WDG - Web Development Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

BoardSource is the recognized leader in nonprofit board leadership and supports, trains, and educates nonprofit leaders from across the country and throughout the world. With almost three decades of experience, BoardSource provides leaders with an extensive range of tools, resources, and research data to increase board effectiveness and strengthen organizational impact. It is also the national voice for inspired and effective board leadership. I serve as the vice president of marketing and communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

We had a website that we hosted inside of our AMS. It was on a CMS platform, but it was nonresponsive, not flexible, non-scalable, and archaic. We hired WDG to completely develop a brand new online presence using the technology of WordPress.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We completely overhauled how we organized the content on our website. There was a lot of discussion about how we wanted our menu and navigation; we went back and forth with WDG and we both landed on something we thought was going to be really great and fit our needs and those we serve. There was input from us and input from them — it was a great collaboration.

Once they came up with the structure, they really understood where we were coming from in terms of what we wanted to be different on this website compared to how it was on the website we were using at the time. They did a lot of discovery with us. When the wireframes came back we were thrilled. We loved it! When the first design mock-up came back, I didn’t love the colors that they chose. We were about to go through a full rebrand and had been working on updating our new color palette and brand standards. However, after we saw their first design it helped us realize what we liked and what we didn’t. It actually helped us put our new colors together and when we sent them to WDG they seemed excited about the boldness and the direction we were headed.

SEO also was a huge focus. The URLs of our previous website were 100 characters long, and they made no sense. If you know anything about digital marketing and search engine optimization, you know your URL is very important. We had very high hopes that this new website would drastically enhance our online presence. We talked a lot about how our MOZ score was really high when compared to other like-minded organizations within our sector. Our page rank was quite high as well. But paid advertising, direct traffic, and organic traffic were lower than we wanted.

The way WDG allocates resources to a project is different than how I’d worked with other web development firms, and it was a good different. You are working with different team members throughout the project with a seamless hand-off; it was exciting to work different experts directly and not just simply with one project manager. Something really great was the way WDG launched into our project. We did a huge staff kickoff and they brought us through some exercises that lasted a couple of hours. Our entire staff was able to participate and meet the several WDG team members we’d be working with. We wanted it to be a collaborative effort from our end and theirs; we wanted to make sure that everyone knew just how important this new website was to us and those we serve. It was very organized from the beginning.

Once those initial elements were done, we worked very closely with our developer, Kurtis, who is still there and who we still work with because we now have WDG on retainer. We primarily worked with him on the launch. Kurtis is a genius. We pretty much think he's magic. We would ask him, “How did you do that? That was magic! And so quick too”! That’s how it went throughout.

How did you come to work with WDG?

When I was first hired at BoardSource we had a webmaster because we really did need someone on staff with that type of knowledge and experience to manage the site. When he moved to an organization that focuses on web design, we certainly made updates and added critical information to the site, but we did not have the flexibility that we needed or the internal capabilities. In addition to not having the flexibility, the website was nonresponsive, and about 15% of our users are mobile users, so when you have a nonresponsive website it’s going to affect the user experience for those consumers, and sales for the organization. We went through an extremely extensive RFP process and talked with many different firms. We did not have a web development firm we were currently using, so we started from scratch. All of the research was done in-house. After receiving many proposals — and we didn’t just look at D.C.-based firms — we also looked at firms in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but WDG stood above the rest. It was a great experience from the very beginning and in the end, we were absolutely thrilled we had the opportunity to work with them.

How much have you invested with WDG?

It is a little bit tricky because, at the very end, they had to come on and do something that was completely out of scope (thankfully!), but I think, all in, it was $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2015 and launched in October 2016. We have them on retainer, paying them monthly for updates and special projects. We would not have chosen any other firm for this!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our MOZ score is now a 5.1; it was a 6.3. Our traffic rank is 180,000 or so, and we were at somewhere around 500,000 prior to launch. We were getting anywhere between 20,000 to 50,000 visitors to our website depending on the month and what we were doing. Now we are getting close to 100,000, so we’re up a lot. If you looked at our website metrics prior to redoing it this time last year, for example, about 85-90% of the traffic was coming from email marketing. Now over 50% of visits come from organic and direct traffic. Email marketing is probably reaching the same amount of people, but we have so many more people coming to our website that it is roughly only 15% of our traffic. And over 50% of our users are return visitors which is really exciting.

We absolutely love our newly redesigned website; for our users’ experiences and the internal team working on it now. One of the things that we really wanted was flexibility. WDG built us the most flexible WordPress I have ever worked with. It is based on the flexible design layout version and we can basically do anything that we want to. We create pages from scratch, and it is like… add this layout, add this, and add that. We certainly have our own internal standards and guidelines and business operations as it pertains to that, but it’s the most flexible website that there is.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well, especially considering the circumstances of the integration partner we had to part ways with mid-project; this company delayed our website launch about seven months. WDG stuck with it, being very supportive and helping us in the end when we were ‘in a pickle’ and needed to launch the website to help support our organization and new strategic direction. The integration partner simply couldn’t develop what they said that they could develop, and WDG had to broaden their original statement of work and adjust their timelines. WDG did a heck of a job sticking with us because it wasn’t always very easy.

What did you find most impressive about WDG?

The most impressive thing about WDG is that you feel like a part of their family in a way. They’re an organization that obviously works with a lot of clients and manages a lot of projects, but I feel like I am truly supported by them. You get that small business feel in a really big city with a big development firm like WDG. I would say that’s probably the most impressive. When we went over there for training, we all went out to happy hour. I know the names of their kids. I know that Homiera just got married. They take the time to get to know their clients and be really supportive. That’s the biggest thing that feels good about the partnership.

Are there any areas WDG could improve?

Not yet!

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

I think that they should hire WDG for their website project. Period.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Green America is a national nonprofit with a budget of 3-million-dollars annually. We’re based in Washington, DC. I am the director of digital products for the organization. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

We are using a ColdFusion website that was developed in 2008. My task has been to convert it into the Drupal 8 CMS, make it mobile-responsive, integrate third-party donation and user-engagement tools, and refresh the content. We had a full-year process planned but had no experience with web development. The organization made a leap of faith and chose a more modern infrastructure. We have many individual users across the US and globally, as well as organizational members and a business network.

Similar to how regions of Africa bypassed landlines and went straight to cell phones, we were jumping from an outdated platform straight to Drupal 8.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve broken the work down into two parts: a design phase and a development phase, which is currently being wrapped-up. We engaged with WDG in order to envision and deliver finalized designs in Illustrator/PSD formats which we could then use to build our website. We didn’t use WDG for any marketing collateral. Our website is the organization’s main outreach tool, aside from the emails we send out, so it was very important for the organization to have a well-thought-out website.

We were assigned a resource who worked on our overall direction and vision, the main designer, and two or three junior designers who submitted competing samples. We also had a contact for billing and other general inquiries. Our interactions changed based on what level we were working, but we had a main contact who shepherded us through the whole process.

We needed WDG’s help in understanding different elements and how everything could relate. They were fluent in terms of design vocabulary, bringing some rigor to our process.

As a digital person inside a non-digital organization, it was important for me to have a process that engaged everyone, especially those who were technologically averse. We also had a wide range of partners who were only experts in their particular field—like labor, climate, food, or finance—and who had a strong need to make sure that the site represented the needs of donors, sponsors, and partners. We also collaborated with bloggers and social media experts, each of whom had to know how to go through the process. One thing we appreciated about WDG was their structured process for working with our digital team and helping us get comfortable with the idea of a new website. It’s due to that process that we were able to have the project move forward. The needs of nonprofit organizations tend to be different, and we needed to wrangle everyone on the right path.

We had initial meetings around user personas, during which we described the different needs of people coming to our site, and moved to overall wireframing with successive rounds for getting our internal architecture and prioritization understood. We went into three rounds of design and settled on a nice version that was subsequently refined.

How did you come to work with WDG?

We went through an RFP process, interviewing approximately 16 firms of different sizes in Washington, DC and around the US. The process required buy-in from our stakeholders and executive board. One of the reasons for choosing WDG was their knowledge of working with multi-stakeholder teams.

How much have you invested with WDG?

The cost of WDG’s work was around $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The final design was delivered in early January of 2017 and took four or five months to complete. We expect to complete the website in May of 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

WDG has fulfilled all our requirements. We wanted to have attention paid to the relative hierarchy of our content, making it more utilitarian rather than just presented. We wanted to encourage users to go to certain pieces of content that we selected, with a focus on donations and email engagement. WDG also designed an entryway to the magazine publication for our organization. All of these parts needed to fit together; in my mind, it turned out great. I will have better data after we’ve had a few months to understand what we’re doing.

The site isn’t the same experience by far. It’s a breath of fresh air. People can make their own changes, automatically crop images to the correct size, see all content as it comes up and edit it directly, and so on. It’s indescribable—comparable to going to a food processor from a mortar and pestle. My team is very pleased about the upcoming launch, and we’ve had a sigh of relief since there were many directions that the project could have taken. Our success is in no small part due to having a great, experienced design team.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly meetings and in-person check-ins with our main contact and WDG’s designer. We had many architecture discussions and also moved on to the design components. WDG shared work through InVision, which was helpful for the people who were not visually oriented. Towards the end, we had more frequent meetings since we had to make decisions. The final delivery was on time.

What did you find most impressive about WDG?

There was a level of mutual respect and admiration between our teams. My presence on the Green America side has smoothed things a bit since I do have a background in website redesign, but I don’t know how the project would have turned out if we’d used a team without the same level of communication skills as WDG. Everyone on our side had a clear understanding of what we needed to do, and WDG helped navigate through our hierarchical process. We have a participatory workforce, so everyone on the team is empowered to make decisions and comments. WDG handled everything with aplomb, style, and grace.

WDG was not afraid to push back, which was very important since we didn’t have the knowledge in-house. We needed someone to flag issues and highlight any wrong approaches. It’s what most impressed me about WDG, and it’s important to know for someone looking to hire them. They’re a full partner for projects and can bring expertise to the table.

Are there any areas WDG could improve?

WDG did everything we needed them to do. More on-site participation would have helped may have helped for additional comfort with our staff, but is not necessary for the final deliverables. I even found it amazing that WDG came to our location three times.

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

WDG can deal with multilevel, bureaucratic institutions, navigating through that and providing a finished product. This can be a herculean task. They were nimble and knew how to make our stakeholders understand the work. That clarity was very beneficial to our team.

The internal team working on the engagement needs to understand what it wants and have a document which prioritizes its needs and required features. It’s extremely difficult to communicate that to a team like WDG unless the team knows what it wants internally. We did have an RFP, and all the content type were laid out as much as possible. Every hour spent internally on the planning will save two hours during the engagement. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are ACRP which is Association of Clinical Research Professionals. I was the senior manager of digital and technology for the association.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

We had a website that was about ten years old, and it wasn’t mobile friendly. It was outdated, and the CMS [content management system] in general was a very old system. It didn’t have a good workflow for our staff. We wanted to address not only the fact that the website look and feel was outdated but also the workflow for our staff and to change the CMS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I did a lot of research ahead of time, so I gave WDG a wish list of the ideal things that we wanted for the website and also prioritized them. They suggested WordPress mainly because it was going to be very content-heavy site, and WordPress was the best platform to use. Another feature that they brought forward was Swiftype, which was a search engine for our site. We needed that because we needed to be able to pull in search results from some of our platforms including our community site and our clinical researcher website which were two platforms that were outside of ACRP. Swiftype allowed anybody who searched on our website to find results from these external platforms that we had. WDG also set up a calendar widget for our courses. They also put together some Gravity Forms plugins. We were using Wufoo before the website, and now we brought all the forms onto our site.

How did you come to work with WDG?

I did an RFP [request for proposal] when I was looking for a new partner. I Googled different agencies in our area. I knew they would be working with us closely, so I didn’t want a company that was too far away. After looking at agencies and for websites they’ve designed, we found WDG was just a couple of blocks away from our office. I reached out to them, and they came to our office and spoke to me about what they offered. I felt like their customer service was great. Ab, the managing director, was friendly and they understood what we needed. I look to build relationships with the partnerships we have with other companies and not just think of them as a vendor. I felt that WDG was professional in addressing what we needed.

How much have you invested with WDG?

The redesign project cost under $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with WDG in July 2015, and the work is ongoing. They continue to help us with maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any metrics, but I heard from our staff and even our members that the site is definitely more user-friendly and it’s mobile friendly. We can do a lot more marketing now than what we used to because of where we are. I’m sure that our presence online has improved as a result of the redesign and how professional looking the site is now. We did implement Inspectlet on the website, and that is still ongoing for the ACRP site. That’s one of the tools that has allowed us to make data-driven decisions for the website.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

We launched on time. WDG’s staff was very knowledgeable in each of that areas. I really liked their workflow because we changed team members in each space, but each team member focused specifically on their area such as strategy, wireframing, design, and development. There’s absolutely nothing bad I can say because I felt like they really helped me also as a project manager. It was the first redesign that I had gone through, and they really supported me and taught me a lot of the phases. We used Basecamp, and for post-launch, we used DoneDone in order to submit tickets.

What did you find most impressive about WDG?

I’m impressed at how Ab has managed to get such talented staff. Everybody is very talented and professional. If they’re not knowledgeable about something, they’re able to help or get more information for me. There’s a great team at WDG.

Are there any areas WDG could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of right now. I’ve had great experiences with WDG. I was really happy with the work they did.

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

When I’m trying to find new partners, I look for a partnership. I had to do several of these types of projects at ACRP. I’ve looked for new vendors and potential partners, and I felt that WDG was extremely up to date. They built our website as a flexible layout, which is something that I liked because it gave us more control over the website and allowed us to be creative. They stepped outside the box, and Ab was actually very transparent about that from day one. Ab felt we needed to change the perspective of how associations work which made sense to me. I really wanted to do something different and build a site both our members and staff are going to love. And so far, everybody has been really happy. I really appreciate Ab’s transparency from day one.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company is American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). I’m the director of publishing and digital operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

We were looking for a website developer to help us build the backend for a new CMS. We were going to be transferring from a .NET CMS to an open source CMS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to use WordPress instead of Drupal. We were looking for their expertise in the area of open source CMSs so we could validate using WordPress. We wanted to move away from a highly-customized CMS. We wanted something that gave us more flexibility and ease of use. We were coming from a very rigid system that didn’t offer a lot of flexibility. WDG had experience with both and we didn’t feel they preferred one over the other. They had a product they had developed internally called Flexible Layout which allowed us because of the expertise we have on staff with frontend development. It allowed us to utilize WordPress to its fullest extent for our business needs. That was a key reason we went with them.

We had a fast timeline but we did a lot of the content strategy and front work. We had to have a lot of trust in each other because we were stringent on our launch date. We had a lot of the work done in the beginning so the design phase went quickly. They also put an amazing developer on our account so we felt like, on the technology side, they had all of those areas covered. They could speak well to our IT department so wherever we had deficiencies or didn’t understand something, they were able to fill in the gaps on the IT side. We had a developer that worked with the old CMS but we didn’t use them in the way we did WDG. WDG has brought a lot more to the table as far as developing this CMS. The other developers we were using wouldn’t have been able to execute this project because it was such a huge overhaul and migration.

How did you come to work with WDG?

We did a Google search of local agencies. When we looked at WDG’s website. It stuck out because it was really smart in a technology sense. It wasn’t all flashy and creative. It showed they have the research background, analytical background, and strategic background to execute projects the way we were looking for.

How much have you invested with WDG?

Between $100k to $140k.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2016, and the site launched in February 2017. We are continuing the relationship for ongoing maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new CMS is a huge improvement overall. Our members, our staff, and board say it’s so much easier to find things. That’s partly due to the planning in the content strategy and the site mapping that was done ahead of time. It’s quicker and easier to make changes in response to whatever challenges there are. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback on ease of use and searchability.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

They did really well. They gave us some of their best people to support the project because it was pretty complicated on the technology side. That made the project run smoothly. Our project management helped as well. We had a technical lead, a project lead, and they had the same format. I had a direct line to the director of accounts at WDG, Curt. I would text him every day, especially in the last days of the project. We also communicated via email through Basecamp. If there was something we needed help with immediately, I would text Kurt so they knew we needed someone to respond right away.

What did you find most impressive about WDG?

The level of attention they gave us to us was impressive especially given that they work on multiple accounts at one time. I don’t know how many technical accounts they’re working on at one time but they made it seem like we were the only one. That was a huge bonus for us.

Are there any areas WDG could improve?

I don’t have anything negative to say about them.

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

Be completely open and honest with where you are with your content and be ready for the amount of work that this type of project takes. It takes a lot of time so you have to be married to the project for the duration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Respondent 1: We’re a nonprofit organization that has been around for 70 years. We are an impartial, independent, international organization solely dedicated to improving global aviation safety. We are a membership-based organization with over 1,100 members from most of the major airlines and OEMs [original equipment manufacturers]. We hold annual safety conferences around the world. We also publish one of the leading safety journals. I’m the president and CEO.

[Respondent 2] is the serving VP of communications and editor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

Respondent 1: Because we have been around for 70 years, we were primarily a print-based company. Our website needed to be refreshed. The original website was built by someone else, but we didn’t go back to them for the redesign because the company dissolved. One of the partners died, and we were not all that keen on going back to that company. We wanted a fresh set of eyes.

We had to look for a platform that would be easy for us internally to maintain and put content up. One of the issues we had with the old site was that there were only a couple of people who knew how to work around it, and it was increasingly difficult to maintain. WDG has been working to help us define, develop, and launch that strategy. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Respondent 1: We used WDG on a consulting basis before we selected them. We went through the selection process, picked them, and signed a contract. Initial sketches that they had worked on turned into designs over a period of several weeks. We wanted to make sure the cause of our company was the primary message of the website. We’re not an association but a cause-based organization, and WDG seemed to realize that.

We knew that we were going to stop printing our magazine in late 2016, but we didn’t want to do away with the magazine. WDG designed the way the magazine looks online. We went through the process of the designs and liked the way they set up the pages. Then, we went through a sketch of each primary page and a sitemap of what the website was going to include. Once we approved those, we started to build the pages, bring in the technology, and decide what the WordPress functionality would be. We went with a flexible layout concept: we could decide what a page could do based on a flexible content page design. WDG helped us find photographs to make it look better. It was a long and involved process.

If you look at the industry updates page, a complaint that we had with the old website was that it was so static. We updated it with a PDF of the magazine 10 times a year. Other than that and changing what conference is coming up next, most of the content didn’t change. We wanted something more dynamic. WDG came up with the idea of industry updates where we can post press releases, do news blurbs, and curate other people’s content, creating more of a go-to place for aviation safety.

Another key element to the website was the accelerated search function. I think that was one of their best recommendations. It searches our flight safety content and portions of 2 other websites that we’re affiliated with. One is the Aviation Safety Network, which is a database of accidents and incidents based in Europe. We provide monetary support to that organization yearly. The other is a site called SKYbrary, an online library of aviation safety content. From the federated search on our website, you can return results from those sites too, making us more of a portal for aviation safety.

Ab (Managing Director of WDG) put the team together. We worked with Dario, the designer, and Roger was the project manager (at least in the beginning). They went through a technical lead change once, but it was pretty much seamless to us. We had our own internal team. We’re a small organization, so everyone was involved.

How did you come to work with WDG?

Respondent 1: We looked for competitive bids to help us launch our new digital strategy. We brought WDG in as a consultant to help us scope out what we needed to do. We went out and sought input by asking 8–10 other companies to look at the idea, but we didn’t get bids from all of them.

The locality was a consideration because we easily wanted to go back and forth, and it turned out to be a big benefit to have WDG in the office on a regular basis or to go there if we needed to. Obviously, we’re a small organization, so price point was a consideration. In the end, we liked their thinking. They seemed to get us. They figured out who we were. We liked their designs. They did a lot of research on what we wanted to do. They recognized the value of what we do as an organization. They also had experience with nonprofits, and I think the mission, motive, and way you operate are different from a for-profit company.

What is the status of this engagement?

Respondent 1: We began working with WDG in February of 2016. We went live with our new website—the first major steps of our new digital strategy—back in October or November of 2016. Frank managed that very closely along with WDG.

Our involvement with them remains ongoing. After the website launched, we finished our 30-day “if anything breaks, we’ll fix it” agreement. That was part of the original contract. We then signed a maintenance agreement with them. If issues come up, they address them. Luckily, we haven’t had too many of those. After the website launched, we knew we were going to want to make improvements. We signed a new contract last week for 10 hours of design and development for some work that we want to do.

In addition to our old website, for part of this project, we had put up a temporary WordPress website with the Federal Aviation Administration using a different vendor. We want to integrate that now, so that’s part of what we’re going to do. They are helping us make that look nice. As we move forward on this project, we need something that is more interactive, so they’re going to help us with that. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Respondent 1: Our ability to track analytics on our old site was limited, but we do have some data now. Our usage is up from where it was at this point last year. Our members are happy with the new site. We got a lot of positive feedback. One of the things we rolled out with the new site is a more flexible member firewall. In the magazine area, we can gate content and limit articles to just members being able to see the whole thing. We also have protected pages that are behind the firewall that is only available to our members, so we now have the ability to serve our members with exclusive content more easily than we could in the past.

I wasn’t here when we did the last website update in 2010 or 2011, so I really couldn’t compare their performance or productivity to our previous supplier in a fair way. However, I was involved in a couple of redesign projects at a previous job, and I can say this one with WDG went much more smoothly than those. Then again, that was a much larger organization.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

Respondent 1: We did onsite meetings and teleconferences. We used a project management collaboration tool where we could open tickets or go back and forth. The key was the ability to pick up the phone, ask a question, and get an answer pretty quickly.

Respondent 2: Also, being down the street helps a lot, too.

What did you find most impressive about WDG?

Respondent 1: I thought that they were very engaged with us. They took a legitimate interest in not only designing a nice website for us but in seeing us succeed and rolling it out. The team worked with us collaboratively and made some important contributions to the user experience. We subsequently signed a maintenance agreement with them for a couple more months. We’re doing some more work with them over the next several months on enhancements to the site.

Respondent 2: I would agree with that. They became a part of the team during the integration. They were here for us whenever we needed them. We never had any social issues or felt that we were not getting their attention or priority. Any issues we had, we were able to work out very amicably and quickly. All in all, I thought it was a very good relationship.

Are there any areas WDG could improve?

Respondent 1: If I had to do it over again, I might ask for a more detailed breakdown of what everyone’s function was and explain in more detail the importance of the sitemaps. WDG deals with people all the time who probably have more knowledge of this stuff than we did going into it. They need to be aware of explaining something. Part of that was my fault.

Respondent 2: One of the tough things is we’re not a website company, so we have learned a lot by doing it. That’s not what our core competency is, nor do we really want to go through it again. Anytime you go through something like this, you learn a lot about what to do.

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

Respondent 2: It’s important that you do your homework and know the right questions to ask. We did some consulting with WDG prior to awarding them the contract. You definitely want to get involved with someone who you know and trust so you can pick up the phone and say, “We have got to figure this out.” You don’t want someone coming in and reading your contract to you again. My recommendation is to engage with people who you know, trust, and feel comfortable with. There will be challenges where you’ll need to pick up the phone and let them show up, then you can talk about the commercial aspects after you get the technical issues resolved. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Alexandria Small Business Development Center is a nonprofit organization working as an economic development program. We are funded by the city of Alexandria and the United States Small Business Administration in order to provide guidance and assistance to community businesses and help them be more successful, solve problems, and get started more efficiently.

What is your position?

I am the director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

We recognized a need to upgrade our website. It needed a general refreshing, and we wanted it to become a place where businesses in the city could have access to more information for which they'd normally call us directly. There is a great deal of information that we offer businesses, and we wanted it to be presented in a cleaner fashion. Whether someone is in the process of starting a business, are already in business and have questions or problems, or is in the process of growing their business and are in need of resources for this, we offer a broad array of material to impart. We wanted to simplify this process.

In the process of evaluating our old page, we looked at a number of other websites and recognized the elements that make a website attractive. Many of the pages we evaluated were cumbersome and difficult for a small business owner or prospective entrepreneur to locate desired information. This leads to a very frustrated group of people. If someone is in this position, they'll be in urgent need of information. Our goal became to make a better experience for our users.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

I wasn't involved in the technical drafting of our specs. We are co-located with the city's economic development program, the parent host of our organization. A person from their team was in charge of leading the whole process of implementing our website development. She had the most experience within this project, and the overall success of it is mostly due to her. We liaised with the project manager they assigned to us.

How did you come to work with WDG?

The research was conducted by our representative from the parent organization. We wanted to find local companies in Alexandria because we're funded by the local government in order to provide free services to local business. In that context, we wanted to stimulate the local economy.

We went through an interview process, narrowing our selection down to four finalists. Each of these companies brought team members to our semifinal meeting. I recall that WDG came to us with five or six people. We initially only met their frontline people and one or two designers. We chose them because they seemed very structured in their planning of the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website has been live for two years. We've not contracted any additions to the site since its launch.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We were very pleased with the site. Several people who have reviewed our site, including our city manager, who was responsible for appropriating its development funding, have given very positive feedback. Our city manager decided to redevelop the city government website using WDG based on their work for us. Several people have referred to our page as one of the best they'd ever seen.

One of the hallmark requirements we had when starting the work with WDG was to determine what people are looking for when they come to a small business center development website. There are several different subcategories within this question, depending on whether our users are starting a business, are already in business, and so on. Our aim was to make it easy for them to reach what they were looking for, irrespective of what their status was. It has been successful and is the main source of feedback received from people.

We didn't want our site to look gaudy. Some pages can be distracting because of the amount of pop-ups and flashing colors. Our page was designed to be calming. WDG have integrated this look into their design. There's a great deal of content that is presented in a simple way yet, when clicking on certain things, plenty of information is provided. People in the industry acknowledge our site for its great design.

I'm having a hard time thinking of any bug fixes we've worked on. There may have been a couple of minor issues after the launch, but we've not had any major problems with the site. Their work allowed us to architect any changes ourselves, thus not having to go back to them when we needed something.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered the work on time and on budget. Everything was handled carefully. Part of the success was that we also handled our end in a timely manner. We provided everything WDG needed from us when they needed it, and they always took care of the work on their end in a timely fashion. There were project management tools used during our collaboration, but I wasn't directly involved in these aspects. 

What distinguishes WDG from other providers?

There were four excellent companies that we evaluated in our final analysis. It was a tough decision because we liked several of them very much. The one thing that stood out time and again with WDG was that they presented us with what sounded like a very structured approach to the development process, broken down into a detailed timeline.

Is there anything WDG could have improved or done differently?

Working with them was very straightforward. I don't think there were ever any issues in which we wanted something different from them. If there were, I wasn't aware of those details.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're the IT department of a local government.

What is your position?

I am the Emerging Technologies and Advanced Analytics Division Chief. Essentially, our section maintains a lot of the institution's technology programs, like our website and geographic information systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

We were looking to redesign our website. There had been a number of years since we'd done so, and we were looking for an organization that would be willing to work with us. We had designers and developers on staff, but were looking for an outside perspective as well. This engagement would be more collaborative than normal.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

WDG developed our website using HTML, JavaScript, and so on. I am not familiar with any particular technologies used beyond this. A good portion of the engagement was focused on the site's design.

Being in the public sector, conversions weren't a concern for us. The goal was to improve the overall experience for our users. We have several thousands of pages, which required us to improve our search functionality and reduce the number of clicks a person might need to reach something. We wanted to simplify our homepage.

WDG talked to our internal stakeholders in order to get an idea of how diverse the operation was, given the number of departments within our city. They needed to propose an architecture and design that would facilitate us to communicate that information more effectively.

How did you come to work with WDG?

We interviewed a number of firms through a bidding process. We liked WDG's approach and had a good feeling from the way in which they presented their methodology combined with their willingness to work with our staff, given that the engagement wouldn't be a typical one.

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

The total development cost was $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The site is set to launch the following Monday [Feb. 28th, 2016]. We've retained WDG on a small contract in the eventuality that we'd have additional needs. We're overall happy with the product and have no need for support resources at the moment.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've had both internal and external feedback, which has been mostly positive.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

They've consistently delivered their work on time and within budget. We worked on a fixed-price contract. We used Basecamp for project collaboration. It was recommended by WDG.

What distinguishes WDG from other providers?

We got a good feeling working with them. Everyone in their team is very approachable and easy to talk to. It's easy to address the right person for a particular need and they're always responsive. The relationship has both an informal and professional feel to it.

Is there anything WDG could have improved or done differently?

There was nothing that I was dissatisfied with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Space News is a leader within the commercial space and satellite industry. We are a media outlet with a bi-weekly magazine that has been in print for 30 years. We also have a robust online follower base, in part due to our recently redesigned website.

What is your position?

I am the director of business operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with WDG?

We did a website redesign in 2012. We were not pleased with the final product and spent six months interviewing potential candidates for the next attempt.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

WDG redesigned our website using Wordpress. The platform was chosen in conjunction with them. Our previous site had been based on Drupal, and we became aware of some limitations within that platform. We leaned towards Wordpress even before coming to work with WDG.

Their team included one designer and two developers. We interacted directly with one of the developers and with our project manager.

From an aesthetic point of view, our previous website looked like the design work of a programmer. It wasn't aesthetically-driven, and this was an important factor for us. We work in a technical industry, but people consume media in the same way, regardless of their technical background. We wanted an aesthetically-pleasing site, but were also concerned with functionality on our end. Drupal was not as easy to use as we would have liked, and not very flexible. We enter 10-12 new posts every single day. Using a Drupal site required having an extra staff member simply for publishing content. With Wordpress, our reporters are able to post their own content, in real-time.

How did you come to work with WDG?

We researched their company online. WDG was located ten blocks from our office, which was a happy coincidence.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website was launched in December of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

From 2014 to 2015, we saw page views increase by 48%, a user increase of 32%, a total sessions increase of 47% and an average session duration increase of 12%. We also had a bounce-rate reduction of 4%.

How did WDG perform from a project management standpoint?

Budget and timing wasn’t that much of a concern for us based on our contractual arrangement. As a customer, we were the ones that drew items beyond deadlines. A big reason for this was the fact that we'd previously had a site redesign that didn't work. Getting it right this time was more important than doing it within a deadline. As far as individual deliverables went, when we passed the baton to WDG, there was never a delay within their timeline.

The design process was lengthy. Once we selected them, the work extended over five months. This was partly due to the fact that we had 30 years of historical data which we had to migrate to the new platform and integrate within the new taxonomy, in order to make our content searchable through keywords and tags. This became a manual process for a lot of our older data. We literally had to sit in a room with WDG, doing searches through the raw XML data and figuring out where particular keywords could fit in. They were reliable overall from a timeline point of view.

We used Basecamp for project collaboration. The tool was recommended by them.

What distinguishes WDG from other providers?

Their proximity was convenient for us. If we called them in order to discuss our work, we could meet at a local coffee shop and sit down together. We had a nice, casual approach that gave us good results with which we're pleased. WDG provided a personal touch.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am VP, Marketing at an IT Distributor focused on Public Sector custoemrs

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WDG - Web Development Group?

We needed to quickly go from concept to production on an online property to support a strategic program with an unmovable launch date.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We've worked with WDG and found them reliable, consultative, and responsive.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After a few discovery calls, we quickly moved to a kick-off call and broke down the project into logical phases that would support the MVP product launch date with ongoing support. From there we moved to a regular weekly cadence with reviews and demos of the work in progress before finally going live on time.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

2-3 resources including a project manager, designer, and a developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Launch was a success with over 10,000 unique visitors to the site within the first 45 days of going live.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Highly effective. Once we moved to the development phase I was able to turn over management of the project to our in-house web manager who managed all the coordination. This was a relief as it reduced my work burden.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were impressed with their quick responses, high-quality work, and consultative approach.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing.