Hi, we're HalfintheBox
Custom websites & tools for Vancouver Island businesses
Ready to level up? Your ideas deserve more than a template. We build fast, custom websites, local SEO, and backend tools for businesses in Parksville, Nanaimo, and across Vancouver Island. Built to look good, feel right, and get found.
Recent Collabs
Partners we've worked with recently on website builds, revamps, and custom tools.
WeddingHelp
Complete website build and SEO optimization for WeddingHelp.ca. A Vancouver Island wedding vendor directory and planning resource.
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Timeless Party Rentals
Website revamps, backend Booqable adjustments, and internal tools for TimelessPartyRentals.ca.
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Island Barrel Company
A complete website build and SEO for IslandBarrelCompany.ca, selling authentic Kentucky bourbon barrels for planters, fire pits, and décor.
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Blue Horizon Travel
Custom backend build, website development, and SEO for BlueHorizonTravel.co, a travel website offering tours and curated travel experiences.
Visit siteWe build complete sites, not quick patches
We are not a tweak shop. We are at our best building a whole site from the ground up for Vancouver Island businesses. So most projects start one of two ways. Find yours below.
You already have a site
Keep your content, lose the dated look. We rebuild it in modern custom code, then add the features and integrations you have always wanted but could never bolt onto the old setup.
- We move all your images, copy, and pages over, nothing gets lost
- Add the new features and integrations you have always wanted
- Rebuilt in modern custom code, fast and mobile first
You are starting fresh
No site yet, just a vision? Perfect. We can storyboard and plan it with you, or you can hand us the reins and let us run. However hands on you want to be is fine by us.
- Storyboard and plan the structure together, step by step
- Or just share the vision and let us run with it
- Pages, copy, and local SEO sorted from day one
Either way, you end up with a fast, custom website built for Parksville, Nanaimo, and all of Vancouver Island. Local SEO baked in from the start, done right.
And who is we? A tight crew of two programmers and one full time artist and brand designer. She is a wizard. You deal with the people actually building your site, never a sales layer in the middle.
We will never charge you by the page
Charging by the page is outdated. Simple pages take almost nothing to build. The real work is in the design, the integrations, and nailing down your style. A gallery page, a fresh contact form, or a landing page for your newest idea should not cost an arm and a leg.
We plan for that in the initial build, which covers your tweaks and small additions for the next 6 to 12 months depending on scope. After that, if you want to stay on board for ongoing changes, support, and new features, we sit down and work out a fresh plan of attack.
Websites, SEO, and custom tools, all under one roof
We keep things simple: smart design, solid code, and a bit of magic in between.
Website design
Custom websites built for real businesses on Vancouver Island. Brand new sites or full redesigns, always fast, modern, and mobile friendly, built to turn visitors into customers.
SEO that gets you found
Local SEO that helps people find you when it matters. We optimize for the real search terms your customers use in Parksville, Nanaimo, and across the Island.
Custom CRM & backend tools
Custom CRM systems, internal dashboards, and backend tools. Client management, workflow automation, API integrations, and admin panels your team will actually use.
WordPress is showing its age
It got a lot of small businesses online, and we respect that. But these days it leans on slow, plugin-heavy setups and security that is only as strong as the last update someone remembered to install.
Booking? Plugin. Forms? Plugin. SEO? Plugin. Every one is a slow add-on you did not write and cannot really fix.
Outdated plugins are still one of the most common ways small business sites get hacked.
Most WordPress sites run on architecture from another era. It works, but it shows.
No template, no plugin graveyard. Clean modern code that loads fast and does exactly what your business needs.
New tool, new integration, new feature six months from now? Plugging into a custom site is simple. That is the whole point.
One panel for blog posts, inventory, or bookings. Made for how you actually run things, not someone else's idea of it.
The short version: a custom backend for blog posts, inventory, or bookings is one and done. No 30 plugin patchwork, no monthly fees stacking up, no admin panel that fights you. Just a clean tool that fits how you actually run things.
Built around what you actually need
Two starting points. Both fully custom, both built from real code, both yours forever after launch.
Professional
Where most businesses startA polished, custom-built site with the SEO foundations to actually get found. Room to grow into something bigger when you need it.
- Custom design and branding
- As many landing pages as you need
- Local SEO + full Google setup
- Analytics, tracking, Search Console
- Light CMS or content panel
- Custom forms and automations
- Free hosting and email forwarding
Custom Build
When a site isn't enoughFully tailored builds with internal tools, integrations, and custom backends made for the way you actually work. Your inventory, your bookings, your CRM, your way.
- Unlimited landing routes and pages
- Custom backend, dashboards, admin panels
- Bookings, inventory, blogs built for you
- Third-party API integrations
- Full SEO suite and Google Ads setup
- Iteration until it fits your team
How we work, plain and simple
the fine print, without the fine print energy
Half upfront to get started, half once we hand you the finished site. No subscriptions, no surprises.
Two rounds of content updates after launch are on us. Bigger features or extra rounds usually start around $200.
We don't bill by page count. That's a relic. Stack as many landing pages as your campaigns need.
Cost reflects hours put in and feature complexity. Basic marketing pages stay simple unless the art direction gets wild.
We're big on landing pages. Marketing campaigns, A/B tests, regional pushes, you name it. Spin them up freely. Custom internal tools may take a round or two to dial in to your taste, and that's part of building something that fits you instead of fits everyone.
Let's build something magical
Tell us about your idea. We'll bring the tech, the design, and the SEO wizardry.
p.s. it only takes a couple of minutes