Launched today is a brand new web site for St Louis engineering company, Zagros Engineering.
The site presents their company information and services though a clean design with easy to use navigation. The Zagros .net developers will be adding future .net functionality to the site.
We first worked with Zagros on a redesign project for a shopping cart site Zagros Robotics and are delighted for the opportunity to work with them again.
The website for a Chicago wedding officiant I gave a sneak peak to a few days ago is now live.
This was a re-design project of an original site that had been created on Wix…an easy to use website creator but lacking in functionality and true internet marketing (SEO) capabilities. Here is a quick snap shot of the site prior to redesign, note the mobile version looks completely different from the desktop version.
Client, Toni Maddi , was very keen to keep the ability to update the website herself but really wanted a site where she could have full control of SEO. WordPress was the natural answer and it was this platform we used to build a fully responsive website for her wedding officiant business.
We created a very clean looking template design and updated the color palette a little. Toni had lots of fabulous photographs of wedding ceremonies she had conducted and these were used liberally throughout the site. All the pages were optimized for the search engines and we built specific landing pages for the locations and areas she serves.
The template was coded to respond to whatever device was being used to view it giving the visitor a consistent experience regardless of device they were using.
Here it is on an ipad
and again on an iphone
The site has been live for less than 24hrs but I have just heard from Toni that she has already received an inquiry through it!
Read more about this wedding officiant web site on our website design portfolio
Here is another website we currently have in the works for St Louis based Zagros Engineering.
Every web project we undertake follows a very methodical process
The Zagros Engineering website is currently in the development stage, the framework of the site has been coded and we awaiting content from the client.
It is not quite ready to go live, but here is a quick sneak peak at the new web site we have been working on for a Chicago wedding officiant.
I am just waiting for a little more content then we will be able to pull the trigger and get this website on the road.
I am currently working with Chicago Wedding Officiant, Toni Maddi, on the creation of a new website for her business Personalized Ceremonies.
Toni is looking for a responsive website that will improve her rankings in the search engines. I am building on the WordPress platform..the site will be launched in the next few weeks.
Cyber Monday is chocked full of deals to be had all over the internet and here at Indigo Image we are no exception.
Today we are offering a free evaluation of your website or blog.
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There is something very satisfying about looking at before and after transformations regardless of the medium. Think about the TV shows ” What not to Wear”, HGTV’s “Devine Design” and even “Hoarding-Burried Alive” They are all about transformations – making something or someone look and feel better.
Now as a website designer I can’t make a site “feel” better but I can make the user experience more enjoyable and less fraught.
Site visitors will form an opinion of your site within the first 3 seconds of looking at it. It is important to make those seconds count with a professional look/feel.
A simple shift in color palette and a few graphic tweaks can make a site go from drab to fab. This site was transformed into a more fresh and invigorating experience, which was much more appropriate for the products it promotes.
A call to action or getting a visitor to engage and do what you want them to, in this case donate.
Content ReorganizationThe bigger the site the more important it it to have a well thought out navigational system ensuring your site visitors can find what they are looking for quickly and with the minimum of effort.
If your visitors have to work too much when on your site, then you have a problem-they will be hitting that back button. The same is true if they don’t understand what you are offering as was the case with the original Paper Shower web site.
We have work with businesses all over the country on web and graphic design projects, but it is especially rewarding working with businesses based in our local vicinity. Our newest client, Paper Shower, is located right here in Lincolnshire IL .
Launched yesterday was a redesigned version of their web site papershower.com
Paper Shower offers a range of unique body wipes which combine a large wet wipe with a dry towelette and are great for active people who are looking to freshen up on the go – bikers, runners, while camping, hiking and traveling or even on the golf course.
There are several reasons for the need to redesign a web site and the old Paper Shower site fulfilled quite a few.
Firstly the site was making the visitors work too hard to understand the product, it was only after clicking through from the home page that the concept of the product having both a wet and dry towelette became obvious.
Secondly, almost no consideration had been made as to who the product was being marketed towards – it was too generic.
Lastly the site was not at all optimized for the search engines, the home page itself was a collection of images and as a whole had very little keyword rich copy. Ranking in the search engines was poor and traffic was minimal despite great PR coverage the product has had over the last few years.
Understanding the issues facing the old site helped us create a strategy for the re-design and re-launch of the new site.
Competitive Analysis
Any SEO project needs to kick off with a through understanding of the online competition. We took an in depth look at other body wipe websites and our analysis resulted in the compilation a list of favorable key phrases.
Web Content
We wanted to address several things with the web content
We started with the creation of a set of web banners that incorporated the product and an outdoor scenario or an occasion where the product would be useful. Each banner also carried the phrase Wash > Dry > Done, which was elaborated on with keyword rich copy underneath which quickly and easily explained the product.
The home page was updated to include more details of the product range and examples of who may find the product useful. We used video and client testimonials throughout the site for easily digestible communication.
For better engagement with the target audience we created a set of landing pages
and also added a blog
We are in the process of completing the internet marketing of the site but are confident that the re design and optimization will result in increased traffic and sales.
Read more about Paper Shower in our web design portfolio.
© 2013 Chicago web designer
Client Margaret Smith, of Heinzen Smith Properties, has a 150 year family history of building homes just north of Chicago. Each house is custom designed and blends beautifully with existing homes in the Wilmette area.
Margaret contacted us with lots of ideas for her web site and we have been able to translate those ideas into a site that perfectly captures what she wanted to achieve.
After developing a color palette inspired by a slate roof with weathered copper gutters, we designed a home page which gives site visitor a quick glimpse of some of their most eye catching homes and focuses attention to New Homes for Sale. We were spoiled for choice when it came time to select photographs as the client provided so many stunning homes to pick from. Not wanting waste an opportunity to showcase them further, we carried them through to the inner pages of the site and cropped them to center on doors as a “welcoming” gesture.
The site was also designed and coded as one that is fully responsive – see here for an explanation of responsive web design
Here it is on a desktop
On an ipad in portrait and landscape orientations
And finally an iphone
You can visit the site at heinzensmith.com
How much traffic is my website getting from devices like ipads and smart phones?
While you may not know the answer, I can guarantee it is more than you were getting a few years ago. A quick look at the statistics for our own web site shows a 100% increase in the amount of traffic we are getting from mobile devices in just the last 12 months. A personal site I write, creativeinchicago.com, derives 40% of it’s 35k monthly traffic from mobile devices. Numbers like these are difficult to ignore and there is no doubt that mobile access is a growing trend that is here to stay.
What does my site look like on mobile devices?
There are quite a few online tools that have popped up that emulate how a site will look on a particular device and while they can’t guarantee how you site will behave on any given device they do provide a quick snap shot. You can test your site on a simple emulator HERE . It will show you what your site looks like in different window widths, which is a simple but effective simulation technique – to see which window size corresponds to which device click on the device sizes button.
A responsive website will adjust itself depending on the size of the window (or type of device) as shown with our site. This means that the site will be easy to use and offer the user an optimum experience regardless of what type of device they are using to visit from.
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A site which is not responsive will not adjust as illustrated in the site below. The simulator will display horizontal scroll bars in this case.
Most tablets and smart phones will actually shrink the website down to fit their screen instead of making the user scroll horizontally so the simple simulator used above is not accurate in that respect.
A more rigorous simulator to try is Mobile phone simulator .
Here are the same two websites plugged in.
The responsive site has adjusted to offer the user and optimum viewing experience but the unresponsive site offers tiny text and unreadable navigation. These can be magnified of course but the site makes the user really have to work to see it.
Can my website be converted to a responsive web site?
To behave responsively a website needs to be coded in a unique way. In many cases the existing design can be used, as in the case of a recent responsive conversion we carried out for ruthellenhasser.com. We made almost no changes to the overall design of the site but completely revamped the code powering it
I am ready to move forward with a mobile friendly website
If you are looking to move forward either building a new website that is mobile friendly or converting an existing web site to behave responsively we are here to help. Call 847 607 8679 to get started today.
