Affordable web design for Chicago businesses
We build custom sites in Next.js, not WordPress — no page builders, no plugin licences, no monthly fee just to keep the thing online. We work remotely from Podgorica, Montenegro, and we say so on the first line rather than the last.
What €390 covers
- A custom design, not a purchased theme. You see it before anything is signed.
- Up to five pages, written in English.
- A contact form that reaches your inbox, and a click-to-call number.
- Technical SEO: titles, descriptions, sitemap, structured data, Search Console.
- Google Business Profile setup — the local pack is how Chicago searches convert.
- Core Web Vitals measured before handover. The site does not ship until it passes.
Why a studio 4,700 miles away
The time zone works better than it sounds
Podgorica is seven hours ahead of Chicago. Our afternoon is your morning, so anything sent overnight is answered before you start — and the overlap is a working window, not a handoff into silence.
The price is the whole argument
Chicago agencies on page one quote in the thousands. Ours starts at €390 because our costs are Montenegrin, not because the work is thinner. The code, the speed target and the SEO are the same ones we ship at home.
Nothing breaks on its own
No plugins means no overnight update that takes the site down. That is also why maintenance is €39 a month rather than a retainer — there is genuinely less to maintain.
What we can and cannot do in Chicago
Worth being straight about, because most agency pages are not. The top three results for “web design agency chicago” are a local pack — a Google Business Profile with a Chicago street address and dozens of reviews. We do not have premises in Illinois, so those three slots are not available to us and no amount of content changes that. What is available is the search underneath: “affordable web design chicago” runs 110 searches a month at advertiser competition of 4 out of 100, the lowest figure we measured anywhere in this market, and Google lists it in the related searches for the head term itself. “Outsource web design” adds 140 a month at 9, and “custom website development company” another 390 at 11. Those are people who have already decided their developer does not need to be down the street. That is the market we can actually serve, and it is the one this page is written for.
Questions Chicago clients ask first
How much does a website cost?
From €390 for a site of up to five pages, which covers custom design, a contact form, technical SEO and Google Business Profile setup. Larger builds cost more, and the number is agreed before the work starts, never after. Domain and hosting are paid directly to the provider and stay in your name — typically $10–20 a year for the domain and $30–100 for hosting. We do not mark up somebody else’s service.
Why are you so much cheaper than a Chicago agency?
Because our costs are Montenegrin. A studio with an office in the Loop is paying Chicago rent and Chicago salaries and has to price for it. We are not, so we do not. The tooling is the same — Next.js, Vercel, the same Core Web Vitals thresholds — and you can check the speed of anything in our portfolio yourself before deciding.
How do we work together across the time zone?
Podgorica is seven hours ahead of Chicago, so our afternoon overlaps your morning. In practice you send notes at the end of your day and have a reply before you start the next one. Calls happen in your morning. Everything else is email and shared previews.
Can you get us to the top of Google in Chicago?
Not for the head terms, and anyone promising otherwise is selling. The top three results for “web design chicago” are the local pack, which requires a physical Chicago address and a review history we cannot manufacture. What we do is build the site so it can rank — technically clean, fast, structured for the phrases your customers actually type — and set up the Google Business Profile that puts you on the map for your own name and neighbourhood. SEO takes months, and we describe it that way.
Who actually writes the code?
The three of us, and you talk to whoever is doing your part. There is no account manager relaying messages to a team you never meet, and nothing is sub-contracted onward.
What happens after the site launches?
Nothing you have to pay for. The site keeps working without a subscription. Maintenance is €39 a month if you want us handling updates and monitoring, and it is genuinely optional — several clients do not take it.
Tell us what the site has to do
Send us what your business does and what you need the site to achieve. You get a straight answer with a price and a timeline, usually within a working day.
Get in touch