Searching for the best ‘website design near me’ that understands your business?

We have you covered. Web design not only improves your visitor’s experience with your brand, but it likewise makes your sales funnel more efficient, leading to greater conversion rates. Our local web design agency creates websites for brands that reach millions of users every month with our proven process for custom web design that takes your unique needs into consideration.

Why is local web design the best choice?

Brands should look at their websites as the foundation for all online marketing campaigns. Essentially, a website is a hub into which all marketing channels feed. With a properly built website, you will reduce the spending needed on other channels, leading to long-term savings and revenue growth.

Here are some of the most important reasons to consider custom web development for long-term online success:

  • Built for your specific needs and operations
  • Easy and fast to update
  • Long term marketing savings
  • Better conversion rates and opportunities
  • Faster loading speeds for engagement

Advantages of choosing a local web design company

Choosing a local web designer near you will make your website development process more personalized. Working with your local web designers ensures that they understand your niche within the local business landscape. In addition, by supporting local, you will keep revenue in your community, helping to make a difference directly.

Here are a few other advantages of searching for local ‘web design near me’:

  • Building a network and community relationships
  • Same time zone, which is ideal for work-flow alignment
  • Collaborating in community fairs, communities, and events
  • One-on-one attention that will not make you feel like a number
  • Greater accountability

What can you expect from our website design process?

To make the website development process easy and pleasant for our clients, we ensure to cover all the details and communicate every step of the process with you, while answering all of your questions. Our goal is to minimize your time investment, and that is why we drive the project and do all the heavy lifting.

To make a website that truly reflects your brand and values, we invest the time to learn your story, your challenges, and your goals through team meetings and regular phone calls. You can expect the following development phases for your website:

  • Website Roadmap – a long term plan for the build today and for the future
  • SEO Strategy – what to focus on and where
  • Content – we’ll help write and edit
  • UI/UX – responsive, mobile-friendly designed layouts
  • Website Development – custom on WordPress including APIs & Databases

How do we measure ROI on custom web design projects?

We know that well-built websites are a big investment in long-term success. This is why we don’t cut any corners and look at every detail to ensure quality work from the beginning. Before we begin, we will establish important KPIs to serve as a northstar for the build process and ensure that both immediate and long-term goals are being considered during the process.

  • Establish current website rankings
  • Record performance scores before the build
  • Note conversion rates and average lead submissions
  • Identify the patterns in device use
Digital Marketing Agency Near Me

Leads

What is the monthly average of inbound leads? Which page did they originate from? Can geographic patterns be identified? Are there common pain points that can be leveraged for website content?

Search Rankings

Is the website built in a way to maximize your search engine marketing efforts? Do you have SEO-focused landing pages?

Page Load Speed

How long does it take for a page to load? Do you know what your averages are? What elements are slowing down the website?

Device Use

What percentage of visitors are using mobile devices? Is the website built to engage your users on the devices they use most?

Engagement

What is the average time spent on pages? What is the average page views per visit?

Objective

The Need to Establish a Strong Online Presence Through a Fully Branded Custom Web Design

The Taylor Electric team needed a custom web design that positioned them as the go-to source for large-scale, innovative electrical solutions in the VDC/BIM, technological, and EV charger install markets. With Idea’s help, Taylor Electric also hoped to attract new employees to keep up with the company’s demand, and maximize their marketing budget through paid traffic, organic search, and SEO.

When Taylor Electric began discussing its custom web design with Idea its website was not clearly positioned for the size, complexity, and innovation of its electrical projects. With a goal to evolve to where electrical is headed, their website felt and looked outdated. In addition, the lack of content and online application process made it difficult to attract new employees into the business, which was a prominent goal for Taylor Electric.

As with all Idea Marketing Group clients, we developed a comprehensive integrated web strategy based on deep client research, competitor insights, and industry analysis. We knew that our expert custom web design team could deliver the results our client desperately needed. Our team laid out our project plan to address their pain points.

Solution

Custom Web Design Creates a Successful Brand Presence For Taylor Electric

Our team of experts was able to create a custom WordPress website that functioned as the optimized custom WordPress-designed website Taylor Electric wanted. The new website featured a cutting-edge modern feel that reflected the quality and innovation of their services, Taylor Team, and capabilities.

We created an optimal direct user journey that was simple to navigate. Site visitors could now easily find the information they were interested in such as the employee portal (career applications) and Taylor Electrics services and experience. Traffic would also receive a boost as the new site was built to be SEO optimized.

With the new website design, more potential projects and employees would result due to the expansion and efficiency of the Taylor Electric site.

Custom Web Design

Building a New Custom WordPress Website for Taylor Electric

We began this custom web design project by reorganizing the content found on Taylor Electric’s previous site, as well as curating and positioning the most valuable content such as the large-scale electrical solutions Taylor Electric provides. Our team helped better categorize the content and clarify the topics to be displayed. While doing so our team also designed the customer journey to make it as direct and user-friendly as possible.

Our next step was to create a streamlined and optimized online application portal to attract new employees for Team Taylor. In order for Taylor Electric to acquire bigger and better projects, they needed to have a streamlined way to attract new employees effectively. The Idea custom web design team helped create an online application process and content that showcased Team Taylor’s cultural insights and eliminated the manual work required to evaluate and hire. In creating a new application process Taylor Electric has seen a 5.4% average conversion rate through its application portal.

For Taylor Electrics custom web design, we knew the importance of presenting a polished and sharp image, as this is a successful business tool for growth, and helps leverage the team, experience, and the capabilities that Taylor Electric has.

With our custom web design we created visual aspects that are both sleek and well-executed to enhance the user experience. With the new site organization users are always within a few clicks of finding the information relevant to their search. Idea Prioritized the most valuable and large-scale electrical solutions Taylor-Electric provides on the home page. Each navigation leads only to related information on the selected topic.

Through this improvement in the organization of the navigation, we prevent the cognitive load from being too high on users. This in turn reduces the bounce, or exit rate, of site visitors which ultimately improves the website page ranking evaluation by search engines. The new site focuses on quick, easy navigation to the answers or information that users are looking for.

In order to streamline Taylor Electric’s marketing for the highest lead generation we began including relevant content to engage site visitors by showcasing work, experience, and capabilities. This allows Taylor Electrics Prospective customers the opportunity to educate themselves and discover their unique capabilities. This new content not only provides on-site engagement but can be pushed or featured on additional sites that drive both SEO and additional web traffic.

Website Support

Providing Taylor Elertic With Website Support To Maximize Employee Growth, and Increase Leads

As part of this custom web design project, we worked with the Taylor Electric team to educate them on using the website now that pages are optimized for easy updates and edits. With the self-service functionality Taylor Electric will be more firmly in control of its website and when they need assistance or experience issues it now has a team of experts it can rely on for ongoing website support and maintenance.

As an Idea client Taylor Electric has direct access to our exceptional customer support manager Haley Langer for all their website support needs She is always happy to answer any questions or concerns that arise. When Haley is not addressing our client’s needs she works diligently to review the site, offer suggestions and create training videos to help Taylor electric better manage its website. Our dedication to website support keeps our clients confident in managing their sites and less reliant on third-party support.

Objective

A Beverage Distributor That Needed Custom Website Features

Superior Beverage was a growing consumer goods brand that wasn’t supported by its current website. To maintain their growth, they needed a custom web design that would meet their evolving needs.

As a beverage distributor, their website needed to be easy to use and provide necessary product info. On their current website, it was not easy to display product selections, or for users to search their product inventory. This was costing their business revenue.

Another issue affecting the website was user navigability. Overall the web design needed improvement, a focus on the customer journey was missing plus certain elements simply looked outdated. Creating a better user experience would drive more business for Superior Beverage.

Solution

A New CPG Website for a Beverage Industry Leader

To address the issues facing the Superior Beverage website our team proposed a custom web design project. The new custom WordPress website would solve each of the unique issues they were experiencing.

Our custom web design team began by building the functionality that would be needed for the new website. We used an integrated API process that would allow for their products to display quickly and correctly.

We designed a search and filter function so that their users could easily search the entire product inventory. Now users could filter based on their search criteria and spend less time searching for products. This would help reduce bounce and increase overall conversion.

These robust technical features were built quickly and would be easily manageable by the Superior beverage team. Their team would easily be able to manage and edit the website as needed, which was critical since their inventory changes frequently. Based on their stock the team could promote items they needed to sell quickly.

In addition to the technical improvements, the website also benefitted from better load speeds. By creating a custom WordPress website we removed old or broken functionality that was slowing down the page load speeds.

Custom Web Design

A Custom Web Design That Prioritized User Experience

As we completed backend updates, our front-end development team worked to make a more user-friendly site. Improvements to the user journey were one of our main priorities.

A newly organized and navigable website menu and layout serve to improve the user journey along with cosmetic UI changes to give a more modern feel to the user experience. The website builds trust on the first interaction with its target audience. Additional features like improved CTAs also help drive more conversion than the previous website.

With the rise in mobile users, new custom web design projects need to be mobile responsive, providing the same experience across mobile, tablet, and desktop browsers. Our team ensured that the Superior Beverage website was built to meet mobile optimization standards. The new responsive and intuitive design for Superior Beverage encourages customers to visit and engage with their website no matter what device they choose to use.

SEO

Building a Better SEO Strategy to Improve Website Rankings

As our custom web design team improved the website functionality and layout, our expert marketing team got to work on improving the client’s SEO strategy. A comprehensive SEO plan is crucial to a successful integrated web strategy.

We began by researching and identifying keyword opportunities for the new website. By including keyword variations we were able to uncover valuable SEO opportunities. If we targeted these keywords on the new website we could help our client rank higher in the search results.

Next, using those keywords we began improving the technical SEO for the custom WordPress website. To build a strong SEO strategy your website needs to meet the technical SEO requirements which include a variety of factors like meta tags, titles, alt tags and more. These attributes help signal to search engine crawlers that your website content is valuable and relevant to specific users.

Finally, we made sure SEO was used correctly on the audience-facing side of the new website. Core pages focused on specific keywords to build the ranking for those phrases. The most valuable keywords appeared through headlines, copy, and other content. The repeated use of these phrases in the right way will increase our client’s website ranking over time.

Their new updated SEO means that Superior Beverage would start ranking higher in the search results and receive more traffic.

Web Design Award

Our Chicago Web Design Team Wins an International Competition For Website Design

After we completed our work on the Superior Beverage CPG website we were excited to learn that our custom web design work had won an award. Each year the Web Excellence awards accept thousands of entries from over 60 countries to compete for awards in specific website categories.

A panel of website and CPG experts determined that Superior Beverage had the best custom web design in the Alcohol and Wine category. This Web Excellence Award demonstrates how beneficial the work of our Chicago web design team is!

Objective

Finding a Balm Solution With a Top Digital Marketing Agency

The Carmex brand has been an American staple for many years, and as the CPG brand continues to grow they needed brand manager support and tools to fix some of the website issues they were encountering.

With a variety of issues affecting their website, and of course the overall brand performance, they turned to the CPG manufacturing web design and digital marketing experts at Idea. They relied on our experienced manufacturing web design team for assistance with the following issues:

Reduced Brand Manager Support Capabilities

Any successful CPG brand needs the right Brand Manager support and tools, and a huge part of their toolkit is the website. A website that is difficult to manage, or update, can spell trouble for the brand. In this case, Carmex’s brand managers didn’t have the support they need to make changes to the website. Essentially any website updates, like website information, graphics, product pages, and more, were made virtually impossible because of the difficult back-end management. Without fixing their website, the Carmex team would be unable to add or feature new products, a major problem for the brand.

The limited website management was a direct result of previous website partners using bad code and other poor design choices. This led to decreasing control for the Carmex brand management team over time.

Poor Website Functionality = Poor User Experience

A website’s functionality is incredibly important to the user experience. If there are bugs or broken functionality on the website, then your target audience is likely to bounce.

With numerous bugs and poor functionality, the Carmex website was not providing the great user experience that one would expect from such a top-rated consumer goods brand. These issues were leading to decreased performance for the CPG brand website.

One of the worst issues was the slow website load speeds that users were experiencing, which was only getting worse with each website addition.

Mobile Optimization Wasn’t a Priority

Their previous website was not built with a mobile-first mindset, which means their website was not optimized for mobile users’ experience. With mobile user numbers increasing each year, this is a major issue for many top CPG brands.

Mobile optimization was one of the first problems we discussed during our brand manager support meeting. Making sure that users had a uniform experience, whether on mobile, tablet, or desktop was sorely needed. Everything on the website needed to load and function properly across devices, which was not currently happening.

Solution

A New CPG Website That Assisted with Brand Manager Support

Due to the scope of issues plaguing the Carmex website, we presented a website redesign proposal that would address all the previously mentioned problems. Small updates or website support options would not accomplish enough to meet our client goals.

Our team of custom web design experts would rebuild the entire Carmex website and address the issues that they had shared with us, along with some additional improvements we recommended.

Brand Manager Support Through Improved Control of the CPG Website

First, our team tackled addressing the issue of limited brand manager support opportunities due to poor website management capabilities.

Our team of top manufacturing web design experts got to work removing faulty code and functionality that were causing website errors. Now the brand managers would be able to update the website menu, add products and make other website adjustments as needed. This allowed for better brand manager support when it was needed.

One other issue with form submissions was resolved by integrating Zoho forms, which automatically categorizes submitted forms correctly. This integration greatly reduced the workload on the Carmex website brand management team.

 

Custom Web Design

Fixing Broken Functionality For Faster Website Load Speeds And A Better User Experience

While fixing the backend bugs our manufacturing web design team also worked to update website processes. Outdated transitions and features that were slowing the website down were removed in favor of clean modern navigation styles. Now, the website would have lightning-fast load speeds, and they wouldn’t be slowed down by future website additions. The new Carmex website load speed score was in the 90-100 range on Google Page Insights. This was a desktop load speed increase of over 40%.

Users would no longer be frustrated by pages that took extra seconds to load or failed to load at all. Now every page on the Carmex website would load quickly and correctly for their target audience.

Optimizing Their CPG website for Mobile Users

The new website was built with a mobile-first mindset, which means the new Carmex website would load correctly on mobile, tablet, and desktop. The design would change based on screen size but there would be no sacrifice in the functionality or content. The new Carmex website’s mobile page speed increased by 148%!

By optimizing for mobile, the new website would be able to reach an even larger audience and drive even more engagement and conversion. This is a major factor missing in most manufacturing web design projects.

Using Modern Manufacturing Web Design to Create a Standout Website

The new website featured a completely new web design that focused on the user experience and promoting the brand’s most valuable products. We incorporated the Carmex style into a stunning new modern CPG web design that users would love.

It features classic brand colors and highlights product offerings with a modern content carousel layout. A clear main menu is pinned at the top of the page with various topics that may interest site visitors. Upon hovering on menu options a drop-down menu appears with further subcategories. A small sub-menu rests above the pinned main menu with contact options, FAQs, international info, and language options.

The new Carmex website features modern manufacturing web design features and content that supports its image as a family-owned brand. Strategic use of the brand colors helps draw user attention to highlighted information or CTAs.

For example, on the home page, a bright red Shop Now button is pinned to the lower left corner of the screen. And on the history page, red typography for the timeline events showcase the legacy of an established brand. At the bottom of the page, a bright red button reading “Sign Me Up” pushes users to join the Carmex newsletter.

In addition, our team implemented language translators so that audiences around the world would be able to experience their new CPG web design.

SEO

Building SEO with an Integrated Web Strategy for the New CPG Website

With all our custom web design websites our team ensures that the client’s new website will meet best SEO practices. We research the most valuable keywords for our clients and evaluate what keywords are currently ranking. Once we’ve identified tangible SEO opportunities, our team uses these phrases both technically and organically across the website content.

We make sure that the website’s meta tags, titles, alt tags, and more align with their SEO priority keywords. Across distinct pages, our team targets specific phrases to help improve those page rankings.

While CPG brands do not focus on SEO as much as other industries, it is still an important element of a website quality score and will help drive more traffic to the website.

Analysis Reports

Providing Monthly In-Depth Analysis to Assist Brand Managers

The final piece of brand manager support that we provided was in the form of monthly in-depth analysis reports. These deep-dive reports help brand managers determine where there are opportunities for improvement, and where the website is succeeding.

Essentially, these provide a high-level analysis that’s broken down into an easily understandable report that can be presented to the executive or leadership team to help them better understand overall website performance from audiences, onsite behavior, new user acquisition, and more!

Website Support

Providing Continued Website Support with Brand Managers

As part of this redesign project, we worked with the Carmex team to educate them on using the new website now that its management had been simplified. With the new backend the Carmex brand manager support team would be able to make edits and updates as needed, something they hadn’t been able to do previously. The team was more firmly in control of their website and when they needed assistance or experienced issues they now had an expert web design team they could rely on for ongoing website support and maintenance.

As an Idea client Carmex has direct access to our exceptional customer support manager Haley Langer. She is always happy to answer any questions or concerns that arise. When Haley is not addressing our client’s needs she works diligently to review the site, offer suggestions and create training videos to help Carmex better manage its website. Our dedication to supporting our clients keeps them confident in managing their sites and less reliant on third-party support.

Idea Marketing Group

Free Website Redesign Checklist

Are you preparing for an upcoming website redesign? Maybe this is not your first rodeo or this will be your first website project. No matter your experience level, this checklist will help you prepare for your new website.

Website Redesign Planner

Our website design services to help you generate more leads and achieve better rankings

Website Strategy

Companies that want to improve or completely redesign their existing website should always start with a well-defined plan. Together, we will create a blueprint to be used for your website build.

  • Define Goal KPIs
  • Uncover Opportunities
  • Identify Solutions
  • Develop a Website Architecture
  • Build a Brand Board
  • Map Out User Journey
  • Perform Competitive Research

Website Content + SEO

We begin with in-depth research and planning before crafting search engine optimized copy for your website. We will simplify your visitor’s decision-making and improve call to action conversions.

  • Define Messaging Tone and Feel
  • Establish a Keyphrase SEO Strategy
  • Write Targeted Website Content
  • Identify Call To Action Messaging
  • Create Website Wireframes

CRM Integrations

We’ve worked with a variety of CRM’s as well as different types of use cases. If there is an API, we have it covered or set help in creating an API as well as leverage Zapier.

  • Salesforce
  • Hubspot
  • Zoho
  • Pipedrive
  • SugarCRM
  • Microsoft Dynamics

Database Integrations

Simplify operations by connecting databases to populate content directly on your website. We can write scripts to import and handle a wide variety of data types and needs.

  • Product Catalogs
  • Specification Tables
  • Data Records
  • User Management
  • Cron Jobs for Automated Updates

Custom Built on WordPress

Where all of your marketing channels feed into. With a properly built website, you are reducing the spend needed on other channels resulting in long-term savings and improved opportunities to generate more revenue.

  • Responsive Layouts with UI/UX Best Practices
  • Completely Custom, No Poorly Made Templates
  • Code Optimization for Loading Speed
  • Usability Testing + Browser Compatibility
  • 1 on 1 Website Training

Website Support + Improvement

Websites, browsers, and user behavior is always changing. We provide plans to support website needs with routine maintenance as well as continuously improving websites to beat and stay ahead of the competition.

  • Website Support Plans
  • Managed Monthly Hosting
  • ADA Compliance + Monitoring
  • On-going Search Engine Optimization
  • Content Marketing
  • Paid Advertising

Idea Marketing has been our company’s website host for many years, and we are very pleased with their services.

‐ The Patio - Chicago Restaurant Group
The Patio Web Design Testimonial

We appreciated the easy access we had to the owner as well as their knowledgeable and professional team.

‐ Weldstar - Chicago Welding Supplier
Weldstar Website Testimonial

Idea Marketing Group is truly an example of excellence. Great design, fast turnaround, friendly team – Bridgford loves Idea!

‐ Bridgford Foods - Chicago Food Manufacturer
Bridgford Website Design Testimonial

They truly want to dig deep into the soul of your business and know about your values and what’s important.

‐ Show Your Logo - Chicago Promotional Company
Show Your Logo Website Design Case Study 02
Idea Marketing Group

Free Marketing ROI Assessment

If you’re struggling to generate digital marketing ROI, our quick survey will show where you can make impactful changes. Understanding why your marketing isn’t working is the first step to fixing it.

Get Your Instant Score

Frequently Asked Questions About Website Design Near Me

Do you have experience in our industry?

Most likely. Since 2009, we’ve built hundreds of websites within various industries. No matter the company, we invest the time to learn your story, your challenges, and your goals to provide recommendations to maximize your marketing ROI. We do know web design inside and out as well as user behavior. Pair those together and we get results, no matter the industry.

We build custom websites paired with digital marketing strategies to grow your customer base and improve inbound lead generation.

How much does a website cost?

This is a loaded question that requires a bit of a loaded answer. Websites today are complex marketing tools that require a team of specialists:

  • Project Manager
  • Account Strategist
  • Designers
  • Front-end Developers
  • Back-end Developers
  • Content Writers
  • SEO Specialists

Similar to building a home, it first requires a plan to ensure every detail is covered. We like to call it a website roadmap.

We approach every website build in phases. The first phase is a deep interview of your company with pertinent members of your team to answer key questions to help uncover pain points, understand your goals, identify opportunities, as well as analyze the companies you are up against.

Next, we take the recommendations and knowledge gained during the first phase to craft a well-defined strategy for the custom website build. This includes the website architecture, target user personas, user journeys, brand messaging/voice, and SEO strategy which allows us to more accurately define a scope of work for the remainder of the build following the roadmap.

We will have a detailed plan as to what will be needed to build a website that not only meets your current needs but also provides a system to grow and scale helping to land your next big sales opportunities.

With all of that being said, our custom websites start at $30,000. You will not find any cookie-cutter templates here and all work is done in-house by our full-time employees.

How much to spend on marketing?

Setting an annual marketing budget can be a challenge and there are many factors to take into consideration. A quick way to generate a rough figure is to base it on the annual revenue of the company. An average percentage for B2B ranges from 6% to 12% of gross revenue as recommended by eMarketer’s Marketing Spending, assuming the sales margins are in the range of 10% to 12%. If we use these rates, below are quick examples of recommended marketing budgets:

Gross Revenue $2,500,000 x 0.12 = $300,000/year or $25,000/month

Gross Revenue $5,000,000 x 0.10 = $500,000/year or $41,650/month

Gross Revenue $10,000,000 x 0.08 = $800,000/year or $66,665/month

Gross Revenue $25,000,000 x 0.06 = $1,500,000/year or $125,000/month

These are considered conservative numbers, as companies who are in aggressive growth stages will often spend up to 20% of their revenue on marketing as well as B2C, which is typically higher than B2B. Companies that are just starting out will need to set a higher percentage than those that are more established. Measuring the success of any marketing campaign is critical. Budgets should be spent wisely and spread out to cover various types of advertising.

What is recommended for marketing budget allocation?

Gartner CMO Spend Survey released an in-depth look at marketing budget allocation for 2021, below are the findings. It is important to be aware that marketing spending is impacted by the general nature of the business, competition, and consumer behavior.

Owned Media20%Website, Email, Mobile
Paid Digital21%Search Ads, Display Ads
Earned Digital22%SEO, Social Media
Offline Ads10%Publications, Direct Mail
Affiliates9%Partners, Distributors
Events8%Trade Shows

Another quick rule of thumb for marketing budget allocation is the 70-20-10 rule.

  • 70% of your budget is allocated toward marketing strategies you know work well
  • 20% of your budget is allocated toward new strategies aimed at helping you grow
  • 10% of your budget is allocated toward experimental strategies

What is the average timeframe to build a website?

Our proven process has been continuously improved over many years of collaboration and best practices requiring each phase to be completed and approved before starting the next. We will schedule bi-weekly calls and ensure we’re on track with the project build.

Typically, the website timeframe from start to finish is about 5-7 months. The following are the stages that follow our website build:

Website Advisory Plan> Team Strategy Meeting> Define Goal KPIs> Uncover Pain Points> Website Recommendations + Solutions> Competitive SWOT Analysis10 Business Days
Branding + Content Strategy> Website Architecture> Target User Persona(s)> User Journeys> Brand Messaging / Voice> Keyphrase SEO Strategy> Define Scope of Work for the Website Build~1 Month
Website Build> Content> User Interface Designs> Frontend Website Development> Backend WordPress Development
> Launch and Final Testing
~3 – 6 Months
Included WordPress Training
> One-on-one or group training> WordPress training guide
> Typically plan for 60-90 minutes
After Launch

Founded in 2009. Idea Marketing Group is a top Chicago web design agency that works intimately with consumer brands and manufacturers to help build, maintain, and market websites. See the award-winning work or a specific service like manufacturing web design.