Websites

Master Good Web Design: What Works and Why

In the fast-paced digital world, where attention spans are dwindling, the success of a website hinges upon its ability to captivate and engage visitors. Good web design plays a pivotal...

Atilus Launches Website for the Fastest Growing Non-Profit Organization in...

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA, June 26, 2023—Babcock Ranch Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to making a positive difference in the communities of Southwest Florida, has joined forces with Atilus to revamp...

How to Redesign Your Website Without Negatively Impacting SEO

If you're like most business owners, you're always looking for ways to improve your website and grow your business. But you may not want to invest in a complete website...

Custom Website vs. WordPress Templates

Once you’ve decided to create a website, it’s time to choose between a custom website or using a template. We previously wrote about the differences between the two but here...

Tips for Vetting & Hiring a Good Florida Web Design...

2021 is upon us and a new year often brings about the idea that it's time for a fresh start. And given the emphasis that has been placed on virtual...

Overcoming Website Fears

In the spirit of Halloween, this month I want to tackle some of the spookiest subjects that clients encounter when looking to build a new website. Starting a new website...

Choosing the Right WordPress Template

WordPress has an overwhelming number of themes to choose from. You can spend a couple of weeks just looking though thousands of themes, only to select one and later figure...

How to Know When it’s Time for a Website Redesign

Websites are a lot like vehicles. They are created and then often require ongoing updates, maintenance, and care. Eventually, a vehicle runs its course and it’s time for a new...

Mobile 101 – How to Make Your Website User-Friendly for...

Since 2016, mobile internet usage has surpassed computer usage. Ever since the rise of smartphones over the past decade, mobile devices have become an essential part of everyday life. From...

What Does a Website Cost? Web Development Costs for 2019

The web design and development industry has been around for quite some time now, but we’ve found that pricing in this industry continues to be scattered across the board. When...

Commonly Used Web Terms: A Glossary for Speaking Web

When talking about your company's website, your web company might bring up some terms your not familiar with! Even if you know a little bit about web design and development,...

Google Search Console Emails & Error Codes

You’ve ever gotten a mysterious email from “Google Search Console” that looks like some sort of weird email marketing? You’re probably wondering, what is this email? How do I...

When and Why to Use a Staging Environment

If you’ve worked with a web development company before, you’ve likely experienced working with a “local” or “staging” environment first. What is a Staging Website? A local or staging website...

Common Pitfalls in Web Design Projects and How to Avoid...

Atilus began as a web design shop in 2005. We’ve been in business nearly 14 years and during that time, I’d say that we’ve seen many different scenarios arise during...

What is the Browser Cache and Why Do I Need...

When you run into issues with a website, often the first response you receive from support staff is “have you cleared your browser cache?” Perhaps you’re already familiar with the...

How to Review Your Website: a Guide

So, you’ve just gotten your development link from your web development company. Now what? There are so many things to look at, test, & review. Our guide will help you...

Are You Bungling Your Blog Homepage Design?

Written by Rachel Leist When you're first starting a blog for your business, it's easy to forget about its homepage design. You're focused on getting posts up on the blog...

How to Provide Feedback to Your Web Designer

You’ve made the decision to build a new website. Kudos to you! But once the excitement dust settles, the real work has begun. You’ve given your web designer or web...

The Future of WordPress

This past weekend, I attended WordCamp 2019 in Miami. WordCamp is a conference covering everything related to WordPress and is a 3-day conference. There are multiple events like this one...

The Top 5 Things You Need to Know about ADA...

If you’ve been keeping up with current web trends (or reading our blog in the past few months), you’ve probably been reading a lot about ADA compliance lately. This can...

What to Expect for 2019 Web Development Trends

2019 is here and already feels like it's flying! Every year there seem to be new trends in the industry and it can be overwhelming to keep up with what's...

3 Tips for Taking Photos for Your Website Using an...

Photography is essential to your website. Imagery on your website is what helps depict your brand, service, and product to your potential clients or consumers. The design of your website...

Why WordPress? 5 Reasons to Choose WordPress as your Website’s...

Whether you're starting a new website project, or just working on revamping your existing one, chances are you've heard of WordPress at some point in the process. As one of...

What Does Google Really Know About You?

A few weeks ago, the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, was questioned by Congress about political bias in Google search and other Google products. We’re not here to get political,...

Early Spring Cleaning: Refreshing Your Website for 2019 & General...

The holidays are usually a time of reflection. For Atilus, it’s often also a time to button things up for the New Year; making sure all big projects are finished,...

2018 Year-End Digital Marketing Roundup

Harry, our CEO, recently came into our conference room as we all ate our lunches. Out of nowhere, he says “I can’t believe we’re in December 2018.” And just like...

Why It’s Important to have an ADA Compliant Site

Let's talk about ADA compliance and your website. 49.8 million Americans have been diagnosed with a disability - that's almost 20% of the population! If you owned a store & 1...

Happy Thanksgiving!

As the holiday season approaches, it's time for us all to reflect on the past year and be thankful for the good things that it's brought. For us at Atilus,...

3 Things You Can Do Right Now to Get More...

A website is a huge commitment, from the time & resources put forth to create a beautiful site to the ongoing maintenance to keep your website up to date. But...

The 3 People Who Should Run Your Website Project

Each client comes to us with a different reason for needing a new website. Sometimes the Director of Marketing comes to us looking to supplement a full rebrand or it...

Browser Trends 101: Autoplay Policies

Over the course of the past year, several major browsers have worked on rolling out updates to change the way autoplay video and audio works on websites. Beginning with Chrome...

Confessions of a Full-Service Digital Agency

We are Atilus Web Design... but we do much more than our name implies. As a full-service digital agency, the array of offerings that we provide may even surprise some...

Florida’s Top Web Design Agency, Atilus, Integrates Nationwide Boat Listing...

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. – July 11, 2018 – Atilus, a full-service web design and digital marketing firm, has developed a web application connecting boat dealers to Boat Trader’s listing API...

3 Common Website Security Vulnerabilities

Wordpress is one of the biggest blogging platforms right now it's important to keep your website safe. Here at Atilus, we take the security of your sites very seriously and make...

Stock Photos vs. Photography in Web Design

You’re probably here because you’ve decided on creating a new website. Congratulations! One of the next steps in creating your website involves choosing photos to display on your site. People...

What is the GDPR and how does it affect you?

Over the past few months, there have been countless news stories about how our data is being used online. Between Facebook, Google, and our devices – data is constantly being...

2018 PBExpo – Aviation Technology Innovations

PBExpo 2018 - Aviation Technology Innovations Join us on May 16th and 17th for the 2018 PBExpo at the Greater Broward Convention Center in beautiful Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The PBExpo is an annual...

Website RFP (Request for Proposal) Template

A while back I wrote a detailed post on Website RFPs. I lambasted and vilified RFPs. In hindsight, it was a little… ahem… emotional. I was jaded, we had just...

Responsive vs. Adaptive Web Design

With technology at our fingertips nowadays it is extremely important to translate your website to be mobile friendly. With that being said, I will dive into the differences of and...

Templates vs. Custom Built Websites

Have you decided to move forward with investing in a new website for your business? Once you have made the decision to move on, one question remains… Do I go...

What makes a good website?

When it comes to building a website, it seems like almost anyone can make their own these days with online website building tools like WIX. But what some people don’t...

How to Protect Your Business from Ransomware Attacks

The following post is courtesy of TeamLogic IT, and IT services provider in Fort Myers, FL. President of TeamLogic IT. Bob Roloff, shares his thoughts on ransomware and what you need...

What Does a Web Designer Need to Get Started?

Getting started on a web design can prove to be challenging if you don’t have the necessary ingredients. The most difficult part about website design is grabbing the idea from...

Successful Use of Popups

TOP COMPONENTS TO SUCCESSFUL POPUP DESIGN Marketing copy - Show personality, spur action, and create need/urgency Imagery - Visually grab attention, showcase products or services Branding - Match the pop...

DIY Nightmares of Web Design

Many people have heard of do it yourself (DIY) nightmares concerning homes, but many people don’t realize that websites often suffer the same nightmares. Below are some of the issues...

Atilus: We’ve Upgraded Your Domain

At Atilus we’re always trying to make things simpler for our clients, improve our own services, and of course help you grow your business online. In a quest for this...

The Benefits of Using Web Design Templates

When looking to get your own website, there are many factors to consider. How you will host your site, which CMS to use, and who (if anyone) you will hire...

PHP 7: A WordPress Upgrade

Very soon Atilus will be upgrading one of its hosting environments to PHP 7! PHP 7 has been released for quite some time, however, we decided to hold off on...

Communicating to End Users on a Website: Less is More?

Building a website is a very creative process and it’s one we’re constantly refining to help our clients best communicate their products/services and key differentiators to their clients. After all,...

Creative Focus: The Zone

Distractions. They can be quite a nuisance when trying to focus on your design work. Any designer knows that there is a certain special place where they must go in...

What Makes a Good Password?

In the online world, everything is protected by a password. Email, Amazon login, your online bank account, and the list goes on. Your password is how you keep your accounts...

Designing an Email Newsletter

A great way of marketing is email newsletters. Though this method may seem a bit outdated, but there are still followers who do not like to use social media in...

The Process of Designing a Website

I don’t want to give away all my secrets. But today, I will be sharing with you the process in my point of view on a normal basis with clients...

Taking the Spooky Out of Web Development

To be a web developer in 2016, you need to have a very specific set of skills. Among these, and the most important one: the skill of learning new skills....

Learn All About SSL & If You Should Be Using...

What is SSL? Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a security protocol used for transmitting information securely over a network. SSL encrypts the data being sent over the network that uses...

What Is An SSL Certificate And How Does It Relate...

SSL and SEO While browsing the web, it is likely that you’ve come across a site with a little green lock in the URL at the top of your browser....

Tips for Working With Your Web Designer: The Circle of...

What I call The Circle of Revision can be "one of the most dangerous places for a client to enter.” From what you are about to read, you may think...

5 Essential Elements Your Homepage Is Missing

Your homepage is unquestionably the most important page of your website. One thing to remember is that you never get a second chance to make a first impression so it’s...

Are You Struggling with Newsletter Conversions?

So you want to send your clients a message do ya? And you want them to see the message? And lastly, do you want them to do something after reading...

Tips for Choosing the Right Web Development Company

I'll let you in on a little secret about me, I'm addicted to old, historic homes. If I could I'd purchase every condemned home and restore that home back to...

Tips for Building a Membership Driven Website

You might be surprised by how many businesses we work with that are sustained solely by their members. Over time, they've built a following, and a correspondingly great website - in order...

What do you need for a great website design?

A layout that tells a story When a visitor goes to a website, they don’t want to have to wonder if they are in the right place. A good design...

Builder Website Design

Everything Builders & Development Companies Should Know about Web Design and Internet Marketing In 10 years a LOT has changed in our business. Smart phones are now the #1 way...

Top Elements for Real Estate Websites 2016

Early 2016 seems like the perfect time to talk about the top elements for the real estate websites. Real estate throughout the country is exploding, particularly here in Southwest Florida...

Google Font Pairings Made in Heaven

With this past year of 2015, Google has added tons of fonts to their web font gallery. I have scoured the web and experimented with many of the different kinds...

What is Google Knowledge Graph?

In the world of Web Development, creating a beautiful site is only the first step to growing a business online. In order for a site to be successful, you must...

Firefox Developer Edition – A Browser Designed for Web Developers

Mozilla Firefox released a new browser this time last year. For the last year we've been using Firefox Developer Edition and if you're a web designer - or just someone passionate about...

Orchard Constant Contact Module

Fresh off the heels of our other Orchard Module release, the Orchard MailChimp Module, we're releasing another module centered on email newsletter management - the Atilus Orchard Constant Contact Module....

Web Design Approval & Change-Order Process

Over the last couple months, we've written blog posts about our wireframe and sitemap processes to further educate our audience about web design and more specifically how we operate. Today,...

Mailchimp Orchard Module

A while back we were tasked with a combination of things: Develop a new large-scale site complete with CMS Transitioning an existing client with a major online presence to something that...

How to Optimize Orchard CMS for Microsoft Azure

At Atilus we realize that great web design and development is a balance of many disciplines and the web is a unique place where – what I do as a...

Introducing Free Web Design Resources!

Have you ever done a 1,000 or more piece jigsaw puzzle? How do you start? Have you ever wondered if you were missing pieces? I have always looked at projects...

What is a Sitemap?

If you have ever worked with a digital agency, or been a part of the web design process, you have probably heard the term ‘sitemap’. Similar to a geographical map...

How Much Does a Domain Name Cost?

One of the more surprising looks we get is when we explain the cost of a domain name to a new or potential client. It's still, one of the most often...

Mobile Optimized vs. Responsive Websites

What is the difference between a dedicated mobile site (or mobile optimized site) vs. responsive mobile site? Before we jump into the technical difference between mobile and responsive sites: If you haven’t...

Business Reviews the Future of Digital Marketing

Every month we do training. This last month we learned about some Responsive Design trends, and the world's profound shift to digital. Some shocking statistics include: On average people check their phone...

Top 10 Signs Your Marketing Agency Doesn’t Know Digital

A lot of companies say they do web design and Internet marketing. There are some tell-tale signs that they might not be as good as their (own) marketing implies. How can...

Why Website Cost Estimates Are Always Off

About once or twice a month I get asked to give a ballpark estimation for a project cost and timeframe, typically for a general business website or a web application...

What’s a Wireframe?

Is your web design company talking to you about wireframes? Want to better understand what's a wireframe and why it's important? This simple breakdown will help you better understand what's...

What Makes a Great Website

I was thinking here this evening about a post that would lay-it-all-on-the-table, that would speak to both devs, and non-devs, both creators of websites, and those about to possibly go...

Orchard Microsoft .NET Content Management System

Orchard a Microsoft .NET CMS (content management system) is our go-to framework and content management system here at Atilus. Today I thought I'd work with Bryan our lead-developer, and Harry to...

What is Responsive Design? And what your business needs to...

The topic of responsive design is coming up more and more. Clients are asking for a "responsive" website after reading about the topic on websites, in magazines, and learning about it...

Real Estate Agent Web Design Tips (10)

Being an agent is hard work. As busy as we are at Atilus, and as hard as all of us think our jobs are at times - in talking with...

nopCommerce – Ecommerce Shopping Cart Breakdown

As a technology firm, much of our time is spent learning, re-learning, and researching. Actually designing and developing things is great, but if it's on an outdated platform, or is not...

Website 101 Introduction to the Web

We've recently started performing seminars locally to small businesses that are just starting out - or those curious about the web and how it can be used to help them...

Why Web Design Matters

Why is design needed? What purpose does it serve? Why does it matter? I will be answering these questions as I go along but they are a bit more complicated...

Understanding Website Hosting

What type of website do you have? A personal website for blog writing and photo sharing or a business website to help grow your company or sell products? If you have...

Why Your Website Doesn’t Bring You Business

Your website is a potential lead-generating machine. Whether you realize it or not, your website can hold the power to unlocking unfathomable business for your company. However, chances are, you...

Construction Marketing How to Turn Your Blog into Leads

Construction Marketing Ideas for your Business Atilus started our firm amid the boom of construction that happened in South Florida. Between construction, financial planners, real estate and attorneys - we...

WordPress Vs. Custom Content Management System (CMS)

As the lead developer at Atilus I get asked to use all kinds of tools, and have built and used an array of tools to build a site, provide functionality,...

The Most Popular Free Design Resources

Design Resources can be expensive, especially if a client does not have imagery, icons, and/or patterns to support their brand. Below is a list of free resource websites that we...

ASP.NET MVC 4.5 Benefits

We need speed. Speed's what we need. Greasy, fast speed! And we don't need to go chasing chickens to get it either. In this post I highlight some of my...

What is a Pixel?

What is a pixel? How were they created? To what extent do we use them in our everyday lives? How would things be without them? These are just a fraction of some...

Internet Use Among Seniors

This post has been updated for 2016. It's now been many years since my grandfather died. He suffered from pancreatic cancer, and it finally won. He had already beat colon cancer, but...

Website RFP (Request for Proposals)

Website RFPs (Requests for Proposals) We just lost a bid for a website through the Southwest Florida economic development alliance. I'm not going to gloss this post over and pretend...

How to Create a Great Website

Today we received an inquiry from a potential client in San Francisco who has been struggling with a dilemma. It's perfectly related to what I've been wanting to talk about...

Complicated Construction: The Stages of Web Development

So, I’ve been sitting at my desk for the last few minutes contemplating the professionalism of an old blog article I wrote back in 2010 regarding the correlation between websites...

How to Deal With Troublesome Software Projects

I have debated the title for sometime. You can swap out "troublesome" for "bad," "crappy," "complicated." And I'd say most developers would swap out "software projects" for clients. But I...

The Web Design Process

At Atilus, we're always trying to get better. I've mentioned "process" so many times over the years that now when the "P" word comes out of my mouth, people roll...

Choosing Colors and Fonts for Your Company’s Brand

Color is one of the most important decisions a company makes when determining its identity. There is a sort of psychology behind logo design. Choosing the right color is not...