What kind of website development do you need?
| Type | What it is | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Template or builder site | A site assembled on a builder platform from a theme | Simple sites, tight budgets, owners who will maintain it |
| Custom marketing site | A site designed and coded for your business, focused on content and inquiries | Service businesses that want the site to win work |
| E-commerce site | A store with products, checkout and inventory | Selling products online |
| Web application | Custom software in the browser: portals, dashboards, booking systems | Businesses with a process no off-the-shelf tool fits |
Most service businesses need the second row. If you need the third or fourth, look for a specialist e-commerce agency or a software development studio.
What good development looks like for a service business
- Server-rendered pages, so the full text is in the HTML that search engines and AI crawlers receive, without relying on JavaScript running first.
- Fast load on phones, measured with Core Web Vitals.
- Security: HTTPS, updates, backups and spam protection on forms.
- Clean technical SEO: unique titles and descriptions, canonical tags, a sitemap, structured data that matches the page, real 404 pages.
- Crawler access for Googlebot, Bingbot and AI search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
- Tracking for calls, forms and bookings, with visitor consent respected.
- An easy, safe way to make updates.
React, AI and Lovable builds, in plain terms
React is a popular way to build website interfaces. On its own it can produce pages whose content appears only after JavaScript runs, which makes them harder for some crawlers to read. Frameworks that render pages on the server first avoid that problem.
AI-assisted development platforms such as Lovable generate and edit code from instructions, which makes building and changing a site much faster. The result is only as good as the decisions behind it: structure, content, technical SEO and testing still need experienced people.
Summit Studio builds on Lovable using server-side rendering, so each page's full text is in the initial HTML. Our own site is built this way. In our October 2026 lab tests (Lighthouse, mobile), the four pages we tested each scored 100 for SEO, a lab score for technical basics rather than a ranking promise.
A brochure site or a growth website?
Brochure site, DIY builder or growth website?
| Brochure website | DIY builder | Growth website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main job | Show the business is real | Get online quickly and cheaply | Win inquiries and keep improving |
| After launch | Mostly unchanged | Whatever you find time for | Reviewed and improved on a set cycle |
| Measurement | Page views, if anything | Platform stats | Calls, forms and bookings tracked |
| Best for | Referral-led businesses | Brand-new or very small businesses | Businesses that want the site to bring in work |
How to choose a website development company
- Ask what they build most often. A shop that mostly builds apps may over-engineer a marketing site, and the reverse.
- Ask to see the page source of a site they built. Is the text in the HTML?
- Ask who hosts, updates and secures the site after launch, and what that costs.
- Ask what you own: domain, code, content, and what happens if you leave.
- Ask how they protect existing search traffic during a rebuild.
- Ask how they measure results after launch.
Who we are and are not right for
We build and run growth websites for established service businesses across the U.S. on a monthly membership: $799 a month (Foundation) or $1,799 a month (Growth), with Scale from $2,500 a month after a scoping conversation. The website is included, with no separate upfront website build fee. Your first membership payment is due at signup. Start with What is a growth website?.
We are not the right choice for startups building a product, app MVPs or online stores. Custom applications for existing members are scoped and quoted separately from the membership. If you need software development or e-commerce, a specialist studio will serve you better.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between web design and web development?
Design is how the site looks and is organized. Development is the code, hosting, performance and integrations that make it work. Most projects need both, and for a marketing site they should be planned together. See Web design.
Is a custom website better than a template?
Not automatically. A custom site fits your business and can be faster and easier to improve. A template is cheaper and quicker. The right choice depends on what the site needs to do and who will maintain it.
Are React websites good for SEO?
They can be, if pages are rendered on the server so their text is in the HTML. Sites that only render in the browser are harder for some crawlers to read.
Can AI build a website as well as a developer?
AI can write a lot of the code quickly. Deciding what to build, checking it and keeping it working still needs experienced people. See AI website builder vs agency.
Do you build web apps or online stores?
Not as our main service. Custom applications for members are scoped and quoted separately, and we are not an e-commerce agency.
Sources
Need a site built and kept improving?
Tell us what you need. If it is a growth website for a service business, we can help. If it is an app or a store, we will point you in a better direction.