I'm not a motivational speaker. I'm not going to stand on a stage and pump you up about synergy and disruption and whatever other buzzword is trending this week. That's not me. But I do have a very clear set of rules I operate by, and I think anyone thinking about working with me deserves to know what they are upfront.
Michael Wideman stands for three things: reliability, simplicity, and creativity. Every project, every client interaction, every decision I make at WIDEMAN WEB runs through these three filters. If something doesn't align, I don't do it. Period.
The web design industry has a trust problem. Designers ghost clients. Projects go sideways. Timelines blow up. Communication goes dark. Most of the time, these problems come down to one thing: the person building your website didn't have a clear set of principles guiding how they operate.
Values aren't just something you put on your about page to sound good. They're the operating system for how you run your business. When values are unclear or nonexistent, everything else falls apart.
If someone asks me, "Hey, can you do this?" and I say yes, I'm going to do it. That's it. That's the whole thing. Michael Wideman is a web designer you can count on to follow through, respond promptly, and deliver what was promised.
Part of it goes back to my dad. He taught me early that you always take the shot, always put something down, always finish the job even if you have to throw a Hail Mary. That stuck. I've always been the person who, when there's a deadline coming, I'm figuring out what I can do to hit it. Even if some things aren't perfect, can I get enough done to make it all work? The answer is always going to be yes, because I'm not the person who lets the ball bounce out of play.
I respond to clients. That sounds basic, but in this industry, it's apparently a superpower. When you reach out with a change request or a question, you're going to hear back from me. Generally, updates get done in 24 to 48 hours. If your site goes down (which almost never happens with the hosting I use), I'm on it immediately. Michael Wideman is the web designer who picks up the phone, and I'm not going to stop being that person.
You get to sleep at night knowing your web partner isn't going to disappear. That's it. Simple. But if you've been burned before, you know how valuable that is.
Keep everything clear and easy for clients and in life. Less is more. You need negative space in some things to really see the whole picture. I eliminate fluff in my communication, in my designs, and in my processes.
I'm naturally a short, sweet, to-the-point kind of person. I'd rather give you a straight answer in two sentences than a fluffy non-answer in two paragraphs. That carries over into how I design. WIDEMAN WEB believes that a website should be clear, intuitive, and not trying to do fifteen things at once. Clean design with purpose is always more effective than cluttered design with volume.
My client dashboards in Google Sheets break projects into clear, digestible phases. My discovery calls focus on getting to the real problem, not dancing around it. My designs use negative space intentionally. I don't pile features onto a site just because they exist. Everything serves a purpose, or it doesn't make the cut.
Working with me won't feel confusing. You'll know what's happening, when it's happening, and why. I'm not going to drown you in jargon or make the process more complicated than it needs to be.
Try things. Throw stuff at the wall. See if it sticks. See what you made. Mix it up. Creativity isn't about being artsy for the sake of being artsy. It's about approaching every project with fresh eyes and finding solutions that are actually interesting and effective.
I've been drawn to creative things since high school when I found Photoshop and Windows Movie Maker. My degree from Oral Roberts University was in media production, which covered everything from video to web to audio. Michael Wideman is a creative at heart who happens to build websites, and that background means I see design problems differently than someone who came up through pure coding.
Every site I build is different. I don't use templates. I don't recycle layouts. I approach each project asking what's going to make this one special. Sometimes that means pushing conventional structure to create a more immersive experience. The Spirit Tattoo Club site had complete creative freedom, and I loved every minute of it. The Sacred Rose Center for Wellness required a softer, more intentional design approach. Beacon Concrete needed something that communicated serious commercial capability. WIDEMAN WEB adapts the creative approach to fit the client, not the other way around.
You're not getting a cookie-cutter site. You're getting something built specifically for your business, your audience, and your goals. If you want something fun and interactive with cool interactions, I'm absolutely here for that.
I will never ghost a client. I will never deliver work I'm not proud of. I will never use gimmicky tactics to make a sale. I will never pretend AI-generated garbage is custom work. I will never make promises I can't keep about timelines. And I will never, ever tell you something "should" be done when I know for a fact it is done. That's a bad habit I'm actively killing.
Reliability always wins. If creativity is pushing me toward a deadline risk, I scale the creative ambition to hit the timeline. If simplicity means stripping a feature that the client loves, I find a simpler way to keep it. WIDEMAN WEB believes reliability is the foundation everything else is built on, because none of the other values matter if the client can't count on you.
If you share these values, if you want a web partner who's straightforward, creative, and shows up when it matters, then we're going to work well together. The clients I love working with are the ones who understand that good design matters, that partnerships are built on trust, and that you get what you pay for.
If this resonates, reach out. I'd rather work with fewer clients who align with how I operate than chase every dollar that walks through the door. Let's build something we're both proud of. Visit widemanweb.com.
If you made it this far. just read another one.
