Are Template Sites as Good as Custom Website Designs?

When a company wants to put a website together, it can go one of two ways: create a custom website design or a template website design.

Is one better than the other? Well, sort of. Each route has its own pros and cons. What determines which one is better is up to your business.

Custom website design

The nice thing about this route is that you get a design that is completely unique to your business. You don't have to worry about anther business's site looking like yours. You get to tell the web design company what you want and how you want it.

The downside to this route is the cost and time. Custom websites take longer than templates and they will take longer since everything has to be coded and created.

Template website design

Templates are a nice option for companies who want a website that looks good but does not break the bank. That is a major perk to templates, the design is already done so you just pay to use it. The time frame to complete a template site can be drastically smaller than a custom site.

The downside to a template site is that other people can be using the same template or you buy the whole template but it costs extra to do so. Some template creators charge for changing the color scheme and other little things; so while you still save money, it can be annoying to pay for so many little things.

Both custom sites and template sites can look fantastic and come with internal optimization so your site can rank on search engines.

So which do you choose? Whichever route you decide, hire Integraphix to help your business get the best site it can have. We are a Chicago web design studio with 25 years experience. We will help you figure out which is best for your business & put it all together.

Don't get overwhelmed.

New Web Domains Cross the Horizon: .porn and .sucks

yourbrandX.sucks! yourbrandX.porn! Will be new domains available to brands, celebs, and even general public in the near future.

When creating a website, it is one thing to have to create a great web design but you also have to put great thought into the site's domain. Of course, there is the good chance a brand can just use their brand name as the domain but other creative solutions arise as a solution.

The idea of buying these domains may seem like a good idea for brands to help protect their reputation. Brands already have to worry about places like social media and review sites for disgruntled consumers, ex-employees, etc. to voice their concerns and frustrations but with these two new domains,  that level of branding attacks could take to a whole new level.

If a brand wants to capture these domains, it will cost them $2500 a year; right now, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), is allowing brands an early period to capture these domains before the general public or their competitors can, which is from March 30 & lasts 60 days.

Many brands and celebrities have decided to purchase a .sucks or .porn domain, or both, before other people can to protect themselves; Apple, Taylor Swift, to name a couple.

Of course, these are not the only new domain suffixes to hit the market, others are more innocuous, such as .party, .rocks, .shoes, etc.

These new domain suffixes are supposed to allow a new flow of creativity for brands to create domains, which makes for a fun time for a Chicago web design company, such as ourselves.

One benefit, instead of a negative, for brands is that they can either buy these domains themselves and use them as a place to field negative news and learn from it, or, let someone else buy the domains and monitor them for what changes to make.

Does your business want to create a new website or upgrade its domain? Then email Integraphix, a Chicago web design agency.

Does Image Size Matter on a Website?

When looking at a website for a B2B business, you may notice that there is a trend with these sites: large product images. This is a good trend that is catching on with B2Bs since the larger product images enable the businesses to highlight the important features and parts of their products and services.

This is a trend that is being appreciated by both consumers and web design teams. Consumers like larger product images because of the reason we stated as being a positive for the businesses: the large images help see the important features of a product or service in an easier way. As a Chicago web design studio, we like to see the larger images.

Having larger images on a website helps reinforce the benefits of a product or service in a valuable way. People love images, people are drawn to them, and people analyze them. An image helps explain something succinctly when words are too cumbersome. This is even better when you can label parts of the image with letters or numbers, then explain those markings with a legend by the image.

People remember images and often the text with the image, versus just the text. Placing an image, especially a good-sized image, with your text is important with larger bodies of text, which people tend to skim over.

Does your website need a redesign? Or simply help with images? Then email Integraphix - a Chicago web design company - we have over 25 years experience. 

Do You Know What People Say About Your Business Online?

Your business works hard to build and protect its reputation so it can grow and be respected. Everything your business does is ultimately to improve its reputation; you want consumers to be happy so they keep business with you and talk about you with their friends & family.

Your reputation is the trust that is built with the consumer; it takes a long time to build up and can be seemingly strong but one bad review and things get shaken. You might not even do anything to earn the bad review. Sometimes, we run across a disgruntled customer who is looking to complain about anything and everything and they leave a hurtful review on your site, Google, Yelp, wherever.

Then what? 

People see that review, they wonder if it is true; some people ignore it, while others believe it. Maybe it costs you some potential customers or clients.

Your business needs to protect its reputation with reputation management from Integraphix. Our reputation management software is meant to keep you at ease and keep your business free from stress of a bad review.

What do you get with reputation management services from Integraphix? We will help you…

• Real Time Reporting
• When someone posts a review, you are notified within a minute. Stay on top of what is being said about your business. You can see your reviews, overall feedback rating score, and average online rating score. 
• Real-time SMS and email alerts
• Active monitoring of review sites
• Connect your review sites such as Yelp, Google+, Yahoo, and other review sites to know when your company receives a review anywhere on the web. 
• Route to the reviews
• When a review is posted, there is a link that connects directly to the actual review, allowing you and our reputation management team to reach out to the reviewer. 
• Ability to suppress negative reviews & share positive reviews 
• Spread the good news when you get a good review! Post it on your social media so your fans can find out about the success, as well. 
• Control the negative reviews so they don't spread like wildfire. 
• Prevent duplicate reviews. 
• Positive and negative routing
• Depending on the feedback, reviewers are intelligently routed to different landing pages.
• Negative reviewers are routed to a page that encourages them to explain their review and another chance, instead of allowing them to post a negative review directly. 

Of course, these are not the only features available with reputation management available from Integraphix, for more information about this service, email Integraphix. 

5 Web Design Lessons We Learn From Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is almost here, just a couple days from away. There are many things to learn from the day, and not just how to be romantic with a loved one, but also lessons about great web design. A website is like your company's significant other, they compliment each other and one cannot succeed without each other.

So what can we learn about professional web design from Valentine's Day?

1. Be creative. Any good lover will tell you that you need to bring out your creative side when planning an evening on Valentine's Day. Think about things the other person likes and would enjoy doing or places they would enjoy going to on that special day.

A great web design is creative. This means that you have things on your site that really "wow" the people who visit it. One of the worst things that can happen to a website design is that it comes out boring and uninspired. You can tell when a website was produced with no inspiration behind it because it lacks the ability to inspire. You need to get your message across to the people who view your site and if that vessel does not intrigue, then it will fail at delivering this message. There are several ways to make a site more creative:

• Great transitions between pages
• Color schemes
• Presentations of copy and images
• Sales tabs
• Great copy
• Great images
• Fun interactive opportunities
• Creative background(s)
• Video(s)

It is important to note that while being creative, your site still has to be effective and not overly complicated. When a site gets too cute, it also loses its usefulness; this creates a waste of money and time. There is a fine line between being creative and understandable, any one of our Chicago web design agency creators will tell you this. 

2. Don't be predictable. One of the worst things you can do on Valentine's Day is pull the same routine year after year. Don't be the significant other that reserves a table at the same restaurant, draws the same heart in the steam on the mirror, and buys the same box of chocolates. While this can be cute, the likelihood is that there is a rut and things are uninspired, your efforts are just to get by and not in trouble.

This does tie into the previous point in that when you are creative, however, just because you are being creative does not mean you are not going to be predictable. You can still be predictable while being creative. There are a lot of creative ways to put together a site that have been done before, if everyone is using those techniques, then you are likely to be predictable. One common way of being predictable is to have a site that is purely informational; too many sites on the web fall under this umbrella. Another way to be predictable is to have copy and images just pasted on a page, without any sort of design or purpose.

3. Make your site easy to love. When you are in a relationship, you want to be lovable, right? Of course! You do things, say things, behave certain ways, etc. that you know your significant other appreciates and you hope they do the same for you.

The same concept applies to designing a website. You want your website to be loved! This is two-fold: your site has to be loved by humans and it has to be loved by search engines. There are several ways to make your site lovable: 

• Good navigation. If your site has poor navigation, both humans and search engines will leave your site, unlikely to come back. Everything that is on your site must be accessible within two clicks. Also, there should be more than one way in and out of every page. 
• Helpful information. If your site does not answer all possible questions of the person who ventured to your site, then they will leave your site and go elsewhere. It also has to be helpful in showing the site viewer why your company is best at what it does or sells. 
• Internal SEO. As we mentioned with good navigation, your site has to have multiple avenues in and around every page, of course, this is not the only aspect of good internal SEO. For good internal SEO, your site needs optimized images, keywords, title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, H2s, H3s, etc. It also needs to be easily understandable-- yeah, search engines can tell the readability of the text on your site and how easily it can be understood; poorly understandable sites are not liked as much. Your site also needs plenty of copy -- good copy. 

4. Make the site beautiful. When getting ready for Valentine's Day, you do your best to look good for your significant other. You take a shower, style your hair, put on a great outfit, maybe a perfume or cologne, the whole nine yards.

Now, take that mentality and apply it to your web design. Have good designs, art, images, and good colors. Do what you can to make the site aesthetically appealing but do not go overboard and make the site too cute (remember, a site that is too cute becomes a site that loses its effectiveness). 

5. Show the site off. You want to show off your date, right? Take them out for a night on the town, go to a restaurant, a park, a show, bar, wherever. The bottom line is that you have someone you find attractive and want to show the world that you love them and for people to say, "Wow, look who they're with!" 

It is time to show off your website. This is effectively done with external SEO as well as promoting your site with a blog, social media marketing, a business card, and other methods. You would not want to create a site and then let it sit at home, all dressed up with nowhere to go. Make people say, "Wow, what an incredible looking site. I'm jealous it is not mine!" when they visit your website. 

Go create a beautiful website and have a fantastic Valentine's Day. Email Integraphix if you are interested in what you read. Does your business need a website? Then let us help you create one that is beautiful, effective, and worth showing off. 

Integraphix Work: iPhone & Android App Design

A longtime client of our Chicago web design company, Weldbend, came to us and asked if we could do a job for them; the job was to create the design and do end-user research for iPhone and Android apps.

Since our creative marketing team was well versed in Weldbend's branding,  products, and their culture, the design inspiration came very naturally for us. Due to this, the ideas for the bonus features that and end-user would appreciate such as "favorites", notes, and easy sharing with their company or colleagues in the industry could happen.

The Weldbend app contains information that is necessary for those in the field of construction who are working directly with Weldbend products (such as plumbers). In the image, you can see the homepage of the app (same for both iPhone app & Android); in addition seeing the homepage, you can see the other pages, such as the "Fittings" page.

The app is essentially Weldbend's entire catalogue of products fit into a phone, which is especially handy when you need to quickly reference some information, order a part, or complete another task but can't fit the large catalog in your back pocket.

Having an app for your business can be a great way to remain relevant in the minds of consumers, have quick access, and engage with them. Does your business need app design? Then email Integraphix and our Chicago web design team will work with you to create the perfect app for your business.

Chicago Web Design Example: Rubino Dentistry Website

Project description: Rubino Dentistry had an outdated site that was not generating many leads, if any. The site was very limited, non-inviting, and lacked many features that modern sites have.

Since the site was designed over four years before, Rubino Dentistry came back to Integraphix for the website redesign. We analyzed modern dental sites and compared the findings we had with what we knew to be great web design techniques and features, creating a prime example of a terrific dental website.

We incorporated a dual-entry slider, with content entering the slider image spot from both sides. In addition to a page designated for patients, we installed a page specifically for new patients, so they would have a place to go to gain knowledge of the office without having to scour the site (despite all information being easily found). Web visitors can make an appointment right from the site, from any page of the site. The homepage features a real-time social media update plug-in so viewers can see what Rubino Dentistry is posting about at any moment. 

Our real pride and joy of the site, though, was our "Ask the Dentist" feature. Visitors to the site can fill out the question box with a question about anything dental related (free-type, not pre-selected, which is what makes it great). Then, they will get a response directly from Dr. Rubino. 

The site was completed within the stated time frame and was under budget. Ross Rubino and his team love the site and have even generated leads from it!

Does your business need a new website? Then contact Integraphix and see what our Chicago web design company can do for you! All of our sites are custom-built and meet most budgets. We built every site to be mobile-responsive and SEO-friendly. 

Integraphix Case Study: Body in Motion Website Design

A great website is something that is not always easy to accomplish; some web designers promise the world and then give you garbage & you lose trust. However, when you find the right professional web designer, a custom website design is not the hassle that it has to be.

Our Chicago web design company was contacted by Body in Motion for a custom website design that would be able to emphasize their unique & state-of-the-art approach to fitness and physical training in Chicago. Our web designers wanted to approach this job in a way that would result in the site giving BIY the image of a modern, effective, and cutting-edge company.

Under a tight deadline, our designers and developers worked seamlessly to create this product of loveliness that you see above. The BIY site features a custom and easy to use Content Management System (CMS), internal SEO, functioning appointment calendar, and client login.

The return on investment-- Due to the site that Body in Motion received, they were able to give a much more professional image and branding. Not only did they get this successful ROI but their site saw a 436 percent increase in traffic over their previous site after one month, 46 percent of the traffic coming from organic SEO efforts (and not referrals) that resulted in great rankings-- 41 percent of this traffic was generated by Google, alone. This increase in traffic created a lot of business leads.

Does your business need a better website? Remember, your website is your 24/7 salesman and is giving visitors an impression of your business, even when you are not there. If your site lacks "wow", then you can be missing out on some business. Contact Integraphix to see what we can do for your business-- we can do a website redesign or built you a whole new site.

Happy New Years from Integraphix

www.integraphix.com

6 Web Design & Marketing Secrets from Santa Claus

Whether Santa Claus meant to or not, Santa Claus created one of the most recognizable brands and symbols in the whole world. It is one that parents and children alike have embraced for many centuries. So how did Santa do it? How did he become such a phenomenon?

Well, it took a lot of research but there are many reasons why Santa has become the sensation he is today. These reasons are lessons we can translate to the web design world.

Santa is incredibly reliable. Every year, the same day, and at the same time, we can expect the jolly man to come to our house and give presents. Most of us woke up on Christmas morning to find gifts by or under the tree, an empty plate, and a glass with some milk residue. Santa never let us down.

• How does this translate to web design? How reliable is your site? Is your site letting people down because of poor design or hosting? Our web visitors expect a site to give them information they seek and to allow them to purchase items or schedule a service appointment. 

Santa surprises and delights us all the time! Who doesn't like to see Santa? When we do, even as adults, we tend to get a little happier and excited (for adults, it is more the flood of memories from childhood). Why do you think that is? Whether it is his great beard or catch phrase, it works.

• How does this translate to web design? Well, being a great web design firm and creating great websites means making people happy. Can you say that it is true of your websites and their ability to surprise and delight web visitors? Study your analytics, your competition, and the web design agency trends. Find that "special something" that makes your site bring smiles to faces when they look at your site. 

Santa encourages us to write. We all know about all the letters that Santa gets every year. Better yet, it is even more incredible that Santa takes the time to read each email every year!

• How does this translate to web design? A website should be designed well enough and have great enough content that it encourages web visitors to do more than look at the site. Your site's goal should be to generate sales, which means that your site should be great enough to encourage people to write by filling out the "contact us" form or send an email. 

Santa rewards good behavior. We all know about the "naughty" and "nice" lists. He gives the well-behaved children on his "Nice List" good gifts.

• How does this translate to web design? Well, those of your consumers who are great with brand loyalty should get some sort of reward, like deals or other goodies. This one is more about the client using your good web design than it is about web design directly. 

Santa has elves and reindeer. Santa would be in some real trouble if he was not assisted by his elves and his wonderful reindeer team. His elves helping him build everything and his reindeer helping him deliver them. 

• How does this translate to web design? Well, it can go two ways-- 1) A great web design agency will have more than one person working on a site to get it finished in a timely manner; also, it helps make sure the site is great from the creativity of many, not just one person. 2) A great site has more than one web page. A page with one site will not perform well. As for the reindeer, a great site will have helpers putting the site out thee such as social media marketing and search engine optimization. 

Santa is unique & one-of-a-kind! There is no one else out there that is similar to Santa with his beard, suit, elves, reindeer, catch phrase, and place of residence. 

• How does this translate to web design? Your website should be unique and like no one else's. A great web designer will be able to create a wonderful, new design each time they create a website. 

Santa just seems to really understand how to champion marketing and give us great lessons about web design. If you want a web design company that really understands design and these lessons, then hire Integraphix, we are a Chicago web design company that operates nationally. 

7 Things You Don't Want to Say on Your Website

Your website is your 24/7 salesman. You need it to be convincing, affirmative, and not be timid. Diction is an important part of successful business; you never hear of a business that started making $100B a year because they spoke passively, "I guess we could help you grow your business."

If you want your chance to impress web visitors, then follow these great web design tips.

1. Let us help you. Well this one just screams desperation, even if you are not desperate. Why? Well, it puts you in a place of weakness. While that statement might sound like a humble approach, people don't often like to do business with a company that sounds desperate. 
2. Something, something "Industry standard". This is just saying that you are average and that is not going to spur confidence nor action in a consumer. Rather, say and show how you are above the industry standard. 
3. Whatever you need. Saying the word, "whatever" shows laziness. "This product will fix whatever you need fixed." Wow, can you get more specific there? 
4. We're unique. Well, aren't you special? I just visited 5 other sites in your industry that also said they are a unique company as well. If everyone claims to be unique, then what is special about saying it? Nothing. Don't just say you're unique, show it. 
5. Premium quality. According to other sites, everyone offers premium quality goods and services. What makes something premium? 
6. Needless to say… No, I'm pretty sure it does need to be said. C'mon. 
7. We can't be beat. Unless you are a truly dominating company and can dominate the industry, then chances are you can be beat… and are. That doesn't mean you are not a good company but unless you are the true industry leader here, then they're just empty words. 

Do you need a new website or perhaps a website redesign? Then hire Integraphix. Get a custom website design that suits your business and impresses the consumer. 

4 Benefits of a Website Designed by a Web Design Agency

There are many ways to get yourself a website; some ways cost money and some ways are free. You could create a blog, have that buddy do it that owes you a favor, sign up for a free service, or get a professional web designer to do it for you!

Your website is your selling tool that run 24/7, it never stops and always has to be on key or you could lose a potential sale. In order to get a site that you are not embarrassed by and will get the job done correctly, then you need to hire a web design agency. But why should you hire an agency to do the site for you when you can do it yourself, maybe for free?

1. It will save you time. It is one less thing for you to deal with if you are letting someone else handle the workload. Some of the best web designers in the country could be handling your website while you work on the jobs you want to do that you enjoy doing. Your time is very precious as a small business owner. If this is a startup company's website, then you might even be working another job during the day. Trying to build your website could add too much, especially if you have never done it before. 
2. You will earn more business from it. It is easy to tell when a website is done for free or by an amateur. Free sites don't often let you have your own, vanity domain. An amateur site looks like you would expect it too. It will also be internally optimized for search engine optimization. Your site has to be optimized or it will not rank well on search engines and that is a major point of a website, you want to be noticed on the web! 
3. It saves you from a lot of chaos. You might have that buddy that knows HTML and other coding but it is only best to go this way if your starting budget is very, very low. However, what if your site needs some changes or runs into some hosting trouble? Can they help you there? Well, a professional design agency could and quickly, too. 
4. It gives your brand some needed strength. Your whole brand is unique and having a website that is made by putting info into a machine and being given a cookie cutter site undermines that uniqueness. A professionally designed site will help you attract the clientele that you want. 

Does your company need a website or a website redesign? Then contact Integraphix, a design agency with over 2 decades of experience. We build our websites so they are easy to manage, even for a novice. Of course, we also build our sites so they are mobile-responsive! This is a must in web design or risk losing web traffic and business. 

2 Things to Remember About Cross-Browser Compatibility

When designing a website, it is important to remember a lot of things. A website has to look good and be fully functional at the time of launch or it will just be a waste of money and be frustrating. The pictures have to be the right size, the text has to be alluring, informational, and sales-oriented, and the whole site has to be internally optimized.

However, one thing that is often overlooked with web design is the concept of cross-browser compatibility. When you have a website, it has to be able to function on all the web browsers, at least the major ones like Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox, and yes, Internet Explorer.

Now why do you have to remember cross-browser compatibility? Well, if you do not, then:

1. It looks bad for your client. The client you designed the site for will have a site that will not be functional for every web user out there. It seems tedious or unnecessary but think of it this way, anyone who cannot use the site is a lost sale. When those lost sales rack up, business hurts. Also, it will tank the web rankings. People will go to the site, see it doesn't work right, and leave within a very short amount of time. This will force their bounce rate to increase and that hurts rankings. The website is one of the first things we look at when we discover a business.

2. It looks bad for you. For one thing, that client will likely not use you again since they can see the product they got from you. For another thing, if you have your name at the bottom of the site, like most web developers do, then anyone who visits the junk site you put together will see your name and think, "Nice job, amateurs!" Or something to that effect, they might not be so kind. The bottom line is that it could harm your business as well.

Do the job completely and do it correctly if you are going to do it. There's not always enough time to do a job a 2nd time but there's always enough time to do it right the first time.

Contact Integraphix for a website that you can be proud of and will work across all web browsers! You need it, your business needs it, and we'd love to help you get the site you need to effectively be on the world wide web.

Web Design TIp: Reduce the Distractions

We have talked about the navigation of a site when doing web design and how important good navigation is. One thing that plays into the navigation of your site are the distractions on your site.

The navigation of your site is like a set of roads in a town; if you have a town that used streets that were terrible quality, they didn't lead you to where you thought they would/should, you had no idea where to turn next, you would leave the town (or just be really PO'd the whole time). Why would you want the same for your website? The worst thing you can do to a web visitor is make them wonder where they should go next because they're lost. A lost visitor = an angry visitor; an angry visitor = a visitor who won't come back… that's what I've learned as a Chicago web designer.

There are a couple things that come to be very distracting when on a website:

• When you have way too many calls to action. Not everything has to say "Do this!" "Get that!" Etc. Some things are allowed to be informational. Like driving down a road and every establishment says, "Come on in!" Eventually, you just ignore them. 
• Too many links. You want to have links between pages for easy navigation and SEO but you don't want to have 5 links on one page pointing to the same page. Still driving down that road and you come to an intersection but every road leads to the same place. No one likes redundancy. 

So what can you do? Put your "super important" pages at the main navigation bar that is at the top of your website. The less important pages should be accessible on the side or the bottom of the page. 

Looking for an experienced web designer who knows how to make a website that will get you noticed? Talk with Integraphix! 

Web Design Tips: Make Your Site Easy to Navigate & Read

When it comes to good web design, there is one thing to make sure you do most of all. That is to make your site easy to read and more importantly, navigate.

A great website has to be readable. Don't use language that no one will understand; make your content easy to understand, engaging, and simple. You want your content to flow from one paragraph to the next, from one page to the next, etc. It shouldn't be a pain in the butt to read.

One thing you can do is use a friendly font but not a silly font, like comic sans. Your font choice is a bigger deal than we like to realize as well. A text size of 14 pixels is often a good way to go. A nice tool to help you with this is Google Web Fonts.

As far as navigation, you should have multiple routes to each page. Have links to other pages in the site within the content. Make sure nothing in your site is more than 2 clicks away from any page. Your navigation bar should feature the prominent pages of your site, perhaps all the pages.

The rule of thumb for navigation is to remember that people are impatient and will probably not stick around to figure out your site if you make it too difficult for them. We're human, we don't like to wait.

If you are looking for a quality Chicago marketing firm that does great web design, then contact Integraphix. We are a leading Chicago web design company.

5 Do's and Don'ts of Great Web Design

When it comes to making a website that is effective, organized, and pleasing to look at, it takes a lot of hard work. There are several trends that work for websites while there are trends that are atrocious. What you do is up to you, however, there are consequences to going with decisions that will not be liked by website visitors.

So what are some do's and don'ts of great web design?

• Do structure pages well.
• It is important to have good structure to your pages; use grids and proper spacing. Have proper structure and balance of space and content (photos and copy). 
• Do not put things anywhere and everywhere.
• Have you seen a website where there is junk placed everywhere? It's gross, right? It's like when someone has junk all over their house, you think, "Do you even organize?" It can be very frustrating to see sites where nothing lines up or line up poorly, there is no organization of the content, it's all very poor craftsmanship. 
• Do have a focus. 
• Have a certain idea or product that you are building your site around? Great! Having a central focus to your site helps keep it organized and relevant. When you have no focus to your site, that's when you run the risk of having clutter pile up and force visitors to sort through the garbage. 
• Do not just post anything on your site. 
• Stay away from the irrelevant stuff. Have a site to sell shoes? Don't post stuff about teddy bears. Ward off the ads that are going to be mentioning the latest political gallop poll when your site is about food. 
• Do use color schemes. 
• Use colors that associate with your brand. The colors that are used in your brand, like your logo, are the colors you use on your website. 
• Do not use every color on the color spectrum on your site. 
• A colorful site is nice but not when you have the whole rainbow shoved onto a computer screen, okay? Don't make it look like you opened a box of crayons and smeared them on your landing page, it's gross. 
• Do K.I.S.S. 
• Keep it simple, stupid! Make everything easy to access and navigate (no more than 2 clicks), make it easy to read, make it easy to come back, etc. 
• Do not ramble. 
• Have a site that rambles and looks like a dump of emojis and incoherent paragraphs, etc? If you do, that is no bueno. 
• Do have amazing content. 
• Google loves good content on sites; in fact, they just released a new algorithm, Panda 4.0, that focuses on content (among a few other things). 
• Do not keyword stuff. 
• Google hates when you stuff your webpages with keywords like you do a Thanksgiving turkey with dressing. 

If you are looking for a web design firm that can create a site for you (and obey the do's and don'ts of web design), then contact Integraphix. As a Chicago web design firm, we love creating the tool that will help make your business into something great. 

10 Huge Tips for Your Web Design Project

As a web design agency, we know how hard it can be to make a website that is appealing to the human eye yet does all the things you need a website to do. There are so many things to remember about making a website so we thought that we'd help and and give you a list of ten very important things to remember when creating a great website.

1. You have mere seconds to capture attention. When you have a website, you only have 5 seconds to get someone's attention and convince them that they have to stay on the website; they need to explore past the first page. One of the most commonly used features of web browsers is the back button. Your site needs to let people know that it is the site for them right away or they will back out of your site, likely to never return. Using compelling copy, aesthetically pleasing images/graphics, and easy navigation will help keep people for longer than five seconds. 
2. Copy that captures. You want to have copy on your site that is clear, concise, and gives answers. If your site does not have copy that actually helps anyone but rather just keeps giving mediocre information, then people will leave your site, even if they have made it past the first page. 
3. Feature your call to action. Give the people who view your site some sort of command, like "connect with us" "Contact us" "Get a free estimate" or "Schedule an appointment" etc. Whether it will actually work on people depends on the person, but it's always good to have this on your site. 
4. Build trust with viewers. This is important to do no matter what kind of site you have but it's especially important if you have an e-commerce site, whether it sells products or services. Have that great shipping and return policy, show positive testimonials from clients or customers, etc. Make your contact information prominent so people feel like they can contact you easily, this makes people feel more confident using your site. 
5. Keep fresh content. Always try to keep the content on your site fresh; not every page always has to be refreshed but make sure all the content is always relevant and applicable. When you have outdated content, change it. Try to have an internal blog page and another page or two that is a place where you can constantly place fresh content. 
6. Have social media plugins. Using social media is a great way to connect with clients and consumers and it looks great when you have the plugins on your site that connect people directly to your social media. Social media marketing is key and tying that with your site will look great. 
7. Make navigation easy. If there is anything on your site that takes more than two clicks to get to, it is not as easily accessible as it can be. People should not encounter dead ends and have to figure out where to click to get to a new page, it should be very apparent. 
8. It's about the user, not you. It doesn't matter what you want, it matters what people who view the site want. What do these people want? They want to feel like they are making the decision to use your products and services, they want to feel like the hero. Don't brag about yourself but rather what you can do for the consumer. 
9. Keep up with the times. Don't fall behind on the times and what your competitors are doing, make sure to stay ahead of the game and current on the times. 
10. Create while remembering SEO. Your site should be launched already being internally optimized. If you have to go back in and do internal search engine optimization, then your site was not built correctly. 

If you have questions about web design or search engine optimization, then make sure to contact Integraphix - a Chicago marketing company. We have been a chicago creative agency for over twenty years and clients of all sizes. 

How To Make a Good Website: 2 Tips

A website that is intriguing and effective is something that is not always the easiest thing to do; sure, in the past, all you had to do to get business from your website was to simply have one on the web. Nowadays, you need to do more than just put your site on the web, you have to make it worth while.

Your website has to be intriguing and eye-catching, there are two things you can do to keep your site up-to-date, fresh, contemporary, and worthwhile.

The first thing you should remember when you do web design is that sometimes, simple is best. You need a website that caters to the needs of someone who is viewing your site; one of those needs is to navigate through your site without having to jump through hoops and have a compass. Have a simple design that is not complicated or busy and makes viewers feel at home. Now, this does not mean you should have little content and images on your site. You need plenty of content on your site, 300-500 words per page, include pictures, etc. Make it appealing and cool but do not make it complicated and busy.

The second thing you should remember is that your site should feature storytelling. Use compelling copy on your site with captivating images to draw people in. Make your site fun to look at. Let people who view your site to be wanting more and establish that connection. Your site can be like an adventure. Yes, this can be a challenge but it is a challenge that is worth while and should be one you'd like to conquer.

If you have questions about web design, then contact Integraphix - a Chicago web design agency. See how we can help improve your presence on the web.

2 Myths of Web Design Are Debunked

Like in any industry, web design has its share of its myths and legends; some of the legends and myths are understandable while others are more of a stretch. Now, we have found some of the myths that are held for web design and seen how they are actually not true.

One of the biggest myths about web design is that the aesthetics are the most important part of web design. Web designers in the past have believed that if your site does not look amazing, you have done a poor job of designing a site; this myth is more true for small businesses since large businesses are able to break more rules). The main point of great web design is that you have a site that is functional, practical, informational, and navigational. Theoretically, looks are the last thing to be on the list of "super important tasks to accomplish in creating a great website". Why? Well, if your site looks fantastic but has little info or is a major pain in the rear to navigate, then no one will want to look at your site for more than a few seconds and search engines will hate it as well. Good luck getting any SEO from it. If you said, "Hey search engines and target markets, our site stinks but it looks amazing!", you would hear, "Who cares!" in response. True story. A good web design company knows that good web design is more than just making things look good.

Another big myth for web design is that your website should be your sales tool. While a website should be able to change some minds and help the sale, it is not what is going to be your salesman. If you try to make it so, then your site will have a lot of things like big buttons and flashing text saying, "Click here for deals!" and such. We avoid those things like the plague. Again, yes, your site is a sales tool but it should not be acting like a salesman. People will be much less likely to return to your site if they feel it is one big sales effort. Your site should inform and impress, those things will help the sale and do so gently and not push the consumer away.

Go and make your site the best it can be. Your site will love you back if you show it love first. Make your site beautiful like a butterfly: effective, pleasing to the eye, gentle.

5 Rules of Web Design

Being in web design is cool and fun; you get to be creative and often help people out. You can create websites for yourself or for other people, either way, you're actually helping people. However, did you know there are unwritten rules for web design? Yup! I mean, you won't get prosecuted if you violate these rules but you can (and probably will) end up with a bad website.

1. The first rule is be clear in your writing. When someone visits your website, you have mere seconds to get their attention and keep them on your site. Use clear, concrete language. Put your something on the landing page, or homepage, that will get visitors to realize that your site is worth staying on. As for deeper pages, you want your writing to be clear so they understand what each page is about and they don't just move on after a second of struggling to read your page. 
2. The second rule is be easy. Make your website easy to navigate; you want it to be easy to navigate for two reasons: 1) search engines like sites that are easy to find your way around so they can rank them better. 2) People like sites they can find their way around so they get to see the whole thing and know they aren't wasting their time. Think about it, when you find a site that is confusing and you get lost in, you don't think, "This is a great site!" You most likely think, "Well, I'm out of here. Stupid website." Don't be a stupid website. 
3. The third rule is optimize your site. If you do not optimize your site, then your site will not rank well and doing any search engine optimization or other internet marketing will be worthless. This means having good title & H1 tags, using keywords in your text, having image tags, etc. 
4. Be real is the fourth rule. Ditch the "impressive" language and jargon as well as the cheesy, cliché, "clearly it is not real"stock photos. If you have to use stock photos, fine, but use ones that are believable. 
5. The fifth rule is be mobile. Having a website that is not mobile-friendly is like having a car with three tires; yeah, you have the car but people will only ride in it if it's life or death. If you don't have a mobile-friendly site, you have a website but people will only look at it on a mobile device when there's absolutely no other way to view it. Why is this a problem? Well, because smartphones and tablets are getting somewhat popular these days and apparently people like going on the internet with them. Have a mobile-friendly version of your website even if you have  an app as well. 

Like we said, web design can be really fun and helpful. In today's society, every business needs a website; if your company needs a website, then contact Integraphix - a Chicago web design company who can give you  a great site. If you have a site that needs to be optimized or search engine optimization, then you can again contact Integraphix.