Hudson Integrated

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a distributor of hangers and fixtures. I am an office manager and bookkeeper for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hudson?

Our goal was to put ourselves out there online, so that people could see what we’re selling, and so we could attract more customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re using Google and social media marketing to push people to our e-commerce website. Hudson has rebuilt that website, and they’re working on our online marketing, including social media and Google SEO.

How did you come to work with Hudson?

My boss was at an event to which Hudson’s team also participated. They met, he asked them to come to our office, and we eventually decided that Hudson was the best route.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Hudson in late 2015. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

There’s been a small rise in our sales, compared to 2016. We have more orders coming in via the website.

How did Hudson perform from a project management standpoint?

Anytime we have a question, Hudson’s team is available and helpful. They will walk us through anything we don’t understand.

Are there any areas Hudson could improve?

Not off the top of my head. We’ve had no problems with Hudson at all.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Hudson?

Just be available. Hudson is a very helpful group, and they can explain anything the customer doesn’t understand. We have met them at their office, and they were very accommodating to us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for Handy Store Fixtures. We are a manufacturer of retail store fixtures. We mostly deal with independent retailers and the convenience store, liquor store, pet store, and pharmacy industries. We have some chain accounts, but for the most part, our target customers are independent retailers. We have around a dozen employees in the office and another 25 or so working in our factory.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hudson?

We hired Hudson because we were looking to redo our corporate website; it had been about nine years since we had redone it. We wanted to make the website responsive, modern, and up to date.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project started roughly 8 months ago. We used to use WordPress for our old website. The first few months of the project were focused on working on the backend and frontend of the site, which Hudson built custom for us.

We met with Hudson to determine what we were looking to do in terms of the website, and then I started to work with them hand in hand migrating some of the content from our old site to the new one. Hudson redid our admin section; it’s really nice and easy to use now. We didn't add too many new features to the site.

Hudson did change our design, and they helped me with the branding. Our old website had a lot of blues, but Hudson did a pretty in-depth competitor analysis and found that a lot of similar shelving companies also use a lot of blues on their websites. So we got rid of that and went to more of a red and gray scheme.

We are maintaining Hudson as our SEO provider. We started working with them on SEO more heavily about a month ago, as soon as the site was finished. We’re now getting pretty intense with SEO, pay-per-click, social media marketing, and email marketing. We came up with the SEO together. We had been using SEO in the past with another organization, so we had a pretty good idea of what we were doing. It’s not something Hudson had to do from scratch.

How did you come to work with Hudson?

We had actually spoken with Hudson three or four years ago strictly as an SEO company. We were thinking about changing providers, so we had talked to them about SEO, but we ultimately decided to stay with the status quo.

About a year ago, we decided that we needed to redo our website. I saw some of the recent work they had done on other responsive sites. Then Jeff [Matta, Vice President] and Daryl [Bryant, co-founder and CEO] came into our factory and spoke with the owner and me. We felt comfortable with what they proposed, and we liked their approach as being kind of an extension of my team. We were satisfied and decided to go with them with everything: web redesign, SEO, all of the other Internet marketing initiatives. Once they sat with us and showed us recent work they had done, we decided to go with them for everything.

How much have you invested with Hudson?

I believe we spend about $6,000 a month with Hudson, which includes web design and now includes 30 to 35 hours of digital marketing. I think we allocated maybe 10 hours a month to SEO while Hudson was creating the site and admin section.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Hudson about 8 months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I think it’s only been two or three weeks since we went live, so I haven't really gotten into the Google Analytics yet in terms of bounce rate and things of that nature. But I do know that our online lead conversions have gone up about five times from what it was. In the past, we’d get maybe one or two leads that came in online a day. We’re now averaging around four or five a day, so we’re pleased with the type of quality leads that are contacting us through our website. Hudson’s design and coding have met our expectations. Everybody who I show the site to says it looks fantastic, and we couldn't be more pleased.

How did Hudson perform from a project management standpoint?

Hudson is great at project management. They’ve hit every deadline. They’re very responsive. Whenever I reach out to them, somebody gets back to me within hours. I couldn't speak any more highly of how well they work in terms of project management. We mostly use email to communicate, and then we do some phone conferencing. We’re in contact with anywhere from four to five people, which I kind of like. It’s nice. It truly does feel like I'm working with a real team.

What did you find most impressive about Hudson?

I think their location is really impressive. It’s a nice-looking space: clean, modern, tech-heavy. The owner of our company has met Matt and Daryl, who are two honest, stand-up gentlemen. It’s important in dealing with a company like we’re dealing with that we have a good working relationship with the CEO, and he’s down-to-earth and easy to talk to. You can tell that he’s honest, and he really cares about making things work with us.

Are there any areas Hudson could improve?

I can’t think of any ways Hudson could improve. I don't really know that much about the digital marketing world, so it’s kind of a hard question for me to answer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an electronics recycler working with businesses, schools, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, taking in all of their old computers and electronics. I am the director of business development for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hudson Integrated?

We contracted Hudson Integrated for the creation of a new website to showcase our services. Our previous page was outdated in terms of look and feel, as well as the content itself.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Hudson Integrated introduced a new custom website for our company, which allowed us to showcase new services and marketing material. They were in charge of design and content work for the site. Hudson Integrated also provided training for using the site. We had full capabilities to go in, add content, and move things around.

How did you come to work with Hudson Integrated?

I googled for top web design companies in New York and made a list of 20-25 companies, including some which were local to us. I got a good feel from interacting with Hudson Integrated's representative and meeting with their team.

How much have you invested with Hudson Integrated?

The cost of Hudson Integrated's work was between $10,000 and $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Hudson Integrated in the second quarter of 2016. We finished the project in February 2017. The majority of the time was dedicated to content production, which was our responsibility, mainly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Within a week of launching our website, we received five customer inquiries directly through it, four of which were brand-new customers who had no prior exposure to us.

What did you find most impressive about Hudson Integrated?

Hudson Integrated is not the largest or the smallest firm on the market, but they have a personal touch. We can reach out to them directly, at any point in time, and receive assistance. Actually, I just spoke to our team today to go over some features. Hudson Integrated's availability is what distinguishes them.

Is there anything Hudson Integrated could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with Hudson Integrated?

Ensure that someone on the client's marketing team can assist with the marketing side of things. No one can have a better understanding of a business than its own staff.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of a tax preparation and accounting firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hudson?

We needed to have a responsive website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the design and development of the website. After the tax season is over, we’ll work on SEO.

How did you come to work with Hudson?

I knew Jeff from a networking group. I saw some of the work that he did and knew it was high quality. He also did a project for another accounting firm in the area and I liked the layout.

How much have you invested with Hudson?

I spent between $10,000 and $12,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took a year, but it was because I didn’t get the content to them in a timely manner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’re not even doing SEO and people are still finding us and calling us because of the website. Customers who were not existing clients have said they like the look of our website.

How did Hudson perform from a project management standpoint?

Their whole process is great. If not for me, the project would’ve been done in a few months. They call you whenever they need anything and make sure to keep everything moving to meet the deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about Hudson?

They showed us other websites they’ve done and that was great. They were straightforward and easy to work with.

Are there any areas Hudson could improve or done differently?

No, I thought it was great. It was pretty seamless.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of marketing for a contracting and restoration company. I am responsible for the creation, execution, and measurement of our marketing strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hudson Integrated?

We wanted to bring more value to the products and services offered by our company. There is a lot of competition among restoration companies, so we needed to set ourselves apart. We also wanted to offer clients an easier and quicker option for recording property loss. In the commercial space, it's extremely important to have an entity through which the customer can quickly and efficiently deploy resources on-site. The longer someone waits in the case of a fire or a burst pipe, the more damage occurs. We decided that the best approach for getting around this would be to create an emergency-response mobile app that could even eliminate the need to pick up a phone. I'm a designer and have experience around creating user interfaces. I understood that more than creating an app, we needed to build an easy-to-use solution, so that our customers are more likely to use the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had some discussions with the company around what should be implemented in the app, but Hudson Integrated helped us go through the planning process. Using their expertise, we looked at the different loopholes in our original plans. They made sure that the app would meet our business goals and handled that the emergency-response elements well. The app allows users to input their emergency type and contact all the appropriate parties, making sure that the emergency-response teams are sent out as quickly as possible. The client's personal information is prepopulated, which is in itself a time-saver.

Hudson Integrated provided both the aesthetic design and coding for our iOS and Android app. I gave directions in terms of branding and look. It was a fairly easy process, with both parties coming up with suggestions. In the long run, it was a successful project.

How did you come to work with Hudson Integrated?

Hudson Integrated was referred to us by a senior executive who'd used them in the past. I did my due diligence in order to ensure that Hudson Integrated had the capabilities we were looking for. Their price point was also good.

How much have you invested with Hudson Integrated?

The cost of Hudson Integrated's work was under $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Hudson Integrated in April 2016. The app was rolled out in the first week of January 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

There are quite a few users who have registered on our app. They have given us great feedback. We've met with school facilities directors every month at an association luncheon. I've had them come up to me and mention how easy to use the app is. They've appreciated having personal information prepopulated, especially since typing into a small area can prove difficult for many of them.

We're excited to start the second phase of development using Hudson Integrated. We've had to work with SMS companies for messaging functionalities, as well as other things of that nature. I was impressed by how quickly both versions of our app were rolled out.

How did Hudson Integrated perform from a project management standpoint?

The timeframes and response from Hudson Integrated were always on point. I've appreciated this as someone new to the industry who had to figure out what to do. I relied on Hudson Integrated's expertise.

What did you find most impressive about Hudson Integrated?

Hudson Integrated was great at taking the perceptions of different people and putting that information into a plan. They made sure that it encompassed our aesthetic and functionality. It was refreshing to work with a team which really understood user interfaces. Anyone can design an app, but creating one that the customer will actually use and want to come back to is a completely different animal.

Hudson Integrated is a very thorough group. I've liked the creative spirit behind the team. Most importantly, Hudson Integrated's members have taken the time to explain why certain features would or wouldn't work, which made the whole process more comfortable. I was new within the company and had to get some small wins. It was nice to be guided by a team of experts not only in order to reach an end goal but also to have value, internally and externally.

Are there any areas Hudson Integrated could improve?

I don't think so.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Hudson Integrated?

Clients need to figure out what their end goal is before starting the design phase. One of the biggest downfalls of any project is falling behind on scope and budget. Many times, people will initially think the product will be different than what it ends up becoming.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is an audio app based company. We take lectures of a certain genre off of YouTube, take out the audio, and make it available for listeners via an app. I’m the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hudson Integrated?

There was no platform Previous to our app for people to be able to look into it without using up all their battery and data listening to them on YouTube. Our goal was to facilitate access to these sought-after lectures.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the very beginning, we went over the ideas. Our business model was built around a monthly subscription or ad revenue. They had improvements that impressed and convinced me. They said it would be much easier to do A, B, and C for your idea, rather than X, Y, or Z. As we went along, they provided a very detailed blueprint of all the work that was going to be done.

How did you come to work with Hudson Integrated?

We looked up the most highly reviewed app development companies within the North Jersey and New York City area. I had a call interview with every single one of them, and each company gave me a price quote of what work they would do. Hudson was chosen because they are not located in a densely populated, high-traffic area, and their estimate was 60% cheaper than everyone else’s estimates. When I looked up their work, the reviews for their work were very promising, so we immediately chose them.

How much have you invested with Hudson Integrated?

The first year’s cost was $51,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s been one year since we’ve worked with them, and we are still working with them. We just did a soft launch and are working right now to smooth over any rough edges in our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I’m very satisfied with them, and I am very happy with the results. I showed it to a small controlled group of users when we did the soft launch because I wanted their feedback. Everybody liked the idea and the concept.

When we did the soft launch, we immediately held a meeting because we realized that a lot of our ideas look good on paper but, when it was put into actual practice, they weren’t very practical. We worked together to change that. On top of that, tweaking a little bit of the design and functions, never had any extra costs. That’s what made me very happy with them. They are not looking to take any more money out of this because they care about the work itself, which made me very happy.

How did Hudson perform from a project management standpoint?

It was excellent. Great communication and great project management. Hudson makes you feel like family. I was very satisfied with it.

What did you most impressive about Hudson Integrated?

I was very surprised to see that we never went over the cost. Overall, step-by-step, Hudson has been very helpful. They have been there when I had questions. They were much more cost-efficient than the other companies based in New York City that we had interviewed.

Are there any areas Hudson Integrated could improve?

I don’t have a single complaint.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Hudson Integrated?

Work very closely with them. Make sure you articulate everything you want from your ideas. Make sure you’re very clear. When they send you something to review, make sure to respond on time. They’re working at a great speed, but their speed depends on how often the client can reply to them. It all depends on the client making time to follow through with everything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a medical distribution company putting together independent 1099 sales forces for different medical organizations, including laboratories, pharmacies, and so on. We're always building and growing our sales force.

I am a co-founder and owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hudson Integrated?

We needed to create a website which would attract independent medical representatives. We became inundated with many unseasoned candidates or ones which simply weren't the type of rep we were looking for. We needed to gain a certain attitude through the site, and have it be entertaining enough to attract as many of the good reps as possible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Hudson built our website from scratch. The nice thing about working with them was that, even though my partner and I aren't technological or creative people, Hudson could provide a complete team for web design and social media. They took our directions and translated them into a digital format. Hudson also built Facebook and Twitter pages for us.

How did you come to work with Hudson Integrated?

Hudson was referred to us by a past client of theirs, as well as by a couple of our friends.

How much have you invested with Hudson Integrated?

The cost of our website development was broken up into payments, but we've also had an ongoing contract with Hudson for marketing and social media. The cost has varied month by month, from $2,000 to $4,000. Hudson has tailored the services based on what we were looking for.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Hudson in 2014. The website has been finished, but we continue to work with Hudson for updates and other tasks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The layouts of our website and social media pages far exceeded our expectations. We don't track statistics for our area, but I can say that after the website was created, the amount of traffic we gained, as well as the number of sales reps which contacted us, grew exponentially.

How did Hudson Integrated perform from a project management standpoint?

Hudson was amazing. I can't say enough good things about the end-product and the people working there. Every team member who came into contact with us was phenomenal. We don't have a technology background, so there were many questions being asked on a regular basis. Hudson was always there for us.

What did you find most impressive about Hudson Integrated?

Hudson was a pleasure to work with. Their results are phenomenal, and all the employees of the company are great. Hudson made us feel welcomed. I have recommended them to many people looking for help in that space.

Are there any areas Hudson Integrated could improve?

Not that I can think of. Hudson has every angle covered.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Hudson Integrated?

Even if they think that the task is impossible for Hudson to do, clients should throw the idea out to the team. I'm sure that Hudson can figure out a way to do it. We thought that there would be certain limitations, given our background, but Hudson was able to accomplish everything we gave them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Duralee Fabric is located in Hauppauge, Long Island. We’re a B2B [business-to-business] company providing fabrics, trimming, and custom furniture to the trade.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Information Officer [CIO].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Hudson Integrated?

We needed a complete redesign of our website, which went live in January 2013. Our previous website was not well enabled for e-commerce, and we needed a custom shopping cart for our transactions.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of your work with Hudson Integrated in greater detail.

Hudson Integrated developed the entire company website for us, including content management and e-commerce functionalities. Our customers now have the ability to self-serve in terms of creating users for their companies and employees. We have a custom search engine that Hudson Integrated developed with a third-party. The search engine came as part of a toolkit that Hudson Integrated fitted into different parts of our site in order to enable different types of searches.

The site was custom-developed in .NET. We gave Hudson Integrated a set of wireframes and specifications on the basis of which the cost of the project was agreed on. We’ve worked with three other vendors on the site, but Hudson Integrated was our main developer. Their team acted as the bandleader, while our other partners wrote the APIs [application program interfaces] for the Enterprise Resource Planning system used to submit inquiries and orders, as well as manage our image searching system. Hudson Integrated worked with these companies within a fairly short period of time, making a custom website, with a custom shopping cart, search engine, and administrative tools. This was all done from scratch.

More recently, they’ve worked on improving our SEO by comparing our site to those of our competitors. They have also looked at the types of searches that result in visits to our page. Hudson Integrated is changing some of the tagging in our pages to make them more compatible with the kinds of searches we want to attract.

In addition to this, we’ve also put in some hooks on the site to gather Facebook metrics for visitors who don’t log on. We can see where those people are spending their time, and use that information in numerous ways. A Facebook user belongs to a community in which they share content. We can take that information and put it up against the profiles we have for people in our line of work. Designers will be more likely to have designer friends in related businesses. We can reach out to people in those demographics and advertise to them. We’ve worked with Hudson Integrated as well as with another marketing firm for this purpose. They’ve helped us put hooks into our page and track what our users are doing.

How did you come to work with Hudson Integrated?

We interviewed a few candidates before settling on Hudson Integrated.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total development cost of the website was $160,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May of 2012. The site went live in January of 2013, but it was available for internal demos in December, 2012. We’ve enhanced it since that time, creating many additional features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

When the site was initially launched in 2013, people loved it. One of our key measures of success is e-commerce. Our previous site had only rudimentary e-commerce capabilities, and prior to 2013, we only received between 5-6% of our sales revenue from the website. Once the site built by Hudson Integrated went live, we tripled that percentage, reaching around 16-17% of our total sales.

We now offer many more features through which users can make searches, manage projects, pay bills online, enter credit card details, and so on.

In 2015, we had 1.1 million sessions, 427,000 users, and 6,383,000 page views on our site, which comes down to half-a-million page views per month. We’re trending even higher for the current year. We receive these stats from both Google Analytics and from Hudson Integrated themselves.

How did Hudson Integrated perform from a project management standpoint?

Hudson Integrated was able to hit deadlines, which has been key for us. They never commit to something that they won’t be able to deliver.

What distinguishes Hudson Integrated from other providers?

Hudson Integrated is a small group, so they can be very flexible, versatile, and responsive to our requirements. They are leading us in a number of ways. For example, in 2013, when we launched our site, it would work fine on desktops, but performed poorly on small devices. Consequently, in 2014 we embarked on a process to make the site more responsive. The entire platform was recoded as a result. Hudson Integrated told us that they didn’t think it would be a good idea to bother with building a separate mobile app, but instead we should make a responsive version of the website.

I belong to a group called The CIO Council. During a group meeting, I discussed the work we were doing with Hudson Integrated and asked the fifty people present how many of them were building responsive websites. Out of all of them, only about five or six said they were starting to look at this. An equal number said that they’d heard about the concept, but hadn’t done anything about it. Most of the people at the meeting had no idea what we were talking about. We were early in the game with respect to mobile responsiveness, but our site was completely optimized, from our shopping cart to every other functionality. This was completely due to Hudson Integrated.

Is there anything Hudson Integrated could have improved or done differently?

We sometimes have resource issues. Hudson Integrated is growing, and they have other clients. It hasn’t been a big problem, and in fact was addressed a year ago, when Hudson Integrated hired some people to meet our demands. This is more of an observation than a complaint.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

MOVE LLC is a bumper company in Lewistown, Montana. We’ve been in business for two years, and 99% of our activity consists of building do-it-yourself bumper kits for trucks. Our kits come in five main pieces which customers fit and weld themselves.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Hudson Integrated?

We needed to get greater exposure for our company, so we were looking for a developer that could build a website for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Initially, Hudson Integrated was tasked only with building our website. We weren’t looking to do any type of marketing with them, but we engaged them for those services later on.

How did you come to work with Hudson Integrated?

I researched a few US web design agencies online, narrowing down my choices to two or three companies that I liked. I then obtained some quotes and references. One thing that impressed me about Hudson right from the beginning was that once I started searching for web designers, their name came up everywhere.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The original development cost was between $6,000 and $8,000. After eight months, we invested more into the site by implementing e-commerce functionalities.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website was launched in August of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

The site Hudson Integrated built looks extremely professional. We showed it to other business professionals and loan committees who were all impressed with the quality of the website, which is very easy to navigate and very clear. I am very happy with the site.

How did Hudson Integrated perform from a project management standpoint?

The development process took some time due to changes we requested on our end. Hudson was always timely.

What distinguishes Hudson Integrated from other providers?

They’re not simply a web design or marketing company. We’ve called Hudson for various issues, and they’ve proved to be instrumental in getting our business known. They’ve helped us with anything from tech support, marketing and web design, to business questions in general. They’re a one-stop-shop, which we have very much appreciated.

Is there anything Hudson Integrated could have improved or done differently?

No. The work that they do for us is constantly evolving based on our needs. If something doesn’t work, we will choose a different direction. There is always some trial-and-error.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a fitness startup.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I'm the founder. I was the designer for trying to implement what we wanted and get to from my head onto development and website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Hudson Integrated Web Agency?

We wanted to find a company to create an online mobile fitness app.

Please describe the scope of their work.

Web development, mobile app development, and they also take care of my online marketing through Facebook, Twitter, Google AdWords, and iTunes. It's Android and iOS.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Hudson Integrated Web Agency with which to work?

I talked to three different developers. When I met with Hudson, they were as excited about the project as I was. When I was discussing with them the potential you could tell they were meeting as team of 10 to 12 people and discussing the project even before we had our second and third call. 

The other shops were only playing it by ear waiting for me to come to them with the project. They weren't putting any thought or decision making into the process. It's not that I wanted Hudson to make my decisions for me but, at the same time, it was a big venture. So, I needed to bounce the ideas. I appreciated the feedback they were giving me.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was from $50,000 to $200,000

When was the work completed?

It's ongoing. The stopping of the engagement is just in talks to be bought by a couple different companies. So, if that happens, the project would stop immediately. I would probably start another project within 24 hours of that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

The projections we had are all doubled, so it's very successful. They were modest projections. For the small, modest increments I had planning this project out, we've surpassed all those beginning milestones. It's going better than expected.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Absolutely.

Is there anything unique or special about Hudson Integrated Web Agency that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

It's hard to say. I just put my blinders on and decided to go with them. A couple of the other development shops had their shot, but lost my project. They didn't impress me.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

Make sure you have your project mapped out and express what your vision is. They take it from there. The document they provide you for the build out is phenomenal. My cousin, who also does tech startups, he said all the companies he's been with, which are $5 million to $10 million dollar startups. He said if we'd produce documents like that all those companies would be $50 million to $100 million companies.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

The only thing I'd say I'd do differently is I had a vision of the marketing process, and it's in line with how I wanted it in the beginning, but we had to do some trial and error. My ideas weren't backed by a lot of statistics, but I'd say on the marketing plan, the only thing I look back on is the first three months, I wanted to go in a certain direction. But, I let them do their research and, after those three months, I narrowed down the field and said I wanted to focus more on a different strategy, which we did and they were happy to accommodate.