Getting you more clients, members, donors, and visitors

That's what we do

I want your help!!

Getting you more

clients, members,

donors, and

visitors

That's what we do

Let's Set Something Up!

Websites & Branding for Small Businesses, Built with Systems That Drive Real Growth

We design websites and brands that look great and back them with automation and CRM systems that help you capture leads, stay organized, and grow without the chaos.

I want your help!
Professional CMS website design and development

Effective Websites for Solopreneurs,

Small Businesses, and Non-Profits

Professional websites, easy to update, on premium cloud hosting, and still affordable!

Logo design, graphics design, business card design

Graphics Design: Logos,

Business Cards, and More

You never get a second chance to make a first impression! Make your first impression your best impression.

Search Engine Optimization

Don't Hide What You Offer!

Get Found Online!

Yes, you are getting checked out online by potential clients, even if they were given a personal referral.

It's not the 1980's anymore!

These intrigue you? Lets chat

These intrigue you? Let's chat

Beautiful website. I'm jealous!!

 

 

"Whit! Beautiful website. I'm jealous!!


I'm going to mine right now and spit on it!!"


Ann, mystery & romance author,

commenting about the website 

of her competitor (our client)

They are OUR TEAM!!!!

 

 

Short Story Marketing has been amazing in managing and updating my business website. They listen to what I want and what I need! They worked with both my daughter/new partner and me on the look we wanted to achieve and the message we wanted to convey on our most recent website update. Kim, Bill and Taylor are the best! Grateful for them as they respond quickly and our website update is awesome!!! They are OUR TEAM!!!!


Deborah Davis Groves

I would highly recommend working with them, you will not be disappointed.

 

 

My experience has been beyond phenomenal. [Short Story] provided us with the security, comfort, and direction that was essential to have a seamless experience during this transition. I found all communications to be extensively thought through and documented. This helped to avoid the all-too-common mis-communications that come with long distance business relations. I would highly recommend working with them, you will not be disappointed.


Guinevere Johnson & True Wealth Advisory Group, Bend Oregon 

I am delighted with the outcome!

 

 

I wanted to take a moment to thank you personally for my company's new website. I am delighted with the outcome! I am grateful for the time, effort, and diligence that was exercised through multiple iterations of edits that has now led to fruition. Your company has enabled my vision.


Iris, consultant

I just want to tell you how pleased I am with my website.

 

 

I just want to tell you how pleased I am with my website. You did a great job and I really appreciate it!


You can be sure I’ll pass the word along.


Jeff Sibner

... maybe the best that I have seen!!!!

  


The cover is very beautiful, maybe the best that I have seen!!!!


Joe, magazine publisher

... folks have been commenting

 

 

You guys should know that folks have been commenting on how cool and sharp the website looks! Nice job. Thanks.


John, Consultant

... absolutely what I hoped for

 

 

So Cool! I have a huge college fair event tomorrow with 1,200 people in attendance and now I can feel confident about folks heading to my site. What a huge relief! ... This is absolutely what I hoped for and envisioned. I think it looks great. Beautiful even! I am very impressed!


Katelyn, Consultant

Your work is the pinnacle of professionalism

 

 

I just want to say a special THANK YOU for your tremendous work over the past few weeks. I REALLY appreciate it. Your work is the pinnacle of professionalism.


Lisa, PR Consultant

You certainly made the website one thing I didn’t have to worry about

 

 

Thank you for ALL your hard work on our behalf the past 3 years! It was a fun run and I will treasure every moment. You certainly made the website one thing I didn’t have to worry about.


Sue, Bed & Breakfast Owner


... keeping our company current and our business healthy and growing

 

 

You have been a tremendous help to keeping our company current and our business healthy and growing.


Terry, Billboard Advertising


... truly a positive, professional and hassle free experience

  

 

I thought I should share my recent experience... This is the 14th web site I have RELUCTANTLY been involved in. It was truly a positive, professional and hassle free experience ... It is refreshing to deal with a person who knows what they are doing and who does not hesitate to provide the depth of his experience in making sure one has a great product.


Tim, Business Broker

Beautiful website. I'm jealous!!

 

 

"Whit! Beautiful website. I'm jealous!!


I'm going to mine right now and spit on it!!"


Ann, mystery & romance author,

commenting about the website 

of her competitor (our client)

They are OUR TEAM!!!!

 

 

Short Story Marketing has been amazing in managing and updating my business website. They listen to what I want and what I need! They worked with both my daughter/new partner and me on the look we wanted to achieve and the message we wanted to convey on our most recent website update. Kim, Bill and Taylor are the best! Grateful for them as they respond quickly and our website update is awesome!!! They are OUR TEAM!!!!


Deborah Davis Groves

I would highly recommend working with them, you will not be disappointed.

 

 

My experience has been beyond phenomenal. [Short Story] provided us with the security, comfort, and direction that was essential to have a seamless experience during this transition. I found all communications to be extensively thought through and documented. This helped to avoid the all-too-common mis-communications that come with long distance business relations. I would highly recommend working with them, you will not be disappointed.


Guinevere Johnson & True Wealth Advisory Group, Bend Oregon 

I am delighted with the outcome!

 

 

I wanted to take a moment to thank you personally for my company's new website. I am delighted with the outcome! I am grateful for the time, effort, and diligence that was exercised through multiple iterations of edits that has now led to fruition. Your company has enabled my vision.


Iris, consultant

I just want to tell you how pleased I am with my website.

 

 

I just want to tell you how pleased I am with my website. You did a great job and I really appreciate it!


You can be sure I’ll pass the word along.


Jeff Sibner

... maybe the best that I have seen!!!!

  


The cover is very beautiful, maybe the best that I have seen!!!!


Joe, magazine publisher

... folks have been commenting

 

 

You guys should know that folks have been commenting on how cool and sharp the website looks! Nice job. Thanks.


John, Consultant

... absolutely what I hoped for

 

 

So Cool! I have a huge college fair event tomorrow with 1,200 people in attendance and now I can feel confident about folks heading to my site. What a huge relief! ... This is absolutely what I hoped for and envisioned. I think it looks great. Beautiful even! I am very impressed!


Katelyn, Consultant

Your work is the pinnacle of professionalism

 

 

I just want to say a special THANK YOU for your tremendous work over the past few weeks. I REALLY appreciate it. Your work is the pinnacle of professionalism.


Lisa, PR Consultant

You certainly made the website one thing I didn’t have to worry about

 

 

Thank you for ALL your hard work on our behalf the past 3 years! It was a fun run and I will treasure every moment. You certainly made the website one thing I didn’t have to worry about.


Sue, Bed & Breakfast Owner


... keeping our company current and our business healthy and growing

 

 

You have been a tremendous help to keeping our company current and our business healthy and growing.


Terry, Billboard Advertising


... truly a positive, professional and hassle free experience

  

 

I thought I should share my recent experience... This is the 14th web site I have RELUCTANTLY been involved in. It was truly a positive, professional and hassle free experience ... It is refreshing to deal with a person who knows what they are doing and who does not hesitate to provide the depth of his experience in making sure one has a great product.


Tim, Business Broker

 We love what we do! Let us do it for you!

Kim laughs

Kim

Partner,

Artsy Elf

Bill laughs

Bill

Partner,

Resident Geek

Margie is our email fixer!

Margie

Windows Geek

and Email Fixer

A few of those we've helped over the years...


Our Latest Blog Posts

January 1, 2026
We Removed the Emojis From Your Website Copy. Here Is Why We Are Not Sorry. You wrote great copy. It had personality, a clear message, and enough energy to make us genuinely excited to work with it. It also had emojis. Several of them. Living inside your paragraphs like uninvited guests who showed up to a dinner party and will not read the room. We removed them. Here is the case for why that was the right call, plus what the research says, and yes, there is research. Emojis Feel Friendly. Your Website Visitors Do Not Care. Here is the thing about website visitors: they are not your friends. They just met you. They are quietly running you through a trust filter before they have read your second sentence, and emojis in body text are the equivalent of showing up to a first meeting in a novelty tie. Maybe it works. Mostly it does not. Readers form impressions fast. When they see a smiley face or a sparkle tucked into a paragraph, something instinctive happens: credibility dips. Not because emojis are offensive, but because they do not belong in that context, and people feel that even when they cannot explain why. The Numbers Are Not on the Emoji's Side A 2023 study put actual scores to this feeling, and the results were not kind to our little pictogram friends. Messages with no emojis consistently rated higher for trustworthiness than messages with even a small number of them. Throw in a lot of emojis and engagement drops while skepticism climbs. Readers start to feel like they are being charmed rather than informed, and nobody likes realizing they are being charmed. Business text also gets judged harder than personal posts. People give individuals more latitude than businesses. Your website is not your Instagram, and visitors hold it to a different standard whether you asked them to or not. There Is Also the AI Problem, and It Is a Bit Awkward This is the part that surprises most people. Emojis scattered through paragraph text have become one of the clearest visual signals that content was written by AI. It is a pattern enough people have seen now that it registers immediately, even subconsciously. The thought is not always fully formed, but it is there: did a human actually write this? On a website, that question is fatal. Your copy exists to build a connection between a real person and another real person. The moment a visitor suspects the content was generated and then decorated with little icons to seem warmer, you have lost them. And you probably did not even know they were gone. Emojis Are Not Villains. They Are Just in the Wrong Place. To be fair to the emoji, it has a perfectly good life elsewhere. Social media captions, SMS campaigns, casual newsletters, community posts: these are contexts where an emoji earns its keep because the tone is already informal and the relationship already exists. A well-placed emoji in an Instagram caption does real tonal work. On a website, one or two used deliberately can possibly add a small amount of warmth without triggering the credibility drop. The moment they start showing up every other paragraph, you are decorating instead of communicating, and readers notice. The test is simple: read the sentence without the emoji. If it still lands, the emoji was never doing anything useful. Your Words Are Doing the Job Now Taking out the emojis did not take out your personality. It just stopped outsourcing your personality to a series of small yellow faces. Your words still sounds like you. It is just the version of you that people are more likely to trust, hire, and refer to their friends. If you want a second set of eyes on your website copy or are curious whether your content is pulling its weight, we would love to take a look. No emojis in our reply, we promise.
December 17, 2025
When someone trusts you with irreplaceable memories, visual credibility isn't optional. See how we built a brand that feels as intentional as the product itself.
Erin Warren, Real Estate in Redmond, Oregon, Central Oregon
December 17, 2025
37 years of experience isn't enough without a digital presence. See how a landing page, website and SEO strategy unlocked real momentum for one realtor.