Stuff We Value

Your Code Is Like the Foundation of Your Site

You may have never taken the time to look at the code behind your Web site. If you have, it may not have made much sense. That’s okay — you’re not a Web developer! But for those of us who design and build Web sites for a living, we know the code is the foundation upon which a site sits.

Some sites have shaky foundations, and use code that break in lesser-known or newer browsers. Poorly-executed code can also jeopardize your SEO efforts, sending the wrong signals to search engines about what’s important on your site. Bloated, overwrought code can lead to slow load times for your site — wasting your customer’s precious time and potentially sending them to your competitor.

At Madigram Media we strive to build sites that comply with most current Web standards. We also use best-of-breed coding techniques to ensure that your content is clearly and solidly presented.

Photo Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by on1stsite.

We Bake SEO into Your Site Right from the Start

There are a myriad of techniques that Web professionals can use to harness the power of search engines. Some of those techniques push, shall we say, ethical boundaries, and many business are led to believe that this is the only way to capture search engine placement.

At Madigram Media we use “whitehat” SEO approaches — focusing our efforts on helping clients build well-coded sites with strong, relevant content. In the end, we feel this approach is much more likely to help you reach your real audience, while avoiding the danger of being blacklisted from search results.

We will never make unrealistic promises to you about potential SEO outcomes. We think that’s dishonest and disingenuous. We’d rather help you understand how SEO works, and then work with you to build a site that’s more likely to capture the eye of the search engines.

We feel strongly about ethical SEO. Even if you don’t hire us, please don’t ever hire an SEO consultant who promises you unbelievable results. If it sounds to good to be true, it is. In the long run, the work of an unethical SEO consultant can undermine your years of good business practice.

Photo Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by DigiDi

We Think Clutter Belongs on Time Square, Not on Your Web Site

Nothing makes us more crazy than cluttered, overwhelming Web sites. We know it’s tempting to want to add every bell and whistle to your home page, stuff it with content, and then throw in a few animations for good measure. But, we’ve learned that this type of site usually results in one thing — driving customers away!

We know a thing or two about how to design a site — from organizing your content into logical groupings, to laying out that organization in a balanced, thoughtful way on a page, to surrounding that architecture with a visual design that compliments your business’ message and mission.

We like our design process to be collaborative, which is why we’ll give you plenty of opportunities to offer feedback. If you ask for something that we think could undermine your site’s purpose, we’ll tell you. After all, that’s why you hired a professional Web designer, right? But we won’t just tell you you’re wrong to want what you want. Rather, we’ll try to explain why we think a different solution might be better, and we’ll work closely with you to identify a solution that meets your needs AND contributes to the overall impact of your site.

Photo Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by iamNigelMorris

At the End of the Day if You Feel Like This, We're Happy!

We’re not the kind of design firm that takes on every client or job that comes our way. We try to be judicious about our workload, making sure that we can always support our customers in the way they deserve.

At the onset of every project, we draft a detailed project proposal and we work with you for as long as it takes to get it right. We want to be as upfront as possible about the kind of work we’ll be doing, the time it will take, and what you can expect to have at the end. We see this document as a critical component of your project, and we’ll answer any and all questions you might have about descriptions of our services or work.

Throughout the project, we’ll communicate with you as much or as little as you like during the course of the project. If you like weekly updates, that’s fine. If you’d rather just hear when major milestones are hit or when we have something for you to review, that’s fine, too.

Photo Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by dan taylor

We Love WordPress. We Think You Will Too.

Madigram Media works primarily with the open-source content management system, WordPress. If you read our blog, you’ll probably notice we talk about WordPress a lot.

We use WordPress, specifically, and open-source tools, generally, for a number of reasons. First, and foremost we use these applications because of the robust community of developers and users that have sprung up around them. Making use of these communities allows us to deliver results to our clients that are fast and effective. We also use WordPress because it’s a great platform for writing the kind of standards-compliant code we like. It’s also a flexible system for building out new designs and themes.

There’s another reason that we use WordPress, and it’s the one that matters most to our customers. To a person, the people we build sites for love to work in WordPress. It’s easy to edit existing content and even easier to add new content. Embedding images and video is a snap. Enabling new feature is often as simple as modifying a setting up enabling a plugin.

Occasionally, we make use of premium design frameworks and themes to build client’s site, too. We’ll always tell you when we do this, and we’ll take care of any necessary licensing or legalese. Whenever we use an existing framework or theme, we modify it extensively to meet your needs.

Photo Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by koka_sexton

Using Social Media Is All about Connecting with Your Audience

Whenever our clients are willing and interested, we encourage them to make use of the myriad of social networking and media sites that are part of the current Web landscape. We use these sites all the time to stay connected with colleagues in the industry, make new contacts, and learn about emerging technologies and tools. Our experience in this arena has taught us just how easy it is to connect with like-minded people through social media applications. We think most business can tap into these spaces to find new clients and serve existing customers. Social media is making the Web more dynamic and interactive, and your Web presence doesn’t need to be limited anymore to your Web site.

Photo Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by ~Aphrodite