Web Design in The Hills, Texas

Small business website advice, The Hills edition

Seniors make up 34.2% of the population, and the median age is 56.0 (Texas: 35.6). For this audience, trust comes from details: who will show up, what it costs, what happens if something goes wrong. Use large text, clear colors and a contact form with few fields; say plainly who you are and what a visit costs.

Weather in The Hills: plan the website around it

The Hills weather, in normals: August highs around 95°F, January lows around 39°F, measured at Dripping Springs, 8.8 miles away (1991-2020). Precipitation adds up to about 36 inches a year, falling on about 50 days with a tenth of an inch or more. Freezing nights (32°F or below) come about 29 times a year. Long, hot summers mean steady work for AC repair, pool care and pest control, and nobody waits when the AC stops. A website that changes with the season helps: new hours, a seasonal service, a storm notice, requested by email at no extra charge.

The The Hills business count, sector by sector

ZIP code 78738, which covers The Hills and the area around it, had 1,288 business establishments with employees in 2023. A few examples from the same count:

• 48 real estate offices: the neighborhoods you know best, agent profiles and a contact form for buyers and sellers.
• 38 dental offices: insurance plans, new-patient information and a map to the office.
• 34 law offices: plain-language pages about the cases you take, office location and a confidential contact form.
• 19 custom home builders: a portfolio page per home, the steps of working with you and a contact form for buyers who are still comparing builders.

County-wide, Travis County counts 42,837 businesses with employees and 152,472 self-employed or nonemployer businesses (2023). Compared with the U.S. as a whole, Travis County leans toward professional service firms (8,882 establishments, 1.8 times the national share). For them, clients check credentials before they call, and the website should show practice areas, people and credentials, and a contact form that reaches the right person. Film, video and recording businesses are also overrepresented (291, twice the national share). The jobs The Hills residents hold are mostly in education, health care and social assistance (12.6%) and manufacturing (10.9%). Each of these businesses competes for the same search: someone in The Hills typing what they need and picking from the results that look trustworthy.

The Hills: the numbers behind the market

The typical resident is 56.0 years old, versus 35.6 statewide. Of the 1,109 households in The Hills, 96.4% are homeowners.

Writing a website for The Hills residents

73.6% of adults 25 and over hold a bachelor’s degree or higher (33.8% in Texas). They compare carefully and appreciate specific, honest information. Homeownership is high in The Hills: 96.4% of households own, against 62.6% in Texas. Owners spend on repairs, upgrades and yard work, year after year.

55.8% of the people living in The Hills were born in another state, the largest group from the South. Newcomers find plumbers, dentists and restaurants by searching, not by asking a neighbor.

Towns near The Hills your website can name

Within a short drive of The Hills you find Lakeway (0.6 miles north), Point Venture (2.7 miles north), Bee Cave (3 miles southeast), Briarcliff (5.6 miles northwest) and Lago Vista (7.3 miles north). Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is a short trip away: within 26 miles. 29 municipalities lie within 25 miles, each with its own customers. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) is 22 miles southeast of The Hills in a straight line. The nearest large city is Austin, 14 miles to the east. Travis County’s county seat is Austin, 14 miles to the east. Customers in Briarcliff and Lakeway will ask the same thing: do you work here? A service area page answers before they have to.

The county around The Hills, Travis County, counts 1,389,670 residents and 22 cities and towns. Across Travis County, the median household income is $99,611 and the median age is 35.6. Broadband reaches 94.3% of homes, and 7.8% of households are online only through a phone plan. 52.1% of households own their home.

Texas rules to know before your website goes live

Before your website goes live, it helps to have the basics of the business in order.

• A contact form collects personal information, and Texas has a data breach law with deadlines for notifying the people affected. Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Section 521.053
• Texas charges a 6.25% state sales and use tax, and local jurisdictions may add up to 2%, for a maximum combined rate of 8.25%. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
• Check with both Travis County and the Village of The Hills about local business tax receipts before opening. Official source

This is general information, not legal advice. Your county, your village hall or an attorney can confirm what applies to you.

Small business website, start to finish

Aria is a web design company from Curitiba, Brazil, working since 2008. Nobody from Aria will visit: material and questions travel by email, and you approve the website on a temporary link.

1. Start with the online sign-up, which takes about 5 minutes.
2. Your website is ready within 5 business days on a temporary link, so you can check every page before anything is published.
3. Only after you approve do you pay the first monthly fee; then the site is published on your domain.

After it goes live, hosting, SSL, daily backups and security updates stay with Aria, and you request content changes by email at no extra cost.