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A little bit about us ...
Let's say you're looking for a website. Maybe you need some changes, or your old designer is AWOL?

Great. Let's not waste time with flashing lights and dancing bears.

We are a one-stop shop for small businesses and individuals related to (almost) everything they could possibly need on the internet. We are broadly specialized.

Here is what we do !!
... if you do not have logos or original art, we make it ...
... if you need photos, we come and take them ...
If you need to sell online, we can do that. If you need copy and don't want to write it, we will ask you questions that make you think deeply about the nature of your business or project.

We do as much of the heavy lifting as we can. Our clients wish to focus the bulk of their efforts into their business -- not on design or technical details of how websites work.

We will show you your website as it is built on our development servers for you to edit & approve before we put it online.
We will do all of the above for a monthly subscription. This buys you a digital space of your own fully customized to your business or project. We will host, maintain and even provide a limited amount of monthly revisions.

Our work is an investment. We do not charge like big agencies, so our prices are substantially lower. We believe anyone can afford a professional website.

We build on the human element. We believe our personal attention to your work will keep you happy so you stay with us for a long time. That's how we stay in business.

If you are interested, please send us an email at business@projectdusk.com or use our contact form.

Aren J. Mellott
Sole proprietor, Project Dusk
FAQ
You want to get to know us a bit better?
Who are you?
My name is Aren. This is mostly a one man business with some generous help from a guy who also used to run his own publishing business (DKM Productions) – i.e., my father.

I started my own foray into the digital world which seemed like a natural segue. I have been doing this since 2012.

When I am not on duty, I spend productive amounts of time as a philosopher. I am deeply invested in the coherence of our collective consciousness. I also dabble with cooking, gardening, drawing and sometimes video games. I am a big fan of anime & manga.

This business allows me to spend the time I need both on my existential ponderings and improving my skill as an artist.
Why this business?
I created this business because it was one of the few jobs that challenged me in all the right areas -- logically, creatively and socially. And still does, because mastery of these areas is an ongoing commitment.

But perhaps some part of me also recognized a future where I would need to know how this technology works so it could be created to serve human needs and not artificial ones.

There are many small businesses who need the benefits the internet provides but do not have the knowledge or expertise to utilize it.
What is your availability?
We prefer to speak to our clients in person if they have issues that cannot be resolved via email, but we provide a phone # for active clients. We are available during normal business hours.

We do our best to ensure your website is available 24/7 by monitoring our servers. Our business is not in the position to handle websites that have world-ending consequences if they are down for a few hours .... so if lives might be lost or destroyed because your website goes down, please look for a bigger developer!

We CAN and DO "rush" work, and we will charge fairly for it.

We ALWAYS correct our own issues free of charge and respond to "emergency" situations as soon as we become aware of them.
Tell me more about what kind of maintenance you do?
We configure and/or code the front-end appearance of your website (what you see when you visit a website.)

We configure, maintain and operate third-party hosting providers, as well as the software that runs your website (what you DON'T see).

We will install, modify and make operational any tools or plugins your website needs to run so long as it is online. We do our best to ensure the security and reliability of these tools/plugins. We enforce TLS/SSL (https) on all of our websites.

We are are not responsible for security vulnerabilities or bugs in code that we have not written -- however we will help correct any issues that such things may cause (within reason).

We create or license all graphics your website depends on and make sure these work. Your graphics will be yours.

We will do our best to ensure your website remains in the same status (and operation) that you initially approved.

We provide roughly 2 hours of alterations every month. Based on our experience, this should cover practically everything you could need beyond new additions or major revisions.

Our maintenance service will cover ANY problems that arise from software updates and hosting problems. We will help recover your website if it is subject to a malicious attack, but are not responsible for data integrity. That said, we do configure our websites to maintain backups, particularly if you have client / e-commerce data.
Can I revise my website after it is done?
We include roughly 2 hours of work as part of our monthly service. This usually can cover all manner of non-major changes that you need like text updates or graphic changes. If you need new pages or sections, they will likely exceed this allocation.

New sections, page revisions, brand new content ... well, we charge $60 per hour for à la carte work. This is probably cheaper than it sounds. We will provide you with a solid cost estimate before any work is started.
Do you provide services other than web design & development?
Yes, absolutely! We are well-versed in print composition, so we can also produce things like books, magazines and other material. We also know how to do video composition and editing.

Our services include (but are not limited to):

modern responsive websites (tailored)
hosting, domains & DNS and email
all manners of custom graphics
editing & composition (print and ebooks)
logos, business cards, letterheads, oh my!
video creation, editing & special effects
What is your philosophy on marketing?
Our typical client is small business or a solitary professional, and they work very hard to be successful by offering great products and/or services.

Marketing boils down to getting information about your product or service out in front of your audience and making the sale (whether in the form of dollars or a message.) There are two schools of thought on how to do this: direct or indirect.

Examples of direct marketing include ads on the sides of cars, television placements, billboards, radio spots, ads in print media (like neighborhood magazines), ads on websites or phone apps, direct mailing, or email blasts. You are inundated with direct marketing all the time. In the digital world, additional techniques include monitoring statistical information to make modifications to your website dynamically, or target demographics that are working out for you. Direct marketing has these qualities: it is mathematical, mechanical and expensive. If this route seems best for our clients (and they endorse it) we can handle it.

To illustrate the more nuanced approach of indirect marketing I have two examples --> in more elegant times, pet stores would let folks take home the puppies, knowing that if they spent time with them they would never return them. When color televisions were invented, the TV sets were lent out on a trial -- also knowing that people would be amazed and never bring them back. These are examples of providing a kind of value in order to make the sale. Indirect marketing has these qualities: it is always a question of investing one's own time, and taking intelligent risks.

A good campaign will have some measure of both of these approaches, however we caution our clients that direct marketing can quickly become a money pit. It is imperative to build a relationship to your audience. You have to be prepared to take advantage of an intelligent plan, otherwise you are shooting in the dark.

So what do we do?

We create a wonderful digital footprint. It includes the website itself and all associated hosting & setup, photography (including 360 tours), video production, copy-writing, blogs, contact forms, help with email, plus creation of all important social media accounts that customers read and follow.

This is usually enough to allow clients to fulfill their own needs and move forward.

If you need additional help with content creation (direct marketing) or novel ways to connect to your audience (indirect marketing), we would be happy to have a discussion with you and offer a plan that will work.

However, I wouldn't sleep right if I didn't impress a certain truth. We are only here to be leveraged. We can never substitute your own efforts. Good marketing is a full-time job and anyone who says otherwise just wants to make a sale. With a reasonable plan, we can provide content, assist with the heavy lifting, but success will require persistence from you beyond any effort we could sell you.

We are ready to help in whatever capacity you need.

Get in touch and see where it goes...
... SOME EXAMPLES OF OUR WORK ...
Good Time Charlie's is a homestyle restaurant open in San Antonio for 39 years. Aside from the website itself, we also help with menu changes (online & print), advertisements and photography.
If you like science fiction & intelligent humor (we do!), you will love these novels written by D.K. Mellott. How do we know? We read the books to help inspire our design. Check it out! View the real site.
DTASM is not your typical sports therapist. Dianne Rockefeller has a holistic treatment method that you have to experience yourself. We experienced an appointment just to help create the website! View the real site.
Boys of Laurel is a historical Civil War narrative written by James W. Freeman. Mr. Freeman provides a unique perspective on the Appalachian Unionists of the 24th Kentucky Infantry Regiment to whom he is related. View the real site.
Iron Tractor, LLC was founded in 2009 to provide earth-moving equipment to the pipeline industry in the United States. View the real site.
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