Austin Web and Design

BACKGROUND

Please provide a description of your company. 

We are a nonprofit organization based in Texas. I am the executive director and only full-time employee, but we have volunteers located all around the state. Our mission is to foster and promote the positive accomplishments of public schools in Texas. We do that in a variety of ways from billboards and newsletters to our website. All these mediums are focused on increasing awareness of the accomplishments of our public schools.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the executive director. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Austin Web and Design?

Our existing website was simply unwieldy and nearly impossible to edit. So, we wanted to migrate our existing content, of which we had quite a lot, to a new site. In the process, however, we didn’t want to lose the look and feel of our existing website because that was the site our client base was familiar with. So, both a seamless transition and a quick migration were important. We wanted to avoid as much downtime as possible because our website serves as an important source of information.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Because volunteers largely run our organization, we don’t have a budget to hire a full-time person to keep our site current. Austin Web and Design transformed our existing site into a new one that was more user friendly for our volunteers and easier to edit and update without being too tech savvy. In addition, they offered us a hosting resource that was cheaper than what we had been paying.

What was your process for selecting Austin Web and Design with which to work?

We did not use a formal bidding process. Austin Web and Design had built both the website for my personal consulting business and for my campaign for this position. I knew that the company was accessible, easy to work with, and responsive. Anytime we had a quick question or needed something, they were able to help us quickly. Austin Web and Design could do the project on our limited budget and in the time allotted.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

The entire project cost about $3,000.

When did you start working with Austin Web and Design, and is the relationship ongoing?

The project started in 2013, and the relationship continues to this day, since we use Austin Web and Design for ongoing maintenance and support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

The project was a complete success, and everyone was very excited. 

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

We have no hard data, but overall the board members were very pleased with the ease of the transition. The look and feel of the site stayed essentially the same, so things were still easy to find, which is exactly what we needed. 

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

The owner [Isaac Simon] of Austin Web and Design has a strong work ethic and has built his company into something amazing. In addition, he went well beyond the original scope of the project and added some functionality that we hadn’t even thought to ask for, which resulted in increased ease of navigation and editing. 

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

I don’t think so. No.