Blog | Vortex Communications

What’s Better on Social Media – Likes? Reach? Conversions?

Building a powerful presence on social media is no longer optional – it's a must for any brand that wishes to rise above its competition. When it comes to digital marketing, successful social media strategies complement content-based sales funnels, driving traffic... [MORE]

July 25, 2017
Digital Marketing, Social Media

Why You Need to Be Consistent with Blogging and Social Media

The foundation of any good content marketing campaign is maintaining a practice of publishing frequently and consistently. This applies whether your platform is social media, blogging, YouTube or all of the above. As ACI Information Group points out, 211 million individual... [MORE]

July 19, 2017
Digital Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Web Design & SEO

Text, Image, and Video Content – How Much of Each Do You Need?

When it comes to digital marketing, the importance of visual content continues to rise. Whether formatted as video, image, or infographic, the ability to educate your audience visually is important for your SEO footprint. Web design experts have long seen... [MORE]

July 11, 2017
Digital Marketing, SEO, Social Media

Why You Really Do Need to Focus on Digital Marketing

Despite the gains to be made, there is still a huge number of small business owners who have yet to take the dive into digital marketing as an important lead-generating activity. You may have considered online marketing a tool to... [MORE]

July 6, 2017
Digital Marketing, Web Design & SEO

What Does “Responsive Design” Really Mean?

Anyone who has built a website in recent years has surely heard the term responsive design. The idea that modern websites need to display properly on a broad range of devices and screen sizes is widespread and a very important... [MORE]

June 27, 2017
User Interface, Web Design & SEO

The Importance of Buyer Personas in Digital Marketing

Digital marketers are keen to repeat the same advice you always hear – your site needs better SEO, you need to rank higher to attract customers. This advice is certainly helpful, but it's equally important to position your brand to deliver... [MORE]

June 22, 2017
Branding, Buyer Personas, Web Design & SEO

Local Business Listings and SEO: Boost Your Website’s Page Rank

If you use local business listings correctly, they can increase customer foot traffic to your door noticeably. If you don't use them correctly, they won't. It's as simple as that. One of the most important ways to use listings correctly is... [MORE]

February 12, 2017
Web Design & SEO

Building a Local Business Listing to Improve Your Website’s SEO

A local business listing is one of the most important online marketing tools for your business. It's arguably more important even than your company's web design or your social media accounts because it has the potential to deliver customers directly... [MORE]

February 12, 2017
Web Design & SEO

Local Business Listings: An SEO Opportunity You Can’t Afford to Miss

Imagine that you own a restaurant on Main Street, and a potential customer is walking down Main Street looking for a place to eat. He pulls out his phone and does a quick search for nearby restaurants. He gets a... [MORE]

February 12, 2017
Web Design & SEO

Mobile-Friendly Websites vs. Smartphone Apps: Where’s the Marketing Advantage?

There's no question that your business needs an online presence that's tailored to mobile devices. There is a question, however, of whether you should deliver that presence to users through a mobile-friendly website or via a dedicated mobile app. The... [MORE]

February 2, 2017
User Interface, Web Design & SEO

Making the most of your website design with contact forms

If you have a website, providing contact information to prospects and customers is a basic requirement. Companies who make it difficult or hide contact information can count on losing a visitor’s confidence in their product and service offerings. The nature of... [MORE]

January 25, 2017
User Interface, Web Design & SEO

Google Analytics is an ideal tool to evaluate your website’s effectiveness

As a graphic and website designer, I often meet with business owners who work as lawyers, accountants, medical specialists, financial planners and insurance brokers. The conversation will turn to my own services and these professionals often share with me, “it’s... [MORE]

January 22, 2017
Inbound, Web Design & SEO

Identifying Quality. Search Engines Have Work to Do.

Search engines — Google, Yahoo, Bing among others — are designed to help users find the best answer for their needs. The results listings SERP (Search Engine Results Page) are ordered by the search engine’s interpretation of relevance to its... [MORE]

June 4, 2016
Inbound, Web Design & SEO

“Money isn’t everything” when it comes to retaining design firm clients

Yes, it’s a tired cliché. But not too tired to still be appropriate in certain situations, such as client relationships. Maybe at the beginning of a relationship with a client, money–your fee–was the key to getting that first project. Along,... [MORE]

April 9, 2016
Blog, Graphic Design

How do you know it’s time for a Website Redesign?

First impressions happen fast. In as little as 3-7 seconds, website visitors decide whether or not you’re worth their time and money. So it pays to make a positive — and immediate — impact. To do otherwise is to risk... [MORE]

March 29, 2016
Blog, Web Design & SEO

Talk Up Your Brand More Effectively With These 3 Exercises

If you’re in any kind of sales role, you know that engaging your prospects and effectively communicating the value of your brand and products are must-do’s. Are you pitching the “Same Old Thing”? Whether you give a presentation, meet face to face,... [MORE]

January 27, 2016
Blog, Branding, Buyer Personas

Should you hire a Graphic Design Generalist or Specialist?

When a business needs a graphic or digital marketing firm to revamp their website, sales promotion designs, or presentation design and branding, there’s an important choice that must be made. What’s better, a designer specializing in your industry or a... [MORE]

January 15, 2016
Graphic Design

Make sure you don’t “Do Yourself In” with a “DIY” website

Do-it-yourself (DIY) business website templates and solutions may seem like a great idea, but the risks of cookie cutter design and below average site performance can far outweigh the short term savings you reap. Budgets are usually the primary reason people... [MORE]

November 3, 2015
Blog, Web Design & SEO

Want to engage visitors through web design? think like a composer

Ever wonder why a particular song is so appealing? We can recall our favorites quite easily—wherever we are, whatever we're doing. The lyrics and melody are always there, right beneath the surface, coming forward when we're in a particular mood. What... [MORE]

August 4, 2015
Blog, User Interface, Web Design & SEO

Senior housing marketing: does not having a mobile site hurt SEO?

Google is known for unleashing algorithm changes that rock the worlds of web design, SEO, and marketing. Their recent update is no different, and it’s even bigger than usual. This time, its target was improving search results for people on... [MORE]

July 6, 2015
Blog, Web Design & SEO

WordPress web design simplified with “visual composer” page builder

Building websites is getting easier for non-programmers. There are currently several hosted solutions such as SquareSpace, Weebly, Wix, and 1&1. If you know what you want to create in terms of website content, with pre-designed templates, these hosted solution website... [MORE]

March 28, 2015
Blog, Graphic Design, User Interface, Web Design & SEO

Creating a new web design for your company – consider using WordPress

Surprising as it may sound, there are still a large number of companies that do not have websites. Whether you already have a site or are looking to move your site to something that is easier to manage, you have... [MORE]

March 23, 2015
Blog, User Interface, Web Design & SEO

Focus on customers to improve keywords and search engine optimization

Failing to recognize the role of the customer in search engine optimization (SEO) seems to be a common mistake among business owners. They put time and money into impeccably designed websites, pepper them with what they think are relevant key terms, and then sit back... [MORE]

December 16, 2014
Blog, Inbound, Web Design & SEO

9 considerations when using WordPress templates

WordPress started as an open source project back in 2003. Since that time, what began as a simple blogging tool has become a full-blown self-hosted content management system used by millions worldwide. Why has WordPress become so popular? The answer... [MORE]

December 2, 2014
Blog, User Interface, Web Design & SEO

4 keys to designing a great real estate flyer template

Today’s real estate flyers can present a property in a way that just wasn’t possible in the days of poor quality photo-copies. What’s more, these flyers can now be saved as PDF files and shared across the Internet via download,... [MORE]

November 20, 2014
Blog, Branding, Graphic Design, Print Design