Web Design & Development
Fast, SEO-ready websites for Maine businesses and nonprofits, built on modern, scalable CMS platforms and designed around how your customers decide.
Your website is often the first conversation a customer has with your business. Helm Digital designs and builds websites for Maine businesses and nonprofits that make that conversation easy: clear about what you do, fast on every device, and built to turn visitors into calls, inquiries, donations and sales.
We're a web design and development team on Commercial Street in Portland, Maine. Strategy, design, copywriting and development happen under one roof, so your site launches as one coherent piece instead of a hand-off between vendors.
Web design built around how your customers decide
Good-looking isn't enough. Every project starts with who your visitors are, what they need to know before they reach out, and what you want them to do next. We turn that into a sitemap and page structure that answers their questions in the right order, then design and write each page to move people toward a decision.
Built on modern, scalable platforms
We build on modern, CMS-driven platforms chosen to fit how your organization works. That means a site that is:
- Fast and secure, without a pile of plugins to patch and maintain.
- Structured, with content organized into collections like services, case studies, team members and events, so pages stay consistent as you grow.
- Easy for your team to update, with visual editing that doesn't require touching code.
- Scalable, so adding new pages, sections or languages doesn't mean starting over.
- Ready for search and AI, with clean code, structured data and well-organized content that search engines and AI assistants can understand.
Our web design process
- Discover. We learn your business, audience, competitors and goals.
- Plan. We map the sitemap, page structure and content each page needs.
- Design. We design key pages and refine them with you before building.
- Build. We develop the site, write or polish copy, and set up SEO and tracking.
- Launch. We test, redirect old URLs, launch and train your team to manage the site.
Want to keep growing after launch? Our SEO and content marketing programs keep your site improving, ranking and up to date.
Websites for Maine businesses and nonprofits
We design websites for professional services firms, nonprofits, restaurants, hospitality and B2B organizations, from a focused five-page site to a complex, database-driven platform. Our work includes custom web applications for the ASPCA and a grantee-focused website for the Leeway Foundation. Nonprofit organizations can learn more about our nonprofit marketing work.
Selling online or building homes?
Shopify stores and e-commerce sites are built by our specialty team at First Pier. Architects, builders and interior designers work with Vernacular, our shelter-focused agency. Everyone else, you're in the right place. A new website is also the best time to plan for search, so ask us about SEO while we build.
Results from our clients
- ASPCA
Two web applications for the ASPCA: a parvo outbreak protocol generator for shelters and a digital Meet Your Match adoption survey. - Leeway Foundation
A rebuilt website for Philadelphia's Leeway Foundation that tells its story through grantee profiles, grant programs and filterable archives. - Isa Bistro
A new website and photography for a West End bistro, built to capture the feel of the room and make reservations, takeout and menus easy to find. - Whitten Architects
A long partnership with a Portland residential architecture firm, from an image-led website that ranks #1 for its top searches to content and a brand refresh. - Sissle & Daughters
A warm, unpretentious brand and new website for a family-owned Portland cheese shop, built to carry it into a second location.
We've had the pleasure of working with Helm for the last several years. With the initial redesign of our website they met our goal of creating an immersive experience for prospective clients that features our design work in the best possible way. The website has since garnered numerous kudos from both clients and colleagues in our local community.
Common questions
How much does a new website cost?
It depends on the number of pages, how much content needs to be written, and what the site has to connect to, such as a CRM, booking tool or donation platform. After a short discovery conversation, we provide a fixed proposal that spells out scope, timeline and cost, so there are no surprises.
How long does it take to build a website?
Timelines depend mostly on the size of the site, how ready your content is, and any integrations. We set a schedule with clear milestones in your proposal and keep you updated at every stage, from sitemap to launch.
Can we update the website ourselves?
Yes. We build on modern CMS platforms with visual editing, so your team can update text, images and posts directly on the page without touching code. We structure content you update often, like news, events or team members, into collections and show your team how to use them before launch.
Will our new website be optimized for search?
Yes. Every site we build includes on-page SEO: page titles, meta descriptions, a clear heading structure, structured data, fast load times and redirects from your old URLs. For ongoing growth after launch, our SEO team can take it from there.
Do you redesign existing websites?
Yes. Many of our projects are redesigns. We audit what your current site does well, carry over content and search rankings worth keeping, and map every old URL to its new home so visitors and search engines are never left at a dead end.
Do you only work with businesses in Portland, Maine?
No. We're based on Commercial Street in Portland and work with businesses and nonprofits across Maine, and with organizations around the country.
Ready to get started?
Tell us where you want to go. We will help you get there.