Web Design in Stratford, South Dakota

Sizing up the Stratford market

Your Stratford audience

The county around Stratford, Brown County, counts 37,561 residents and 10 cities and towns. For a town as small as Stratford, the county figures are more reliable: the median household income is $70,898 and the median age is 37.8. 87.5% of households have broadband and 10.7% rely on a cellphone data plan alone. Homeowners are 67.6% of households.

What kind of businesses Stratford has

Brown County has, among its employer businesses:

• 45 insurance agencies: the lines you write (auto, home, business, life), the carriers you work with and a quote request form.
• 22 hotels and motels: rooms, photos, location and a contact form, so travelers can compare you outside the booking apps.
• 22 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors: maintenance plans, the brands you service and a request form that works on a phone.
• 12 auto body shops: photos of repairs, how you handle insurance claims and a form to request an estimate.

In Brown County, the Census counted 1,245 businesses with employees and 3,088 without a payroll in 2023; the second group is where a simple, affordable website changes the most. Compared with the U.S. as a whole, Brown County leans toward nondurable goods wholesalers (42 establishments, 2.4 times the national share). In that business, restaurants, shops and institutions order by catalog, and the website should show the catalog, delivery routes and how to become a customer. Next on the list: insurance agencies, 52 of them, at twice the national share.

Reaching customers beyond the Stratford town limits

Distances from Stratford: Warner (9.3 miles), Brentford (11 miles), Verdon (11 miles), Aberdeen (13 miles), Groton (14 miles) and Mellette (15 miles). With 232 residents per square mile on 0.2 square miles of land, Stratford is spread out by South Dakota standards. For flights, Aberdeen Regional Airport (ABR) lies 11 miles away. There are 14 incorporated cities and towns within 25 miles of Stratford. The county seat, Aberdeen, is 13 miles northwest. Naming Warner, Aberdeen and the other places you cover on a service area page tells customers outside Stratford that you work there too.

By the 1991-2020 normals of the Aberdeen weather station (11 miles from Stratford), July highs average 85°F and January lows average 2°F. Precipitation totals about 22 inches a year, with June the wettest month. A normal winter brings about 43 inches of snow. About 15 days a year hit 90°F or more. Winter changes what people need: snow removal, heating and ice-dam repairs in the cold months, yard work and construction once it thaws. Plan the website around your busy season: a short email with the new text is all it takes.

South Dakota and federal rules for small business websites

A website doesn’t need a special license, but the business behind it follows the same South Dakota rules as any other.

• If you send marketing email from your new business address, the CAN-SPAM rules (16 CFR Part 316) apply, including an easy way for people to opt out. 16 CFR Part 316
• South Dakota’s state sales and use tax rate is 4.2%, and municipalities add their own sales tax on top of it. South Dakota Department of Revenue

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

From sign-up to a live website

Aria is a web design company from Curitiba, Brazil, working since 2008. We work with businesses remotely, so a company in Stratford gets the same plan, at $89 a month, without meetings or visits.

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, pay the first month, and the website goes live on your domain together with your business email.

Hosting, the SSL certificate, daily backups and security updates are on us, and content changes you send by email are included.