Web Design in Forbes, North Dakota

Forbes: the numbers behind the market

Reaching customers beyond the Forbes city limits

Forbes’ nearest neighbors are Ellendale (13 miles, pop. 1,129), Frederick, SD (15 miles, pop. 205) and Leola, SD (17 miles, pop. 411). With 149 residents per square mile on 0.2 square miles of land, Forbes is spread out by North Dakota standards. Ashley Municipal Airport (ASY) is 28 miles west of Forbes in a straight line. Ellendale, seat of Dickey County, lies 13 miles to the east. Customers in Leola and Ellendale will ask the same thing: do you work here? A service area page answers before they have to.

A web designer’s view of Forbes’ businesses

From the 2023 county count for Dickey County:

• 7 child care centers: ages served, hours, tuition or fees and how to schedule a tour.

County-wide, Dickey County counts 191 businesses with employees and 439 self-employed or nonemployer businesses (2023). 20 religious, civic and membership organizations operate in Dickey County, 2.8 times what the national mix would predict. In that line of work, members and newcomers look for schedules and contacts; a good site gives customers meeting times, programs, location and how to get involved. Most of these businesses are small, and the website does the job a front desk would do in a bigger company.

Who lives in Forbes, and what that means for your website

Dickey County had 4,895 residents in 2025 and 6 incorporated municipalities. For a city as small as Forbes, the county figures are more reliable: households have a median income of $68,654, and half the residents are older than 39.5. 87.0% of households have broadband and 7.6% rely on a cellphone data plan alone. Homeowners are 79.7% of households.

Forbes weather and a seasonal business

The nearest NOAA station with 1991-2020 climate normals, Leola, is 17 miles from Forbes. It records an average high of 82°F in July and an average low of 1°F in January. About 22 inches of rain and melted snow fall in a normal year, most of it in June. Freezing nights (32°F or below) come about 175 times a year. Winter reshuffles demand: plowing and heating in winter, landscaping and outdoor work the rest of the year. Give seasonal work its own page, so the right page is there when the weather turns.

Small business website, start to finish

Aria is a web design company from Curitiba, Brazil, working since 2008. We don’t have an office in Forbes: the whole process happens online, and the plan is the same $89 a month in any city.

1. You sign up in about 5 minutes and email us your logo, photos and anything you want on the site.
2. Your website is ready within 5 business days on a temporary link, so you can check every page before anything is published.
3. Approve it: the first monthly fee is issued and your domain starts showing the new site.

After it goes live, hosting, SSL, daily backups and security updates are handled for you, and you request content changes by email at no extra cost.

North Dakota and federal rules for small business websites

Selling or advertising online does not change the rules, but these apply to most Forbes businesses:

• A sole proprietor or other business using a ‘doing business as’ name registers a trade name with the Secretary of State through the FirstStop portal ($25). Registration gives exclusive rights to the name within North Dakota only and must be renewed every five years. Official source
• North Dakota’s state sales tax rate is 5% for most retail sales, and cities and counties may levy their own sales and use taxes on top of it. North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner

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