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Get the website your startup deserves with a web development partner that understands growth

At Take the Stairs, we specialize in building high-performing marketing websites for startups that need more than just a digital brochure. Our development process is built around your product, your users, and your growth goals whether you’re preparing for launch, refining your go-to-market strategy, or scaling post-funding.

We don’t do cookie-cutter. Every site we build is tailored to reflect your brand identity, accelerate conversions, and create a seamless experience for your audience. From UX and performance to SEO structure and modular flexibility, we treat your website like the revenue-driving tool it should be.

Our team uses WordPress as our CMS of choice, not because it’s trendy, but because it offers a flexible, scalable foundation that gives both technical and non-technical teams full control. For founders who want speed, customization, and room to grow, this is the platform we recommend.

Whether you’re launching your MVP or leveling up your marketing presence, a great website is often your first serious asset and we’ll make sure it works as hard as you do.

Schedule a Discovery

Why choose Take the Stairs for your web development needs

We don’t just build websites. We build startup assets designed to drive traction, reduce friction, and support growth across the full funnel. Our approach is shaped by the needs of fast-moving teams, where every feature, every layout, and every line of code must serve a purpose.

Sage starter theme

The Sage starter theme allows for endless customization without compromising loading speed. Sage also offers popular plugins like:

Visual Composer

Revolution Slider

Essential Grid

Custom modules

As one of the leading website development agencies, we develop custom modules as part of our website builds to ensure your website is flexible, easy to maintain, and simple for visitors to navigate. We can add and remove modules as time goes on, providing an easy way to refresh your content and keep information up to date.

FAQ Schema

Our marketing websites include a custom accordion that allows you to enable FAQ Schema with the click of a button.

FAQ Schema is a type of code that tells Google what questions are being asked and answered on your website, and enables Google to show these Q&A as SEO-rich answer snippets that show up on search pages when people search for those questions.

WordPress vs. site builders (Wix, GoDaddy, Squarespace, etc.)

Building a website is no longer reserved for expert computer coders. Nowadays, marketers and business owners can take website design into their own hands using site builders like Wix, GoDaddy, or Squarespace.

No website platform is inherently good or bad, so choosing the right one for your website is a matter of drilling down into what you’re trying to accomplish.

WordPress

The website builder sites listed above work well for many businesses, but our website development agency only uses WordPress, because it offers the best balance between:

Ease-of-use for complete novices

Intuitive backend

Ability for customization

WordPress fits the needs of clients brand-new to marketing websites who are trying to rank better online, as well as experienced web developers who want to customize every aspect of the site. If you are the type of client who wants to own their website and have full control of it’s performance, a WordPress build is our top recommendation for marketing websites.

Website builders

Our web development company uses WordPress, but that doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with website builders. These platforms make it easy for anyone to get started with a website and they might be right for you if:

You operate a small, simple business that isn’t trying to rank online

You just need something easy to use and want a place where you can send people for basic information

Your business is just starting out and you’re looking to see if the business concept will take off

While they may not be the best choice for customized marketing websites, these platforms are excellent options for businesses with simpler needs.

Web development services

If you compare multiple website development Nashville-based agencies, you’ll see that web development services can vary quite a bit from place to place. In order to find the agency that will be the best fit for your business, it’s a good idea to make sure you get a good idea of how they do business, from SEO implementation to pricing structure.

When choosing the right web development company, you’ll also want to take the time to understand exactly what you’ll be getting for your money. The major web development services can be broken down into development, maintenance, and hosting.

Website development

Website development is the design, planning, and building of your website. Your brand’s website is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can have, so be sure to work with a company that takes the time to understand your needs.

A good website development company will take the necessary time to uncover your brand’s “why” and understand the business goals you’re trying to achieve with the website. They will create a unique website that reflects your brand, and keep you updated in every step of the process.

Website maintenance

You should never think of your website as “done.” Business websites need constant updates and improvements in order to keep visitors engaged and ranking well on search engines.

Website maintenance includes things like:

  • Security updates
  • Content refreshes (to keep information up-to-date and help your SEO)
  • Performance monitoring
  • Onsite optimizations

A lot of maintenance can be done by business owners or staff, but it takes time, so many people prefer to let a website development firm handle it.

Website Hosting

Websites “live” on web servers, and website hosting is when a hosting provider makes space on their server for your website to live. This is how your information gets stored and shared with the world.

Generally speaking, website developers don’t host your website; they buy hosting services from a third party. Depending on the agency you work with, the site may be hosted under the developer’s name or your own name.

Make sure to find out whether web hosting is included with your website development package price, and what will happen to the hosting service when your contract with the developer ends.

Take the stairs website hosting

Why should my startup invest in a custom-designed website?

Not every business needs a custom-built website; brand-new startups that just need a simple webpage to give them an online presence, for example, might not get much benefit out of a custom design. If you’re only planning on including the bare minimum on your business site, a simple page builder will probably do everything you need it to.

However, many businesses need a little more out of their websites, and a custom-designed site might be the better option for them. If you’re not sure which camp you fall under, see if the following statements ring true. If they do, a custom-designed website might be your best bet.

Not every founder needs a custom-built website from day one. If you’re in the earliest stages—testing your idea, validating demand, or standing up a basic presence—a simple page builder may do the job. A basic landing page can help you share a concept, collect emails, or serve as a placeholder during product development.

But once you’re moving beyond validation and into go-to-market execution, your website needs to do more. If you’re positioning for growth, selling to a defined audience, or raising capital, a custom-designed site can unlock real leverage. It can differentiate your brand, improve conversions, and give you the control you need to evolve your messaging quickly.

If any of the following sound familiar, a custom site is likely a better fit:

  • You need design control to tell your story without being boxed into templates

  • You care about SEO, speed, or lead generation and need full optimization access

  • Your startup is gaining traction, and you want to communicate credibility and clarity

  • You want a website you own, not one that disappears if you cancel a subscription

  • You’re bringing on marketing hires or advisors who need to move fast without developer bottlenecks

A custom site gives you flexibility, speed, and control—exactly what startups need when growth depends on quick pivots, tight budgets, and clear communication. It becomes an owned asset that supports your next stage, whether that’s increasing conversions, reducing CAC, or attracting investors.

Website builders are easy for anyone to use. However, they come with significant design limitations. Generally speaking, they only come with a handful of content display formats, which means that if you want your content to be displayed a certain way that isn’t part of the web builder’s tools, you’re out of luck.

A custom-designed website, on the other hand, allows you to display content in the way that makes the most sense for you, instead of forcing it to conform to a pre-existing template. Custom designs give you a website that perfectly reflects your industry and brand.

Website builders often bundle hosting into their monthly fee, which is convenient, but it limits your control. These platforms rarely optimize for performance, leaving you with slower load times, bloated code, and little ability to make improvements.

For startups, slow websites are expensive. Whether you’re running paid ads or relying on organic traffic, performance directly impacts your conversion rate. We optimize every site for speed using WordPress, code minification, image compression, and content delivery networks (CDNs). Your site loads fast, works well, and reflects the speed your brand needs to grow.

If you’re in a competitive industry, complete control of factors that affect your ranking is a must. You need to be able to alter things like your:

  • Page titles
  • Header distinctions
  • Alt tags
  • URL slugs
  • Meta descriptions

Website builders have significantly improved their ability to add SEO elements, but they still have plenty of room for improvement.

For example, one of our clients used a website builder platform for their site. We wanted to update our URL slugs to contain the client’s keywords that were different from the title we used for the page. At the time of writing, the provider offered no way to do so. When we called support, we were told it wasn’t an important ranking factor (even though it’s accepted in the industry that optimized slugs can have a positive effect on SEO rankings).

If you want full control over your site’s SEO, make sure you use a more comprehensive CMS such as WordPress or Drupal.

When you use a web builder platform, you’re renting your website rather than buying it outright. If you stop paying your monthly subscription fees, the platform will eventually take down your site and you’ll lose all the content you built.

When you have your website built with a web development firm like Take the Stairs, you own your website files. That means you still have complete access to, and control over your site even if you stop working with us.

Website builders are easy for anyone to use. However, they come with significant design limitations. Generally speaking, they only come with a handful of content display formats, which means that if you want your content to be displayed a certain way that isn’t part of the web builder’s tools, you’re out of luck.

A custom-designed website, on the other hand, allows you to display content in the way that makes the most sense for you, instead of forcing it to conform to a pre-existing template. Custom designs give you a website that perfectly reflects your industry and brand.

Website builders often bundle hosting into their monthly fee, which is convenient, but it limits your control. These platforms rarely optimize for performance, leaving you with slower load times, bloated code, and little ability to make improvements.

For startups, slow websites are expensive. Whether you’re running paid ads or relying on organic traffic, performance directly impacts your conversion rate. We optimize every site for speed using WordPress, code minification, image compression, and content delivery networks (CDNs). Your site loads fast, works well, and reflects the speed your brand needs to grow.

If you’re in a competitive industry, complete control of factors that affect your ranking is a must. You need to be able to alter things like your:

  • Page titles
  • Header distinctions
  • Alt tags
  • URL slugs
  • Meta descriptions

Website builders have significantly improved their ability to add SEO elements, but they still have plenty of room for improvement.

For example, one of our clients used a website builder platform for their site. We wanted to update our URL slugs to contain the client’s keywords that were different from the title we used for the page. At the time of writing, the provider offered no way to do so. When we called support, we were told it wasn’t an important ranking factor (even though it’s accepted in the industry that optimized slugs can have a positive effect on SEO rankings).

If you want full control over your site’s SEO, make sure you use a more comprehensive CMS such as WordPress or Drupal.

When you use a web builder platform, you’re renting your website rather than buying it outright. If you stop paying your monthly subscription fees, the platform will eventually take down your site and you’ll lose all the content you built.

When you have your website built with a web development firm like Take the Stairs, you own your website files. That means you still have complete access to, and control over your site even if you stop working with us.

Ready to take the first step?

Call now Schedule a Discovery

The Take the Stairs web development process

Our website development agency has a specific process we like to use when developing new websites for our clients. Every website we create starts with WordPress’s Sage starter theme and gets enhanced with custom modules and accordion-style FAQ schema.

icon depicting take the stairs discovery meeting

Discovery meeting

We begin with a strategy session to understand your brand, growth goals, and what the site needs to achieve. This includes reviewing design preferences, content structure, functionality needs, and your startup’s current priorities.
Take the Stairs icon mock presentation

Website kickoff

Once the scope is aligned, we map out the site architecture and define key page templates. During this meeting, we walk through homepage wireframes and establish the design direction that will guide the build.
icon depicting Take the Stairs beta review meeting

Beta review

This phase gives your team the first full look at your working website. We walk through every page together, gather feedback, and finalize design and functionality. This is where we make final improvements before going live.
icon depicting Take the Stairs Launch

Launch

After your final approval, we schedule the launch and complete a detailed pre-launch checklist. This includes technical setup, SEO configuration, performance checks, and post-launch monitoring to ensure a smooth rollout.

Website development FAQs

If you’re just starting to research website development, you’re probably coming across quite a few unfamiliar terms and concepts. The following questions are some of the most common ones we get from clients in our office. If you have a question not answered here, feel free to let us know.

A content management system, or CMS, is a platform that supports websites with a backend that non-developers can use to add content. This is opposed to systems that only support code, making it nearly impossible for non-developers to use.

The most popular CMS is WordPress, with Drupal and Joomla following close behind.

A plugin is a third party piece of functionality that you can add to your WordPress website.

You can think of it like an app on your smartphone – it’s been approved to be sold in the store and downloaded to your phone, but the functionality has been developed by another company.

A CDN, or content delivery network, allows your content to be hosted on different servers.

This is useful because it drastically improves load times by pulling content from the servers closest to the web visitor viewing it.

Asking how long it takes to build a website is akin to asking how long it takes to build a house. The honest answer is: it depends.

Most websites can be built in 3-6 weeks. However, the actual timeline will depend on factors such as:

  • The size and scope of the project
  • How quickly the client approves each phase so things can continue

If you want a more detailed idea of how long the site you’re looking to build will take, call our web development company today at (615) 219-9181.

Ready to build a website that scales with your startup?

Your website should do more than just look good—it should accelerate your go-to-market strategy, support customer acquisition, and grow with you. Whether you’re refining your messaging post-seed round, improving conversion to reduce burn rate, or laying the foundation for Series A growth, we’ll build a site that moves as fast as your startup does.

A strong marketing website is the backbone of any digital marketing plan, and you owe it to your business to invest in one that does its job.

Set up a discovery meeting now and we’ll be happy to learn more about your business and walk you through how we can help make your business even more successful with a beautiful, functional new website.

Schedule a Discovery

Ready to start climbing?

Take control of your business strategy by setting a discovery meeting with Take the Stairs right now.

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