The Sean Nienow for State Senator Campaign needed an easy to use CMS. Spark Logix Studios was able to design and develop a WordPress custom theme to allow users to easily manage content. We created a unique website allowing voters to easily get to know more about Sean.

Ted Daley was running for Minnesota State Senate in the Fall 2010 election. Ted has a strong military background and is a very active participant in his local community. When the time came for him to choose a company to design and develop his campaign website, he went straight to Spark Logix Studios.

With a request to make his site similar to the VoteChip.org (designed by Spark Logix Studios) website and design direction directly from Ted himself, Spark Logix Studios worked tirelessly to create a website that would be both efficient for the campaign and aesthetically pleasing. A homepage image slider directs visitors to various pages throughout the site, While social media is displayed prominently on the sidebar to allow for interactivity between Ted and prospective voters. Other notable features of the site include: YouTube video in the sidebar, easy to find contact forms throughout, photo gallery, integrated blog, prominent donate buttons and an informative footer containing important site links. Through Ted’s hard work and ability to reach a vast amount of voters through his website, he went on to win the election.

This is a little something that Ted Daley had to say about Spark Logix Studios: Working with Spark Logix to create the web site was a great experience.  They know just how to take your ideas and incorporate them into a professional site. -Ted Daley

Russ Bertsch ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives in the Fall 2010 elections. His campaign commissioned Spark Logix Studios to design and develop his website. Working with a logo and color scheme we were given, Spark Logix created a website that would be easy for residents in Russ’s district to navigate, learn more about Russ and contact the campaign to volunteer.

The website features a large image slider on the homepage, as well as areas to donate to the campaign and opt-in to get updates. Easy-to-find links to Twitter and Facebook ensure that everyone is kept up to date with the campaign. Pages for News and Media are easily update by campaign staff.

Intro pages, or splash pages, are those flashy pages you may see when you visit a website. It’s the first page and usually has a loading bar or some sort of interactive content. While this may seem appealing at first, there are reasons why these intro pages should be avoided.

These reasons can be broken down into two categories:
End-User Problems and SEO

End-User Problems

Typically, when a new visitor comes to your site, they have a purpose in mind. They are looking for something and do not want to take any extra steps to find it. Having to wait for a page to load, then click yet another button just to get into your site will most likely lead to frustration, possibly leading the visitor to leave without even entering your site.

When you have returning visitors, they already know where they want to go and will feel that same frustration if they have to visit that same pretty-but-useless splash page every time they visit.

In addition to the extra steps a visitor must take just to get into your website, they will also have to wait for the intro page to load, as these pages are usually heavily weighed down with large graphics, flash or videos. This wait time is the last thing you need, as most people do not want to wait. Instant gratification is what people are looking for, not slow-loading websites.

SEO

Search engines are not humans. They are programmed to read links, text and content. By serving them an intro page on a silver platter, you are denying them all the precious content that could be found on your homepage, thus lowering your page rankings. If you have no content on that first page of your site, the search engines have nothing to rank.

Not only do search engines love content, but they love fresh, new content. Most splash pages are set up and left. If there is no new content, the search engine will think you are not updating your site and may start indexing you lower in the ranks.

The last thing you want is to spend the time and money on building your perfect site, only to have the search engines pass you by. Unless you don’t want to attract new visitors to your site, a flashy intro page is not for you.

Chip Cravaack ran for the 8th District MN Congressional seat in the November 2010 elections. As a new face in the political field setting out to beat an 18 term incumbent, the Cravaack campaign knew that a well-designed website was an important part of their campaign.

Spark Logix Studios was chosen to design, develop and update the website. The website features a large image slider on the homepage that directs visitors to various pages throughout the site. A navigation bar at the top of the site and an informative sidebar contains all the links to keep Chip connected to his District through news updates, events and social media. The site also includes many areas for visitors to opt-in, donate and volunteer for the campaign. Chip was able to reach hundreds of delegates and residents daily through his website and went on to win the election.