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Service area · WI

Original web design in Cedarburg.

Cedarburg's shops, galleries, and event venues deserve websites that load fast and look as crafted as the businesses themselves.

County
Ozaukee County
ZIP
53012
Drive from HQ
22 min
Distance
17.6 mi
Population
12,000
Get an estimate See pricing

First reply within one business day. First design call within two.

What we do

Custom-coded WordPress, built around your business.

Outerwave Media is a one-person Wisconsin studio. I design and build custom WordPress sites from scratch, no Elementor, no Divi, no ThemeForest preset. The result is faster, cleaner, and easier to live with than what a page-builder agency will hand you.

  • 01

    Custom code, not templates

    The HTML, CSS, and PHP are built for your site, not adapted from a template. No page builder bloat. No 50 plugins to keep up with.

  • 02

    Built to convert, not just exist

    Forms, schema, analytics, and conversion paths wired in from day one. Your site is a lead-gen tool, not a brochure.

  • 03

    Owned by you, not me

    Standard WordPress under the hood. You can edit it, hire another developer to edit it, or move it anywhere. No platform lock-in.

On the ground

Built for the Saturday phone search.

Cedarburg's downtown economy runs partly on weekend visitors with a phone in one hand and a coffee in the other. Most local sites are tuned for the desktop preview.

Washington Ave on a Saturday is a different business environment than Tuesday at noon. The galleries, the antique shops, the small restaurants, half of their week’s revenue runs through phone searches by visitors who drove up from Milwaukee or Chicago for the afternoon. A slow mobile site is a missed booking, a missed table, a missed gallery visit.

Most Cedarburg sites I look at were designed in a desktop preview by a friend-of-a-friend or DIY’d on Squarespace. The mobile experience that 70% of weekend visitors are actually using is an afterthought. A custom-coded site is mobile-first by default, no plugin tower in the way of the load.

Who you're working with One person

Meet the developer.

Full bio + résumé
Photo of Nick Cesarz, founder of Outerwave Media

Nick Cesarz

/ founder

Metro
Milwaukee, WI
Born
Oconomowoc, WI
Based
Menomonee Falls, WI

I'm a one-person WordPress studio in Menomonee Falls, about 25 minutes south of downtown Cedarburg. I've been working in WordPress since 2011, and I build sites that load fast on phones because that's where most of your weekend traffic actually is.

I work with one client at a time. No rotating freelancers, no account manager, no template designer who's never set foot on Washington Ave. You talk to me, I do the work, the work ships.

On our first call I'll pull up your current site on a real phone and walk you through what a Saturday visitor sees. That's usually the conversation that explains why the redesign is worth it.

  • 15
    Years in WordPress
  • 0
    Page builders used
  • 100%
    Custom code
  • 1
    Client at a time
Why hire local

Four reasons Cedarburg businesses go local.

  • 01

    Same time zone, same week

    You're in CT, I'm in CT. Email me at 9am and you get a real response before lunch, not 14 hours later from a contractor in another hemisphere. Cedarburg deadlines run on Wisconsin time.

  • 02

    In-person kickoff, on the house

    22 min from Menomonee Falls. Project kickoff at your conference table, lunch on me. The first hour in person beats five hours of Zoom every time.

  • 03

    No agency-speak, no upsells

    One developer. One quote. One invoice. No "strategist," no "engagement manager," no surprise monthly platform fees six months in.

  • 04

    Local references on request

    Want to talk to another Milwaukee-area business I've shipped for? Ask. I'll connect you. No script, no rehearsal.

  • 05

    Weekend traffic deserves a site that converts on Saturday.

    Cedarburg's economy runs partly on weekend visitors searching from their phones. If your site loads slow on a Saturday lunch break, you've lost the booking, the table, or the gallery visit. Custom-coded sites are fast on mobile by default, no plugin tower in the way.

Recent work

Recent work.

See every project →
What we offer

Services in Cedarburg.

How we work

From hello to launch in four steps.

  1. 01

    Discover

    30-minute call. We talk through your business, your customers, and what your current site is or isn't doing for you. No slides, no sales pitch.

    Scope brief + estimate
  2. 02

    Design

    I design in the browser, not Figma. Static HTML pages at real screen sizes, homepage first, then interiors. Two revision rounds built in.

    Live design URL
  3. 03

    Build

    Custom WordPress theme + plugin, no page builder. You get staging access from day one and watch the site come together in real time.

    Staging site you can edit
  4. 04

    Launch

    DNS cutover, redirects mapped, analytics + Search Console wired. A Loom walkthrough on how to edit content. Site is live in 24 hours.

    Production site + training
What it costs

Three packages. Honest prices.

Pick the tier that fits, or use the cost estimator for a custom scope.

  • Essential
    $2,400 $1,995
    3-4 wk · 5-7 pages

    Real custom, not template customization.

    New businesses, service providers, or anyone replacing a template-y site with something custom-coded.

    See details
  • Pro Popular
    $5,800 $4,800
    6-8 wk · 10-15 pages

    The workhorse. Real custom, real copy, real care.

    Growing businesses ready to invest in a site that drives leads, not just exists.

    See details
  • Premium
    $10,800 $8,995
    10-14 wk · Unlimited pages

    The full-fidelity build. Photography included.

    Businesses with real budget who want every surface dialed in, design, copy, photos, integrations.

    See details
Optional after launch
Care only $99/mo
  • Plugin updates
  • Security monitoring
  • Off-site backups
  • Monthly health check
  • Small content edits
  • Cancel any time
See full plan

Need a number for a specific scope?

Try the cost estimator
Neighborhoods

Where we work in Cedarburg.

  • Downtown Cedarburg

    53012

    Washington Ave historic district

  • Cedar Creek

    53012

    The mill + adjacent retail

  • Hamilton Road

    53012

    South Cedarburg + small commercial

  • Highway 60 corridor

    53012

    West side + weekend visitor traffic

Around town

Familiar places in Cedarburg.

  • Cedar Creek Settlement
  • Cedarburg Cultural Center
  • The Wine Garden
Common industries

Who we build for in Cedarburg.

  • Tourism & hospitality
  • Retail
  • Arts & culture
  • Food & beverage
Search landscape

Win the weekend search.

"Cedarburg [your category]" on a Saturday is winnable. Most of your competitors aren't even thinking about it.

Weekend-visitor search is its own discipline: faster load times, prominent phone + map + hours, schema that feeds the local-pack and the Maps preview. Most Washington Ave sites are missing two of the three. A site that handles all three out-ranks the rest on Saturday SERPs without needing a bigger marketing budget.

Paired with a Google Business Profile that’s actually maintained, the build typically pays for itself in the second weekend after launch.

FAQ

Questions Cedarburg businesses tend to ask.

  1. How much does a website cost in Cedarburg?

    Three tiers. Essential at $1,995 for a 5-7 page custom-coded site (3-4 weeks). Pro at $4,800 for 10-15 pages with copywriting and a real CRO pass (6-8 weeks). Premium at $8,995 for unlimited pages, on-site photography, and integrations (10-14 weeks). All include hosting and care for the first month or longer. The cost estimator returns a real range in two minutes.

  2. How long does a typical Cedarburg build take?

    Four to ten weeks for most projects, depending on scope. A brochure-style site for a service business: ~4 weeks. A custom CPT-driven site with content modeling and complex layouts: ~10 weeks. The cost estimator gives you a realistic range in two minutes.

  3. Do you actually drive out to Cedarburg for meetings?

    Yes. Cedarburg is 22 min from HQ. Kickoff is on-site by default, at your conference table, your office, or wherever your team works. No charge, no markup. After kickoff most communication is async (email, shared docs) so you're not stuck on weekly call schedules.

  4. What happens after launch? Will I be stuck calling you every time we need a change in Cedarburg?

    You'll own everything. The site is custom-coded WordPress, you (or any other developer) can edit it. Most clients add the optional Care plan ($99/mo) so I handle security updates, backups, and small content edits. But it's optional and cancellable any time. No hostage relationships, no platform lock-in.

  5. Our gallery / shop sees most of its bookings from weekend visitors. How do you build for that?

    Mobile-first, fast first-paint, clear phone + map + hours above the fold. Most page-builder sites are tuned for the desktop preview the agency showed in the pitch; the mobile experience that 70% of weekend visitors are actually using is an afterthought. The reverse is the right approach.

Building something in Cedarburg?

Start with the cost estimator for a real range, or book a 20-minute call. I quote within a business day if it's a fit. Cedarburg clients get on-site kickoff at no charge.

Estimate Book a call