Northern Michigan Web Design
About Traverse City Web Design
Michigan Website Design & Management
Michigan Web Design
Based in Northern Michigan, Traverse City Web Design has been creating and managing websites for clients in Michigan and across the country for over 20 years.
In addition to creating new sites, we host and manage websites, update websites, and get websites top rankings in search engines like Google and Bing.
The websites we create attract new clients, sell more products & get more leads.
The Traverse City Web Design story started in 2001 when Ray Weigel IV and Kate Botello left corporate web design and television production and began creating websites for artists & performers in New York City’s bustling theater and jazz scene.
“We were lucky to start with clients like Birdland Jazz Club, Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch, Avenue Q, The American Songbook Project and other entertainers, talent agencies & production companies. We still work with some of those original clients today. ” – Ray Weigel, Founder & Creative Director
Eventually, they brought their web design skills to beautiful Traverse City, Michigan in 2003 to form Traverse City Web Design, LLC.
Client Reviews
Northern Michigan Web Design
While some of the staff has changed, and Traverse City Web Design has grown quite a bit, we’re still located in Northern Michigan and take pride in continuing to work with some of our early clients.
We are a full-service web design and website management agency. We make websites, update websites and manage websites for many different businesses and individuals in Michigan and across the country.
We work closely with our clients when we create a new website and enjoy helping people succeed in business and outreach.
We’ve completed an array of amazing online projects for a wide variety of companies and individuals across the country. We’ve designed websites for everything from startups to corporate businesses: banks, oil companies, jet companies, manufacturing companies, corporate holding companies, landscapers, flooring companies, and many more.
If you need a new website, or are looking for someone to host and manage the infrastructure for you webiste, contact us today!
A Few Clients. . .
- Bay Area Pet Hospital and East Bay Animal Hospital in Traverse City, Michigan
- Birdland Jazz Club in New York City, New York
- The Manistee Public Library
- The Village of Central Lake, Michigan
- Carter Oosterhouse’s National Charity, Carter’s Kids
- Crystal Lake Health Centers in Northern Michigan
- Builder’s Exhange of Northern Michigan
- King Orchards in Torch Lake, Michigan
- Lelanau Christian Neighbors, Local Charity
- Leland Community United Methodist Church in Leland, Michigan
- Manistee State Bank in Tampa, Florida
- Morgan Corporation in Chicago, Illinois
- Olympic Case Company in Florida
- Progressive Vet Hospital in St. Martins
- Osteria Rossa, Voted #1 Restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan
- RSVP Jet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Four Winds Creative in San Jose, California
- Sunset Watersports in Traverse City, Michigan
- Porterhouse Productions in Traverse City, Michigan
- Traverse City State Bank in Traverse City, Michigan
. . . and many, many more.
Traverse City Web Design
Raymond Weigel
Principal & Co-Founder
Raymond “Ray” Weigel IV is the founder and creative director of Traverse City Web Design, LLC, a Northern Michigan agency specializing in custom WordPress websites, WooCommerce eCommerce, SEO, and digital strategy. He is also the creator of Hosting North, a managed hosting and SEO services company that provides ongoing support for Traverse City Web Design clients.
Before founding his companies, Ray earned a Master of Fine Arts in Writing, Literature & Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and worked across the country for major media and technology companies. His early career blended writing, technology, and media production at the national level — experience that now informs his approach to building websites that are not only technically sound, but also strategically positioned for storytelling and audience engagement.
Career Highlights
- Worked as a Web Producer on the web team for the first nationally syndicated television show about the internet, The Wild Wild Web, reaching 175 markets from Boston, Massachusetts.
- Wrote many articles about video games, software, and entertainment technology for the ABC television and the ABC News Network.
- Served as Executive Producer and Team Leader of the website for the #1 video game TV show in the USA — Extended Play / X-Play — in San Francisco, California.
- Worked as a full-time, on-air tech reporter for the national television network TechTV.
- Regularly appeared as a featured guest and technology pundit on national television shows including The Screen Savers, Fresh Gear, Extended Play, and TechLive, reporting on cutting-edge software and technology.
- Served on TechTV’s network editorial board, helping guide the editorial direction of the national television network.
- Served as an official technology and software judge at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Produced award-winning cabaret theater at nightclubs in central Manhattan, New York City, winning a New York Nightlife Award, a Backstage Bistro Award, and repeated “Best of” recognition from Time Out New York.
- Wrote articles about software and digital design for the prestigious national print magazines eDesign and ID Magazine.
- Published the weekly email newsletter for Birdland, one of the world’s most historic jazz clubs, for the past 18 years.
- Served as an officer at the Traverse City Elks Lodge for thirteen years.
- Designed and built many websites for businesses and institutions of all shapes and sizes across the country.
Ray founded Traverse City Web Design to bring high-level digital design and strategy to Northern Michigan businesses. Over the past two decades, he has designed, developed, and managed hundreds of websites for clients across Michigan and the United States.
Signature Projects
- LMAS District Health Department (Upper Peninsula, MI) — a multi-branch public health system serving Michigan’s U.P.
- Manistee County Library System — a Carnegie Library and six-branch public library network.
- Benzie Shores District Library (Frankfort, MI) — a historic lakeside library with a clean, logo-driven web design.
- Penn Street Bakery (Grand Rapids, MI) — an eCommerce site that brought a wholesale bakery online with full WooCommerce integration.
- Ringsmuth Wuori Trial Attorneys (Traverse City, MI) — one of Michigan’s top trial law firms.
- Kevin Rhodes, Conductor — the official website for an internationally acclaimed conductor, managed and hosted for nearly a decade.
- The Heracles Group (NGO, Syria) — a U.S.-based nonprofit supporting reconstruction and humanitarian work.
- Northern Decks (Traverse City, MI) — a showcase of high-quality local craftsmanship.
- Birdland Jazz Club (NYC) — managing the Cast Party newsletter for 20 years, supporting a cultural institution recognized even by NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
Through Hosting North, Ray also provides SEO packages, website hosting, WordPress management, and technical support. His three-tiered SEO packages — Basic, Advanced, and Premium — have helped Michigan businesses grow their traffic, improve local search visibility, and dominate regional rankings.
Community & Personal Life
Ray served as an Officer of the Traverse City Elks Lodge for thirteen years, contributing to community events and local outreach. Deeply connected to Northern Michigan, he enjoys snowy winters, summers along the Great Lakes, and biking through downtown Traverse City with his daughter.
Outside of his professional work, Ray is also a writer and storyteller, with an MFA background in poetry and nonfiction, and is currently exploring projects at the intersection of AI, role-playing games, and creative writing. His entrepreneurial ventures — including RolePlayWritingStyles.com, an AI-powered RPG writing tool — reflect his ongoing passion for combining technology, creativity, and storytelling.
Ray Weigel Today
Ray’s work through Traverse City Web Design continues to help businesses, nonprofits, and cultural institutions tell their stories online. His mix of media experience, design expertise, and Michigan-rooted creativity ensures that every project is built with both cutting-edge technology and a strong sense of place.