Quick answer
Media Express (Website Design Chicago) builds custom WordPress websites for Chicago businesses on lightweight hand-written themes instead of heavy page builders. Clients edit text and photos with Szef Editor, keep full ownership of the site, and can add hosting, updates and support from the same team.
Custom WordPress, not a heavy template
Many WordPress sites are slow because they are built on multipurpose themes and page builders that load code for hundreds of features the site never uses. We build lightweight custom themes: hand-written templates and CSS, only the scripts the page actually needs.
The result is a site that loads quickly on phones, keeps a consistent design, and is easier to secure and maintain.
Easy editing for your team
Everyday content such as headlines, text, photos, buttons and links is connected to Szef Editor, our editing tool for WordPress. You click the text on the page, change it and save. Every save is versioned, so a previous version can be restored. Blog posts and simple pages use the standard WordPress editor.
Layout changes and new features stay with our team, so the design does not break over time.
What a WordPress project includes
- Discovery: your offer, your customers and the action you want visitors to take.
- Custom design for desktop and mobile.
- Custom theme development with clean, semantic HTML.
- SEO foundations: titles, descriptions, headings, structured data, XML sitemap.
- Forms, analytics and privacy-conscious tracking.
- Launch, training and a support plan if you want one.
MESH for WordPress: static-site speed
Our WordPress sites run on MESH for WordPress: visitors get ready static HTML from the server cache, so pages open with practically zero loading time, and the site runs one theme of our own plus three plugins. This website is built that way. Learn more about CMS MESH.
Moving off The7, Divi, Elementor or WPBakery
If your current site depends on a page builder, we plan the conversion: which content, images and URLs to keep, and how to redirect anything that changes so search visibility is protected. See website redesign.
Related
Questions and answers
Why WordPress?
WordPress is widely supported, you own your content and hosting, and it handles blogs and simple pages well. With a custom theme it can also be fast and secure.
Will I be locked into your agency?
No. The site runs on standard WordPress. The theme and editor are delivered with your site, and you keep access to your hosting, domain and content.
Do you use page builders?
Not for new custom sites. We build lightweight themes and connect editable content to Szef Editor instead, which keeps pages faster and easier to maintain.
Can you host and update the site?
Yes. Hosting, updates, backups and content changes are available as ongoing support. See website maintenance.
Meet our Chicago web design team and see what we build.
More services
- All website services
- Small business websites
- E-commerce websites
- Slow website? We fix it
- Same-day websites
- Polish-American & bilingual websites
- AI search (AEO / GEO)
- Landing page design
- Website accessibility (ADA / WCAG)
- White-label web design
- Web development Chicago
- Affordable web design
Popular pages
Our own audience
We don’t buy traffic. We create it.
Most agencies build a website and leave you to find visitors. Media Express owns the audience. Polish Network is the largest Polish-American network of owned media in the USA: 120+ of our own websites and portals, social media channels and news portals.
We also run the world’s largest aggregator of Polish radio stations, with 300+ stations from Poland, the United States and the diaspora in one place. We are building the American edition now, and next an edition for every country.
And we run your business on Szef.AI, our own AI operating system and CRM that works with everything, everywhere. New and better AI models appear every day, and Szef.AI is already connected to them. It is a solution nobody can match.
More than 8 million Americans report Polish ancestry (U.S. Census Bureau). Through our network, millions of people can become your customers. A typical web design agency cannot offer you this.
Ready to talk about your website?
31+ years of continuous web work, same-day website design that grows from a business card site to a portal for millions of views, a media network of our own, Szef.AI, our AI operating system connected to every new model, and direct access to the people who build your site. Tell us what you have in mind; you will get a clear recommendation, scope and price before any work begins.