Category Archives: Website Design

Tingalls Collects 4th Consecutive Award for Madison’s Best Website Developer from InBusiness Magazine

Tingalls Graphic Design is wrapping up 2018 on a high note with the announcement that, for the fourth consecutive year, they’ve been voted the area’s best website development company in InBusiness Magazine’s Annual Executive Choice Awards. The winners are determined by majority vote of write-in ballots from 1,000 Madison executives, business owners and decision makers and honor businesses across a variety of industries for excellence and proven success. Tingalls Owner and Creative Director Tara Ingalls says this kind of acknowledgement is what fuels her passion every day. “We’ve served well over 1,000 clients since I founded the firm in 2000, and we strive to bring energy and creativity to projects … Continue reading →

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Posted in About Tingalls, Awards, Website Design

7 Ways to Ninja the Hackers Away From Your WordPress Website

Are you worried about hackers getting into your WordPress business website? If so, you certainly aren’t alone. Cyber threats are a much bigger concern than they used to be, and with so many large organizations being affected by online attacks, smaller businesses are paying more attention to online security than ever before. While it’s true that a lot of smaller companies and organizations are susceptible to cyber hacking, it’s generally because they don’t follow basic online security best practices. To help you avoid being an easy target for thieves on the internet, here are seven ways you can keep hackers at bay from your WordPress site… #1 Use Strong Passwords … Continue reading →

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Posted in Best Practices, Security, Wordpress

Why Choosing the Right Website Platform is Crucial to You

When it comes to web design for your business, which details are important to you? If you’re like most of the business owners we meet with, you’re probably concerned about the look of your website, and whether you can use the layout and content to attract new customers from Google and Facebook. What business owners tend not to think about is the platform their new websites will be built upon. Most have heard of WordPress, Drupal, Magento, and Shopify, but they don’t get concerned with the specifics. They want a good website, and good results, but don’t have the time or technical expertise to worry about the various applications involved. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Small Business Marketing, Website Design

6 Reasons Why DIY Websites Are Not Effective

Have you ever watched one of those do-it-yourself shows on television? They don’t just make it look easy to renovate a bathroom or a kitchen, they make it seem like fun! Of course, the reality feels just a little bit different when you’re knee-deep in broken tiles. The same analogy could easily be used for DIY websites. No matter where you look these days, there is a new service offering you a set of ready-made designs and templates at virtually no cost. It makes you wonder why you would spend your money hiring a professional web designer when you could just make a website on your own. Here are 6 … Continue reading →

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Posted in Website Design, Wordpress

It’s a Hat Trick – Tingalls Voted Madison’s Top Website Development Company for 3rd Consecutive Year

For the third year in a row, local Madison business leaders have voted Tingalls Graphic Design the area’s best website development company in InBusiness Magazine’s 2017 Executive Choice Awards. The firm also took top honors in the same category in 2015 and 2016. Winners are chosen by fill-in-the-blank majority vote by Madison executives, business owners and decision makers, having achieved top-of-mind awareness in the business community and representing the best of the best in local professional services. Tingalls Graphic Design, under the leadership of Owner and Creative Director Tara Ingalls, achieved another major milestone in 2017: During their 17th year in business, the firm celebrated serving its 1,000th client. “At … Continue reading →

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Posted in About Tingalls, Awards, Website Design

Tingalls Design vs. “The nephew’s girlfriend’s brother’s best friend” Website Designer

Your website will most likely be the largest investment you make to round out your company’s marketing efforts. Do you really want to leave the success of your online presence in the hands of someone who’ll design it for a six-pack of beer? Below are five important factors to consider with your website design that will push Tingalls Graphic Design to the top of your list. 1. Experience. How many professional and successful websites has your nephew created? Since 2000, our firm has designed and developed 100s of websites. We stay on top of current design trends, coding platforms, and know the ins and outs when it comes to what … Continue reading →

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Posted in Website Design

Google, Madison Web Design, and Mobile Devices

While it’s our job to design websites, we also work to educate the men and women that we work with about the finer points of maintaining their websites and attracting customers from the Internet. That’s why we’re making sure businesses know just how important it is to upgrade to a responsive web design. It’s our job as a leading Madison web design team to remind them that the mobile market is bigger than you might think. In case you aren’t sure why it’s such a big deal to upgrade to a responsive website, let us walk you through web design and mobile devices… There are no excuses for not having … Continue reading →

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Posted in Best Practices, Google, Google Mobile Update 4/21/15, Mobile Optimization, Website Design

Do You Want the Cheapest… or the Best Website Design?

Most business owners don’t have the time to scout and select a new web designer. Instead, they need to find a stable team who can build and maintain a successful online presence that will be useful and profitable for their company for years to come. However, web design is not an area where most businesses have a lot of expertise, so they go with what they think is most efficient and most profitable. We can easily compare the website design process with another situation where the average consumer has to make a huge buying decision that they’ll have to live with for a few years – the process of buying … Continue reading →

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Posted in Best Practices, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design, Wordpress

10 Google Analytics Stats You Should Be Watching

Do you ever wish you could have your customers tell you exactly what they want from your website? Wouldn’t it be nice if they would let you know in advance which articles they would read, offers they would respond to, and ads they would find compelling? While you’re not likely to get these kinds of insights in an email or survey, the information isavailable to you if you know where to look. The only problem is that most business owners and marketers ignore the one reliable source of data they have on customers and behaviors: Google Analytics. Completely free and immensely valuable, Google Analytics can tell you a great deal about where your … Continue reading →

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Posted in Advertising, Best Practices, Goals, Google, Tips, Website Design

Price and Value in Website Design

There are a lot of companies out there offering unbelievably low rates on business website design—both here in Madison, Wisconsin and around the world. You certainly could hire one of them to design your online presence, and you’ll probably save lots of money in the process. But, you might end up getting a lot less than you bargained for… The reason for this comes down to one simple fact: When you invest in a new business website design, you aren’t looking for a new design, or set of pages. Instead, you’re trying to get a tool that will help you reach new customers and make a great impression on the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Website Design

What Makes a Great Website?

Lots of business owners who meet with us know they need a website, but they don’t necessarily know what that website should look like, or what it has to include. What they want to know, really, is what makes a great website design? Which elements make your online presence stand out? The answer is going to differ a bit depending on the business and situation, but here are a few things your website simply must have to be exceptional: A killer first impression – When someone looks at your website for the first time, they need to know that it’s for a great company, and to get an instant sense … Continue reading →

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Posted in Blogging, Mobile Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design

7 Reasons to Add Video to Your Website in 2017

There are a lot of things you can add to your website to generate more sales leads, but few are as simple or effective as introducing online video. If you haven’t given video marketing a try yet, here are seven reasons we think you should make it a focus in 2017… #1 Video is Engaging Psychological studies have shown what we all recognize intuitively – that video captures attention in a way that still images and text can’t. Video engages us on an emotional level, making it more memorable and harder to ignore. #2 Video Clips Drive Conversions Because it is emotionally engaging, video can help drive decision-making by web … Continue reading →

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Posted in Videography | Video Production, Website Design

The 3 Biggest Website Design Mistakes

As the web has gotten to be bigger and more important, web design has become more crucial to the success of small businesses everywhere. And yet, we continually see business owners (and the creative teams they hire) make a number of unfortunate mistakes again and again. To help you avoid them, here are three of the biggest website design blunders we are still seeing in 2016. #1 Creating a Template Website – Your website should not be created from a template. If it is, it will have a generic look, contain lots of unnecessary code, and probably won’t make an impression on buyers. What’s more, you won’t own the design … Continue reading →

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Posted in Mobile Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, Website Design

Tingalls Graphic Design Voted Madison’s Top Website Development Company for Second Consecutive Year

InBusiness Magazine’s Executive Choice Awards Honor the Best of Madison Business Local Madison business leaders have voted Tingalls Graphic Design the area’s best website development company in InBusiness Magazine’s 2016 Executive Choice Awards. The firm also took top honors in the same category in 2015. Winners in a variety of categories are chosen by majority vote of 1,000 Madison executives, business owners and decision makers. In a statement announcing the 2016 winners, InBusiness Editorial Director Joe Vanden Plas said, “Since the winners and three finalists in each of 37 categories are chosen from a fill-in-the-blank survey, these are companies that have achieved top-of-mind awareness in the business community. They represent … Continue reading →

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Posted in About Tingalls, Awards, Website Design

Why Your Best Website Design Company Isn’t a Website Design Company

Although we post a lot of material on our blog about website design and development, the fact is we do a lot of other graphic design and marketing work, as well. And, if you’re serious about growing your business, you should work with a creative team that has lots of different specialties and capabilities—all under one roof. In other words, your best website design company probably isn’t a website design company at all … it’s a creative team like Tingalls Graphic Design that starts with your brand and messaging strategy first, then applies that to your website design and not the other way around. To understand why, you only have … Continue reading →

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Posted in Graphic Design, Logo Design, Print Design, Website Design

Do You Own Your Website Design?

A lot of business owners have never considered this question. Here’s a hint: If you aren’t sure if you own your website design, then you probably don’t. That’s because many websites are designed from publicly available and commonly used WordPress templates. That can be a bad thing for a couple of reasons. First, it means your website probably has a generic feel to it. It wasn’t created for your company; it was designed to be used for any company. The difference is going to show in a lot of subtle ways. Another issue is that you could find a competitor with a nearly identical website. Anyone can use the same … Continue reading →

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Posted in Best Practices, Website Design

Tingalls Featured on WisconsinRealEstate.com

Tingalls Graphic Design was recently featured on Wisconsin Real Estate, one of the top sites for Fitchburg, WI Real Estate. This Website and Logo Design Company Provides Quick Turnaround, Collaboration and Pro-Bono Work By Kelly Church Offering custom logo design, illustration, print collateral, and websites, Tingalls Graphic Design is more than just a graphic design studio. Owned by and named after Tara Ingalls, the Fitchburg, WI company started out of Ingalls’ home as a freelance business while she also worked full time. She was nicknamed “Speedy Tara” for her quick turnaround and that’s something she hasn’t sacrificed even as her company has grown. “Our turnaround is something I’ve been proud … Continue reading →

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Posted in Logo Design, Small Business Marketing, Website Design

What is SSL and Does My Website Need One?

Lately, some of our clients have been asking about purchasing an SSL for their website. Usually, it’s because they’ve heard it’s a big trend in web design and Internet marketing, but might not know exactly what it is or how it can help them. And, there are also scams selling fake SSLs, taking your money and never touching your site. So, let’s get to the bottom of things by answering a few questions that might be on your mind… What is SSL? SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and it basically means that a website that’s hosted in this way forms a secure, encrypted connection with each visitor. You might … Continue reading →

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Posted in Best Practices, Security, Website Design