Web Design Tricks, Tips and Thoughts

Turning Your Website into a 24/7 Salesman Remember that time you set up a lemonade stand as a kid? Your hand-painted sign beckoned the thirsty folks in your neighborhood. Ah, those were the days. But guess what? Your website can be your modern-day lemonade stand, only it never packs up [...]

You know that feeling when you stumble upon a life-changing app on your phone? Maybe it's one that helps you budget better, or perhaps it's one that reminds you to drink water (imagine going back 20 years and telling people that that would be a thing in the future). Now, [...]

Crafting a B2B website? Dive into our wine-inspired guide, ensuring your digital presence is as captivating as a top-shelf Bordeaux. At Sharp Guys Web Design, we serve up elegance with every pixel. Cheers!

Discover how Sharp Guys Web Design seamlessly integrates donor management systems into nonprofit websites. Our tailored approach ensures smooth implementation, easy updates, and ongoing support to help nonprofits thrive.

Hey all, I saw an ad popup recently for a competitor to WooCommerce, the main eCommerce platform used by companies using WordPress.  I'm always interested in a better WordPress eCommerce website solution if it exists so I gave plugin Prodigy Commerce a spin.  I did a 25 minute video review/analysis, [...]

Join Cody Sharp as he takes you through Sharp Guys' proven website redesign project plan. Discover how we redesign websites to deliver exceptional user experiences.

Discover why partnering with a local web design agency can transform your business, and why it’s time to wave goodbye to those impersonal, distant digital giants!

Boost your sales with an expertly designed website. Learn practical tips on user-friendly navigation, responsive design, engaging content, speedy site performance, clear CTAs, and SEO optimization.

Learn how to unleash your website's full lead-generation potential. Harness practical tips, expert advice, and my personal experiences to make your website a lead-generating powerhouse!

Discover the multiple benefits of using WordPress for your business website. From flexibility to cost-effectiveness, learn why WordPress is the go-to choice for businesses worldwide.

Learn how to turbocharge your website's lead-generation capabilities with these practical tips and insights. Discover how prioritizing your clients' needs can supercharge your business growth.

Discover the importance of regular website maintenance and updates, and how it can boost your website's performance, security, and user experience.

Learn how to incorporate video content into your website design. Discover the benefits of homepage videos, product videos, testimonial videos, and educational videos. Enhance your website design with video content with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Explore the impact of social proof on website design and conversions. Learn about the role of reviews, testimonials, case studies, and trust seals in boosting conversions. Harness the power of social proof with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Understand why good website design is crucial for content marketing. Discover how it enhances user experience, increases visibility, boosts engagement, builds trust, and supports content marketing goals. Improve your website design with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover how to build trust with secure websites and e-commerce. Learn about the importance of HTTPS, security badges, regular updates, privacy policies, and secure payment gateways. Build trust with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Learn why a professionally designed website is essential in 2023. Explore the importance of first impressions, 24/7 accessibility, credibility, competitive edge, and affordability. Upgrade your website with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover key factors to consider when revamping your business website. Understand the importance of purpose, audience, content, SEO, budget, compatibility, and testing. Get expert help with your website revamp at Sharp Guys Web Design.

Explore the pros and cons of different Content Management Systems - WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. Discover why WordPress comes out on top for most web design needs. Make the right CMS choice with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover the power of microinteractions in enhancing user experience. Learn how these subtle design elements can turn a functional website into a delightful journey. Take your website to new heights with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Unravel the maze of WordPress with this comprehensive guide for beginners. Learn about themes, plugins, content, and more. Start your WordPress adventure with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Learn the secrets of color psychology in web design. Discover how the right color choices can influence emotions, guide actions, and improve accessibility. Let's paint the web with colors that matter with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover the future of web design from an Indianapolis expert. Learn about the rise of user experience, AI personalization, and sustainable design. Let's ride the wave of the future together with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Understand why website security is crucial for your business and how it helps safeguard your customers. Build a secure digital fortress with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover the key digital marketing metrics that matter big time! Learn why measuring these metrics is crucial for your marketing success. Join us for a fun and relatable ride!

Discover the power of branding and web design as the ultimate digital marketing duo. Learn how they create consistency, credibility, recognition, engagement, and loyalty for your business. Get expert help from Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover why having a mobile-responsive website is a big deal and how to check if your site meets the mark. Learn about the importance of mobile responsiveness, user experience, and SEO, and test your site with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover the secrets to achieving user bliss with Sharp Guys Web Design's comprehensive guide to UX design for websites. From navigation and readability to responsiveness and pop-ups, learn how to create a seamless user experience.

Discover how to craft a winning content strategy for your business blog with Sharp Guys Web Design. Learn the steps to understand your audience, set goals, brainstorm topics, plan your content calendar, create compelling content, promote, and optimize for success.

Discover the best practices for nonprofit web design, from user-friendly navigation to compelling storytelling. Make your website a digital masterpiece with Sharp Guys Web Design.

Ready to unlock your web design potential? Discover the six qualities to look for in a web design company and why Sharp Guys is your perfect match. Contact us today to embark on an extraordinary web design journey.

Today, we're veering away from the usual web design talk and diving into the world of artificial intelligence (AI). Over the past months, I've spent a considerable amount of time—hundreds of hours—exploring different AI models, including language, image, video, and music models.  In fact, I made a video diving into [...]

Discover the secret sauce to driving leads and sales in B2B digital marketing. Learn practical tips and strategies from the experts at Sharp Guys Web Design.

Discover the 5 secret sauce ingredients for crafting a high-converting landing page. Learn how to create compelling headlines, focused content, irresistible CTAs, social proof, and a distraction-free experience. Boost conversions and claim your digital treasure!

Embark on an epic quest to build your startup's online fortress. Discover the keys to a stunning website, SEO, social media, monitoring, content marketing, and online reputation. Reign supreme in the digital realm with a strong web presence!

Picture this: You've just whipped up the most mouth-watering, finger-licking dish known to humankind. But wait, something's missing—the secret sauce! Just like a culinary masterpiece, a high-converting landing page needs its own secret sauce to truly shine. So, grab your apron, and let's get cooking as we reveal the five [...]

As a small business owner, you've probably heard the term "local SEO" thrown around more times than you can count. But what does it actually mean, and how can you use it to give your business a much-needed boost? Well, fear not, my fellow entrepreneurs! In this no-nonsense, step-by-step guide, [...]

Greetings, digital wizards and web-wandering warlocks! Have you ever gazed upon the vast realm of search engines and pondered the arcane arts of SEO? You know, the mystical practice that can make your website appear like a dazzling phoenix rising from the ashes of obscurity? Well, ponder no more, for [...]

As a small business owner, you've probably heard the buzz about local SEO (search engine optimization) and how it can help your business climb the ranks on Google Maps. But what exactly is local SEO, and how can you use it to your advantage? In this blog post, we'll explore [...]

Do you have a brick and mortar store that you would like to promote online? Or are you a software company looking for ways to improve your local search results? If so, then you need to start using Google Business Profile (which used to be called Google My Business). Google [...]

Are you here because you searched for 'Why Is My WordPress Website So Slow' and later on searched 'Network Solutions Sucks'? If so, then I have already correctly guessed that there are people that have had those searches in that exact order. If not, maybe you have only searched for [...]

Are you struggling to come up with ideas for your company's blog? You're not alone. Many marketers and owners find it difficult to come up with topics that will engage their readers and help them achieve their marketing goals. In this blog post, we will provide 7 tips for generating [...]

Designing a website can be as daunting as baking cookies with children. A typical website design process may last several months, so it's crucial to ensure consistent progress towards a visually appealing, on-brand, and functional website that generates leads and engages visitors. At our Indianapolis website agency, we've developed a [...]

Are you wondering how you can generate more leads online from your website in 2022 and beyond? Digital marketing offers so many different avenues that vary in complexity and difficulty, sometimes it is hard to know where to begin. Today I'm here to provide 5 simple, easy-to-understand takeaways that can [...]

With recent Google algorithm updates, WordPress website speed is more important than ever. The more you do to tweak your website and make it load faster, the better you will engage your audience that lands on your website. And in fact, you may even find that you can show up [...]

Sharp Guys Web Design has over a decade of experience working with nonprofits to design or redesign their organization's websites. Many times these nonprofits range in size from smaller to larger with the average organization having 20 to 50 employees.  From nonprofit clients like St. Mary's Child Center to Water [...]

As the owner of a web design agency, it's been a constant struggle for me to understand why some agencies insist on requiring their clients to continue paying them even after their website has been fully developed. From my perspective, ongoing fees should offer genuine value, or at the very [...]

Dr. Karlinsey was not only one of the nicest guys we have ever spoken to, he was also incredibly accomplished having a bunch of patents under his name at a young age.  His idea was to...

So you decided to take the step of creating a new website for your business - replacing an existing one, or coming up with something entirely new. You decide on WordPress after seeing it used on a number of friend’s websites or you may have even used it before at [...]

I have often heard clients express interest in creating their own email newsletters or improving their existing ones.  I typically tell them they should, but to avoid the common mistakes companies make with their emails.  Primarily the newsletters in question are salesy and boring, just like their competitors and won't [...]

When Covid hit in March, our client's WordPress websites were crucial to helping them communicate with their clients and visitors.  With many of our web design clients being essential businesses, they often were not entirely shut down even during the worse months from the onslaught of the virus.  These essential [...]

Google, Google, Google, will you please, tell me who's the best web designer in Indy? No, this is not just a pompous exercise to show off our 5 star Google reviews or an unnecessary rhyme, to show off my poor rhyming skills.   This is a real question that is often [...]

You or someone previous to you made the wise decision to create a WordPress website.  Now you log in for the first time in a while and you see that there are a ton of plugins that needs updated.  How do you update the WordPress website plugins and what precautions [...]

Deep in thought... which digital agency is right? Recently in Indiana, and more specifically in the Indianapolis-area, there have been a couple of different agencies that have either closed their doors for good or have been acquired.  When that has happened in the past, we often get a [...]

Hey gang, If you are a business owner or marketer with a physical location that is struggling due or with some time on your hands and looking to do more online, this could be beneficial. It is pretty common for folks to have questions about Google Analytics, Google Search Console, [...]

Imagine you had a farm and you had a few hens that laid eggs.  These hens were super amazing and every once in a while, one random hen would make an egg that was gold and you would sell it and make a ton of money.  Pretty soon you would [...]

Have you ever wondered, 'How do I get my company to show up on Google?'.  To answer that question, I would likely need a bit of additional content.  Do you mean, the Google Map that shows all of those companies or simply within the Google search results for a keyword [...]

We provide web design and digital marketing for a lot of industrial and manufacturing companies throughout Indiana and the rest of the country.  One thing many of these companies have in common is that they have a limited marketing team or in many cases, none at all.

Have you said, 'social media doesn't work for my B2B company' within the last year or two?  Hold it, I think we've met as I've been hearing the same thing for years.

If you have ever been on the internet (that's a joke, of course you have, you're here right now), you more than likely have run into a slow website a time or two.  Or maybe you manage, run, or have created a website that is starting to run a bit [...]

Most companies have pretty standard lead forms on their website and almost all of them are poorly made.  Name, Phone, Email, Subject (what the hell does this even mean?), and Description - those are the standard fields I see most.  Their call to action button, the time honored (and completely [...]

Okay, yes, I'm going to be explaining some struggles experienced by Industrial and Manufacturing companies on their website redesign mission, but I can't just jump right into industrial web design.  That wouldn't be much fun, plus how much of a robot do you think I am?  I think I should [...]

Our Decade-Long Journey: Connecting with You Sharp Guys is an Indianapolis web design company that has been in business for more than 10 years.  When we first started out, organic web leads were fairly rare.  Over time they have become more frequent and we now receive a number of calls/emails [...]

Image of Jeremy using montage-type training as part of our web design learning. Hi, I'm Jeremy Butcher, the Digital Marketing Manager here at Sharp Guys Web Design. Okay, now that we're done with introductions, let's jump right into talking about some serious digital marketing and web design elements [...]

This year I have listened to or read some books.  Some of them were great, some may have been considered great but felt like a slog to me to get through.  Below is the entire list from this past 12 months but before I get to that, here are my [...]

One of the things I do after meeting with anyone, on the phone or in person, is write a custom followup email.  I do this for a number of reasons.  One, it helps keep a record of the things the potential client is interested in.  Two, it makes sure we [...]

I often have people ask me what Sharp Guys' does.  Over the years, I have gotten a bit better giving my elevator pitch, but I don’t think I have perfected it yet.  For example, I might say something similar to what you'll find on this website's about section - “Sharp [...]

You have a dream one night – you dream of being an eCommerce marketer and having the ability to directly attribute every dollar you spent on digital marketing to every dollar of revenue made. If you are in eCommerce and simply dreaming this and not already doing this (but have [...]

There are songs that I have heard 1000 times in my life and I could listen to them 10,000 times more (over a lengthy enough period) and be quite content. And then there are songs I hear 2 times and it is 2 times too many. Sometimes receiving email from [...]

If you’re like most people, you will use Google to search for something at least 5 times today.  Me? I’m sitting around 10 or 15 at midday.  80-85% of all web searches are done using Google.  There are 63,000 searches per second being done on their servers.  15-20% of searches [...]

If this is the first time you are hearing of Google certifications, let me write a quick introduction.  Google has essentially created a platform for learning more about all of their products that they offer and a way to be certified that you know what you are doing .  And while not [...]

I have nothing against the author of this plugin and the tremendous work he has put into it.  It’s widely used and well known, and if you are an advanced user, you will likely have no problem not falling prey to its most common issues.  However, most people are not [...]

Several times over the past year we have started the project of creating a new website for Sharp Guys Web Design. Unfortunately, this client (ourselves) are really a pain in the butt. We keep getting 'busy with other things' and are 'too focused on our core work to keep pushing [...]

Over the last month or two I have been fighting Facebook Instant.  At first it was due to their slow, manual review process for approving new websites trying to utilize Facebook Instant.  My client's theme and usage of embeds caused numerous problems for Facebook's parsing code and the WordPress plugin [...]

My buddy and I had a website when we were 18-19 years old that has been dead for well over a decade.  I won’t use the real address (let’s call it pardonusforbadwriting.com) since the content was sports related and displays a quality of writing (that though I was proud of at the time) [...]

Often times this is the first thing a business owner/marketing person is interested in when we chat. It can be a good question but let's take a step back. Do you simply want eyeballs on your website's content? Probably not unless you earn money by the eyeball. Most likely, you have [...]

No, I don't think Google needs more money. However, spending money typically has the benefit of leadership wanting to know what they're getting from it. That would mean that people would have to start looking at their Google Analytics data to find out what they can learn in order to [...]