MH1 Web Design Blog

MH1 Web Design and Hosting offices based just north of Houston in The Woodlands, Texas are back up and online with electrical power and customer service during regular hours. The company is open and ready to conduct business during regular work hours as of Thursday, September 18, 2008.

For our friends and clients, your hosting, email and other services never failed. That Web infrastructure is based in Virginia and was unaffected by the storm. New customers may call or email about Web design, hosting and other services.

None of our staff was seriously injured or personally impacted by the storm. For that we are very thankful.

To our Texas customers: please let us know if you require any special assistance following Hurricane Ike. MH1 Web Design and Hosting is ready to help.

THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS – Two local companies are merging their services and sharing new offices in The Woodlands Town Center. Since 2003, MH1 Web Design and Brochure Builders have provided professional Web development and graphic design services for small to medium size companies across the country with many clients based in The Woodlands, Texas area. Their new offices are located at 21 Waterway Avenue, Suite 300 next to the Waterway Mariott in The Woodlands. Office buildings in the Town Center are bustling with similar companies and start-ups.

“We share many clients and the new offices means we are more efficient in serving clients’ needs. The work flow is better. Internal communication is quicker and we have noticed that projects are getting done faster,” explains Mike Hallaron, owner of MH1 Web Design. That’s good news for two companies that have nearly doubled in revenues over the past year.

Hallaron and business partner Curtis Schlough, owner of Brochure Builders, are sold on the Town Center and headquartering their newly steamlined offices in the heart of The Woodlands business community. Over the years they have both worked remotely from home offices or leased offices in surrounding areas. But it is difficult to compare with the rapid growth and centralized location of so many small and medium size businesses found in the blossoming Town Center. Their new location is ideal. They frequently call on clients, many of whom are also based in The Woodlands area

The pair have worked together since their days in the newspaper industry in the mid 1990’s. Both companies started in 2003 following corporate layoffs during a slow economic turn. After five years in business, they have found The Woodlands, Conroe and Spring areas fertile ground for new business opportunities.“It’s not hard to find potential new clients,” says Hallaron. “New businesses are springing up everyday and all of these companies need professional marketing services to some degree. We function as a small boutique marketing firm specializing in a few niche areas – Web sites and Internet marketing, brochures, graphic design.” New customers are looking for a professional, consistent brand image from their Web site to their brochures, logo and other print marketing materials. They should look uniform across all media. In these situations, the two companies serve as one combined marketing resource.

Brochure Builders creates many of the original logos and initial Web site designs for MH1 clients in addition to a full complement of professional print design services. In turn, many Brochure Builders clients use MH1 for Web site development, hosting and search engine marketing. Companies realize the value of ranking highly on Google, Yahoo and other search engines. MH1 develops Web marketing strategies for them, including search engine registration, Web site optimization and pay-per-click advertising campaigns.

According to Forbes magazine (April 29, 2008), Houston ranks #7 among top recession-proof cities in the United States.

The articles authour Joshua Zumbrun writes:

“Nationally, home prices are falling, unemployment is on the rise and the economy is expected to grow slowly–or even contract–in the first half of the year. But some cities are doing just fine.”

Among them Houston and its surrounding metro area including The Woodlands and Conroe where many MH1 Web Design and Hosting clients are based. Of the 2008 Houston market, the article summarizes:

Median home price: +1.1%
Unemployment: 4.2% (from 4.5%)
Key growth: Natural resources, +5.9%; construction, +4.7%

Call it Energy City, USA. Houston’s economy has been so robust that it’s one of the few cities in the country where manufacturing is growing. The city’s future is heavily tied to energy, as the home to ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Plains All American Pipeline, Halliburton and Reliant Energy.

Read the Forbes article in its entirety: http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/29/cities-recession-places-forbeslife-cx_jz_0429realestate.html .

We can write volumes on what a great job MH1 Web Design can do for you. However, we prefer to let our clients sing our praises when we do a good job. Below are recent comments received this week from an old client (City of Shenandoah Texas) and a new one (Living Patterns Lifestyle Coaching). We appreciate their kind words.

“Thank you for all the hard work.”

Manuel De La Rosa, CPM
Assistant City Administrator and
Economic Development Liaison
City of Shenandoah

“I agree,  that Mike has done an excellent job at break neck speed! You are the best!”

Susan Hensley, City Secretary
City of Shenandoah

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“Getting great feedback from clients! You’ve done a fantastic job!”

Keridon Davis, President
LPlifestylecoaching.com

by Mike Hallaron

The first quarter of 2008 continues to bring record growth for MH1 Web Design & Hosting. Business had doubled in January and February over 2007 and December failed to really ever slow down. On a monthly basis, we are producing 8-10 sites of various sizes including new sites and re-designs. This is in addition to ongoing changes and website maintenance for existing clients. Our hosting business continues to grow as well. So we are doing twice the work, making twice the money. What does this mean for our clients? How are we meeting the growth and expanded work schedule?

MH1 has been very successful over the last five years by offering close one-on-one customer support for our clients. I have traditionally handled all of the work with few exceptions. This has been the cornerstone of our success. As owner, I wear several hats and I still interface with clients daily. In addition to longer evening and weekend hours, we are now working closely with longtime business partner Curtis Schlough (www.brochurebuilders.com). Curtis is handling much of the initial front-end creative website design work for our new website mock-ups. I also rely on Curtis for logo development from time to time. This is saving me time to focus on client meetings, client support, hosting and email issues, and completion of websites in the pipeline. I personally manage every project we undertake.

However, I do not perform all of the work. Web design includes a myriad of disciplines and requires expertise in several web applications and programs. It is almost impossible for one person to become fluent and skilled in all of the areas necessary for advanced web design. My tech lead and programmer has been with me from day one and we worked together for two years before that. He is among the best in the Houston area. He constructs all of my databases and writes advanced code/programming on a project-by-project basis. Stephanie Neunuebel handles email marketing, PR and copywriting services. Darren Eiswirth of PixelBit Studios is now managing my flash work. He is very talented.

MH1 Web Design will grow in 2008 and so will our staff. I remain adamant about working with business partners and associates who are invested in their own success as well as my own. No hourly employees punching a clock here. We all rely on a network of proven professionals that care about our partners’ clients as much as our own.