Once upon a time, there was an IT staffing firm called KellyMitchell…

They hungered for a website that would highlight their status as an award-winning organizations that employs hundreds of IT professionals, while also emphasizing their personal commitment to each client’s needs and every employee’s success.

In other words, they needed a new website that was not too proud, not too humble…but juuuuust right.

Integrity forged ahead like Goldilocks in search of the perfect porridge. We began by inspecting the site architecture, restructuring the navigation so all visitors would know exactly where to find the information relevant to them. We also integrated a convenient quick job search and revised the content to match KellyMitchell’s passion for performing amazing work.

With new site architecture in place, we set out to update KellyMitchell’s look, maintaining their unique brand while updating it with fresh lines and photography. The development team implemented the vision to perfection, and we topped it all off with a social media program to keep KellyMitchell hip to the times—and connected to the IT community.

In short, the new kellymitchell.com rewrites the book…and now one more client can live happily ever after.

The Missouri Hospital Association came to us looking for some touch-ups to their grassroots website…and we ended up completely remodeling. Their goal, in addition to gaining more traffic, was to educate Missourians about healthcare issues in their state. After some dreaming and drafting, Integrity found a way to really wow the neighbors.

Our content crew rolled up their sleeves to begin rebuilding from the ground up. They renamed the site and gave it some homey Missouri charm by adding relevant health articles on topics ranging from exercise and fitness to organ donation and legislation. In addition, they planned out a system that aggregates information about health-related events in Missouri, like health screenings, support groups and fundraisers.

Our design team spruced it up with fresh, inviting colors and a clean layout. Then our developers put it all together, building a searchable event database and seamlessly incorporating important structural elements from other MHA websites.

We topped everything off with a user-friendly content management system, and missourihealthmatters.com was ready for move in. Now we’re going to just sit back and enjoy that fresh paint smell!

Computer viruses aren’t the only reason to take your technology for a checkup-Enterprise Medical Services (EMS), a leading physician recruiting firm based in St. Louis, MO, came to Integrity for a website physical. After the healthcare gurus at Integrity took some family history and knocked on its knees with the little hammer thingy (yes, that’s the real name, hush), we discovered that EMS was in need of a design bypass and some major user flow surgery.

After the diagnosis was made, the content strategy team slipped into our scrubs (ok, they were sweats) and went to work creating a new user experience that allowed doctors to quickly and intuitively search and apply for jobs. Our team of precision designers opted for a clean, friendly layout and color scheme to keep the focus on the site goal-connecting top docs with top jobs. And none of it would have been possible without the steady hands of our development team, who worked round the clock (without the benefit of an on-call room!) to implement an easy-to-update content management system and flush out all the pesky browser bugs.

The website is up and running (although it’s not yet allowed to do stairs)-the surgery was a success! Thank you, doctors.

Personally, I have never been a fan of Domino’s pizza. After college, bad food delivered quickly didn’t hold much appeal – but I will definitely buy my next pizza from them.

Why?

Because on national TV they admitted their pizza was bad, apologized and explained how their all new pizza will be dramatically better. As a customer, they listened to me and have taken bold steps to win me back. Awesome.

This kind of brutally honest self reflection is applicable to us all – especially when a sale could be worth millions of dollars. Do you actively search out what is said about your company, products or services through social media channels? Have you interviewed your clients to understand how they really feel? Is there is a separation of expectation? If so, how do you respond?

The brands that last are the ones that consistently make good on the promises they make. Think long term, embrace criticism and don’t be afraid to head back in the kitchen with a fresh perspective.

With thousands of job openings and more than a hundred specialties, the healthcare employment process can be as confusing as a doctor’s scribble. So how do professionals and employers from across the country find each other? They go to PracticeLink, the nation’s leading physician recruitment service.

And where does PracticeLink go to punch up website usability and update its online brand?

Integrity, of course. After 15 years of massive growth and website additions, PracticeLink called us in to clean out the cobwebs and make sure all those physicians and employers aren’t getting lost in a maze of specialties, locations, CVs and alerts.

While we were rearranging and rebranding and pondering user-specific color palettes, we went ahead and increased SEO and improved usability as well. Perfectionists that we are, we just couldn’t help ourselves.

The result was a redesigned website that redefines the physician recruitment process—one that’s now faster, friendlier and way easier to understand than our doctor’s handwriting.

Well folks, it’s that time again. Time to report the arrival of yet another crazy cool cat to the Integrity den. In case you were wondering, yes, we’re now on a first name basis with the Office Max employees. And no, being a regular does not give you the freedom to perform “rigorous, real-life testing” on office supplies by removing them from their packaging. But we digress and extend our warmest, fuzziest welcome to Beth Buchanan, the newest designer to the Integrity cul…er, team. (Note: no humans or animals were hurt in the initiation of this employee).

Beth is a recent graduate of the well-known UMSL studio art program, where she focused on graphic design and general awesomeness. Prior to pointing her compass towards our doorstep, Beth completed an internship at St. Louis Magazine where she was the art director’s right-hand woman. By that, we mean she did everything from layouts to stock photography to actual photography – a true renaissance art woman designer gal. We dig that with a shovel, and love having more creative juice flowing through the office.

When Beth isn’t designing or typing at incredible speeds on her Blackberry, she can be found at her farm boating, ATVing and riding horses – all with her 130 lb great dane, Maverick, in tow.

The wheels keep turning at Integrity as we roll out yet another brand new website. This time it’s for St. Louis gem, Geotechnology Inc. For over 20 years, Geotechnology has been doing the little things that help keep civilization as we know it running. Things like environmental sciences consulting, geotechnical engineering, materials testing, geophysics, drilling and construction observing. Things we had no idea existed until a few months ago.

Designs were drafted, code was crunched, user flows were fluffed-up, all in the name of a better, kinder online experience. Now when someone wants to find out about recovery well installation and decommissioning services, it’ll be as easy as pie! Hydrogeological pie…

What is the plural of “moose?” What do you call a female egret? What do you do if you’re marooned on an island with Paris Hilton?

Moose. Shegret. Start swimming immediately.

Enter Laura Stude, copywriter and curious fact collector extraordinaire. Armed with pen and thesaurus in hand (and pearls around her neck), this self-proclaimed word nerd spends her days slaying vicious writer’s-block dragons in search of words so beautiful and poetic they bring tears to the eyes.

Laura flew from agency world to Integrity wearing an account manager’s cape, but quickly shed it after learning that “slightly cuckoo” and “silly goose” were acceptable personality traits for a copywriter—and in fact, prized by her current employers. Since hopping on the creative bus, Laura has spun generic phrases into linguistic gold for clients like VitaminWater10/Coca-Cola, the NASCAR Foundation, Gilchrist & Soames and Lovelace Healthcare.

Laura has a degree in electronic media arts & design from the University of Denver. When she isn’t weaving elaborate word tapestries, she enjoys dainty cups of tea, tending to her garden and petting her cat. Um, no. Actually, she doesn’t. She likes cycling, BBQing, watching football, cooking, quoting funny movies at inappropriate times and country music. Which she vigorously defends as appropriate at all times.

We’ve howdyed, but we ain’t shook. That’s Texas-speak for “we haven’t been formally introduced.” So let’s draw the curtains and shine the spotlight on Ed Morrissey, Integrity’s Partner and Chief Creative Officer. Ed hails from Houston, where he got an early education in all things technical and webby at Compaq. After the interactive start-up he led was acquired, he turned his attention to leading Idea Integration, which was named one of AdWeek’s Top 50 Interactive Agencies. Not too shabby-looking on a résumé, if you ask us.

After a mere five years in St. Louis, he has certainly given people reason to talk—and not because he smells funny or wears socks with sandals. He helped Global Velocity earn Governor Blunt’s Missouri Technology Company of the Year award in 2008, and in 2007, St. Louis Commerce Magazine named him a “Key Player within St. Louis Technology.” But wait, there’s more! (R.I.P. Billy Mays.) Ed’s a member of St. Louis IT Entrepreneur Networking Mentoring Committee, he acts as a strategic advisor to several area start-ups and is co-founder of a nonprofit organization called Operation Shower, which produces and coordinates baby showers for pregnant and expecting military personnel and their families. So basically what we’re saying is he’s a hard-working, creative and big-hearted guy. Lucky us.

Ed gets his kicks by employing creative, user-focused development principles to help businesses better achieve their goals, connect with target audiences and extend their brands online. That’s fancy industry speak for “he’s got mad website skills and puts our clients’ business needs ahead of any lofty design goals.” Which is why he’s been able to usher new clients into our Clayton doors week after week after week…

His experience is all over the place (in a good way), having worked in a plethora (vocab points!) of industries including technology, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, government, oil and gas, media and financial services. And not to brag—okay, a little—his brand roster includes a few familiar companies like AT&T, Bausch & Lomb, Hewlett Packard, JCPenney, Sony, Microsoft, Continental Airlines and Exxon Mobil.

In short, he’s a rock star. So far, the only drawback we’ve encountered is Ed’s love for queso, as it conflicts with our ability to fit in our pants. But we’re willing to give him a “pass” just this once. Consider yourself “shook-ed.”

It’s always enjoyable trying to explain the services Integrity provides to those who don’t truly understand or appreciate either web-based technologies or interactive design (my wife still doesn’t know what I do for a living).

I’ve tried to make it simple by saying things such as ‘we help launch brands online’ or ‘we help companies better use the web to accomplish business goals’ or even ‘we’re the crazy web guys’.

However, folks are often left a little bit confused.

Thus, we at Integrity have a new, simpler answer: We sell money.

It seems over and over again, working with Integrity helps companies make more money. Whether it’s our client who uses Integrity to update their market position via a newly designed site (and then successfully sells themselves for tons of money) or the company that uses Integrity to engage their market via social media techniques (and then drives more sales via very targeted, one-to-one marketing) or the company whose e-commerce sales increase ten-fold due to engaging with Integrity to design the complete user experience and online promotion strategy, designing with Integrity often means making more money.