Our Blog
Every week we post something new to our blog – a new employee Q&A, an opinion piece about web design, cool & new things happening in the tech industry, and so much more. We know the web, and we want to share news and helpful tips with you so you can get the most out of your website – even if you don't have a website built by Visionary.
Page Speed Matters and Google is at the Forefront
Published on: Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Have you noticed your website loading slower than others lately? Maybe a few large images or pop-up boxes cause a delay? The bad news is you have about 5 months to speed things up or risk seeing your site creep lower in Google’s mobile search rankings, the company announced on its blog in January. The good news is, slow sites can be fixed! Though website speed has been a factor in Google’s ranking algorithm for many...
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Have you heard the news? Facebook is changing the game (again)
Published on: Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg announced early last month that the Facebook algorithm is once again changing. This time, they are aiming to create a more positive and engaging, community-based feel to the social platform by promoting account user’s personal posts instead of spotlighting news stories, viral videos and organic unpaid business ads. Before getting into how this affects everything and everyone, it’s...
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Visionary's newest website creation: Des Moines Performing Arts!
Published on: Friday, January 19, 2018
(Drumroll please...) We took our great partnership with the Des Moines Performing Arts team, put our creative minds together and rolled out an updated website that we're all pretty proud of! Local art supporters know DMPA best for their outstanding shows and performances. The new website has easy-to-use navigation which allows customers to find...
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Get to Know: Production Specialist Paige Sanders
Published on: Friday, January 12, 2018
Start of by telling everyone about yourself: I’m from Des Moines, which is obviously the greatest city in the world. I live in West Des Moines, which is obviously one of the greatest suburbs in the world, with my husband who I’ve somehow tricked into sticking with me since we were 16 years old (arguably the only good decision I made back then!). We have two dogs: Piper and Jaxson and two...
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Get to Know: Production Specialist Emily Schultz
Published on: Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Start off by telling everyone about yourself: I grew up in Marion, Iowa. I went to Drake University for a few years, but left Des Moines to finish my degree in New York City. I loved living in New York – Brooklyn in particular. But when we found out we were expecting our first child, we knew we wanted to be closer to family. So we moved to Chicago. We were...
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Get to Know: Software Developer Kit Kohl
Published on: Thursday, July 6, 2017
Start off by telling everyone about yourself: I grew up in the country in northwest Iowa, taking care of farm animals, gardening, and learning all about agricultural from my dad (an ag engineer). I'm pretty quiet, but I've got a thrill seeking side as well. This year I've gone down-hill skiing in Colorado, free water diving in Panama, sky-diving...
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Get to Know: Project Lead Joe Helmick
Published on: Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Start off by telling everyone about yourself: Grew up in Central Iowa and attended the University of Iowa. I spent the last 4 ½ years in Kansas city and recently moved back to the Des Moines area to work for Visionary and be closer to friends and family. I have a wife and dog and currently live in West Des Moines. What is your professional background? Worked...
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Why You Should Listen to Music at Work
Published on: Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Plato said music gives soul to the universe and flight to the imagination. Bono believed music can change the world because it can change people. My grandma Kay thought any album produced after the 1950s was just a bunch of “noise.” No matter how you think about music, here are a few reasons why music positively affects your productivity at work. Music...
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3 Ways to Make Google Analytics Work for You
Published on: Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Google Analytics can tell you a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of your website. How many people are visiting your site each week, month, or year? How much time are people spending on your site? What pages are people looking at the most? These insights are extremely valuable – even for teeny tiny sites that get just a few visitors every now and then. For most, these...
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We Love Our Clients: TS Sports Management
Published on: Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Meet Thomas Sherzan, Iowa's sports agent. As founder of TS Sports Management, Sherzan has dared to do what few would think possible in a state without any major professional teams--build a full-service sports agency. Read our Q&A with Thomas to learn how he mixes digital and traditional marketing to give potential clients and everyday sports fans a glimpse into the business side of...
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The Positive Power of Social Media
Published on: Tuesday, July 26, 2016
If you've looked at your Facebook feed lately, it's possible you've seen an ugly side of social media. It's sometimes hard to ignore the divide that can be created when current news stirs up debate among the masses, emotions fly and the only noticeable filters are the ones utilized on Instagram. But every once in a while, the powers of social media are used for good and...
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Visionary is hosting Des Moines' first-ever CodePen meetup
Published on: Tuesday, July 12, 2016
If you're a JavaScript junkie, CSS buff, HTML schemer, or are just curious about the CodePen world, you’re going to want to check out Des Moines’ first-ever CodePen meetup on July 27 here at Visionary headquarters. What is CodePen? For those who don’t know, CodePen is part social media platform and part code portfolio. It’s a place you can write JavaScript, CSS and HTML – the three main...
Read ArticleWe Love Our Clients: Variety Iowa
Published on: Tuesday, June 28, 2016
A lot of hard work and heart are put forth by the staff over at Variety Iowa, the charity dedicated to improving the lives of Iowa's own underprivileged, at-risk and special needs children. We sat down for a little Q&A with Megan Grandgeorge, the first-ever director of marketing and public relations at Variety Iowa to hear more about her and what she does for...
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WhatTheFont is That?
Published on: Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Have you ever seen a really well designed poster or website and wondered what font the designer used? This happens to us all the time. So when we heard about WhatTheFont, a free service that identifies various fonts through a tool on myfonts.com, we just had to have one of our designers check it out. We asked Alecia McEachran to give it a go and...
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Unicode is Releasing 72 New Emojis
Published on: Tuesday, June 7, 2016
You'll need to up your emoji game on June 21. That's when the Unicode Consortium, a 501 non-profit organization that coordinates the development of the Unicode standard, will officially publish Unicode 9.0. The new release will include 72 new faces, animals, foods and other random emojis you'll probably only use once (if ever). But hey, searching for ways...
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