Suburban web design firm grows with new Heartside location

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Derik Lolli spent some time on Ohio Art’s payroll marketing Etch A Sketch and Betty Spaghetty. And for a self-professed air guitar prodigy who was then in his early twenties, monkeying around with toys all day was a pretty cush job.

But then a headhunter lured him to a marketing firm in Holland where he got hooked on web design and, in 2003 at age 26, Lolli launched Shift Design from his home in Jenison.

Business was good, but he wanted to explore the Grand Rapids market, and so, eight months ago, he opened a satellite office at 25 Ionia SW in Heartside. And that’s when things took off.

“Having a downtown Grand Rapids office automatically added a level of perceived professionalism my business didn’t have before, and that’s a really big deal,” Lolli says. “Since I’ve been here I’ve added ten local clients, and they’ve each provided me with multiple projects.”

In addition, Lolli garnered global business with the launch of a new Shift Design web site he loaded on several Internet-based portals for designers.

“From that I got 500 to 600 hits a day and a lot of contacts,” he notes. “I did work for an MSNBC affiliate in India and for a company in Europe. I had to weed through everything to find viable contacts and got a lot of jobs from all over the country.”

Even so, local businesses make up the majority of Lolli’s client portfolio.

“I’m within walking distance of a lot of my clients,” he says. “When I worked out of my house I had to meet clients at Panera. Now I bring them here and I’m really proud of my office.”

Source: Derik Lolli, Shift Design

Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.