Sterling IT — Web Design & Hosting

Web infrastructure
built to last.

Beautiful websites without the ugly price tags. Custom design, reliable hosting, and the kind of personal support small businesses actually want.

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Why It Matters

Your website is your hardest-working employee.

Available 24/7, making first impressions on every visitor. Either it's winning customers — or losing them silently. Sterling IT builds the kind that wins.

Lightning-fast performance

Pages load in under a second. Core Web Vitals optimized. Visitors don't bounce — they stay, scroll, and convert.

  • Optimized assets & smart caching
  • Modern hosting infrastructure
  • Built for Core Web Vitals

Built to convert

Beautiful design that earns trust in seconds, with messaging and layout engineered to guide visitors toward becoming customers.

  • Conversion-first design choices
  • Clear, compelling messaging
  • Mobile-first & responsive

Secure by default

Background in cybersecurity means your site ships with hardening, TLS, and monitoring built in — not bolted on as an afterthought.

  • TLS & HTTPS from day one
  • Hardened server configuration
  • Ongoing uptime monitoring
Recent Work

Sites that earn their keep.

Real businesses, real results. Each project is custom-built — no template recycling, no cookie-cutter layouts.

End of the Rainbow Childcare Center website
Live Currently booking

End of the Rainbow Childcare Center

A warm, modern home online for a growing childcare provider — designed to put parents at ease and fill enrollment slots without a single ad spend.

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Your project could be next.

I take on a small number of projects at a time so each one gets full attention. Tell me about yours — quote returned within 2-3 business days.

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How It Works

From hello to launch — no mystery, no surprises.

A clear path from your first message to a site that's quietly earning its keep.

  1. 01

    Inquiry

    You send a quick note through the contact form. I respond within 2-3 business days with next steps and any clarifying questions.

  2. 02

    Discovery & Scope

    A short call or thorough email exchange to understand your business, audience, and goals. You get a written scope summary and a clear path forward.

  3. 03

    Build

    I design and build your site on a private staging environment. You get progress checkpoints and a chance to review before anything goes public.

  4. 04

    Launch & Beyond

    Site goes live on your chosen plan. 30-day post-launch adjustment period is included. Ongoing support depends on the plan you picked — never tied to a long contract.

Services

Custom web design — hosted your way.

Every project starts with a tailored site build. From there, you choose how hands-on I stay.

Step 1 — The Foundation

Custom Website Design & Build

Every engagement starts here. Discovery, a written scope summary, and a tailored WordPress build with the standard secure plugin stack — security/2FA, caching, SEO, and anti-spam — configured and hardened from day one. One-time fee, scoped to your needs. After your site is built, pick how you want it hosted below.

Step 2 — Choose Your Hosting Plan

How hands-on do you want me?

Three options after your site is built. Costs depend on scope and are discussed during consultation — no surprises.

Most Popular
01

Pro Support + Hosting

White-glove service for businesses that want it handled.

  • Everything in Basic, plus:
  • 2 small content changes per month
  • Daily managed backups, 7-day retention
  • Recovery assistance if data is lost
  • Priority email support, business hours
Choose Pro
02

Basic Support + Hosting

Reliable hosting and patching. Hands-off, but well-maintained.

  • Managed hosting on dedicated instance
  • WordPress core & plugin patching
  • Best-effort uptime monitoring
  • TLS certificate renewal & DNS help
  • 30-day post-launch adjustment period
Choose Basic
03

BYO Infrastructure

You take the keys and host it yourself. Total ownership.

  • Site build + file handover
  • Plain-English deployment instructions
  • 14 days of email implementation support
  • Host on any infrastructure you want
  • Included in your design fee — no monthlies
Choose BYO
Step 3 — Optional Add-Ons

Need something extra?

À la carte services available alongside any plan. Each is scoped during consultation.

Professional Email Setup

Google Workspace tenant setup, SPF/DKIM/DMARC records, and mailbox migration. You pay Google's per-user fees directly.

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Content Migration

Move pages, posts, media, and SEO redirects from an existing site — WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or otherwise.

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Additional Pages / Features

Extra pages, custom forms, integrations, or functionality beyond the original project scope — scoped per request.

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Ongoing Custom Work

Ad-hoc development, new functionality, integrations, or anything beyond your plan's included changes.

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The Numbers Don't Lie

Every second & every pixel matters.

0.05s
to form a first impression
Google / Behaviour & IT Research
75%
judge credibility by design alone
Stanford Web Credibility Research
53%
leave if a page takes over 3 seconds
Google / SOASTA Research
Hunter Sterling Hughes — Founder of Sterling IT
About Me

Infrastructure-first web design. Built to last, secured by default.

I'm Hunter Hughes — an Information Technology and Information Security professional based in Columbia, Missouri, with a Bachelor's in IT and a Cybersecurity focus from the University of Missouri.

My day-to-day is Linux system administration, server hardening, and back-end infrastructure — the deep technical work most agencies treat as someone else's problem. That's the foundation Sterling IT is built on: every site I deliver runs on infrastructure I've personally tuned, secured, and tested. Pages load fast because the server underneath is configured to. TLS, monitoring, and patching aren't add-ons — they're baseline.

Beautiful, conversion-focused web design is the visible output. Reliable, secure, efficient infrastructure is the promise underneath. You get both — without the agency price tag.

Credentials & Certifications

ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity Google Cybersecurity Certificate CompTIA A+ Proofpoint AI/ML & Insider Threat B.S. Information Technology — Mizzou
Start Your Project

Let's build something great.

Tell me about what you need. I respond to every inquiry within 2-3 business days.

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