Hi James,

You are looking for a few different things:

* someplace to host your site
* someone to design your site
* someone to maintain your site / administer your site

In short, you're kind of looking for an outsourced web department. Not a problem. Plenty of microbusinesses are looking for that. It's possible to find, as well, you just have to know what you're looking for.

First off, who do you see creating the content for this site? By "content", I mean the descriptions of your product / service, the photos (if appropriate), and so forth? If you expect the web design company to do this, you'll want an outfit that also has extensive advertising experience. Micro- and small-business web sites aren't just software, they're also commercials.

You'll also want to look for an individual or design company that has specific advertising experience *in your specific industry*. They need to know how to talk to your clients and get them to use your business to fulfill their needs. If your content person knows widgets really well but doesn't know gadgets (to pick two nonsense words, as examples) and you're selling gadgets, their expertise may not translate into good selling copy.

Second, are you going to sell things online (goods or services), or are you just putting up advertising / a portfolio? If you're going to be selling something, you're going to want a company that knows how to deal with ecommerce for microbusiness. (If you're not going to be actively selling things through your website, that experience can be good, but is not necessary.)

Since you're a local company, you're going to be selling your personality as much as you're selling your goods or services (even if "local" means "huge metro area".) You need a designer who is going to work with you on the design and content, in that they get your feedback before finalizing things, and are able to translate your personal and / or business style into the design.

If possible, look for someone with whom you can communicate - both easily and completely. They need to understand your business requirements, and how to translate them into a web site that works both efficiently and effectively. You need to know what information to give them, and how to veto a particular suggestion. Each party has to be comfortable asking questions about the process and making sure that everyone's on the same page.

In either case - host, or designer - you want to look for someone that can grow with you. Look for a host that has many hosting plan options, doesn't charge for upgrades or downgrades, and / or can offer a la carte options or custom plans. When looking for a designer, check the range of their experience: have they done smaller static sites? Larger, dynamic sites (for example, an online storefront)? Sites in between those two extremes?

I can't stress this point enough, because I've dealt with several clients who had gotten burned by this and had to get extra help from me getting their sites restarted: make sure that you can pick up and leave the host or designer in a few hours' time, at any time. Keep local copies of everything needed to keep your site running, and know what server specs, software, and operating system is required for your particular scripts to work. Yes, if you work well with the host or designer, staying with them is no problem, and you don't necessarily need to download your files, databases, and raw access logs onto your computer every night or weekend (though it's wise to keep local backups). My point is that your decision to stay with a host and / or designer should be based solely on the value of their service - not on their holding your site files hostage.

Not much in the way of recommendations in there - just information, and more information. Sorry if I've overloaded you.