Ladybugz Interactive started in the Fall of 2020 with Lysa Miller freelancing for women-owned and local growing businesses. Miller put her digital marketing and relationship-building chops to work, making her own web design and search marketing company a top priority.

“Many business owners make the mistake of not doing their marketing first,” says Miller. “But as a web design and digital marketing company, I had to focus on what I know best to grow our agency.”

Not wanting to build another agency, a few of Miller’s freelance clients urged her to start over and to do what she was doing for them, for others. So she did.

Within a few months, inquiries increased and Miller had no choice but to start the company by hiring Frank Pereira from Providence’s Ten12Design in late October. From there, Ladybugz continued to grow over the next year. We are now a team of 19 experts specializing in niche verticals for early growth companies in biotech, B2B, education, and non-profit. We’ve launched over 40 websites in our first two years and are servicing a clientele of more than 50 support and 10 digital marketing clients. 

Ladybugz also works with Boston area legacy brands to up-level their traditional marketing efforts helping them navigate these fluctuating and unpredictable times.

An Impressive Team of Digital Marketing Leaders With Decades of Online Experience

Finding amazing team members wasn’t that hard and it’s a crucial piece of our digital marketing success story. The pandemic had hit most freelancers relatively hard and Miller offered some seasoned experts an opportunity of a lifetime.

The ability to grow with Ladybugz along with keeping the option to still work in their freelance firms as they desired. In the end, Miller felt like these experts brought so much value to the table. With a shortage in the workforce, this model suited our agency just fine. 

Most of the team now represent the company exclusively, but the agency still slides contractors the perfect direct client when needed to let them fine-craft their skills on non-agency projects. The team consists of digital specialists in web design and development, brand building, web support, SEO, social media, online marketing, and more.

Digital and Creative Leaders Paving A Local Web Design Agency’s Success

Agency Mama Bear of Strategy and Growth 

Lysa Miller oversees Ladybugz’s overall growth, focusing on business development, demand gen, strategy, and operations. Lysa has worked in digital marketing for more than 20 years and understands how to create long-term success in an ever-changing online environment. 

Web Services Director and Fun Video Guy

Frank Pereira is a graphic designer and WordPress content implementation specialist. He manages computer networking systems and oversees layout designs that go above and beyond client expectations. 

Creative and Branding Leader

Morgan Kropa has worked with companies to perfect their digital online branding for more than a decade and a half. She understands the importance of businesses identifying and honing their brands online to ensure real-world results. 

Growth Leader

Aya Lanzoni leads our digital marketing team with project management and strategy. She keeps our digital marketing clients growing and happy. As a highly organized team member, Aya keeps deadlines in place and manages an awesome team of rockstars.

COO Extrodinaire 

Billie Kenyon is dedicated to customer success and is constantly coming up with innovations and improvements that benefit both the Ladybugz team and the clients they serve. 

User Experience Dream Team

Leanne Kennis, Alison Sullivan and our excellent designer, Ryan Kohler pair up to guide clients as they work to identify their digital voice, especially early-growth companies. The combined expertise makes for the perfect design, messaging, and user experience that flows together perfectly. A recent example of such a success story is Paradigm4’s new website.

Social Media Rockstar

Crystal Daher’s expertise is in digital marketing, social media, and SEO implementation. A beautiful new website means nothing if nobody can find it online, and Crystal ensures that Ladybugz clients’ content ranks highly in web and social media searches. 

Content Ranking Queen

Amy Westebbe is referred to as the agency’s secret weapon when it comes to ranking content. Amy is the voice behind many of our client’s highly engaging (and ranking) content. Our SEO team works with Amy to craft topics and website content that will read and rank.

Online PR & Events Maven

Meet Ola Patykowski our public image coordinator. Ola is the creator behind our social media reels and video promotions. Ola also helps clients with the same. In addition, she manages our Ladybugz awards, events, and media opportunities. Secretly she is our agency’s stylist.

Visual Storyteller

Wherever you find a Ladybug event or PR opportunity, you will also find our company photographer, Lis Rock, documenting it. Lis helps us tell our story through photo-journalism capturing real moments we can share with our friends and fans.

A custom interactive and iterative process (Agile!) for a successful website launch

The team at Ladybugz Interactive has created a unique method to help early-growth companies identify their digital voice. This agile process allows clients to get custom WordPress websites designed, developed and launched in just 8 to 12 weeks. Afterward, Ladybugz continues to work with clients to ensure the long-term success of their digital strategies. Learn more about all of the digital marketing professionals at our web design and digital marketing agency.

As an ecommerce design agency, Ladybugz Interactive leverages a blend of creativity, technical expertise, and strategic thinking to deliver online stores that are both visually compelling and optimized for conversions. Our team understands the unique needs of ecommerce businesses, ensuring every website we build is tailored to enhance user experience, drive sales, and support long-term growth in the digital marketplace.

Focusing our web design sights on growing companies in biotech and beyond

Throughout Ladybugz Interactive’s inaugural year, we have carved out a niche for ourselves in digital marketing for biotech companies, specialty education and non-profit organizations, and B2B and B2C companies. We specialize in affordable but high-quality service for early-growth companies, with a focus on woman-owned and minority-owned businesses.

See our impressive portfolio to learn more about the digital marketing strategies that Ladybugz has implemented for our clients. 

Our boutique digital agency gets featured in the online media (over and over.)

We specialize in helping clients tell their stories through digital marketing. Like any business, Ladybugz has its own story, which has been featured in print and on podcasts. 

A November 2021 article from the MetroWest Daily News highlights how Ladybugz from a one-woman show to one of the top agencies in the Boston area. When the pandemic required companies of all kinds to increase their digital presence, The Ladybugz team was there for clients who didn’t even know where to begin. 

For those who want to hear our digital marketing success story for themselves, we’ve been featured on the popular podcast The Resilient Entrepreneur twice. The first time, Lysa and host Michelle Mercier discussed how to block out the noise in your life, both personal and professional, to focus on success. The second time, Miller shared her advice on building strong relationships to grow your business.

For an in-depth look into our digital marketing success story, read our feature on Cloudways.com, a managed cloud hosting platform that features a blog with advice from industry experts. In this 2020 interview, Lysa shared the origins of Ladybugz, the team’s creative process, and her definition of customer success. She also highlighted the diverse clientele of Ladybugz Interactive, how the team has shifted during COVID-19, and how to balance personal and professional brands online. 

For more expert advice and insight into the Ladybugz creative process, see the full list of publications that have highlighted our work in the world of digital marketing. 

Continuously Named a Top Boston Web Design + Digital Marketing Agency 

Ladybugz Interactive has been recognized time and time again for our work helping dozens of companies create and maintain a strong digital presence. 

Ranked 2023’s Top Creative Agency in the USA on Clutch.co and The Manifest, proves the agency’s hard work is highly coveted and recognized in the industry.

Ladybugz Interactive was also named one of the Women-Owned Agencies to Watch Out for in 2021 by Agency Vista, a network of more than 46,000 marketing agencies. 

Clutch.co, a leading B2B research company, named Ladybugz Interactive one of the Top Global Creative & Design Firms of 2021 as well as one of the Top-Ten Women-Owned B2B Web Design and Digital Marketing Agencies. Ladybugz continuously receives perfect 5-star reviews on this platform. 

Most recently, Ladybugz was named as one of the Top Web Design Agencies in New England as well as one of the Best Boston Marketing Agencies by Agency Spotter, a site that uses customer reviews and data to help clients find marketing services worldwide. 

As Our Agile Digital Agency Evolves, Our Commitment to Our Clients Remains the Same 

While helping clients expand their digital presence, Ladybugz Interactive is expanding our physical presence in Boston and beyond. Our studio in Hudson provides a space for creative services – namely photography, video production, and podcasting – allowing our talented team of full-time staff and freelancers to exercise their skills and go above and beyond for clients. Additionally, the Ladybugz Interactive Boston Seaport office provides a central meeting point for digital marketing clients across the greater Boston area. 

As Ladybugz Interactive continues to evolve in 2022, we remain committed to our mission of providing high-quality digital marketing to local, early-growth companies at an accessible price. We will continue to bolster women/minority-owned businesses and focus on diversity. Hand in hand with this goal is Ladybugz Interactive’s commitment to supporting freelancers by providing regular work in a people-first environment. 

If your New Year’s resolution includes growing and maintaining a strong digital presence for your business, contact us to see what our award-winning digital marketing team can do for you.

Is WordPress or ExpressionEngine Better?

When it comes to popularity, WordPress wins hands down, accounting for more than 59.8% of all CMS websites. ExpressionEngine accounts for only 0.3 percent of CMS websites (W3Tech Survey).  But that’s not to say ExpressionEngine doesn’t have its champions. It’s not a matter of which is better, but how they are different.  

As just a few examples, many developers appreciate that ExpressionEngine enables them to apply stronger user management and security features, syndicate and display content from other sites using RSS feeds, and use plug-ins for dynamic data pulls that compile information from multiple sources into a single page or post. Other developers gravitate toward WordPress because of its rich library of highly customizable themes, more than 60,000 plugins to extend features and capabilities, user-friendly interface for managing navigation, and drag-and-drop page builders. Many, many more features come into play when picking a “favorite.”

The following factors and considerations below are a good place to start.

Four Major Factors When Comparing ExpressionEngine vs WordPress

How is ExpressionEngine like WordPress—and how is it different? Four of the most basic ways to break down ExpressionEngine vs Word are as follows:

Ease of Use

As a broad comparison, WordPress is considered easier to learn and requires less technical know-how than ExpressionEngine. Why? WordPress focuses on pre-built template-driven design that makes creating and managing a site’s content, SEO, theme, templates, and so on relatively easy, even for largely non-technical users. At the same time, it still provides everything needed to build large, dynamic, feature-rich sites—including large eCommerce sites such as Walmart, Etsy, and IKEA. ExpressionEngine typically requires greater expertise to leverage its full capabilities.

Flexibility

Whereas most people would say WordPress wins on ease of use, ExpressionEngine is all about freedom and flexibility for content, design, and functionality. Developers don’t have the constraints of sticking to WordPress PHP, code, and add-ons. While ExpressionEngine may require a little more effort, it also provides the ultimate control, where an experienced developer can create a unique website template, building it exactly how they want it to look and function with ExpressionEngine. Still, developers may sometimes miss all the ready-to-use templates and add-ons that make WordPress so appealing. 

Updates and Security

Is WordPress or ExpressEngine more secure? Many people consider WordPress to be more vulnerable to hackers. On the plus side, WordPress pushes core and add-on update notifications, which can be applied automatically or with a few clicks. Updates for ExpressionEngine itself and any add-on updates are done manually and require specific procedures that take additional time, expertise, and downtime. ExpressionEngine can create security risks for companies with limited website budgets or digital expertise. On the positive side, ExpressionEngine allows users to create and manage multiple user roles and may better protect your website from hackers. That said, WordPress and ExpressionEngine use different techniques to boost security, so it’s best to say it depends on your unique situation.

Cost

An ExpressionEngine site tends to cost more than a WordPress site. Unlike WordPress, ExpressionEngine Pro requires an upfront licensing fee for installation on a publicly visible domain. Further, ExpressionEngine is usually more resource-intensive and requires a more expensive hosting plan than many WordPress options—often by twice as much.   

Additional Factors for Moving from ExpressionEngine to WordPress Migration

The four areas above represent what many consider the biggest factors when deciding which CMS platform to choose. However, there are many other aspects to migrating a site from ExpressionEngine to WordPress.

Finding an Experienced WordPress Migration Specialist or Web Development Company

Compared to WordPress, it’s tougher to find those with high-level ExpressionEngine experience, which can increase development costs. In addition, if clients want to make relatively straightforward changes themselves, WordPress is a natural choice. It’s relatively easy to learn and is often already familiar to savvy marketers.

Replicating or Replacing Your Current ExpressionEngine Website

An expert WordPress developer can probably get very close to recreating the look of your existing ExpressionEngine site. Another option is to take the opportunity to give it a complete overhaul or a moderate refresh. The same is true for replicating or modifying add-ons, e-commerce functionality, content, and media. Like Expression Engine, WordPress allows you to create custom post types and taxonomies to organize and curate content.   

Maintaining ExpressionEngine’s Link Structure and Website SEO

The WordPress website management system has a very flexible permalink structure, often enabling you to keep your existing URL structure to maintain SEO and link juice. When this isn’t possible, developers can use redirects, although this isn’t an ideal solution. If you are currently unhappy with your rankings, transferring to WordPress provides a good opportunity to refine your URL structure for better internal linking and SEO—but be careful of the impact this may have.

Exporting or Tweaking E-commerce Functionality

WordPress doesn’t offer eCommerce functionality as part of its core features, but plugins save the day. The most popular option for selling physical and digital products is WooCommerce. A developer can export XML or CVS files and then format and develop them for WordPress.

Auto-Migrating ExpressionEngine to WordPress

An automated conversion tool can prevent you from a manual transfer from ExpressionEngine to WordPress. For example, you can auto-migrate with CMS2CMC, which moves entities including pages, posts, categories, comments, images, users, SEO urls, and attachments. Note that you may need a developer to check the migration and make some tweaks here and there.

Our Boston Web Design Agency Offers Expert ExpressionEngine to WordPress Migration Services

Are you exploring if WordPress is a better fit than your current ExpressionEngine website? Or have you already decided that WordPress is right for your company website? Our award-winning Boston-based website design agency is here to walk you through this important decision.

Our expert web developers can recreate your site to your satisfaction or partner with you to create a new site that delivers the ultimate user experience. From there we can support your website with one of our maintenance packages to help your company thrive and grow.

If you’re considering migrating your website from ExpressionEngine to WordPress, contact our experts today.

In particular, we’re talking about notoriously limited budgets that often require a lot of DIY action by staff or volunteers.

What are their choices given these restraints? 

Do any of these approaches sound familiar?

• The first option is to fly solo using a website creation platform like WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix.
• A second option is to hire a full-service digital agency but reduce your expectations for the site’s functionality and the number of pages.
• A third possibility is shopping around for individual services—including a developer, writer, designer, and hosting service—and acting as a project manager to bring it all together. 

Each of these methods has its pros and cons regarding money, staff time, and skills required. If you’re short on resources and expertise, the methods above often take much longer than you anticipated and fall short on design, functionality, performance, and SEO results—all key elements of website success. 

What’s the bottom line? In short, if your website fails to attract and engage visitors, it’s that much harder to meet your funding, recruitment, and awareness goals.

We’ve put together seven fundamental lessons for building websites for non-profits based on our experience and collaboration with Aruna. 

Another Approach for websites for non-profits: Focusing on Greater Partnership and Accessibility

You may be asking if there’s another way to lower the cost and increase the efficiency of building high-quality websites for non-profits. Absolutely, and here’s the recipe for success: partnership and accessibility. 

Partnership:

Collaborate in new ways by making the most of the non-profit team’s skill set—such as marketing strategy and copywriting. By taking on a larger role in the project, the non-profit is empowered while agency hours and fees are reduced. This doesn’t mean, however, that the agency and non-profit teams work in silos—they collaborate and share ideas throughout the process.

Accessibility:

Second, and equally important, provide the non-profit access to the site during production. This enables them to work directly on the production site without having to go through the agency’s team. 

This two-ingredient recipe requires planning, trust, and ongoing communication. It takes an honest effort to form one cohesive team from two organizations, but the results can have both immediate and long-lasting impact. 

If you’re wondering about what we mean by “greater collaboration and accessibility,” read on.

The Challenge: How to Build a Website for a Deserving Non-Profit with a Small Pocketbook 

Here’s a real-life example of website collaboration and accessibility. 

We recently worked with the Aruna Partnership, a non-profit organization that, for three decades, has assisted people in the impoverished Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu, South India. 

Many of Aruna’s programs focus on education, such as sponsoring education for children, vocational training, and technology for off-site learning. Other programs are literally a matter of life and death, including providing hot meals and food supplies for the needy and providing care and housing for traditionally outcast widows. One featured program is Fair Trade handicrafts, where Aruna imports and sells crafts made by local women—providing villagers with work and helping to improve the economy.

Where did our agency come into the picture? Aruna’s compassionate mission, together with the dedication of their staff and volunteers, deeply touched us. We wanted to accomplish three things: create a great website, maximize Aruna’s limited budget, and provide tools to empower Aruna to keep their website up to date.

The Solution: Team Up to Create Agency-Client Synergies 

We started a basic premise:

If we could offload some of the work to Aruna, we could maximize our combined resources. The question was how. I have to admit that when we first had the idea of opening up the production site to Aruna, we had some reservations—but also optimism. We thought the idea had potential, but we didn’t know what kind of bumps we might experience along the way. 

Fortunately, we found something very valuable and essential—a talented staff that was eager to give it their all, be flexible, and learn along the way.  At the same time, as with any website project, we faced several challenges. 

Right off the back, the current site was in HTML—which was impractical if Aruna planned to directly work on the site. Instead, we went with WordPress; the Aruna staff was already familiar with the platform and was willing to learn more. 

The second challenge was figuring out what such an approach would logistically require, such as: 

What were the best ways to take advantage of our respective skills and time? 

What process and workflow would we use to coordinate the work of the agency and client?

How would Aruna update and maintain the site post-launch? 

We were able to answer some of these questions up front, such as offering an ongoing monthly retainer to manage ongoing site maintenance and support. Other matters required some back-and-forth adjustments, such as creating a realistic workflow to help build functional websites for non-profits.  

Project Success: Lessons for Building Future Websites for Non-Profits from the Aruna Website Project 

We’re very proud of the collaboration with Aruna and the quality of the resulting website. The messaging and copy created by Aruna is clear. Our agency’s design is elegant and expresses the organization’s personality. The site’s back end is robust. And it came together in the true spirit of partnership. 

Perhaps the best way to explain the process—and why it worked– is by sharing the key lessons we learned:

Lesson #1: You can’t fake commitment.

Aruna put in the time, with enthusiasm and gusto. They demonstrated that this was a top priority. We quickly realized that without such a high level of commitment, this approach wouldn’t have worked. 

Lesson #2: Leverage the client’s abilities.

Aruna’s two staff members had strong marketing, messaging, and writing skills, plus some knowledge of WordPress. They learned more WordPress skills on their own, and we coached them as necessary. Our agency focused on design, development, and back-end SEO. 

Lesson #3: Create the right level of accessibility.

We created a fool-proof design template for the Aruna staff to use. They had the ability to add copy and make edits, all without the risk of damaging other aspects of the site. Working in synch, with real-time access for all, was a win-win. The design team didn’t have to wait for new copy and go through endless rounds of revisions. Aruna didn’t need to wait for the design team to insert copy; they could instantly see how the copy looked on the page and edit it until they were satisfied. Further, they could see the design evolve and provide feedback in real time.

Lesson #4: Define the process.

Any new collaboration requires mutual commitment to a common process. Whether you use project management software, a spreadsheet, or another method, there must be a consistent way to schedule and assign tasks, track progress, share updates, review work, and plan next steps.

Lesson #5: Be open to continuous improvement.

It’s okay—and natural—not to get everything right on the first try.  The important thing is to trust each other enough to bring up problems as they arise, be flexible to change, and take decisive steps to refine the process—as often as needed. 

Lesson #6: Communication is critical.

It can get messy with so many hands in the pot. A continuous flow of information, along with a system for ongoing review, will help ensure that the site is cohesive and that all requirements are met. Have frequent conversations—and remember that (1) are no stupid questions, and (2) unasked questions can rapidly throw things off course.

Lesson #6: Seek feedback.

Be open to feedback beyond the project team. For example, Aruna shared the site pre-launch with a test group of customers. With many older donors and volunteers, they wanted to make sure that the site was easy to read and use. This was an unusual step for us, but we were able to make some final adjustments based on the feedback.

Some Important Takeaways for Building Affordable Websites for Non-Profits: 

We were able to accomplish our objectives for the Aruna website with a powerful combination of partnership and accessibility. Now, Aruna is free to make copy edits while relying on us for technical elements beyond their skills set—such as security measures, updating plug-ins and software, new functionality, and providing reporting. Having built a foundation of trust while building the website, they are confident in our ability to work together in the future.

The degree of accessibility and responsibilities for building websites for non-profits can be adjusted depending on what each party brings to the table, of course. What is required in all cases is a combination of good planning, flexibility, and open communication that will result in reduced cost, faster launch time, and a website that both agency and client will be proud of. 

Find out more about the Aruna Partnership. 

Do you have any digital projects in mind? Let’s discuss how we can work together and use digital solutions to reach your goals.

Contact us for an Estimate

As you evaluate each interactive agency’s flair for design, content, and functionality, also put “fit” high on your list of considerations. Just like people have personalities, so do digital marketing companies. For example, some are more laid back than others. Some crave process and others tend to fly by the seat of their pants. Still, others make top-down decisions, while others prefer consensus.

It’s not a matter of right or wrong; it just comes down to preferences and experience with what works best for your organization.

Creating a Website is Hard Work – Make It Easier Hiring a Proven Interactive Agency

As anyone who’s been through it before knows, working on a website can be intense. If your interactive team rubs you the wrong way, you can easily end up frustrated, make poor decisions, and lose motivation. Even if the site turns out well in the end, you’ve spent months being irritated and worried if the project will successfully come together.

On the other hand, hiring an agency that is well-suited to your company will produce an integrated team that can bring out the best in each other. There will be fewer stumbling blocks, more productive conversations, and a smoother process from beginning to end. As a result, your new website will more fully express your brand and better achieve your objectives.

Oh, and you’ll have more fun along the way!

Learn What Type of Interactive Agency is the Best for You

The 10 items below represent the type of clients with whom our agency has forged the strongest relationships, creating optimal results while enjoying the process. Read on to see if these areas align with your company’s preferred processes and work style. In the end, you’ll come to some conclusions about the type of agency that will work best for you.

Consider how these 10 items reflect your organization and website project:

1. You have a definitive time frame and budget

One of the first steps in developing your website is setting realistic expectations. Once our agency has clearly defined goals, we can use your budget to figure out the simplest, most direct ways to meet your website goals.

Having clear-cut parameters enables us to find solutions that meet your essential needs. This prevents the added time and expense that comes from throwing in extra bells and whistles, unnecessary plugins, plus features that call for custom coding. By focusing on meeting your key objectives, you’ll also avoid having a “bloated” site that slows down page loading speed, increases bounce rates, and decreases conversion rates.

2. You are open to discussing the project’s scope and process

Hire an agency you trust to create a contractual agreement that accurately reflects your website requirements, time limits, company resources, and budgetary constraints. It’s not all that unusual that project requirements will change over the course of the project. Or, you may start to experience “scope creep”—when the project starts to expand beyond the contractual agreement.

It’s not just the agency’s resources that get eaten up by “scope creep.” It’s also likely that in addition to increasing our time and budget, changes and “extras” will draw more upon your team’s time and energy. There will inevitably be more experimentation, meetings, decision-making, and testing to make sure all the elements work properly.

That’s not to say that plans are set in stone. While there is always room for flexibility, the contract should contain information about how extra functionality, coding, architectural changes, and other factors may affect time-to-launch, costs, and required resources.

3. You value a flexible, agile process with your interactive agency

Also called an iterative design process, this flexible approach divides the project into several facets that are developed in parallel with each other. This means that graphic design, content, copywriting, and development are simultaneously planned, tested, modified, and launched on a production site along individual “tracks”—rather than adhering to a linear process. As each part is finished, it stands ready to be rolled out live when all aspects are complete and the client has signed off.

The agile process is a highly collaborative approach that requires a full commitment from both the internal and external teams. It’s a high-energy process but, in the long run, it takes less time and enables all participants to provide ample feedback on each part—and how all parts fit together.

4. You accept that website conversion rates improve over time

There are endless variations in website design, content, interactivity, and functionality. In creating your website, we use our expertise, research, and a wide range of experience-based assumptions to create a high-value site.

Still, one of the premises of an iterative process is that there is a degree of unpredictability in how visitors will act at each point of conversion, whether a sign-up, download, social share, or purchase. Along with adjustments needed to boost conversions, your site may also require updating for a new product launch, content marketing campaign, or other business factors.

By continuously monitoring and analyzing your site’s KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), we can identify relevant challenges and strengths. We can then use that data to inform plans for future refinements. Your agency can help you develop strategies for optimizing conversions at every stage of the user journey.

5. You are committed to continuous improvement to optimize conversion rates

As an adjunct to the item above, no site is ever truly “perfect.” And even if your site is ideal now, it will eventually need updating based on new digital marketing efforts and shifting priorities.

Conversions aren’t confined to making purchases. They happen any time a visitor on your site takes a desirable action that meets your objectives. This could be signing up for a newsletter, clicking on a CTA, landing on high-value pages, sharing content on social media, or other activities.

There is no question that your website must continuously evolve, including optimizing existing and future conversion points. We build flexible websites that can easily be modified to address performance issues, marketing updates, and changes to your business.

We turn “problems” into opportunities that can be addressed in the next “iteration,” commonly known as “Phase 2.

6. You enjoy an open exchange of ideas

Our agency is confident in our capabilities and expertise. At the same time, ongoing client feedback is essential to the process—we can’t do a great job without some give and take. You are an expert on your brand and your customers, and together we create a team that’s got all the bases covered.

When the agency and client truly communicate and listen to each other, great things happen. When there are conflicts or questions about what to do, it doesn’t have to be a tug-of-war. Rather, we enjoy good-natured, genuine discussions that lead to the best possible merging of ideas.

7. You want to work with an interactive agency that has an integrated client-agency team

It’s clear from the previous sections that you’ll want to find an agency that will be a trusted partner. Our team consists of dedicated experts who enjoy working with clients who are equally dedicated to the project.

The bottom line is that an integrated, committed team generates higher motivation, more innovative ideas, greater support among team members, and more satisfied clients. Most importantly, an integrated client-agency team provides the best opportunity for excellence.

8. Full participation with an interactive agency includes the following:

• Client and agency each share their perspectives on what type of process will be most effective.
• The client provides necessary internal resources, including the marketing team, subject matter experts, plus relevant company and industry information.
• The client expresses opinions about what they like and what they want to avoid.
• The agency guides the client toward solutions that will lead to the best results.
• Internal and external team members are responsive to and respectful of all other team members.
• The client and agency communicate clearly and are transparent about the process.

9. You include the final decision-maker in the process

Including the final decision-maker throughout the process will undeniably create a smoother process and save time. All too often, the client-agency team thinks design or copy is “final,” only to send it up the ladder and have it shot down. This creates a stressful “rush” situation, sometimes requiring that the team has to go back to the drawing board and wasting a lot of precious time.

When final decision-makers are actively involved, their voices are heard through the process. There are no surprises. They have had full input and understand how the site developed over time.  As a result, this pushes things along and will speed up and make the process more successful.

10. You are willing to follow the data

You can’t adequately improve website results without defining, monitoring, and analyzing objective measurements. It’s tempting to simply guess, but it’s not effective.

An interactive agency helps you determine which metrics are important, set baselines, and monitor trends. Analyzing UX (User Experience) signals such as session durations, bounce rate, exit pages, high-traffic pages, and will help improve conversions. Understanding these KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) will enable you and your agency to identify both pain points and areas of success. In turn, this data will enable you to make continuous refinements to your website.

You want to have fun with your interactive agency

Building a great website is vital to your business’s growth and success—but it’s not easy. For many companies, launching a new site can be a nail-biting experience. In a worst-case scenario, it can be downright painful.

We believe that creating a website can and should be an exciting and rewarding learning experience. And it can be downright fun when you select the agency that is right for you!

A Five-Star Rated Web Design Agency on Clutch.co, Again.

What kind of interactive agency is best for you?

So how did you respond to the “interactive agency checklist” 10 items above?

If they reflect your company’s style and personality, you’ll want to bring on an interactive agency like Ladybugz Interactive (Boston, MA + San Diego).

List requirements and look for a company that is better suited if these don’t suit you.

There is no “one right” way to design a website. So it’s important that you and your interactive agency act in a concerted manner. Our advice: align your goals, and embrace and enjoy the process.

Nobody ever said, “Let’s build a website that over a billion of our potential customers can’t use.” However, that’s exactly what happens if your website isn’t designed for accessibility. Without internet-accessible design, you miss the opportunity to do business with the 53.2 million Americans aged 45 or older who have some form of visual impairment, and the nearly 10 million people who are hard of hearing. You also bypass the millions of people with a diverse range of neuro-motor, physical, and cognitive abilities. So exactly what is accessible design and how can it help?

Accessibility can also improve overall user experience and satisfaction for people without disabilities. Examples would include those in rural areas with low bandwidth or slow connections, older people with changing abilities, those with temporary disabilities, or those in an environment that reduces usability—such as areas that are dim or noisy.

Today’s assistive technologies—such as screen reading and voice recognition software—allow people with disabilities of all types to shop, socialize, educate themselves, and entertain themselves online. Now’s the moment to seize the opportunity to communicate, engage, and sell to people of all abilities. 

The business case of improving website accessibility is strong.

The benefits of accessible design are multi-faceted, including: 

Extending Market Reach:

The global market of people with disabilities has spending power of more than $6 trillion. 

Strengthening SEO:

Google’s ranking algorithm is increasingly putting greater emphasis on accessibility.

https://www.ladybugz.com/your-must-have-monster-seo-checklist-for-2021/

Positive Branding:

Greater web accessibility improves and reinforces your commitment to diversity efforts. 

Reduced Legal Risk:

Many countries legally require digital accessibility, and this movement is growing.

It’s time to break down the barriers to communication by designing websites with an intentional focus on increasing accessibility and enabling users to make the most of their assistive technologies. 

What is accessible design and what does it mean?

So far we’ve been speaking in general terms about helping the differently-abled enjoy our digital assets. But, more specifically, what does that mean? Outside of the US, nearly two dozen countries have enacted laws or policies related to website accessibility. In the US, however, the ADA (American with Disabilities Act) has no specific mandate or regulations about website accessibility. 

Whether or not a particular country has website accessibility regulations, though, companies are investing in diversity and inclusion efforts. Most realize that their websites must better reflect this commitment. The global standard-bearer for website accessibility is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These are by far the most universal and popular guidelines. 

WCAG design principles include:

Perceivable:

Users must be able to perceive all relevant information in the website’s content.

Operable:

Users must be able to operate the interface successfully.

Understandable:

Users must be able to understand the information and operation of the interface.

Robust:

Content must be accessible to all users and can be interpreted by a wider variety of user agents.

Improve Your Website with Iterative Design

What design elements are important in website accessibility?

We know what accessibility is and why it’s important. The next question is how to create welcoming websites that provide a good experience for all visitors. 

Below are suggestions in three key areas:

Accessible Navigation

Understandable Content

Easy-to-Complete Forms

Marrying SEO with UX: A Winning Combination

What is Accessible Design Navigation?

Create keyboard-friendly content and functionality.

A variety of impairments, situations, and assistive technologies don’t allow for navigation with a mouse. Most assistive technology requires using the Tab key to move between regions. Accessible design calls for having a “keyboard focus,” with navigational elements that can be activated or manipulated with the keyboard. Primarily, this means ensuring that the users can use the Tab key to access all web content and navigational elements—including dropdowns, links, CTAs, widgets, buttons, and anchor-text. 

Keyboard accessibility shortcuts can also make it easier for the visually impaired to navigate a site. For example, pressing the Windows logo key and the plus sign (+) can turn the magnifier on (Here’s a list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows 10). By adding simple keyboard commands, visitors can navigate using arrow keys and a few keystrokes, rather than chasing the cursor around the screen. For those with visual impairments—who often use screens that measure 20+ inches diagonally—these shortcuts help them avoid losing their place on the screen, moving their head and eyes too much, visually shifting focus, and experiencing eye strain. 

Accessible Design in relation to Understandable Content

Make dynamic content “readable” for Accessible Design. 

Assistive technologies were developed with the assumption that content is static. However, today’s interfaces feature more dynamic content that changes based on user preference, behaviors, and interests. These changes without the page reloading based on data and user interactions. The issue is that many screen readers will only “read” the page as it appears when it first loads, causing the software (and user) to miss the rest of the content. Additional scripting and semantics are required to inform assistive technologies when the content changes. 

The main specification to resolve this problem is W3C’s WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative-Additional Rich Internet Applications), a set of HTML attributes (roles, states, properties), and some best practices for scripting content to aid accessibility. These ARIA tags and “landmarks” help screen readers and similar devices navigate dynamic content by tagging it as a “live region.” According to WebAIM, proper ARIA usage can:

Enhance accessibility of interactive controls, such as tree menus, sliders, pop-ups, etc.

Define helpful landmarks for page structure

Define dynamically-updated “live regions”

Improve keyboard accessibility and interactivity

And much more.

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Give users control over automated media.

In addition to dynamic content, designers need to aware of potential accessibility and usability problems with automated media and navigation. For example, screen readers may not know how to turn the media off. In other cases, sudden noise can alarm certain users. Sometimes auto-advancing carousels/sliders don’t provide enough time to absorb the content. 

One good piece of advice is to only use automated media if it’s in your audience’s best interest, not just because it’s cool or fun. Another is to put your visitors in control, giving them clear ways to start, pause, and end carousel movement, videos, sound, animations, or other media. Similar to the guidelines for dynamic content, all functionality should be operable by keyboard, slider changes must be communicated to users and assistive devices, and keyboard focus should be managed in a reasonable, comprehensive manner.

Create easily identifiable Interactive Elements for Accessible Design.

Interactive Elements:

Another navigational consideration is interactivity and the ease of user engagement. This is important not only for those with disabilities, but for usability in general—especially on small screens. Links, buttons, and other interactive elements should be easy to identify, with consistent naming, styling, interactive feedback, and positioning used consistently across the site. Also, avoid color combinations (such as red and green) that are difficult for the more than 8% of the population with color blindness to distinguish between. Instead of conveying information through color alone, clarify elements using combinations of color, text, labels, and iconography in your interactive design.

Heighten the Contrast.

Color, texture, and contrast are huge considerations for any website, especially with considering accessibility. A high priority is choosing a color scheme with high contrast between text (foreground) and background. Retinitis Pigmentosa, Glaucoma, Retinopathy, and cataracts all lead to a decrease in contrast sensitivity. While an interface with subtle color gradations may be attractive, low contrast can cause strain and fatigue for people with visual impairments.

Provide options for consuming content.

Today’s website design trends often minimize written content in place of prominent, eye-catching images and multimedia content. Fortunately, those with disabilities don’t have to lose out on the information conveyed by these website features.

All it takes is accompanying photos and graphics with descriptive HTML “alt tags” for screen reading software (which is a snap in WordPress). Alt tags can also help with SEO, giving search engines more information to crawl and providing the opportunity to include keywords. For other media, you can include visible links to transcripts of audio, links to audio-described versions of videos, captions, and descriptions of tables and graphs.

Easy-to-Read Formatting for Accessible Design

It’s relatively simple to make pages easier to comprehend with just a few formatting and layout tips. These techniques are helpful for all of your website visitors, with or without visual impairment. By improving overall usability and user satisfaction, the tips below can even help with SEO—and all are well within the control of even non-technical marketers.

• Use easy-to-read fonts, such as Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, and other sans serif fonts that have simple, easily recognizable characters.
• Use large font sizes, with body type at least 16 points.
• Group content under descriptive subheadings.
• Fully write out acronyms on first-mention.
• Give all your links unique, descriptive names, and anchor text.
• Use plenty of white space.
• Reduce clutter.
• Only use tables for tabular data—not for layouts, lists, or anything else that could confuse assistive technologies and devices.

Easy-to-Complete Forms for Accessible Design

Many online forms are not designed with accessibility and assistive technologies in mind, which can be the source of great frustration—and a sure way to lose business.

Here are some guidelines to follow:

• Provide information and instructions that are clear and easy to understand.
• Give all fields elements or title attributes.
• Create error messages that are clear and labeled for screen readers.
• Clearly label each field, with the label in close proximity to its respective field, either to the left or above the field (checkboxes and radio buttons are usually on the right).
• Include text that indicates required fields.
• Provide feedback for interactions, such as error messages and submission confirmation. Important feedback that requires user information should be in a prominent style, such as those specified by W3 (the World Wide Web Consortium).

There are many form-builders and WordPress plugins designed for this purpose, including Formidable Forms, WP Accessibility Helper, and Accessibility WordPress Plugin.

Conclusion

Making sure your website is welcoming and accessible should be a top priority. It’s socially responsible, respectful, and simply good business! There’s no reason to exclude anybody, especially since it’s relatively easy to avoid doing so. Not only will your users thank you, but you’ll likely see increased traffic and conversions. To assure your website is optimized for accessibility, work with an interactive agency like Ladybugz Interactive that has expert knowledge about what is accessible design for the web.

Need some help improving your website’s accessible design? 

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Your website’s branding is inconsistent, it doesn’t generate enough leads, or it isn’t user-friendly. Over time, hobbling together a series of “fixes” can result in causing errors, inefficiency, and other performance issues. Sometimes it’s better to just scrap the old site and do a major overhaul. In the end, most website problems boil down to issues with usability, or user experience (UX). A site that is unattractive, slow, has poor navigation, and is difficult to use can have disastrous results. Specifically, a site with poor UX will have poor organic traffic, increased bounce rates, few page views, and short session duration times. 

In building your new website, you want to turn these numbers around. In website redesign, what first comes to mind is how the website needs to change. Your focus may be on branding, functionality, content, or navigation. What is often neglected, however, is what the redesign process will look like. 

Create a Top Performing Homepage on your Website: A Mini How To Guide.

Where the website design process gets into trouble

Usually, the website design process is primarily linear: Do your research, create the basic design, develop the site structure, fill in the content, test, and launch. As each step is completed, it becomes more and more difficult to make changes along the way. You are even less likely to optimize usability when:

• Team participation is limited
• Design, content, and development teams are in silos
• Opportunities to evaluate and refine before launch are narrow

When these factors are stirred together in one pot, it tastes rotten! Ingredients include weak collaboration, limited opportunities to explore ideas, and the inability to make modifications along the way. In the end, it’s a constrained process that will have poorer UX than a process that is open to change.

Build change into the website design process.

Website designers and UX professionals recognize that there will be rounds of modifications until the interface has final sign-off. 

There’s simply no way to make it perfect during the first pass. What you originally envisioned will morph into something different. There will be push and pull among team members. People will change their minds—often after initial decisions are made. If the team isn’t collaborative and doesn’t accept the concept of change from the outset, things can get ugly. Common risks include:

• Clients will get frustrated when they feel they aren’t heard or feel left out of the loop. 
• The project team makes poor decisions if brainstorming and evaluation are cut off too soon. 
• Late-surfacing problems will require last-minute changes that are inefficient, slow down the process, and add costs.
• If a pre-determined launch date can’t be extended, users will find an unfriendly interface until the next round of changes can be made. 

We know that change is inevitable. We know the risks of a static design process. So why not use an “iterative design process” that embraces the concept of continuous change at every step along the way. 

The iterative design process maximizes usability.

What we call website design often refers to the overall look and layout. However, website design elements that promote usability are much more extensive, encompassing many elements. 

Think of your favorite websites and what makes them enjoyable. Most likely, you quickly learned how to use the site (and remembered how to use the site at a later date). You like the overall look and the language is clear, and can move seamlessly throughout the site and find what you need. You don’t have to click too many times, scroll endlessly, or face too many other annoyances. Finally, you don’t waste your time by experiencing 404 messages, broken links, or crashes. 

These are all user-friendly characteristics that make you stay on the site longer and return more frequently than sites with a poor user interface (UI). That’s the aim of the iterative website design process. 

Getting into the nitty-gritty, there are a several UI elements that all contribute to a positive experience. These include:

• Input Controls: interactive elements, such as buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, and text fields 
• Navigation Elements: Components to access options, such as navbars, menus, pagination, sliders, search field, tags, and icons
• Informational Components: User notifications, such as tooltips, progress bars, notifications, and message boxes 
• Design Layout: Page “template” elements applied consistently to website pages, such as grids, layouts, and columns 

https://www.ladybugz.com/12-hot-web-design-trends-in-2021-you-need-to-know/

How Does Iterative Design Work?

Does planning for change sound sensible? If so, here are some tips before you start the design process. Define your agency and client teams, their respective responsibilities, and who makes the final decisions. No one should be a passive onlooker; encourage their participation at all stages. Once you have your team in place, you’re ready to roll.

Iterative design can be broken down into six basic steps that form a continuous loop of “iterations”:

1. Research, Ideate, and Plan:

Conduct research that helps you understand the user and anticipate how they will use the site. Explore the problems of your current website and possible resolutions. This step should involve open participation about what the site should include, how to organize it, what should it look like, and other usability elements. Then start project planning—looking at a realistic timeframe, resources needed, responsibilities, and workflow.

2. Design and Build:

Evaluate your ideas from step 1, identify top options for layout, navigation, and functionality. Go through this process until there’s a decision to move forward. Don’t button things up too much—leave room for modification.

Most teams work on the homepage first because it incorporates so many elements. It will also provide a foundation for inside pages. Before you go too far with layout, content, and development, create a usability wireframe. Think of it as a blueprint that focuses on scope, structure, hierarchy of information, functionality, information priorities, and some visual design elements. The more exact you can get at this stage, the easier the next step (prototyping) will be.

3. Prototype and Testing:

This step takes your wireframe further, going deeper than the basic structure, content, and layout ideas. The goal at this point is to provide a truer representation of what the interface looks like to the user. The graphic designer will create more realistic page mockups that often include nav menus, hero images, footers, and key images. Content is being created and finalized. In the beginning, the prototype may be static. However, at some point developer will start putting content and interactive elements into place. Testing will begin.

Again, try to get the wireframe in good shape before prototyping—at which point it will take more development time to make changes. 

4. Analysis and Review:

The navigational and functional elements are ready, graphic design is complete, and content is in place. This is the stage before launch, so it’s time to dig deep. Double-check and test for completeness, functionality, content, and other usability elements. Once the site functions properly, a non-biased focus group can provide feedback before launch. Otherwise, you can get feedback from users and site metrics post-launch. 

5. Launch & Next Iteration:

The developer and team will complete any final testing and get ready for launch! Once it’s launched, collect all evaluation and feedback you can to make refinements in the next iteration. Next, the client-agency team returns to steps 1 for a second “iteration”…and so on, in a loop of continuous improvement.

Choosing a New Web Design Agency? Here are the Questions you Need to Ask.

Best Practices for Iterative Design

As with any process, there are best practices that will make things smoother and will deliver better results. Here are key elements to build into the process:

• Focus on the user: Zealously focus on the user’s needs, intent, and anticipated behaviors.
• Communicate and Collaborate: Be transparent and inclusive, with regular team discussions about analysis results, feedback, and recommendations. Also, let developers know about problems that require immediate resolutions as soon as possible. 
• Keep the interface simple. Avoid unnecessary elements, keep it uncluttered, and use clear language.
• Be Consistent. For branding, usability, and an efficient design process, be consistent in all interface elements—including items like buttons, colors and fonts, and page structure. 
• Use typographic hierarchy. Make it easier for users to read and scan (and help SEO) by being consistent with fonts, h1 and h2 headers, and other hierarchical elements. 
• Conduct regular testing: Test functionality and user interface elements regularly to spot any changes that must be made immediately and to note potential modifications for the next iteration.
• Adhere to project scope: With so many ideas from so many people, it’s easy to get “scope creep. In your project estimate, specify time frame, cost, scale, and technology constraints. Let clients know as soon as possible if an enhancement will add to the project’s cost or delay the launch date. 
• Conduct ongoing testing Use iterative testing to uncover where usability work, where problems are, resolutions, and other recommendations. 

https://www.ladybugz.com/how-much-does-a-website-cost-in-2020-and-how-you-can-get-one-no-matter-your-budget/

Takeaways about Website Iterative Design

“Iterative design” for websites may look somewhat different from one company to any other. The common element is to build change into the process and collaborate at all stages. The result is a happier team, better results, and a more positive user experience. 

If you want to design a website that can adapt to change, call on an agency that can lead you in the iterative website design process. 

Need some help improving your website’s homepage? Contact us today.

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Since then, our digital agency has significantly grown and evolved, and so have the technologies we use to complement and enhance the work done by our brilliant team. 

Find out how we’ve grown and what small business tools we use to run our busy boutique web design agency. We use several various (umm, lots) types of small business tools for everyday tasks such as website design and user-experience, to analytics and growth to human resources and collaboration. 

Website + User-Experience Design

Ryan Kohler: User Experience & Creative Direction

Ryan leads the discovery and creative process for early-growth brands to perfect their digital voice. He has fifteen years of experience and prefers Adobe Creative Suite. He uses AdobeXD primarily but thinks all Adobe programs have their merits. 

Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop: Powerful graphic design tools. 

Illustrator is ideal for creating graphics, Photoshop for photo editing, and InDesign for print and web layouts. It’s easy to integrate content from one Adobe product with another, and the products work well in harmony. Ryan has been using Photoshop for more than 15 years and has the finesse of a craftsman. He loves the consistency of the product and the universal popularity. 

Expert tip from Ryan: Adobe products are so popular, there are unlimited resources online for learning the ropes and troubleshooting. 

Morgan Kropa: Creative Direction & Brand Strategy

Morgan uses design to tell a brand’s story and direct the company’s future. She works to empower clients to be able to produce digital content. These are some of the tools that she recommends. 

Canva: Free graphic design platform with a drag-and-drop interface. 

This tool allows clients to participate in the creation of digital content without having an extensive design background. Morgan likes Canva because clients can create and integrate timely posts with other content we’ve created. 

Elementor: WordPress website builder. 

Elementor is a platform that allows clients to access their backend WordPress dashboard with a user-intuitive interface. Morgan appreciates the way it empowers customers to use WordPress regardless of experience. 

Expert tip from Morgan: Use Elementor at the end of the web development process to create a user-friendly way for clients to use WordPress. 

Web Analytics + Reporting

Frank Pereira: Technical Direction & Web Services

Frank is a WordPress content implementation specialist and graphic designer. He follows web and social media analytics closely. These are some of the tools that help keep him on top of rankings for our web design agency and our clients. 

Google Analytics: Website activity tracker. 

This small business tool allows users to track website activity and understand how visitors engage with their websites. 

Google Search Console: Track website presence in Google search results. 

This tool allows users to understand and improve how Google sees their site. Users can receive alerts and troubleshoot issues Google finds within their websites. 

Frank loves that users can use Google’s small business tools for free – a huge help for your growing businesses. 

Expert tip from Frank: Google Search Console sometimes glitches and stops working. Both Google Analytics and Google Search Console are so widely used, it is very easy to troubleshoot and find information/tutorials online. 

RankMath: SEO plugin for WordPress. 

RankMath allows users to optimize their content for SEO with built-in suggestions. Frank prefers RankMath to tools such as Yoast because of the availability of free features. RankMath features easy step-by-step installation, a simple interface, integrated Google Analytics, and more. 

Lysa Miller: Strategy & Growth

Lysa oversees all client activity and is constantly working to ensure customer success and growth. When Lysa is focused on analytics for a client or for Ladybugz Interactive, she has a few tools she uses time and time again. 

Spyfu: Keyword research tool.

Spyfu is a tool that allows digital marketers to improve their website’s performance in online searches. Spyfu provides users with visual insight into their web performance and that of their competitors in terms of analytics and growth. 

Ahrefs: SEO software. 

Ahrefs allows users to improve their website’s search engine rankings. Ahrefs analyzes the holistic health of a website including tech rankings, and makes SEO suggestions. 

Expert tip from Lysa: Use both Spyfu and Ahrefs to gain a complete understanding of the ROI of your website and define your digital strategy. 

Collaboration  

Morgan Kropa: Creative Direction & Brand Strategy

When Morgan helps clients identify and grow their brand, she needs a way to collaborate with them efficiently and effectively. That’s why Morgan uses the suite of tools that just about every client is familiar with. 

Google Drive: Encrypted, cloud-based file sharing system. 

With Google Drive, the team at Ladybugz can share multiple large files internally or with clients. Morgan uses Google Drive to organize intake and discovery files and drafts of all of her projects. With Google Drive, users across the globe can be sure they are working on the most current version of a document, and easily view version history. With the universal popularity of Google, clients at all levels of tech-savviness can use Google Drive with little to no training. 

A tip from Morgan: Anyone can use Google Drive, even if they do not have a Google email address. 

Alison Rochford: Digital Marketing

Alison is part of the delivery team for digital strategy and implementation. Her work often requires collaboration with many different members of the Ladybugz team, or with clients. Alison has a few favorite tools for communicating and collaborating seamlessly across time zones. 

Slack: Messaging app. 

Slack is a messaging app for businesses. Users can communicate instantly, share files and documents, call or video chat, and more. At Ladybugz, we use Slack both for internal group messaging and one-on-one communication. We create different conversations for different projects. Mobile and desktop are both convenient and easy to use. 

Zoom: Video conferencing. 

Zoom provides secure and easy-to-use video conferencing. Users can schedule and hold meetings with one or more people on mobile, PC, or tablet. Zoom allows users to share their screens, instant message, and more. 

A tip from Alison: Zoom is free for the most part, but premium plans are required to unlock certain features. 

Social Media Marketing

Alex Cachon: Social Media Marketing & Growth

Alex is in charge of social media management and growth for Ladybugz clients. He has a knack for messaging and SEO. This is the tool he uses most to streamline his work. 

Coschedule: Marketing work management software. 

Users can schedule future posts, plan hashtags, and reschedule evergreen content. Coschedule suggests ideal times for posts and related articles. Different people can manage the same accounts. We use Coschedule for in-house social media management, and Alex recommends it to clients. Coschedule empowers clients to participate in the digital marketing process. 

Alex loves the efficiency of the Coschedule social calendar and ease of use. His favorite feature is “ReQueue.” With ReQueue users can create a batch of posts and post them automatically at set times. For example, you could create a group of 25 posts called “Monday Motivation.” ReQueue will automatically alternate the posts every Monday. After Coschedule added the option to manage Instagram content recently, we began to transition to using Coschedule exclusively. 

Expert tip from Alex: ReQueue social automation tool can be confusing at first. You can’t set all social channels in one ReQueue. Customer service is very helpful for troubleshooting. 

Project + Client Task Management

Crystal Daher: Digital Marketing & SEO Management

Crystal implements creative digital marketing, social media, and SEO programs. She runs a blog and Facebook group for over 30K people in her spare time. Needless to say, Crystal understands the importance of organization and project management. These are the tools she uses to keep track of it all. 

Trello: Project management software. 

Trello allows users to manage tasks and projects in a visually appealing way. Trello was designed with UX in mind.

Asana: Project management software. 

Asana offers web and mobile apps that allow teams to organize and manage projects and tasks. Asana allows users to visualize progress and integrate other tools such as Microsoft Office. 

While Trello and Asana both have their merits, Trello can be easier to navigate for more visual users. Asana has more features than Trello, such as calendar and timeline formats. Both tools can be used for individuals and/or teams. 

Human Resources & Accounting

Aya Lanzoni: Digital Content & SEO Production

Aya leads digital marketing accounts and analytics reporting for our B2B and B2C clients. With so much on her plate, the last thing she needs to worry about is keeping track of hours she works. With the right tool, she can focus on clients knowing her hard work is being documented. 

Clockify: Time tracking software. 

Aya uses clockify to track any hourly work she does for our digital marketing clients. She uses the timer feature to make sure all of her hard work is documented. Aya appreciates that Clockify allows users to set up different projects – a great feature for freelancers and entrepreneurs who charge different rates for different work. The reports tab also allows Aya to send out detailed summaries of her work when needed. 

Billie Kenyon: Customer Success

Billie Kenyon’s job is to make sure “everyone is happy.” As part of that Billie manages sales operations, and employee relations in our busy digital agency.

Our web design agency was founded (again) during COVID, in part to provide extended opportunities for local freelancers. When a paycheck means food on the table for families, it’s critical to find the right software to pay your employees. 

Gusto: Payroll software. 

Billie  uses Gusto to manage the payroll for USA-based employees and freelancers. Additionally, Ladybugz uses Gusto to get paid by vendors. Gusto automatically calculates taxes for all 50 states. 

Wise: Online money transfers. 

Billie uses Wise (formerly Transferwise) to pay employees and freelancers overseas. Wise sends money at the real, current exchange rate with competitive transfer rates. 

From web design and development to HR and accounting, there are so many small business tools to help you become more effective and efficient. If you really want your business to become more efficient, having small business tools in place can help streamline your business so you can, relax!