
Scope doc
Weeks 02–03
Design
Wireframes first, visual design second. Two rounds of revisions included. You approve before any code gets written.
Design mockups
Weeks 04–05
Build
Site built in Next.js, deployed to a staging URL you can view. Content loaded, CMS configured, schema markup added.
Staging site
Week 06
Launch
DNS cutover, final QA across devices and browsers, Google Search Console submitted, Analytics wired up. You get a walkthrough call.
Live site
Post-launch
Handoff
Admin credentials, CMS training, a written operations doc, and the start of your maintenance retainer if you chose one.
Ops doc

Web development questions.

Real questions from small business owners weighing their options. If yours isn't here, it'll come up on the discovery call.

Start a project →
Why Next.js instead of WordPress or Wix?
Next.js produces fundamentally faster websites than WordPress or Wix because it generates static HTML where possible and serves from a global CDN. That speed directly impacts Google rankings (Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor) and conversion rates. WordPress also carries ongoing plugin security risk and needs constant patching. Wix locks you into their platform — if you ever want to move, you're rebuilding from scratch. Next.js on Cloudflare gives you performance, security, and portability.
How much does a website cost?
Starter sites begin at $3,500 for a 5-7 page small business website. Growth sites with more pages, CMS, and custom features run $7,500. Custom projects with unique integrations, member areas, or multi-region requirements are quoted after the discovery call and typically start at $15,000. All projects include hosting setup, schema markup, analytics, and a clean handoff with documentation.
Do you offer ongoing maintenance?
Yes. After launch, most clients sign a monthly hosting and maintenance retainer starting at $150/month. That covers hosting on Cloudflare Pages, security updates, up to 2 hours of content changes per month, monthly backups, uptime monitoring, and direct support. Larger sites or higher-touch clients are quoted separately. No minimum term after year one.
Can I edit the site myself?
For content-heavy sites we integrate a headless CMS (typically Sanity or Payload) so you can edit pages, blog posts, team members, and images without touching code. We'll train you on the CMS during launch. For simpler sites without a CMS, content changes go through your monthly maintenance retainer — usually faster than teaching yourself the editor anyway.
How long does a project take?
Starter sites typically take 3 to 4 weeks from discovery call to launch. Growth sites run 6 to 10 weeks depending on CMS integration, content volume, and how many review cycles we go through. Custom projects are 8 to 16 weeks. Rush timelines can be accommodated at an additional fee when you have a real deadline.
Do you handle SEO?
Every site we build is technically SEO-ready from day one: proper schema markup (LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, Article, Breadcrumb), fast Core Web Vitals, clean URL structure, semantic HTML, sitemap, robots.txt, canonical tags, and Open Graph metadata. Content-level SEO (keyword strategy, ongoing content marketing, backlink outreach) is available as a separate engagement or bundled into a larger retainer.
What if I already have a site I want to redesign?
We handle migrations regularly. That includes preserving your existing URL structure for SEO (301 redirects where needed), migrating content, and making sure your Google rankings don't drop during the transition. The discovery call covers the redirect strategy and any SEO-sensitive decisions up front.
Do you work with e-commerce?
For simple e-commerce (a dozen products, basic payments), we integrate Stripe directly. For anything with inventory management, shipping logic, or 50+ products, we recommend Shopify and build a custom Next.js frontend against it — you get the speed and design flexibility of a custom site with Shopify handling the complex commerce side. That's a custom-tier project.
Do I own the site when we're done?
Yes. The domain is in your name, the source code is yours (hosted on a GitHub repo you own), the content is yours, and the hosting account can be transferred to you if you ever want to move. We don't hold sites hostage. If we ever part ways, the handoff is clean.

Ready to start?

Free 30-minute discovery call. We'll scope the project, give you a written quote, and tell you honestly whether we're the right fit. No pressure, no forms.