Custom Web Design Created Specifically for Your Business, Built to Rank Higher + Generate More Leads

Our web design agency makes websites for brands that reach millions of users every month. We have a proven process for website development that examines every detail of a build while thinking ahead to how it will grow and evolve. You will not find any cookie-cutter templates with us.

Our web designers, developers, and content writers use their passion and creativity to turn websites into targeted and enjoyable customer experiences. We help brands thrive online through targeted lead generation and revenue growth.

Why is custom the best choice?

Brands should look at their websites as the foundation for all online marketing campaigns. It is the 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 improved opportunities to generate more revenue through custom website development. The 5 most important reasons to consider custom web design are:

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

What is included in the web development process?

We cover every detail of web design and will guide you through the entire process. Our goal is to minimize your time investment in the process since we’ll be the ones to drive the project and do all the heavy lifting. We invest the time to learn your story, your challenges, and your goals through team meetings and regular phone calls to talk through questions and maintain project alignment. These are the main phases of our website development projects:

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 it and/or edit it
UI/UX – responsive, mobile-friendly designed layouts
Website Development – custom on WordPress including APIs & Databases

How we measure ROI on custom web design projects

We know that well-built websites are an investment for businesses.

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?

Idea CPG Case Study Carmex user experience on laptop mobile and tablet

Carmex Lip Balm Custom Design + Website Support

A World Renowned Lip Balm Manufacturer

Carmex is an internationally recognized lip balm brand that has been providing the world with lip treatment for many decades. As a family brand, Carma Labs cares deeply about its customers and employees. Currently operating in more than 60 countries and regions around the globe.

Objective
Solution
Custom Web Design
SEO
Analysis Reports
Website Support

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.

Suddenly Salad Custom Web Design Project

A Quick Recipe For Great Family Dinners

Suddenly salad starter kits create an easy meal in three simple steps. With a wide variety, the quality isn’t lost between three different deli salad options and eight different pasta salad options. Customize them by adding your own choice of protein, vegetables, toppings, and base starches to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.

Objective
Solution
SEO
Google Ads
Website Support
Analytics Analysis

Objective

Continue to Develop Suddenly Salad’s Market Position Through Custom Web Design

Suddenly Salad has an impressive heritage. By positioning themselves to families and having done so for many years, Suddenly has been able to develop extremely loyal customers. In a current market climate where brand loyalty is becoming increasingly rare, it is imperative for Suddenly to keep its current foundation while trying to add to it as much as possible.

However, with the previous website Suddenly felt that it wasn’t generating the awareness and brand loyalty that it could. That, combined with user navigation and lack of recipe page promotions was costing them valuable conversion opportunities. Other issues like website page load speed and difficulty of website management were holding the brand back.

Suddenly’s goal was to utilize a CPG website redesign to further expand their brand awareness and loyalty. By educating consumers on the convenience and innovativeness of Suddenly Salad products and recipes, Suddenly Salad can continue to remain competitive and work to gain new website visitors that also have the potential to become loyal, repeat customers.

With their website being an integral part of reaching bigger audiences, another main objective of the new custom web design was to simplify the user journey. Not only does user experience impact your website ranking but it also can hinder interested consumers. As stated before, buyer journeys, needs, and expectations are becoming increasingly difficult. More difficulty means it can be easy to lose a potential sale to another competitor.

Making sure your overall website architecture and functionality are easy to use creates less internal friction in the consumer and a more positive association with your site, therefore allowing the consumer to feel safer in making a conversion. The more positive the perspective of your company and product becomes, the better the chance of creating brand-loyal consumers.

Going hand-in-hand with improved website navigation was the goal of increased usability of the product listing page. The product is what Suddenly has to offer. Focusing on driving as much traffic as possible here only increases the probability of a sale, click, page visit, or form submission. All provide tangible value to Suddenly Salad.

Solution

Creating a Custom Web Design to Improve User Experience

With Idea’s team designing a custom filtering system, the recipes could get Suddenly’s product information more directly to customers.

Paired with the search, this allows Suddenly to collect important information on what visitors are looking for. Recipes can be sorted into 4 main categories: Suddenly Product, Protein, Flavor Profile, and Vegetable. The website allows Suddenly to quickly shift with a consumer’s current focus, be prepared for future ones, and easily have a system established for introducing new products in the future.

For Suddenly’s new website redesign, Idea wanted to make sure to focus on optimizing its mobile website framework. With an extremely low mobile score to start, this needed to be remedied in order to compete and remain up-to-date with current consumer website needs. Our website repairs and mobile-focused design integrations fixed the current performance issues to provide a more streamlined user experience.

SEO

Creating an Integrated Web Strategy with SEO + Custom Web Design

Our team of digital marketing experts also combine the best SEO practices when redesigning the website as part of our integrated web strategy. This ensures that Suddenly Salad’s website redesign was ready to rank higher. All keywords, meta descriptions, alt tags, titles, headers, and more were thoroughly researched in order to allow Suddenly the best search result position.

Choosing a top digital marketing agency is a big decision for any company. Wasted time and effort not only cost you money but impact the longevity and association of your brand. Making sure to choose the right full-service digital marketing services company that fits your exact needs is the key. With Idea, our range of services and professional, yet personal, touch can make sure that your website is one of our business’s greatest assets!

Google Ads

Managing an Optimized Google Ads Campaign to Drive Website Traffic

To help promote the launch of the CPG custom web design for Suddenly Salad, our client requested that we set up and manage a Google Ads campaign. The main objective for this ad campaign would be to drive as much traffic as possible within their click budget to the new Suddenly website.

Since our main goal was to increase website traffic our team of Google Ads experts chose to create a Google Search Ads campaign. Our team leveraged our knowledge of best practices and various optimization strategies to build an ad campaign that would drive high-value clicks from within the target audience for Suddenly Salad.

Suddenly Salad’s search ad campaign was launched on April 16th, and we began to see positive results almost immediately. In the first 15 days of the ad campaign, we were driving hundreds of users to the new Suddenly website. Typically, we advise that Google Ad campaigns take time to reach maximum optimization. We usually recommended allowing the campaign 3 months before expecting to see the best results. Yet, with our layered targeting strategy and expert ad setup, our campaign was driving results that met our client’s objective in the first couple of weeks.

Suddenly Salads CPG Google Ads Campaign Results

Our campaign resulted in a Click-Through-Rate (CTR) of 9.31% within the first 15 days after launch. Usually, our standard benchmark for campaign performance is a 3% or higher CTR. This campaign performed at 6% over the typical rate in the first few days. The Suddenly campaign was also achieving a desirable Cost Per Click (CPC) of $1.97 which is very low on average. In total, the campaign was also achieving nearly high impressions (people who see the ad).

We also looked into our client’s Google Analytics to get more metrics to measure our ad campaign’s impact on website traffic. For the first 15 days of the campaign, the Suddenly CPG website saw 136% more users (directly from the PPC ads) than the 15-day period before (April 1 – 15th).

Website Support

Committed To Developing Confident Clients and Well Designed Websites

With Suddenly Salad requiring a totally new look, this custom CPG website redesign was updated from top to bottom by both our experienced development and marketing teams. The new site allows consistency throughout all navigation to enhance the user experience. With the design allowing for efficiency, each page was also optimized for SEO. The SEO Yoast plug-in was installed to allow back-end users to able to easily monitor current pages’ SEO scores and adjust as needed.

Through improved forms, CTAs, and site coding, Idea was able to funnel all website traffic conversion data. Suddenly is able to easily extract this information and collect it to further analyze website trends in real-time.

While navigating your website redesign can seem like a whole new world, our account management program makes sure you get the level of technical support needed. Client satisfaction is always a chief priority, and that doesn’t end once the website is live. Our support manager continued to work with Suddenly Salad’s admin one-on-one to provide personalized tips, tricks, and important information for the future.

At Idea, we’ve become experts for a reason. We’re passionate about delivering the best because we know what it takes to reach that standard in CPG web design. With marketing, development, and support teams in-house, Idea was able to successfully design a website around Suddenly’s company goals.

Analytics Analysis

Brand Manager Tools Include User Behavior Website Analysis Reports

It’s no secret that the CPG market is incredibly saturated. With numerous, well-known brands on the shelf to distract consumers, it is harder than ever to stand out and get consumers to remain devoted to your brand. This gives CPG brand managers an incredibly difficult job. But instead of getting distracted by big logos and more shelf space, we find that golden nuggets of information are often overlooked in the fine details.

Data is everywhere. With so much information readily available, it can feel overwhelming trying to justify the time it takes to sift through it all. And as a brand manager or a marketing executive, you don’t have the time to do the deep dive yourself. So, let Idea do it for you with our in-depth brand management consulting.

User behavior analysis is becoming more and more imperative to the success of businesses, large and small. But each piece of data tells a story, just like your branding does. With Idea’s monthly reporting, Suddenly Salad is receiving consistent data that is customized to their unique CPG business goals. Part of their monthly reporting entails receiving heat mapping, showing where users are clicking the most. This gives insight into which are your most visited pages, what areas are people clicking, and what buttons are being effective. Constant review and critique of both your site design and SEO copy allows you into the mindset of a consumer and adjust your website to more accurately target them.

Our easy-to-understand analysis reports take a deep dive into the most important website metrics and identify opportunities and threats that brand managers need to know about.

PPC Ads Management and Custom Web Design for Jeron

An Industry Leader in Nursecall Systems

Jeron Electronic Systems has been designing and manufacturing communication systems for both healthcare and commercial building applications for over 50 years. Jeron is a family-run business that now provides nursecall communication systems worldwide.

Objective
Solution
Custom Web Design
Google Ads
LinkedIn Ads

Objective

A Manufacturing Marketing Strategy needing improved Ad Management

Jeron has worked with Idea for multiple projects, ranging from PPC ad management across various platforms to a recent manufacturing web design project.

Prior to working with our leading PPC ads agency, Jeron was not seeing the results they wanted for their ad campaigns. The nurse call manufacturer relied on these ads to generate inbound leads and keep the top of their sales funnel full of new prospects. Without effective PPC ad management, their campaigns were not delivering enough leads. The company needed a drastic change in its manufacturing marketing strategy. They needed campaigns that would reach their target audience, and drive awareness and conversions.

Outdated Manufacturing Web Design Wasn’t Supporting the Sales Funnel

In addition to a few leads making it to the website from their advertising campaigns, the website was also not optimized to capture those leads! Manufacturing web design is a critical factor in the number of leads (or conversions) that your business receives.

Outdated or broken website functionality would cause Jeron’s users to bounce before taking the desired action. Poor load speeds were also playing a role in their bounce rates. As a result, their lead forms were not seeing much traffic.

Other factors affecting the website included poor navigation, UI/UX design, and needed to meet SEO for manufacturers’ best practices. To address the array of issues facing the client, a brand new industrial web design would be needed that included an integrated web strategy.

Solution

Integrated Web Strategy to Drive More Leads

To address the issue of diminishing leads and reduced website traffic our team proposed a custom web design solution. The new website would improve the ease of website management, fix website navigation issues, increase lead submissions, and improve their overall SEO.

We would also handle the PPC ad management for LinkedIn and Google Ads. The campaigns would be created and managed by our PPC ad experts with ongoing optimization to improve results through our combined integrated web strategy.

Custom Web Design

A New Manufacturing Web Design For a Nurse Call Manufacturer

First, we provided a new manufacturing web design proposal that would address the numerous issues affecting the Jeron website. Our team worked to remove outdated code and functionality that was affecting the website’s performance. These edits improved the page load speeds for the website. It also allowed Jeron to have better management of their website, which means future edits and additions would be a simple task.

We also worked to update the UI/UX of the website, making the user journey more simple and direct. We organized the website in a manner that was cohesive and logical, allowing users to easily find the information they needed. Updated images and colors throughout the style built a better sense of branding.

The use of CTAs in strategic locations would capture user attention and drive more conversions than the previous website. Our team also worked to simplify the lead forms to provide as little friction as possible. With an updated website backend, the Jeron team would be able to quickly locate and download the new leads that came in. Simplifying the form submission process is a key factor in manufacturing marketing strategy.

During the web design process, our team of manufacturing marketing experts also worked to improve the SEO of the Jeron website.

We worked to improve the technical SEO and non-technical SEO across the website pages. These changes would help improve the keyword focus of each website page, which would improve ranking over time.

Improved SEO implementation would help the Jeron website reach a larger target audience and capture more of this valuable search traffic.

Our team of Chicago manufacturing web design experts delivered a brand new Jeron website that addressed the old issues and would serve as a sales asset for many years.

Google Ads

Leveraging Expert Google PPC Ad Management for Lead Generation and Brand Awareness

Along with the new manufacturing web design project, our PPC ad management team would also launch campaigns on two platforms to drive traffic to the new website. Based on the company’s target audience and budget we recommend our client use Google Ads and LinkedIn ads as part of their new manufacturing marketing strategy.

First, our PPC ad management team worked on setting up a Google Ads search campaign that would capture valuable search traffic. Jeron had run Google Ads in the past but wasn’t seeing the right results, Clicks, and CTR rates were too low.

Our team took a deep dive into the account and addressed the factors that were preventing the campaign from reaching its maximum performance. We refined keywords, and created brand-new ads and ad copy, along with a custom build landing page to capture leads.

This optimization improved the ad quality score and ensured that the ads were reaching the right audience. Within months under our PPC ad management, the campaign CTR was reaching the range of 3-5% and driving more clicks than previous campaigns.

LinkedIn Ads

Leveraging Linkedin PPC Ads as Part of the Manufacturing Marketing Strategy

While our PPC ad management experts worked on optimizing the Google Ads campaign, we also worked to set up a Linkedin campaign. Our team worked to create various ad creatives and determine ad copy that would drive action by analyzing past campaign data.

Our team took advantage of the improved targeting attributes on Linkedin to target the ideal audience for Jeron. This meant each penny of the campaign was better spent since it was reaching the ideal target audience.

During the first few months of the Linkeidn ads campaign our PPC ad management team performed A/B testing to find the highest-performing ads in the campaign. We removed low-performing variation so the budget would be allocated to the ads that were driving the most engagement. Ongoing refinement is a key factor in the success of PPC ad campaigns.

With our PPC ads strategy, we were able to run a Linkedin campaign that delivered results, and our client choose to renew the contract and maintain the campaign for the future.

Multiple New Custom Web Designs

A Regional Leader in Groundcovers and Native Plants

Founded in 1969 Midwest Groundcovers continues to uphold and produce the same high-quality plants and foliage. Their website offers a massive variety of different plants available for customers. The Midwest team operates several brands and custom WordPress websites within their umbrella.

Objective
Solution
Custom Web Design
Custom Website Functionality
SEO
Website Hosting
Website Support

Objective

Lacking a Streamlined Order Process for Thousands of Plants and Foliage Varieties

Hosting thousands of varieties of plants and foliage that were easily accessible presented a mix of technical requirements and usability factors for the Midwest Groundcovers team.

Prior to working with Idea, the website backend couldn’t be easily adjusted and edited by the Midwest team as plants came in and out of stock or in season. This inventory data also was not providing real-time availability to customers on the website. The Midwest website also was lacking a comprehensive search function that would help users locate specific plants among the thousands of varieties.

A UI/UX Design That Was So Last Season

The UI/UX design was also looking a bit outdated and was not meeting modern web design standards. Aside from the needed visual and element improvements, there were also issues affecting the customer experience like a poor user journey.

The current user journey was overly complicated which was leading to higher levels of bounce, and customers leaving the website without taking action. Many of the pages featured an overload of information that was distracting to end users. The homepage was oversaturated with options that prevented a clear path to conversion, or better put, a sale. A clearer user journey was desperately needed in the new custom web design.

We also made a note to address the site Call-to-Action (CTAs) and better highlight key information the customer would need while shopping.

The client also requested a fix for their “cropshot” program, a feature where visitors could request photos of specific plants. They also reported issues with site responsiveness and a lack of website support.

Solution

Proposing A Custom Web Design Solution

As we discussed the scope of their project both teams came to the agreement that a total website redesign and UI overhaul were necessary. This would be needed across the umbrella of Midwest brands, which meant our team would be working on 6 unique websites as part of this custom web design project(s)!

Our custom web design proposal would address each of the unique issues affecting the Midwest websites, including ease of management, page load speeds, lack of critical website features (search and filter), a SEO strategy, an improved UI/UX, and the custom functionality requested by the client.

As experts in custom web design, we opted to build our client a custom WordPress website that would integrate with their inventory system and provide tangible solutions to the Midwest team.

Custom Web Design

Building a Complex Landscaping Website Designed for Growth with a Fully Integrated ERP System

Our custom web design team began designing a completely custom WordPress website paired with tailored PHP scripts to provide the functionality and features our client needed. The management of the Midwest website was simplified by our new backend programming.

Now the Midwest team would be able to make website adjustments and edits with ease. This granted greater control to Midwest over their site content and function and less reliance on a third party. The new build also addressed programs and systems that were not working before and fixed critical site errors.

To address the user journey and conversion issues our expert custom web design team got work improving the look and function of the Midwest websites.

We organized and simplified website content using collapsible menu options and implementing clear CTAs across the website pages to drive user action. Light green CTA buttons grab the user’s attention and direct their journey. This prevented the amount of content from overwhelming users and led them to the content that would be important to them, and most importantly provided conversion opportunities.

With a modern web design look and functionality user trust would be built, bounce would decrease, and overall conversion would increase across the websites.

Our team also made the ‘add to cart’ process more direct which would drive conversion, another custom feature built entirely through WordPress.

Custom Website Functionality

Custom Functionality for a Custom Website

The ‘cropshot’ feature error issues were fixed and the new process included an added notification feature that allowed users to know when a response was received. On the Midwest end, the requests were now accessible and organized so they could easily address each request and mark completed which would prevent the previous issue of requests from falling through the cracks.

Another key feature we addressed was the inventory syncs. Previously the syncs happened daily and took hours to complete. Our custom code created a process that only occurred as needed and took only minutes. This also tied into the new inventory system and would automatically update it as sales occurred while also generating an order request for the Midwest team. A live inventory meant customers could only order available products and prevent ordering issues. The order requests helped Midwest easily view and fulfill site orders.

We also created a custom search function built into the plant library section. This removed a duplicate section from the previous site and allowed users to use advanced search filters with an autoload feature while browsing the library. If you have trouble spelling Chamaecyparis nootkatensis from memory, this feature is for you.

Included in the technical updates was implementing mobile responsiveness across all 6 websites. Users could now load content correctly and quickly from any device.

SEO

Building an SEO Strategy To Drive Higher Search Engine Rankings

Our team of digital marketing experts also worked to help improve the SEO strategy of the Midwest websites. This effort would help increase their search engine rankings and generate more traffic for their websites through an integrated web strategy.

We began by researching the most valuable keywords for the Midwest Groundcovers brand. By identifying popular keyword variations we could leverage valuable SEO opportunities to improve the website reach.

With these terms identified the team worked to include them across the website content and pages. Core pages would focus on specific keywords to drive the ranking for that individual page. The use of these keywords would help Midwest to start ranking for these phrases.

From a backend perspective, our team ensured that all the technical SEO requirements were met, including meta tags and descriptions, title tags, and alt tags to name a few. These would help signal to search engine crawlers that the content was relevant.

Website Hosting

Simplifying the Website Hosting of Our Clients Different Brands

While building the new site we converted the 6 brand sites our client hosted separately to one hosting platform that further simplified and gave greater control over their websites. The new hosting helped fix previously dysfunctional or outdated processes that prevented the sites from being optimized.

With a simple hosting process, the management of the Midwest brands was made much easier. The hosting also included other benefits such as plugin updates and website image optimization to improve page load speeds.

Website Support

Continued Nurturing for Midwest Groundcovers with On-going Website Support.

Besides creating custom processes and features for our clients we maintained direct contact between our developer team and the clients throughout the entire process. We provided training support so that the Midwest team would be confident managing their new custom WordPress website. Additional technical website support is also provided by our team as needed.

In addition to website maintenance support, our team provides all of its clients with our exceptional customer support manager Haley Langer 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 Midwest Groundcovers better manage its website. This dedicated support helps our clients become more confident in fixing site issues and less reliant on third-party support.

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

Custom Web Design Built Specifically for Your Brand, Built for Better Rankings + Lead Generation

For over a decade, we’ve designed websites for brands reaching millions of users every month. We have a proven process for custom web development looking at every detail of a build while thinking ahead to how it will grow and evolve. You will not find any cookie-cutter templates here. Our web designers, developers, and content writers turn websites into strategic, customer experiences.

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 content 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 CRMs 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 on WordPress, 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

Custom web design service

Is your website a good representation of who you are and what you do? If not, our custom web design services can help!

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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

Everyone at Idea Marketing is very receptive and easy to work with. We always felt like our ideas and feedback were valued and welcomed.
‐ US Glove - Sports Gear Manufacturer

They took complicated content and created an attractive solution that looks professional and functions very well for our audiences.
‐ American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology - Chicago Healthcare Organization

I was skeptical after our other digital agency failed us over and over, but Idea has proven to be an exceptional partner for us.
‐ K. Gourlie, Carmex - Top Lip Balm Brand

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Meet Our Custom Web Design Agency

We work hard to be the web agency you actually enjoy working with. You can speak directly with any team member and can tell immediately they have your best interest in mind. No bullsh*t or technical jargon. Our agency was founded in Chicago on June 15, 2009. Since then, we have grown to include talented team members in various parts of the United States. Our clients are located all over the nation including worldwide.

Erin Karper

Senior UI/UX Designer

Frequently Asked Questions About Custom Web Design Projects

What is a custom web design?

Custom fit web design refers to the process of creating a website specifically tailored to meet the unique needs and requirements of a particular individual or organization. Unlike pre-designed templates or themes that are readily available and used by many websites, a custom web design involves creating a website from scratch, starting with a blank canvas.

With custom web design and development, the entire website is built and designed according to the client’s specifications, brand identity, target audience, and desired functionality. It typically involves working closely with a web designer or a web design agency who can understand the client’s vision and translate it into a visually appealing and functional website.

The process often includes the following steps:

Initial consultation: The client and the web designer discuss the goals, objectives, and requirements of the website.
Planning and wireframing: The designer creates a blueprint or wireframe of the website’s layout, structure, and navigation, outlining how different elements will be organized.
Visual design: Once the wireframe is approved, the designer creates the visual design of the website, including color schemes, typography, imagery, and overall aesthetics. This stage may involve multiple iterations and revisions based on client feedback.
Front-end development: The approved design is converted into a functioning website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This involves writing code, implementing interactivity, and ensuring the website is responsive and compatible with different devices and browsers.
Back-end development (optional): If the website requires dynamic content, user authentication, or database integration, back-end development may be necessary. This involves programming server-side functionalities using languages like PHP, Python, or JavaScript.
Content integration: The website’s content, such as text, images, videos, and other media, is integrated into the design and properly formatted for optimal presentation.
Testing and quality assurance: The website is thoroughly tested for functionality, performance, compatibility, and responsiveness to ensure a smooth user experience across different devices and browsers.
Launch and ongoing maintenance: Once the website is ready, it is deployed to a hosting server and made live. Ongoing maintenance and updates may be required to keep the website secure, up-to-date, and aligned with changing business needs.

Custom web design companies provide the advantage of creating a unique online presence that reflects the brand identity, provides a tailored user experience, and meets specific business objectives. However, it often requires more time, resources, and expertise compared to using pre-designed templates or themes.

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.

Check out our custom website examples paired with digital marketing strategies to grow your customer base and improve inbound lead generation.

How much does a custom website design 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.

Our custom web design packages provide detailed plans 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 $34,500. 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 including search engine marketing efforts:

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 the average timeframe to web design custom for each business?

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 for a custom web design build:

Website Advisory Plan > Team Strategy Meeting > Define Goal KPIs > Uncover Pain Points > Website Recommendations + Solutions > Competitive SWOT Analysis	10 Business Days
Website Strategy Roadmap > 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

Why is it better to invest with custom web design firms?

Your business is unique, and your website should be as well. Yet, there are many horror stories of companies spending anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000+ for “custom” and then when reviewing the HTML code, they can see that the designers used a template available on the internet for just $40.

For your website to be a true reflection of your business, time should be spent upfront learning about your business, who you are, what makes you different, who is your audience, what is the goal of the website, and more.

There is no one set template that answers all your particular needs and business objectives. That is why it is important that the website is custom crafted from the beginning to fit your needs and goals. Corners are often cut to get the job done faster and then when something needs to be changed later, it takes more time and money to fix than it should.

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.

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