Three seconds to decide: How one website designer is helping business owners build a better online presence
- Chuck Thompson
- Sep 11, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 13, 2025
Living in the digital age is both convenient and frustrating at times, especially for business owners trying to navigate the world of website design, maintenance of a website and still carrying on with a busy day of running a business.
Keeping up with any website, simple or complex, can be hectic and sometimes above one’s own understanding of the website process, but that is where Stephanie Webb, of Webb Digital Services, comes into frame. She has helped business owners, special event organizers, musicians / authors, etc., when they need help with a website. She can help you, too.
With a communications degree from Gardner-Webb University, Webb’s first job was with a nonprofit in Forest city, where she was tasked with managing their website. She took a few online courses to learn coding and worked directly with the nonprofit building their website.
From this point she loved website design and would begin doing some web design on the side while still working full-time.
She soon started working for Isothermal Community College in Spindale, and the job roles changed. Webb became the membership coordinator and manager for the website for WNCW, 88.7 FM.
“It was there that I really started learning content management systems,” said Webb. “Instead of having to go in the site to code something, I use these tools to manage websites, such as posting photos, posts, blogs – it was the platform that NPR had created for radio stations, as an example.”
Soon, she realized that website maintenance was a valuable trade that many businesses needed.
Webb left the radio station so she could work from home, becoming a small business owner – a tradition that runs in her family.
“The majority of people in the immediate family have been small business owners,” she said. “I’ve watched how hard small business owners work, and I just want to help people when it comes to their online presentation, because that is how they are going to establish themselves as a successful business, and a great website is one of the keys to success.”
She streamlines clients’ sites and ads to and replaces items and event updates as scheduled.
Clients send her content, and she uploads the images, as Webb explained, “Site pages, the SEO, tags, how you tag a heading and a subheading so that Google understands what it’s about to make it most accessible.”
Don’t have a website or have a clunky one? “No problem,” Webb said. She can build a brand-new website or rebrand an existing site. Webb can do it all.
“If they don’t have time or don’t know how to add photos or text, I do that,” she noted.
Webb also manages all the SEO optimization, sales products, consulting and fine tunes sensory and user-friendly websites.
A business needs a website in today’s world. From Etsy, to selling on Amazon, or house rentals on Airbnb, having a website can result in savings through direct sales or direct booking.
“Having their own website can help, because they can control their own visibility online,” she explained. “A simple algorithm change on one of the app selling platforms can affect sales for better or worse. A website also adds credibility.”
“I see a lot of people use social media but it makes a small business look more professional with a website.” She added. “It makes customers feel as if they can trust you because they know you’ll be around. When you’ve shown customers that you’ve invested in the precision of your business it adds credibility to your company.
Webb said she wants anyone a little bit cautious about hiring a web designer to talk to her first, to better understand the process and the affordability. She said bad experiences with web designers in the past have kept some clients from reaching out to her until months later than they should have, while others just refuse to dip their toes back into the website world due to a bad experience with website designer in the past.
“The biggest thing I run into is a lot of clients have been burned by web designers,” she said. “Someone will build their website and not give the web designer their access, and the designer just disappears.”
She said the best thing someone can do to protect themselves is to own their own domain. Don’t let the web designer buy it for you, own it yourself.
“That’s the key to everything,” she noted.
Webb also stated that customer comfort / peace of mind was most important to her.
“If someone is coming out of a situation like that – it isn’t something all web designers do – but I try to be as transparent as possible to put them at ease,” she said. If a business owner does an update on their site and accidentally takes it down we can get it back up pretty quick.”
“I would rather empower a client with their website; they need to have access and control over their own site,” explained Webb.
And she said it is much more affordable than most people realize.
“I think a lot of people get worried that it is going to be super expensive when it’s not.”
Webb said she tries not to let updates be expensive after the site launches, noting that some web designers will charge you an arm and a leg for maintaining the site.
Also, you don’t have to use any particular type of hosting platform, she has worked with all of them – and a mobile user-friendly version is important to have for your business or event.
She’s worked on service provider websites, brick and mortar store sites, musicians sites, and can work in any platform (Wordpress, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, etc).
“The first three seconds matter,” Webb noted of any website. “You have three seconds to catch the eye of the viewer.”
Webb said when Google is indexing websites, it prefers mobile version content over the desktop version; all things Webb can take care of when managing your website.
For those interested in learning more, Webb is hosting a Lunch and Learn on Sept. 23 with The Cleveland County chamber of Commerce. The focus will be centered on what you need to know about A.I. accessibility and authority.
“We’re going to discuss how A.I. is changing SEO,” she explained. “If you go to Google and type in whatever question you have, you’re getting an A.I. summary block at the top and that is pushing your search engine position below the fold. A person isn’t going to see your site first, but there’s a way to get into that and I’m going to talk about this at the Lunch and Learn.”
Webb added, “A good website works for you by bringing in customers, answering questions for your clients and streamlining efficiency through a well-designed website.”
Webb digital Services also has a free workbook that owners can download to learn more about websites and SEO and why you need it. It’s all available on her website.
You can download the free workbook by visiting the site here WebbDigitalServices.com.
“I try to put as much in the hands of the owner as possible,” she added. “I can design it and hand it over, or I can do monthly continuous updates. I try to be super flexible and not lock anyone into anything.”
The Lunch and Learn will be held Tuesday Sep. 23, at The Cleveland County Chamber from 12 – 1:15 pm. To attend go to the chamber’s website to sign up here
It’s free for chamber members, and lunch is free. The cost for a non-chamber member is $10 and it includes lunch.
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Chuck Thompson is a reporter for The Shelby Independent.
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