Website Solutions for Valley City

Valley City serves businesses across the Sheyenne River valley and surrounding area. I've worked with several operations there when they needed help with website problems: slow performance, broken functionality, or hosting that wasn't holding up to their needs.

Most of these businesses are straightforward operations. They're not looking for cutting-edge web design. They need websites that work reliably and represent their business professionally without requiring constant attention.

Addressing Slow Website Performance

Website speed matters more in smaller communities than it does in metros. When internet connections aren't always fast, a website that loads slowly becomes unusable. I've rebuilt sites that were taking ten or fifteen seconds to load on a phone, which is far too long. Most people will leave and find a competitor before your page finishes loading.

The usual cause is accumulated complexity. Features were added over time, nobody optimized the code, and eventually the site became bloated. Rebuilding with clean, efficient code usually solves the problem permanently rather than just applying temporary fixes.

When Previous Developers Disappear

I've taken over sites for businesses where the original developer stopped responding or went out of business. This creates problems when the site needs updates or something breaks. Without access to the original code or hosting, even simple changes become difficult.

In these situations, rebuilding usually makes more sense than trying to reverse-engineer what someone else created. You get a clean codebase you actually have control over, proper documentation, and hosting that you can manage or have managed for you.

Straightforward Hosting

Good hosting should be something you don't think about. The site loads quickly, stays online consistently, and backups happen automatically. When problems come up, they get fixed quickly without finger-pointing or confusion about who's responsible.

I've moved several Valley City businesses to better hosting setups. Sometimes they were on shared hosting that couldn't handle their traffic. Other times they were paying too much for managed hosting that didn't actually include much management. VPS hosting with proper configuration handles most small business needs well and costs less than many inferior options.

Technology Choices That Make Sense

WordPress has become the default choice for many web projects, but it's not always the right one. For a small business that just needs a professional online presence, WordPress often adds complexity without providing much benefit.

A semi-static site loads faster, needs almost no maintenance, and doesn't break when plugins update or become incompatible. You still get modern design, contact forms, and all the standard features. The difference is in the underlying structure, which is simpler and more reliable.

For businesses that actually need WordPress, online stores, complex content management, booking systems, I build those as well. The key is matching the technology to what you actually need rather than using the same solution for every project.

Email Configuration Issues

Email should just work, but it doesn't always. I've fixed problems where messages were going to spam, getting rejected by certain providers, or failing to send at all. The usual culprit is DNS records: missing SPF records, no DKIM authentication, or improperly configured MX records.

These aren't difficult to fix if you know what you're doing, but they can be baffling for someone without technical knowledge. When I set up hosting and email, proper configuration of these records is part of the process. Email reliability shouldn't be something you have to worry about.

Working Throughout North Dakota

I've worked with businesses across the state and into Minnesota for over two decades. Most are smaller operations in trades, agriculture, or services. They need websites and hosting that function reliably without creating ongoing headaches.

If you're in Valley City and that describes what you're looking for, I can help with that kind of work.