Join our list!
Our blog, delivered to your inbox. Never miss a post!
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.
When Amy and I decided we were going to give our website a makeover for our 10th anniversary, we decided that it would be a neat idea to include a video to give our clients, and future clients, an up-close and personal look at how work and why we are a good fit to design…
We are super excited to announce that Sumy Designs has been in business now for ten years! We are extremely proud of our accomplishments and are grateful for all the clients, friend, and family who have been with along the way. We love what we do and we look forward to another ten years. To…
What is SEO? It stands for Search Engine Optimization. But what is that? It’s simply the process of trying to gain more organic (or not paid) traffic through search engine searches. Some people believe there’s a magic search button I can hit in the background, that makes your site suddenly show up #1, but unfortunately…
I do the design for all the websites created by Sumy Designs. My ultimate goal is for our clients to have a website they absolutely love, love, love. Of course, the idea of the beginning a website can seem intimidating and I never want our clients to feel overwhelmed; I want the design process to…
I recently had a client come to me because she wasn’t getting emails from her website form. She said the form was not working at all. So I went to the website and tested the form. It worked upon submission – I saw the confirmation notice. I then logged into the website to check it…
There are all kinds of stats when it comes to your website. There’s the number of visitors, number of pageviews, number of pages per visit, and on and on and on. But to me, the absolute most important stat that a site needs to focus on is conversion rate. What is the conversion rate? Conversion…
What is personal branding? Personal branding is the practice of individuals branding themselves to market and promote their careers or status. Most often the branding involves an individual’s name, product or organization. In today’s world, because of the overwhelming presence of social media and online marketing, personal branding is considered, by many, an essential part…
Your site needs to be mobile-friendly. It’s 2016, everyone has a smart phone. In fact, some people have smart phones but don’t have a computer. (I know! It seems crazy to me too, but it’s true!) So it’s really important that your site be mobile-friendly. In the world of responsive design, that usually means that…
First, what’s a bounce rate? If you have Google Analytics, you’ll see the actual bounce rate, which is the percentage of people who leave your site after only visiting one page. That means they found your site, didn’t see what they were looking for, and left before seeing any other pages. Now there could be many…
I enjoy taking photos of people, but not many people enjoy getting their photo taken. This is true especially when it’s a head shot for work! This is probably why most of us are afraid to even consider a portrait for our website. Statistically, the 2nd most visited page on a website is the…
I have a soft spot for design books, especially ones on typography. I spent the first part of my career in advertising and working with publishers, almost all of my work then was with print design. I thought it would be a good idea to share a few of my favorite design books. Of course they all won’t…
When you set up WordPress for the first time, it’s important to remember to take a look at your general settings and make some adjustments. Otherwise, your site will be left with all the defaults, and that’s probably not what you want. For example, if you don’t put in a tagline, then your tagline will…
Stock photos are a reality for those of us who don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on a professional photographer. But more often than not, someone else in your field will use a similar stock photo on their website. Everyone wants to be unique, so here are some great ways to turn make stock photos unique.…
I didn’t always understand how important the Call-To-Action is on a website. In fact, for probably seven years we didn’t even have one. We had a website. It had a “Get a quote” page. That was good, right? But then I started to learn more about how people respond to websites, and I realized I needed…
A common question I receive from clients is where they can get quality photos for their blogs and websites. In response, I ask the question, “How much do you want to spend on photography?” The answer is almost always, “As little as possible.” So, I’ve created a list of websites that I reference often that…
When we first started our business, almost ten years ago, we were very lonely. We work from home, and we didn’t know anyone else who did what we did. So we had each other, but that was pretty much it. For the first several years in business, we continued to not have any professional connections.…