Portland is a small city with big-city competition online. Restaurants, shops, breweries, hotels and studios all fight for the same handful of spots on Google and the same thumb-scroll on Instagram. I'm Michael Staples, an independent Maine web designer, and I build fast, distinctive websites that help Portland businesses win that fight.
Get my website quote See pricing →Visitors pinch and zoom on their phone, give up, and pick the place next door. Google can't read it well either, so you miss searches for the dishes you're known for.
Booking platforms, delivery apps and review sites rank above you for your own name — and take a cut or push your guests toward competitors on the way.
You put real care into your space, your product and your story. Then the website looks like every other template on the block and says none of it.
Locals search by neighborhood and craving. Visitors search before they even arrive. Either way, the businesses that win are the ones with fast, clear sites, accurate details everywhere, and pages built around how people actually look for them.
A Portland food or beer website needs a readable menu, current hours, a direct link to reservations or online ordering, and photos that make people hungry. I build all of that into a site you can update in minutes when the taps or the specials change.
Foot traffic is seasonal; the internet isn't. A small online store from $2,500 lets you keep selling to visitors after they've gone home, and gives locals a reason to check what's new before they walk in.
Visitors compare options on their phones, often from out of state. I focus on fast pages, clear room or tour details, and a short path to booking direct so fewer reservations leak to commission-taking platforms.
Studios and practices live on bookings and trust. I build service pages that answer the questions people ask before booking, pair them with online scheduling, and make your reviews and credentials easy to see.
Portland has taste. Your site should reflect your brand, not a theme demo.
Readable on phones, searchable by Google, and easy for you to edit.
Schema markup, location details and pages that match local search intent.
Reservations, appointments or orders connected to the tools you already use.
Clean link-in-bio landing pages and sharing previews that look right on every platform.
Domain, hosting, code and content in your name. No lock-in.
Whenever suits you — before open, after close or on your day off. Tell me your goals and what's not working, and you get a fixed quote within 48 hours.
I design your homepage and refine it with you through a private link, so you can review it on your own time.
Menus, products, booking, local SEO setup and analytics, built and tested on real phones.
Live in 2–4 weeks. Plan around the summer season and you'll be ready when visitors start searching.
Business websites from $1,200, online stores from $2,500, Shopify theme work from $750, local SEO from $750/mo and maintenance from $100/mo. Fixed quotes and no lock-in contracts.
My portfolio includes live Shopify stores and WordPress sites for working brands. Have a look at how I build before you get in touch.
My business websites start at $1,200 and online stores start at $2,500, with a fixed quote before I begin. Because I'm one person working remotely, you are not paying for an office or account managers, which is a big part of why agency quotes in the city run higher.
I'm based in Maine and I work remotely with every client, so I don't hold in-person meetings or keep an office. We work over email and messages, and you review everything through a private preview link. Plenty of Portland businesses prefer it, because it fits around a busy service or shift.
Yes. I build pages that load fast on phones, show your menu as real text rather than a PDF, and include restaurant schema with your hours. For ongoing local search work, including your Google Business Profile and review strategy, my SEO services start at $750 per month.
Yes. I set up simple editing for the things that change often, like menus, specials, hours and events, and show you how to use it. If you would rather not deal with it, a maintenance plan from $100 per month covers updates for you.
Yes. Paid ads management starts at $900 per month on a flat fee, never a percentage of your ad spend. It works best once the website is fast and has clear calls to action, so I usually recommend getting the site right first.
Outside the city? I also cover web design across Maine and Bangor, Augusta & Waterville. These services pair well with a new Portland website.
Send your requirements. Fixed quote in 48 hours. Site live in weeks.
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