First site using Sparkle. I just began working on my own small business website. I just need 3-4 pages but it must incorporate my professionally designed logo and colors in said logo. I describe my style as “elegant Willy Wonka” 
Am I getting close? Gentle suggestions?
Also - Ive only worked on the desktop version so far.
@GoldStarGeek, A great start!
If anything for now I would take a look at your text colour on the black background - it is very hard to make out and read.
Agreed. That is a major struggle. I also know 3 color blind people so try to always keep in mind that red/green on dark may not be visible at all. I was hoping to not do a white background site. I will go back and play with some more. Maybe get away from my logo colors for text would work. Thank you for taking the time to respond @FlaminFig
the site is still in progress. i think it is more readable now while still keeping a whimsical flair. better?
Yep legibility is far better! Maybe a bit more line-height and you’ve nailed it!
bless you for looking again. oh man changing line height really helped! thanks for the encouragement to change the font. i went and read some articles about dark website fonts and color schemes to help. 
im talking to a professional web designer monday. i know the starting price is $5k for their services. i am 100% sure they could do a better job than i have and really understand the market im in. 95% of my business is referral base, so im not getting business off my website. however for customer retention, i want my customers to have something they think is really elegant and worth referring/showing off to friends. im worried my website isnt as high end feeling as id like…but at the same time as a small business have to justify where i spend money
@GoldStarGeek, Yep totally get you on where you spend your money. 30-40 Years ago it was yellow pages that a business defaulted too… Nowadays it is a website with social media integration.
If you are doing about a 5 page website with basic SEO you should get change out of $2500. Then you will need to consider on going cost to keep your SEO fresh and progressing every 3-6 months.This can set you back about $800-$1200 every three months. At the moment you have a 1 page website so you should not be spending anything near $5000, but please remember a lot of additions need to be taken onboard with a 1 page website so to get a better SEO compared to a 5 page website.
If you go down the 1 page website, add on a FAQ page and maybe even a mini blog (aka talking about your passion!) because this will give your web designer much more scope to work with in bettering your SEO and getting you in front of your ideal client!
There is a lot to a website and just as much more in getting it noticed by your ideal client. Sparkle can do that for you because I’m getting fantastic results, but you need to know a fair bit about the topic of web design & SEO.
Anyway, enough of me bla bla bla(ing)! Hope it all works out for you!
Totally agree. Thats why Im talking to them monday. I chose my logo designer because no matter how long I looked at logos I kept coming back to her website. She really has an understanding of feel and lines for horses. So I spent about 3 times what a crowd funded chance would have been. The very first copy of the logo she sent me was magical and we never changed a thing. She recommended this site designer that also does marketing materials and much more. Im going to get all the information and see when I can plan it into my business expenses.
I use to work in IT and did websites back in the days of html. A lot has changed but I think I can learn enough to get by for now. Love finding Sparkle. I got this site up in a couple of nights and its a good place holder. But just like I specialize in things I know a professional designer could get better results. Its just a matter of finding the right designer and not just a coder. With what I want there is so much needing to understand what a horse person might be really turned off seeing in a photo or verbiage.
I agree with a new/blog and hate dead pages myself! I would want it set up so I could upload photos/videos myself and update my own photo gallery. I just need the initial design hammered out But I do plan to keep my site relatively small so 5k does seem a bit much for that.
Sounds like you have plan! Good luck and I hope it all turns out well and those potential clients come trotting in!