About Gr8Memories Website Design

Hello and thank you for stopping by! My name is Darren Wheeler, CEO and founder of Gr8Memories LLC. I started Gr8Memories nine years ago while attending the Colorado Institute of Art where I received an Associates Degree in Multimedia. Prior to attending CIA I lived in Gunnison for 5 years, skiing, kayaking, and doing odd jobs. When I left the valley, my goal was to create a situation where I could return and work out of my home and bring something special to the valley.

Prior to moving back to Gunnison, I worked in the field of multimedia for Mshow.com, www.81x.com and the Gothic Theater. My favorite experience was working for the Gothic Theater, in downtown Englewood, Colorado, where I taught myself to maintain the website as well as design all the concert posters for about two years. I have made posters for Hot Tuna, David Crosby, Wilson Picket, Todd Rundgren, and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, just to name a few.

I was building homes in Crested Butte and designing websites when the economy turned South and building stopped, so I decided to focus strictly on website design. A few of my friends got I-Phones and told me that there are hardly any businesses in Gunnison on the web. Listening to the local radio stations and browsing the local papers, I noticed that there were a bunch of advertisements that didn't have websites as part of the advertisement. That is when I got the idea to focus on bringing the web to the forefront of the Gunnison business community. With all the tourists that come through our town, it is a must to have a presence on the web. I wanted restaurants that advertised on the radio to be able to say, "and check out our menu online at www.yourbusiness.com."

I asked myself why there were so few websites for local businesses in Gunnison? I realized that most people think that having a website is very expensive and who is going to find me on the web anyway? I searched the web for design prices and found that it is very expensive to get a website designed and have it submitted to the major search engines, hosted and maintained. Everything came with a price, Design, Hosting, Email Addresses, Search Engine Optimization and it all added up to $400 - $1000 just to get started. It would all be good but then you get hit with a monthly hosting fee around $40 - $60 a month and $75 - $125 maintenance fees. Then there are the sites that give you an interface where you have to make the updates yourself and they are the worst of all.

I want to be able to give an excellent price, great customer service and an affordable hosting package to everyone who doesn't have a website. I think I have done this with Gr8Memories.com. I lowered the hosting to $10 a month and service to $40 per hour billed out in 15 minute increments. It's like having a full-page advertisement where people can click a button and drive right to your front door for less than it costs for a monthly newspaper advertisement. It's like having a full-page advertisement with pictures, text and pretty colors for only $10 a month.