Sometimes you run across someone who knows what they want in a website. They have put a lot of thought about colors, logo design, SEO keywords, navigation sections and headings. Often times small business owners haven’t even begun to think about it! All they know is they need a website and need one fast. That’s where they put in a call to Severity and the ideas start flying.

So what should know before you contact a web design firm about putting together your website? Here are some suggestions to make the process run fast and as smooth as possible:

1. Create a breakdown of sections and pages.
Create a word document that lists out all the headings of the sections you want your website to have. Also, its very important you create the content you want to be expressed on your site. Unless you want to hire a copywriter to create content, you should write out the information for the about section, company vision, products and services etc. Put all this in a Mircosoft word document to be shared with the design team.

2. Do some research of keywords used in your industry.
Keyword research will help search engine optimize your website. When people go on Google, Yahoo or Bing to search for your site the search engine is looking for specific keywords people are searching for. You can use the Google Keyword Search Tool for free to find out what the best and highest ranking search terms are. Make sure that these terms aren’t too competitive. Otherwise, you might have all the search terms correct, but so will the other million websites in your industry.

3. Have your logo design created or ask the designer to develop one for you.
The design of your website is centered around your logo. I’ve had several clients of mine want a website yet don’t even have a logo designed for their company. Create a logo that expresses your companies vision and branding. Keep in mind logo designs change with the times. You don’t have to spend too much time getting a logo designed, especially since you may end up upgrading the design in 3-5 years.

4. Who is going to maintain your website?
You have to think about who is going to maintain your site. Some websites won’t need regular updating, however if you have a site that displays recent projects, articles or a blog section, you will need to update it with fresh content and information. Do you have someone in your organization that can handle this aspect? Are they familiar with web software or basic html and graphic images? Do you need to hire the web design firm to maintain the site too? All things you must consider in the beginning stages.

Thinking of these things will help get your website up and running as smooth as possible and will be a cinch for the design team to execute. I always tell my clients that web design is 90% planning and 10% execution. Many times clients are not prepared to best get the most out of their website. We want to help small business owners make the most out of their website investment.

What is Thumbtack?

Why can you go online right now and buy any product you want but you can’t do the same for tutors, handymen, dog walkers, or other local services? Thumbtack is changing that.

Thumbtack isn’t like typical local search directories that simply return business listings with ratings and reviews, leaving you no better off than the paper Yellow Pages.

Instead, Thumbtack gives you the ability to vet, contact and book service professionals the moment you find them.

We Are Listing our Services through Thumbtack under Affordable Small Business Web Design

Why Severity?

I get the question all the time, “Why “Severity” Design, isn’t that kind of harsh?”  Well, sort of, but not too much. Here are some words that are related to the word “severity” from the dictionary:

intense
simple
to the point
uncompromising

We chose the name Severity Design because we provide simple, intense designs that stand out amongst the competition on the web. When it comes to advertising, you really need to make sure the dollars you spend receive the return on your investment. Much of what is out on the web is dead design. What we do is custom fit your web design, yet keep it simple and to the point so there is no hassle about getting you out there and expanding your web presence. Yea yea, I know the name sounds a little harsh, but trust me, the service we provide is clear and clean cut. We don’t have long contracts for you to sign, forms or high pressure sales tactics. We simply give you what you need at a cost you can afford. Sure, we can change our name to something that blends in like “Elgin Web Design Company” or “Web Design Pros” but what would that communicate to you about the product you’re going to receive? I think it says generic and bland.

Severity Design will always be up for the challenge and we’re there for you when you need us with no nonsense design packages with clear pricing and great results. Consider us your outsourced marketing company for the small business guy!

Severity Design will be participating in the 34th Annual Elgin Foxtrot 5k run. The run will be hosted on Saturday, May 30th over the Memorial Day weekend. I know, 5k sounds like a lot, but I found out that it really only amounts to a small 3 mile run. Which for some of us, could be quite a distance! As for myself, I’ll be making sure to get in a few training runs before the big day to make sure I’m prepared.
So what does running a 5k race have to do with marketing and promotion? Good question, I guess I’m about to find out. This will be my first time participating in any kind of race, run or marathon oriented event and why I’m doing it I have no idea. Well, I kinda do. I felt like it would be a cool way to participate in the local community, partner with my wife in doing something together and at the same time try something new. Not to mention the health benefits of running. Of course, I’m not a runner by any stretch of the imagination. Which kinda brings me to the point.

When it comes to building your website or putting together any kind of design piece for your marketing, consider hiring someone who might be a little more experienced in these departments.

Trust me, it will save you a lot of time, stress and you’ll most likely come out with a way better produced element than if you or your 12 year old daughter tried to design it to save money. I’m going against my own advice here and will be attempting something that I am far from a professional in. But there is a fine line between a business and a hobby. Very few people run professionally, but lots of people run as a hobby and to stay fit. Many people might be interested in tinkering around on the computer with design software, but do you really have the time, technology know how and support to spend on such tasks? Most small business owners tell me no. You have more important aspects of your business to attend to.

So even though I will enjoy the painful, challenge my wife and I will be putting ourselves through for our 5k run, it will only be for fun. (As odd as that sounds) But when it comes to your business marketing, make sure you’re putting a little more thought, planning and bringing in the troops to act as your professional marketing team. Severity Design has the ability to help businesses small or great, to develop marketing plans, websites or publishing materials to help get the word out about your company. Looking forward to crossing the finish line with you!

One of the latest innovations for small business websites is the introduction of the content management system. (CMS) A content management system is a web platform designed to allow the owner of the website to self manage the content of the site. This has especially been of interest to small to mid-sized businesses. This service has been a demand for the majority of our clients at Severity Design who want the ability to be able to make updates and minor changes to their website themselves. Up until this point, most webmasters were responsible for making pain staking updates to headlines, news and image adjustments manually. Now we can design your website within the framework of a content management system to allow you to take over and manage your website 100% yourself. Here are some other features a CMS allows you to do:

* Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data
* Control access to data, based on user roles (defining which information users or user groups can view, edit, publish, etc.)
* Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data
* Allowing content creators to submit content without requiring technical knowledge of HTML or the uploading of files.

Although the cost for CMS systems like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are free to use, it’s the time that it takes to create the custom template around this infrastructure that ends up being time consuming and a little more expensive than you’re average static website. Rest assured, we are able to put together a package that will fit your needs and your budget.

Some organizations simply don’t have the time to maintain their own website or desire to do so. Who has the extra time to give to figuring out the technology essential to operating the system in exchange for the day to day operations of your company? For those who would rather have a webmaster handle your updates, content management and adding fresh images, Severity Design also offers a monthly servicing plan that allows for unlimited changes to your website for a low monthly fee. Consider us your personal marketing department except we don’t take up office space! If your interested in either of these services contact Severity Design today for a estimate. We’d love to hear from you!

Check out our new design for 2011! Severity Design is taking a fresh approach to servicing small business needs for 2011. One of the things people might not know about us is that we offer Social Networking Management services. Companies that have set up Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN accounts can quickly find out that in order to fully manage these marketing tools, you almost have to hire a full timer to cover this role. If you have Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIN accounts it might be a good idea to hire a Social Networking Management service to help save you time. Creating valuable status updates, tweets or online marketing campaigns can become pretty daunting of a task, especially for small to midsize organizations that don’t have the manpower or resources to price these things together into an effective marketing strategy. Never fear!! That’s what Severity Design is here for. We will set up your social networking accounts, manage them online and create fresh, up to date, creative content customized to your target niche. All done for an affordable price that fits your budget. Put your Social Networking tools on auto pilot and let us do the work for you.