Web Design Minneapolis

WordPress Web Design in Minneapolis

Using WordPress websites that are designed around your requirements and budget

web design minneapolisOver 60 million websites use WordPress for web design. WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla, which provide a theme, design, and templates are referred to as content management systems (CMS). Think of the CMS as the engine that powers your car and the theme as the framework.

There are thousands of themes and many are free. Your content (text, photos and video) is easy to update with a drag and drop visual interface. WordPress website designs are savvy, clean and easy to navigation. They save your company time and money because there is less development time and the maintenance costs are lower. Let the team at Mediapolis build a WordPress website for you.

Getting Started

If this is your first website, pick a name that is matches your brand or is catchy and describes your business. We can help you register your domain and setup website hosting with companies such as GoDaddy, Bluehost or One on One. Registering your domain name will cost between $10 and $12 per year while hosting costs between $10 to $30 per month.

Once you have your domain registered, you’ll need to decide on a WordPress theme. Many themes are free, but be sure to pick a responsive website theme that provides optimal viewing across a wide range of devices from desktop computer monitors to tablets and smartphones. This saves you development time, as well as reduces ongoing maintenance costs. Premium themes range from $50 to $200.

There are many plugins that help WordPress operate more effectively. Some of the best ones are free! Premium plugins cost between $15 to $200 each. Some are one time purchases while others are monthly or yearly licences.

Website Design and Content Marketing

Every web design project begins with a strategic discussion about your business goals, researching your market and then writing content. We’ll meet with your subject matter experts, graphic designer and other concerned parties to create a website that is integrated with your other marketing materials. Our interactive web design experts create a persuasive website that communicates your value proposition and compels users through an engaging interface. The result is an inspired design and user interface that is built as a balance between form and function.

Content Optimization

Content optimization includes improving the technical performance of content so that the page ranks better on search engines. Text, images and video are all forms of content. Search engines use this information in the search results they display for relevant keyword terms or phrases.

One of the most important elements of website optimization is the title tag. The title tag is used to set off the page’s title, which tells the audience what the page is about. Title tags need to be formatted differently than paragraphs.

Website content optimization is not only important for all text, but also pictures and videos too. Large pictures and graphics slow page loading. Google penalizes slow loading websites. We use tools to optimize the file size without affecting quality. Alt tags should be used with every picture. An alt tag is alternate text to describe the image when the image is not displayed or if text-reading software is being used (e.g., users with visual impairments). The software reads aloud the alt tag to describe the images that appear on the page.

Search Engine Optimization

Each website is built with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices to ensure your online success. Content marketing is important for SEO. To rank higher in search results, your website needs keyword rich content including pictures and video, proper meta information and quality backlinks to your website. Over time your Domain Authority (how much Google trusts you) increases so you rank higher in organic search. Setting up a Google My Business listing helps with local SEO.

PPC Advertising

Google AdWords is the most popular PPC advertising (pay-per-click advertising) platform. Others include Yahoo, Bing, Facebook and others. We offer one-time services such as Google AdWords account creation. We can help you write compelling copy for your ads and setup landing pages for your PPC advertising campaign. Google AdWords is not as easy as Google would lead you to believe.  In fact, most of the default settings are not in your business’ best interest.  There are a lot of common and costly mistakes that are made by both beginners and experienced advertisers. For this reason we run only basic to intermediate AdWords campaigns. These PPC advertising campaigns are designed for small businesses.

e-Commerce and Payments

If you sell products or services, we can set up e-Commerce on your website. We’ll set up a shopping cart so you can sell and accept payments from your customers using approved third party payment processors such as PayPalAmazon Payments or Stripe. Users will be redirected to the payment portal that goes directly to another website. The end user then needs to login and submit payment.

Website Maintenance

Updating a WordPress website is easy. Web design is more than just showing who you are and what you offer. Many business owners and managers think that their product or service will sell itself. They focus on a glossy website to sell it, and only realize the shortfalls. At Mediapolis we believe that clients should be able to alter the messaging on the website on short order. With a WordPress site, web design changes are easy.

After we create your website, we can provide ongoing web services that helps your website stay fresh. As needed we’ll enhance functionality and design by updating graphics; installing  software updates, backups, and more.

As a consultant, we can teach you or your team how to update your website. We provide one-on-one training and support. When you get stuck we’ll get you back on track because we are just a phone call or email away.

Alternative to WordPress

SquareSpace is similar to WordPress except for a few exceptions. First of all it is hosted on the SquareSpace server so you don’t need a hosting company.  SquareSpace sites are easy to build and change; everything is WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get. You simply pick a theme and arrange the content by using a browser-based editor. Very little coding is possible.

The SquareSpace platform is a perfect fit for small business owners that want a simple DIY website that they can maintain themselves.  The out-of-the-box functionality is an alternative to the more robust platforms like WordPress. The downside is that you might not have optimized the website for SEO so it’s best to use a professional to design it or review it before you publish it. Once the website is reviewed, we can tell you what you shouldn’t change in order to keep it optimized for search.

SquareSpace Benefits

  • Economical – SquareSpace is affordable with low annual rates
  • Fast Build – Rapid development using pre-built templates
  • Stabile Platform – Hosting is provided via the SquareSpace server
  • Customizable – Template design can be modified including colors, fonts, background images, etc.
  • Easy to Use – Add new pages and content easily using the browser based admin screens
  • Mobile Friendly – Every template is optimized for mobile devices

Clean designs, easy to understand navigation and clear calls to action, set the stage for a successful results driven website.  Get started today. Contact us for WordPress web designs.

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Mediapolis, LLC
Minneapolis, MN 55412

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