SANTA CLAUS — INDIGO is a web design company located in Santa Claus, Ind. It is run by a couple that is fairly knew to the area but have been running their business for over two decades. The company is website hosting and building.
Keith James was born in raised in Southern California. His father is from Southwest Michigan, so he had been going there his whole life. His wife Laura does the bookkeeping and ecommerce side of the business. They are the only two running the business. They are a true mom and pop operation.
In 2012 they decided to move closer to Keith’s father. They moved to Northeast Indiana because it was a better business environment. They lived in LaGrange County in a little town called Howe. They lived there for almost 12 years before moving to Santa Claus. Their time spent in LaGrange County was community filled.
Keith served on the LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce board of directors for several years (with three years as board secretary) and was awarded Director of the Year for the past three years. Last year he was also awarded Small Business of the Year for his photography business.
This year Keith was a nominee for the LaGrange County Community Foundation’s Heart of Gold award for his contributions to the community.
He served as vice president of an organization called The Farm Place, which provides a home for foster children, and is now in the process of building an “animal companionship center”, which will make it possible for family reunifications and counseling to take place in a safe, private place (vs. public spaces) with the added benefit of farm animals.
Keith started the LaGrange County Hometown Heroes program in LaGrange County.
He served as elder chairman at their former church in the little town of Brighton for several years and can still be seen on the leadership page.
Laura was co-founder of the food drive at their church in Brighton.
They have been in Spencer County since last August to be near to their daughter.
His daughter married a man named Nathan Guth. Nathan is the son of Mike Guth who is a teacher at Heritage Hills High School. His mother is Sara Guth, she was the principal of Saint Bernard School over in Rockport.
James had been doing web design since 1994. He went back to school when he was in his early 30’s to Santa Barbara City College. His goal was to become a computer scientist but quickly discovered that the profession involved a lot of math.
“I’m far more creative than mathematical,” said Keith.
He switched his major to computer information systems, but while he was in college the World Wide Web emerged. He was fascinated by it. He took the initiative to teach himself HTML and Photoshop. There were no courses on the topic since it was new.
His first website that he built was for what he referred to as a terrible rock band. The first commercial site was for an electronics company.
His first job out of college was at a company in El Segundo, Cal. He worked there for a couple of years. In 1998 he ventured out on his own after company layoffs. This was when Indigo Web Services came into existence.
Keith took up professional photography during the time that he was building websites. He found that to provide a better service for his clients it was necessary to also give them quality photos that could be used on their sites.
A lot of clients would send poor images. About 15 years ago he homed in his photography skills and learned the technical side of cameras. He wanted to make sure that his clients had only the best. This enhances the look of the websites.
Indigo does all their sites out of Word Press. They have a strong and quick server with great malware that is put on all their websites.
“I have an edge on other web designers in the sense that when I am photographing a company’s business, I’m thinking about what those pictures will do on the website. I’m not just taking pictures randomly. I’m thinking about how it will help,” said Keith.
Keith still has 90% of his clients in California. When they moved to the Northern side of Indiana, they were able to build up a clientele there as well. They have clients all over the country and some out of the country. Now they are looking to find new clients where they call home. They prefer to work with small to medium size businesses.
“Our sites look pretty great, and my wife and I work well together,” said Keith.
The websites start around $2,000 and go up with the complexity of the website. Most of the websites fall under the $2,500 to $5,000 range.
“Most small businesses just need an online presence. They just need a page with an overview of their products and services, a contact form, and an ‘About Us’ page. They don’t need anything too complex,” said Keith.
Keith said one of the best parts about their business is that they have good relationships with their clients. They have developed genuine friendships over the years. They think of their clients on a personal level. They care about them.
“Their success means our success,” said Keith.
Indigo Web Services can be reached at 812-544-3994 or indigowebservices.com
“Leaving there and starting over here has been a challenge because we went from having our hands very full to having them very empty. Now that our house is unpacked and we’re more settled, we’ll start looking for new opportunities,” said Keith.
