Answers that mention Solid Digital

For a family-owned retailer on Chicago’s Near North Side, I’d prioritize an agency that can do more than make the site look newer: it should improve mobile UX, speed, local search, and—if you sell online—product discovery and checkout.

My shortlist

1. YourPortal — best overall fit for a small/midsize retailer
   • Located on N. Elston, so it’s genuinely local.
   • Does Shopify migrations, custom Shopify design/development, WooCommerce, UX, mobile performance, and ongoing support.
   • I’d put them near the top if you want a practical redesign rather than a huge-agency engagement.

2. Flamingo Agency — good boutique/small-business option
   • Based in Lakeview and focused heavily on small-business websites.
   • Strong fit if your current site is WordPress and you want a modern responsive redesign without turning the project into an enterprise exercise.
   • They also handle WooCommerce and ongoing support.

3. IDE Interactive, Inc. — best if UX is the main problem
   • Chicago-based experience-design/development shop with capabilities spanning websites, e-commerce, mobile, and custom software.
   • I'd consider them if the old site isn't merely dated but is genuinely difficult to navigate or you have unusual retail functionality.

4. Praella — best for a serious Shopify/e-commerce rebuild
   • Downtown Chicago and strongly focused on Shopify/Shopify Plus.
   • Their work emphasizes UX/customer journeys and more complex e-commerce requirements. chicagoweb.co
   • Probably more agency than you need for a simple brochure-style retailer site, but worth interviewing if online sales are important.

5. Alpha Efficiency — interesting Near North Side choice
   • At 875 N Michigan Ave, they're particularly convenient for a Near North Side business.
   • Their positioning combines redesign, mobile responsiveness, UX/conversion work, SEO, and performance rather than treating the website as purely visual.

6. click5 Interactive LLC — good smaller-shop alternative
   • Near River North on Hubbard.
   • Particularly relevant if you want a clean, usability-focused redesign and hands-on development rather than a large marketing-agency process.

One more I'd interview

Solid Digital is a more substantial Chicago agency. They do WordPress/custom development with attention to performance, integrations, and sites that marketing teams can manage. I'd consider them if your retailer has a larger catalog, multiple systems, or ambitions beyond a straightforward redesign.

For your particular description, I'd start with YourPortal, Flamingo, and IDE Interactive, then add Praella if e-commerce is a major revenue channel.

What I'd put in the RFP

Don't just ask agencies for a "mobile-friendly redesign." Ask them to commit to:

• Mobile-first UX, designed around actual customer tasks.
• Core Web Vitals/performance targets, with testing on real mobile connections.
• A simplified navigation and prominent store hours, location, phone, directions, and contact actions.
• Product/category architecture that works well for both users and Google.
• Preservation of existing SEO value: URL inventory + 301 redirect plan.
• Accessibility, particularly readable type, contrast, keyboard navigation, and touch targets.
• A CMS your staff can actually maintain without calling the agency for every photo or product change.
• Analytics and conversion tracking before launch.
• A clear post-launch maintenance arrangement.

If you sell online, I'd specifically ask each agency to show two or three retail/e-commerce redesigns they've personally built, not just their prettiest portfolio pieces. The Chicago Web Co., for example, explicitly emphasizes mobile-first Shopify builds, UX audits, and conversion optimization, and has published retail/e-commerce case studies. chicagoweb.co

For a family-owned retailer, I'd also favor a small senior team with direct access to the people actually designing/building the site over a big agency where you're handed to an account manager. That tends to make a redesign much less painful.

For a small manufacturing company in the West Loop looking for a modern B2B website redesign, I’d focus less on a general “creative web agency” and more on firms that understand industrial buyers, RFQs, technical content, certifications, product catalogs, and long sales cycles.

Here are some Chicago-area options I’d shortlist:

Best fits for industrial/manufacturing B2B websites

Orbit Media Studios
A strong choice if you want a polished, modern B2B site with strategy, SEO, and lead generation built in. They specifically market manufacturing website work and focus on conversion-oriented sites rather than just visual redesigns. www.orbitmedia.comwww.visualfizz.com
Good for: established manufacturers that need a credible digital sales tool.

Flamingo Agency
A more manufacturing-specialized option. They focus on industrial companies, capability pages, RFQ flows, and WordPress-based manufacturing sites. www.flamingoagency.com
Good for: small-to-mid-sized manufacturers that want a practical redesign without a huge agency engagement.

VisualFizz
Chicago-based B2B agency with experience building sites for complex industries, including industrial companies, with attention to UX, CRM/ERP integrations, and lead generation. www.visualfizz.com
Good for: manufacturers that need the website connected to sales processes.

Centric Web
They position themselves around manufacturing and B2B websites and emphasize experience with industrial businesses. www.centricweb.com
Good for: smaller manufacturers wanting a straightforward partner familiar with the industry.

Solid Digital
A broader B2B digital agency that can handle strategy, redesign, branding, and ongoing marketing support.
Good for: companies that want a brand refresh along with the site.

If I were narrowing it to 3 for a West Loop manufacturer:

1. Orbit Media — best overall balance of strategy, design, SEO, and B2B sophistication. www.orbitmedia.comwww.visualfizz.com
2. Flamingo Agency — best if the priority is “we need a better manufacturing website that generates quote requests.” www.flamingoagency.com
3. VisualFizz — best if you have more complex needs (CRM, integrations, multiple audiences). www.visualfizz.com

When interviewing them, I’d ask:

• “Can you show me 3 manufacturing websites you redesigned?”
• “How do you structure capability pages for engineers/procurement teams?”
• “How do you improve RFQ conversion?”
• “Who writes the technical copy — your team or ours?”
• “How do you handle CAD files, spec sheets, certifications, and distributor resources?”

For a small manufacturer, I’d avoid agencies that mostly show restaurants, consumer brands, or SaaS landing pages—they often underestimate how technical industrial buyers evaluate suppliers.

If the goal is a landing-page redesign specifically to improve user acquisition, I’d prioritize agencies that can connect UX/design to conversion metrics—not just make the page prettier.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Orbit Media Studios — best overall for acquisition/CRO
   • Strong fit if you want research, UX, conversion optimization, landing-page testing, and analytics rather than a purely visual redesign.
   • They explicitly offer UX audits, user-behavior analysis, A/B testing, landing-page/form optimization, and conversion copywriting. rawcutcreative.com
   • I'd put them at #1 if the founder can provide traffic/conversion data.

2. Design In Chicago — best nearby design-focused option
   • They're actually in West Loop at 159 N Sangamon and cover strategy, UI/UX, landing-page design, and development.
   • Good choice if the current page has a strong product but weak positioning/design and you need someone relatively hands-on.

3. Evolve with Digital - Web Design — best hyper-local/startup-sized option
   • Located directly on Fulton Market at 1375 W Fulton Market.
   • Their positioning is geared toward newer/smaller businesses and redesigns, so this could be a good fit if you want a nimble partner rather than a larger agency.

4. Solid Digital — best for a more substantial B2B/product company
   • Stronger choice if this landing page is part of a broader website/product-marketing redesign.
   • Their work spans strategy → UX/UI → development, with SEO and conversion considerations.

5. Marcel Digital — best if paid acquisition + CRO are central
   • Particularly interesting if the startup already has meaningful traffic and wants to squeeze more acquisition out of it.
   • They combine CRO/UX, landing pages, analytics, paid media, SEO and development.

6. Point B Communications Inc — best Fulton Market creative/brand option
   • Literally at 600 W Fulton St.
   • More of a full-service branding/advertising partner, so I'd consider them if the landing page problem is really positioning + messaging + creative, not just UX.

One more worth contacting

ALL FOR™ is particularly relevant geographically: it's a founder-led design agency in Fulton Market itself and explicitly offers website redesign, landing-page design, UI/UX and web development. allfor.agency

ALL FOR™

Who I'd contact first

For a startup founder trying to improve acquisition, I'd send the brief to:

Orbit Media → Design In Chicago → ALL FOR™ → Marcel Digital

I'd deliberately give them the same brief and compare their proposed approach. The key question isn't “Can you redesign our landing page?” It's:

“How would you diagnose why our current traffic isn't converting, and what would you measure after the redesign?”

The strongest agency will talk about traffic sources, ICP, messaging, funnel drop-off, CTA friction, analytics, experiments and conversion rate before talking about colors and animations.

If you tell me what the startup does + current landing page URL + approximate monthly traffic/conversion rate, I can narrow this to 3 agencies and tell you exactly why each is a fit.