Amplimark

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are the Iowa Digestive Disease Center, specializing in care for patients with gastrointestinal conditions. I am the Chief Executive Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amplimark?

We needed to rework the online presence and social media for our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Amplimark redeveloped our website and performed SEO services for it. We wanted to have a dynamic website that had more interactive features than our previous one, which was a single-screen approach with generic information. We created layers of pages, product definitions, and educational components that targeted patients and physicians.

How did you come to work with Amplimark?

We had used Amplimark in the past for a charity event, and had a good experience with them.

How much have you invested with Amplimark?

Our website development project with Amplimark had a cost of $8,000. Ongoing maintenance has a cost of $3,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Amplimark in February 2014. We have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I've been satisfied with the quality of our website design; we've received a few compliments. From a Google search perspective, we're always within the first 3 positions for any relevant keywords.

How did Amplimark perform from a project management standpoint?

Amplimark did a great job in terms of project management and communication.

What did you find most impressive about Amplimark?

Amplimark was very detail-oriented and went above-and-beyond in terms of research for supporting the needs of our practice.

Are there any areas Amplimark could improve?

Not that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a general practice law firm.

What is your position?

I am an attorney and shareholder in the firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Amplimark?

We had a need for web design. Our prior page had been created through a company specialized in building websites for attorneys, which meant that each of those ended up looking the same as the rest. We wanted to create something more modern, different, and easier to use for the customer. Amplimark did a great job with that.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Amplimark was tasked with reworking our user interface in terms of the look-and-feel of the buttons and links, while also adding our contact information on the site. We have a Google Maps field built into our contact page. Potential clients can email general inquiries to our law firm, or contact any attorney in particular right from the website and schedule appointments, or other things of that nature. The attorney profile pages are a lot better. We have now included bios instead of standard resumes, as well as badge icons for members who have been rated Super Lawyers, and so on. The general usability and look-and-feel are a lot better.

Amplimark added a blog to our site. We maintain a more constant presence on the website for clients. The previous page had no maintenance capabilities whatsoever. We updated it every couple of years, at best.

Since the website has been completed, we've assigned our digital marketing work to Amplimark as well. Right now, the effort is very small, but we've been in talks with them in order to take care of Google searches, Facebook, local marketing, SEO [search engine optimization], and so on.

When we were designing the website, we couldn't accurately describe what we wanted, but we were able to point to other sites and highlight what features or designs looked good. Amplimark was good at incorporating this and offering suggestions for elements which we didn't think of; e.g., having a sticky header on the website so that no matter where the client went, our name, phone number, and address were always at hand. Amplimark made sure that small details like that were taken care of.

How did you come to work with Amplimark?

What we were paying to our previous developer wasn't worth it, compared to the service we were getting. I knew Amplimark's owner through a breakfast group that we were a part of. I approached him and involved a few other attorneys in the firm. We ended up selecting Amplimark as a result.

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

The development cost for the site was approximately $2,000. We pay several hundreds of dollars per year for hosting and maintenance.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Amplimark a couple of years ago. We have an ongoing relationship. Amplimark hosts our site and maintains it. We make updates whenever a new lawyer comes to our firm.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They send us reports on a monthly basis. Through Amplimark, we've seen an increase in website traffic. People are engaging with our site for longer periods of time. We expect to see further increases once we've committed to digital marketing. Clients have appreciated the look-and-feel of the website. Many times, even people who were referred to our firm by word-of-mouth will still look us up online before deciding to retain us.

How did Amplimark perform from a project management standpoint?

The process took some time, but this was due to our end. We had a few too many cooks in the kitchen as far as the website went. We worked primarily with Amplimark's principal. He was very prompt with making work changes. Delays occurred on our end as far as providing the types of pictures and other content which we wanted. We needed to find attorneys for specific practice areas in order to write content, which took some time, depending on their schedules. Amplimark's team was very prompt on their end.

What distinguishes Amplimark from other providers?

Although I haven't worked with many other developers, I appreciated the fact that I could send an email to Amplimark letting them know that we'd hired a new attorney, along with a photo and bio for that person, and have the update up within a few hours. Amplimark has great customer service.

Is there anything Amplimark could have improved or done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We offer installment lending for consumers and small businesses.

What is your position?

I am one of the founders of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Amplimark?

Four years ago, we were a startup company. We needed to build a website and have SEO work performed for it, in order to gain a competitive advantage in the industry. We work within a large segment with a lot of competition, so we needed to generate leads organically.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Amplimark handles all of our SEO work and our pay-per-click campaign. They also manage our website and make changes when necessary. We've recently reworked the company site, which was done by Amplimark. They stay in the loop with what the industry trends are. We always know what to stay away from and what the best practices are with Google. Amplimark's team isn't a big fan of Yelp, for example, so we don't get involved in that. Amplimark is in charge of renewing our GoDaddy information and domain name.

We receive full analytics on the projects which are run by Amplimark. They go out of their way in doing research for us, as well as creating content for our website.

Our working relationship is not very complex. I left it up to Amplimark to do what I wanted to get done. Three and a half years later, we're still working together, which is amazing.

How did you come to work with Amplimark?

Amplimark had a great business background in the area which we wanted to tackle. I don't recall exactly where I found them, but I became interested in Amplimark because they were based in Iowa. They had a strong resume and fit the character of what we were looking for.

Amplimark was very sensitive with us in terms of pricing. In Los Angeles, the same work would have gone for $20,000 instead of $5,000-10,000. Amplimark was very competitive and didn't put a great financial stress on us. When talking to other IT specialists, we had the sense of being charged thousands of dollars for nothing, simply because they felt that they deserved it.

I interviewed 6 other candidates, both local and from other states. Amplimark's principal was the kindest person out of all of them, and he was responsive to any request we had. We had conversations 6 months before getting the ball rolling, which resulted in receiving a lot of information simply in good faith. It meant a lot for me to be able to come back to Amplimark with full knowledge of what they could or couldn't do. When shopping, a client will always have many questions and will want to know everything. One thing which I determined is that an agency cannot really guarantee anything, but it's important that they are honest and trustworthy.

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

The annual cost of Amplimark's services is between $20,000 and $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Amplimark for almost 4 years. We have a monthly agreement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The key success point has been that Amplimark built a wonderful website for us which has always performed great.

Right now, when googling "installment loans Los Angeles" or "installment loans California", our company's organic ranking is within the first 3 positions. Our business survives strictly on the Internet, but we've been very successful through Amplimark's work.

We've never had any issues with Amplimark. The company has always been responsive in handling problems with site downtime or anything else. Their principal is a very kind person with whom we have a great relationship. In our business, we deal with a large volume of money. Some of our competitors have billions of dollars out on the street, but we rank higher than them online. We've been fortunate to work with Amplimark. They're honest, hardworking, diligent, and never make unrealistic promises.

How did Amplimark perform from a project management standpoint?

The website was built in a very timely manner, which was important to us. We can call Amplimark for any issues and they will be there for us. We're constantly kept informed about how well the site is performing through monthly reports.

What distinguishes Amplimark from other providers?

The most notable things about Amplimark is that they are dependable and trustworthy. They're also very accommodating, and perform additional small services for us which are included in our package.

Is there anything Amplimark could have improved or done differently?

I don't think so. We've reached our current position within the industry due to Amplimark, even though our competitors have billions of dollars.