Category: Web Design

Whenever you have a website, you need web hosting. Sometimes hosting is bundled with your web software (e.g., Wix, Squarespace, Shopify), but you’ll need to find a company to host your site if you’re using WordPress. What is website hosting? Your web host holds the files for your website, like your graphics, the database, the software, etc. These are large computer systems, and you want them to run reliably for you.  Run away from anyone who says they have servers in their basement that will host your website! Your web design firm may offer you hosting, but they are (nearly always) reselling hosting plans from a dedicated website hosting company. Hosting requires a significant investment in computer hardware and a team with specialized knowledge to maintain and run them efficiently. What to look for in a good web host Uptime ​​At the most basic level, you want your hosting to be running and functional so that people can access your […]

Every business needs a website, but pricing for websites can be confusing. We decided to pull back the curtain to help you understand how we estimate the costs of designing and building a website. How much does it cost to create a website? Here are the factors that affect the cost of a website: the design writing and creating other content functionality of the site how it needs to support your marketing activities fees for licenses, plugins and ongoing maintenance The design or look and feel of the site It doesn’t cost more to have a beautifully designed site rather than an ugly one. But since we’re professional designers focusing on branding, we take a strategic approach to the design. Custom design vs. prebuilt themes or templates At Visible Logic, every website we create is custom designed. We never use pre-built themes or templates. There are two main reasons why we don’t. First, we believe that small details about the […]

The Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS) helps public employees prepare for retirement. After a new logo was designed by Visible Logic, their website needed an upgrade too. But the site needed more than just a new look. Here are the four most impactful improvements we made to improve the site. Before After Design Updates The old MainePERS site design was extremely dated-looking, using drop shadows, outdated graphics, and poor stock photos. Their antiquated design made them look less credible and was not what you would expect from an organization that makes important financial and investment decisions. The colors, fonts, and styles didn’t match their new branding and varied widely. Visible Logic redesigned the site, making it clean, friendly, and professional-looking. The new site matches the design styles established and used for their new building, handbooks, and other printed materials. The old site was also was not mobile friendly and hard to navigate. The site is now responsive and can […]

COVID-19 has made your business’ website more important than ever. Here’s how to make sure it’s up to the task. Because those in professional services sell their time instead of products, the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially devastating. How do you find leads if you can’t network or go to conferences? How do you provide a client with expertise if you can’t meet in person? What are you supposed to do if your business requires you to go into someone’s home (e.g. plumber or electrician)? Your professional services website may hold the answers to these questions. Before — because most of your business was conducted in person — your website may not have been a top priority. Now, in these times of social distancing and quarantine, it’s the critical link between your business and its clients. So, if your website has just the bare minimum or you’ve been merely “keeping the lights on”, it’s time to focus on improving it. […]