EDUCO

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

TigerTracks is a software-as-a-service company. We help heavy equipment owners and contract maintenance companies to manage and share records of the maintenance required to keep the machinery safe and compliant with governmental regulations.

What is your position?

I am the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with EDUCO Web Design?

We needed a marketing website as well as a basic application to use and demonstrate to early investor and customers. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The scope was largely website design and development. EDUCO helped us to create both the website and application.

How did you come to work with EDUCO Web Design?

I had a good grasp of what you look for in a web design firm and what you don't. Number one is process – the ability to recognize your brand, what you stand for, what you do, and who your customers are and translate that into a functional website. The other thing was relationship. The EDUCO crew had been competitors of mine at one time, and I knew them to be very honest people in the industry to approach and work with. I specifically chose to work with them instead of the company I used to work for because they have a good reputation, and they have a good process.

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

Our project is complete and cost right around $25,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We achieved outside angel investors like we intended to do and part of it was the website and being able to show them what we do on the website and an actual SaaS [software-as-a-service] product that we can sell behind a pay wall. The second part was being able to sell the product behind the pay wall to customers. We did get a number of customers. We had a lot of successful demos. That put us in a position where we could use that investment money to create an enterprise-level product.

What distinguishes EDUCO Web Design from other providers?

The EDUCO Web Design team has a lot of experience. There's no inexperienced hire there cutting their teeth. They all buy into the mission of the company and the team and support each other. Nobody is contrary and pulling in different directions. They're all very friendly and easy to approach people. They have a project manager that does a good job at understanding your concern and getting it to the programmer, but not slowing down the programmer or interrupting them. It's a good team to work with. The nice thing is they're not going to roll over and play dead if you start asking for everything. They manage the requests in a very structured way that helps you get what you want without interrupting the process.

Is there anything EDUCO Web Design could have improved or done differently?

The biggest thing I found for a team their size, and I think they're five people now is trouble managing emergencies. Any team their size will have troubles being able to handle back-end work and emergency fixes. They do a good job. I think they do as good a job or better that you'd expect a firm that size to do. 

They've also sat down, done some soul searching, and figured out what kind of work they are looking for so that they're not all over place and dedicate themselves to the same process and not be all over the map and trying different things every day. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a small business private exchange startup. We sell direct insurance solutions to small businesses.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the manager of consumer experience and Brand Strategy. I really play point on all of the startup activities – partnerships, different branding, new logos, new website, and product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with EDUCO Web Design?

We recently developed a website on the SharePoint platform. It was supposed to be really user-friendly and easy to manage. It ended up being really cumbersome and very expensive. We were looking to switch platforms to a Drupal platform. 

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting EDUCO Web Design?

EDUCO was recommended to us by our larger parent company. They have worked with EDUCO on numerous website projects. We also interviewed a couple other companies and got a couple quotes from individual developers. We asked everybody for timing, specs, and pricing. EDUCO were really great in working with us to negotiate that price. They managed our needs with timing and came in at a very fair price.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?

The project was in the $10,000 to $50,000 range.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What differentiates EDUCO Web Design from other partners?

To me, EDUCO Web Design was great about translating the confusing IT [information technology] language and everything that goes with it into plain English. I was able to understand everything, and I'm not a technical person. All my needs were met. I was never made to feel like anything was over my head. It was all very straightforward and laid out very nicely. Nothing was ever left hanging. To me, that is unique to be able to meet the business needs and support it with really great IT.

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

No. EDUCO made it very simple.

BACKGROUND

Could you provide a brief description of your company?

We’re a record label. We release about 10 to 12 albums per year. We have a back catalog going about 20 years. We also sell other merchandise revolving around the bands on our label. We’re a little under 10 employees.

What is your role?

My title is the new media publicist. I work with the online publicity and anything Web-related, whether it be social media, video, or website, digital advertising, all those things.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were trying to address when you approached EDUCO Web Design?

We had a website that was several years old and really outdated. It was not allowing us the freedom to do a lot of things that we wanted to do in our web store and also aesthetically on our site. We didn’t feel that it portrayed our artists and our label the way that it should. We were looking for a solution to give us some freedom with customization, a more professional look and, most importantly, a more intuitive shopping experience for our consumers.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project?

It was a full-fledged overhaul. It was a completely rebuilt website with a few hundred pages, with all of our releases and artists and news. They took everything that we had on our old site, and then added a bunch of new features.

How long did the project take?

I think it was four months. It was launched last month [April of 2014].

Did they provide training on how to edit the content on the website?

Yes.

How did you select EDUCO Web Design as your solution partner?

We were searching for Web developers for a long time. We had had some poor luck with freelance developers in the past. We were looking for a company that was not too big and not too small. They also need to fit our budget, because we are a record label, and in the current state of the industry, we needed to be watching our budget as much as possible. We still wanted a product that was professional and forward thinking. They were really the only option for us of what we looked at. Acquia had recommended a few Drupal developers to us. EDUCO was the only one in our price range and they had really professional work.

Did they integrate a specific e-commerce platform?

They used Ubercart, which is what we used on our old site, as well. It uses the same system, but the new site gives us a lot more freedom within that system to use all of the features. Not all the features were available on our old site, because they weren’t supported.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It came in at around 400 hours. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

I’m working on the quantitative feedback right now. EDUCO provided us with a spreadsheet tool that we can use for return on investment calculations. Qualitatively, feedback has been almost unanimously positive from all of our constituents, whether it’s customers or publicity folks that we work with. Our bands have been really responsive to it. One of the things we really wanted to do was create a more intuitive shopping experience and be able to give people recommendations and point them in the direction of sale items and whatnot. So far, that has been working great. A lot of things that weren’t selling before are now selling.

How would you describe EDUCO Web Design’s performance?

It was great. They were the most flexible Web developers I’ve worked with. They were responsive and gave us all the time that we needed on our end. They were communicative about any hiccups on their end and gave us solutions. They worked with us flexibly on the timeline. We have a lot more content than any site that they’ve ever done. They did a great job of ingesting that and producing it into a website.

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve on or that you would do differently?

I don’t think so. It was a pretty smooth experience all around.

BACKGROUND

Please begin by describing your company and what you do.

Idealease is a commercial truck leasing and rental company. We are linked directly to Navistar International. The majority of our Idealease locations are embedded into an international dealership. We have roughly 430 locations across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. We provide maintenance contracts and full-service leases.

What is your role at Idealease?

I’m the manager of sales and training. Primarily, I train all of our operations and sales professionals internally throughout the year. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

When you approached EDUCO Web Design, what was the business challenge that you were trying to address?

Our main concern was redoing our website to increase the professionalism of the design. We do not have much traffic that goes to the website, so we didn’t need to have too much functionality. It’s basically there in case a prospect that is potentially going to be doing business for us looks us up, so it gives us that whole view of a stable company. We only do B2B [business-to-business] business, so we don’t have much marketing. We needed a website that was very professional and clean, and would provide the basic and necessary information to our customers when needed. 

SOLUTION

How long ago did you start working with them?

We started working with them in January [of 2014]. We went through a rebranding, and a piece of that rebranding was changing our website as well. On April 1, our website went live and public.

What was the scope of the work that EDUCO Web Design provided? Did it include design, development, training, and support?

It was all of the above. All we did was provide them with the actual content to go onto the website. They recommended what they thought we needed as far the requirements and basic ideas. Then, they put everything together. They formatted the content and put everything the way we wanted it. They did it all.

They also trained us internally as far as basic Web changes that we can do ourselves. We also just signed a maintenance contract with them because we knew that there would be certain things down the road that we want to be able to add to the website that the base format of the website is capable of doing. The relationship right now is for another three years.

In which content management system or framework was the site built?

Drupal.

Do you find that to be an improvement in terms of ease of use and functionality?

Yes. 100 percent. I do not have a computer science background. For me to watch a quick tutorial of what they provided me, I can go in there pretty quickly and update items as needed.

Why did you select EDUCO Web Design to work with in the first place?

It was their expertise on the topic. They knew a variety of different formats that might be attractive for what we were looking for. They explained them in very good layman’s terms to our executive board. The marketing manager felt that the actual value and service that they were providing was better than anybody else we had seen come through the door. We had five out of a dozen of their competitors come in, roughly all of the same size. They were definitely far beyond everybody else.

Can you give a sense of the size of the work they completed, either in a cost figure or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was between $30,000 and $50,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, do you have any metrics or feedback to indicate the effectiveness of their work?

Recently, we added a couple of improvements to the website, like our location finder. We’ve had a good amount of success with that, as far as people being able to search a location and pursue business at that location. That process has improved. We also added a careers section that we’ve had some good success with. As far as the reports and the notification that the website provides, that’s all an improvement from what the previous website had.

How would you describe EDUCO Web Design’s performance?

They were extremely responsive. If I had a question or concern, within the hour I had a response back, telling me what they were doing. They’re on top, as far as any time we needed something, they responded extremely quickly.

Was there anything you would consider special or unique about them compared to other companies with which you may have worked?

It was just the ease of doing business. They were extremely easy to deal with. They explained everything very well. When something came about, they made sure we understood it correctly. Their follow-up was pretty good also. If an item came up that concerned us, they addressed it, and they made sure, a couple of days later, which everything was still going smoothly from whatever the hiccup may have been.

In retrospect, is there any area that you think that they can improve upon or that you would do differently?

Not really. So far, it’s been very good. I don’t have any complaints as of right now.

BACKGROUND

Could you give a brief description of your company and your role?

We provide software for healthcare payers, insurance companies, health plans, as well as third-party administrators. I am the digital and content marketing specialist. I’ve been there for about eight months. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that your company was trying to address when you approached EDUCO Web Design?

Our company came across some capital about a year ago, so they decided to make a real pointed effort in marketing. The first step in that was getting a functional website. We had a website, but it was only about 10 pages. It wasn’t worth ever sending anyone to. The first phase, and the most important part, was building a functional website that was attractive. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the work with EDUCO Web Design?

I wasn’t here when the work started. I came in on the tail end of it; when we launched. I had only been with the company about two months by the time we launched it. 

We started from scratch in terms of building the website. We gave them what we wanted and needed, and went from there. We launched in November [of 2013], and now we’re in a maintenance agreement with them for the 12 months after launch, where if there are any issues, I can go back and forth with them. Right before launch, I was trained on how to use and maintain the site, but there are some things that I don’t have the capability to do. They, in turn, have to do those things as they come up.

What kind of training was provided?

They use the Drupal system. They created a video: Short little vignettes probably four to five minutes long of each section of the website. It was a general “This is Drupal, this is how it works, this is the language and vocabulary, and this is what it does.” I received those videos first to get familiar with Drupal.

Then, they did more training specific to our site’s content, content layout, and things like that. Right before launch, I did a couple of calls with them with training on the phone. After we launched, there was an issue and a couple of questions, and so I called them. It took about an hour, and they recorded the whole thing, and sent me the recording so I can have it to reference later.

Why did your company hire EDUCO Web Design in the first place?

I don’t know when the whole process started because I wasn’t around. I think they were contracted from a marketing agency that we were using in Chicago. I think they secured EDUCO for us and really ran point on everything. We would go through the agency, and then they would go to EDUCO.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any results that you can share that indicate the success of their work?

We’re 20 weeks in since launch. We’re going on nine straight weeks of more than 1,000 visits. That may not sound like a lot but, in our industry and our past performance, that blows it out of the water. We’re increasing every week. By comparison, I think we had one week in 2013 with more than 1,000 visits. Now, we’re running on nine straight since launch. We figured that right around 1,000 visits a week is kind of our baseline. If we’re below that, we’re a little disappointed. We’ve been above that now for more than two months straight.

Have you had any feedback internally or from customers about the website?

Our employees love it just because before we didn’t have anything worth talking about. Now, it’s clean, and the content is easy to read and things are easy to find and navigate. There’s a lot of relevant information that’s easy to access. Our employees love it, especially our sales team, because it’s alleviated a lot of what they’ve had to do on the front end. We’re in the middle of April [of 2014], and we’ve generated 15 leads since January, whereas those leads did not exist before we launched. Those are specifically generated through marketing and probably 11 of those 15 are directly from our website.

How would you describe EDUCO Web Design’s performance in your experience working with them?

They’ve been great. They’re really laid back, down to earth, and really focused on our needs and what we wanted. They did everything they could to meet those and to get us what we wanted and needed within their capabilities. 

They’re always ready and available whenever I have an issue. It takes them a little longer to respond than I would like, but I’m sure I’m just like every other client where my need and my issue is paramount. I realize they’re a smaller company and maybe a little shorthanded for the number of clients they have. It never goes more than 24 hours.

Is there anything unique or special about them compared to other companies that you may have worked with in the past?

I worked with another much larger company probably about eight years ago or so ago. EDUCO gave me the feeling that they really cared about me and my company and the success of the project, and I still feel like that. They give me a kind of personal attention that the bigger company that I worked with didn’t necessarily do. I would just call the help desk, get a random help desk agent. Now, when I call EDUCO, they know me, not because I call all the time, but because of the time and energy that they invested me as a client, which I really appreciate. That speaks volumes to me. I just felt like I was a part of their team because the success of our website equals the success of their company, and they cared greatly about that.

Looking back, is there any area that you think that they could improve on or that you would do differently?

I don’t think so. I told them about the response time. I have a specific person that I email if I have an issue. Sometimes, he takes a little longer because he’s dealing with other clients and bigger issues and building new websites and things. I told them it would be great if I had access to a general help email address so that I’m not always relying on this one person, but maybe the team would see it, and then I might get a faster response time. They sent that to me right after I got off the phone. They responded right away. I think that’s going to help take care of that, and that really is my only issue.

BACKGROUND

Can you give a brief description of your company and your role?

I am the director of marketing for Olivet Nazarene University, particularly with our School of Graduate and Continuing Studies. Olivet is a Christian liberal arts university. Our main campus is about an hour south of Chicago, and we have offices and regional centers all around the Midwest. I handle the marketing for all of those sites. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached EDUCO Web Design?

We had a very outdated website that was not conducive to our needs anymore. We had rebranded the graduate school about a year ago and the website was the last piece that needed to be updated in order to meet our needs.

Functionality wise, we were looking for a site that created a good user experience and ultimately got people to either fill out an inquiry card or apply to one of our programs online. 

SOLUTION

Can you tell us a little more about the scope of the work they did?

We worked with them to develop an entirely new website for the graduate school, so not the entire Olivet website, but the section for the graduate school. Our agency developed the overall design for it, and then we worked with EDUCO to execute that and actually build out the project. That was their role.

Did you use the same content management system as before or did you migrate to a new one?

We migrated to a new system. We’re currently using Drupal, which was new for us.

Did they provide training and support for that?

Yes, we had extensive training with the Drupal system, which has been a huge help. It was definitely an upgrade from where we were at before, and it’s so much more user friendly. They’ve continue to provide support as we’ve wrapped up the project and have any other questions, but we were equipped with the full training manual and had full training sessions.

What was your process for selecting EDUCO Web Design to work with in the first place?

Our ad agency had experience with EDUCO in the past, and we worked with them to select EDUCO. The overall feeling was that they would be a good fit for us, having dealt with education in the past.

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

It’s around $55,000, but that was to our agency. I’m not sure the exact breakdown of what was paid to EDUCO.

When was the website completed?

It went live just a month ago, so February 27 [of 2014]. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What was the result of the work that they did? Are there any metrics that you can share or any feedback that indicate the success of the work?

We’re only a month out, so we’re still gathering data. Initially, we saw a little bit of an increase overall in site traffic.

One of the biggest things was that we did not have a site that was optimized for mobile previously, so that was a big improvement. The duration of time on our site improved because of that, because about 72 percent of our users are using a mobile device. We have seen some increase with that, but I don’t have a ton of data right now unfortunately.

Do you feel like Drupal is a good platform for your needs?

Yeah, it’s been great. Compared to the system that we were using in the past, it’s very user friendly. It’s easy to navigate. Most of the updates we can maintain ourselves and with very little help with anyone in the IT field. I have no IT background, but just being able to edit content without having to work through some of the other channels that we had to in the past, that’s been a huge improvement.

How would you describe EDUCO Web Design’s performance?

They were great to work with. I was really impressed with them. Overall, they were very quick and attentive to our needs, so every time I have an update or a question, I received immediate feedback from them, which was great to work with. We had some changes occur throughout the process and just to know that they were always able to accommodate that for us was huge. I’ve done several Web redesigns in my experience, and this is by far the easiest company to work with.

Looking back, is there any area that you think EDUCO Web Design could improve on or that you would do differently?

I really don’t have any improvements for them. They did a great job for us, and I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your role.

We are a personal injury law firm. My role is administrative director, which means I manage the business. I wear many different hats, among them is the responsibility for our search engine optimization, our website maintenance, and a number of other marketing things that go along with that. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

When you approached them, what was the business challenge that you were trying to address?

We had a website that had not been updated in several years, and it was very antiquated. It wasn’t functioning properly. We were looking for someone to help us update it and to make the design a little more polished and conservative because of the nature of the work that we do.

Did you have any specific business goals for the project?

We wanted to increase traffic, but also with the idea that if we were successful in increasing traffic, that what we were increasing traffic to reflect the values and the culture of the firm.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of the project?

It was a complete overhaul of the website design, content, and buildout. They did all the frames and migrated pages that we had. We added to pages that we had, but they built out a framework. It was pretty significant redesign.

They put us in touch with an SEO firm because we did have a firm that we were not satisfied with. They also helped [refer us to] a photographer-videographer to create the visual elements that we wanted to put into the design. They’ve also been helping with other things, such as our banner ads.

Did they also provide training and support?

They have provided training to the extent that we need to have some editing done to the pages. We have a maintenance contract with them. So, they still do some of the heavy lifting on that side of things.

How long did the project take?

Eight or nine months from our first meetings to the actual launch. But, their timeline was our timeline. They laid out for us what we needed to do, and we worked around that. At that time, we had no one with any IT experience. So, they were very patient with our learning process.

When was this website launched?

In September of 2013.

What was your process for selecting EDUCO Web Design to work with?

We’ve had some prior contact with a couple of other Web designers, so we approached them. I just happen to know one of the principals at EDUCO, so I reached out to him as well. We put out a request for proposals, and we selected EDUCO based on their proposal.

The biggest reason [why we selected EDUCO] is that they seemed as interested in doing the project for our benefit as we were. The other firms that we talked about were very quick to tell us how great they were and show us all their great designs. EDUCO was more interested in finding out what we wanted. I think they wanted to work with us because our website was a little bit different than they were used to doing. They were more retail oriented, and this is a service business. I think it was as much of a challenge for them to re-orient their process as it was for us to work with somebody who didn’t really know our business and had to learn that as well. But, they made it about us instead of about them.              

Can you give us a sense of the size of the initiative in terms of cost or personnel work hours?

I can’t give it to you in personnel work hours, although I’m sure if I looked back at the proposals, they followed their contract pretty closely. They were extraordinarily organized on keeping us to task and noting what was done, what had to be done, and timelines, and site maps, and all kinds of stuff. It’s been really great for us because we really didn’t have any idea how this process worked.

Under which of our listed cost ranges would it fall?

Between $10,000 and $50,000. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

We get new clients often through our website. We didn’t previously have anything on the website that invited someone to click and register or request more information. So, EDUCO inserted a box that people could click to request for more information and provide their contact information. So, that’s attracted more business to the site.

They fixed some broken links, which also helped us get more business back to the site. They’re working with our SEO firm to do some internal marketing. Our organic traffic to the site is increasing each month. I think that’s a result of both the SEO work as well as the site itself.

We’ve also had some positive comments from clients who have seen it, from other law firms who had viewed it and talked to our partners about it. So, it is getting some good traffic. All the employees are very proud of it.

How do you feel EDUCO Web Design performed?

They were exceptionally professional, responsive, and very patient. I can’t even think of enough adjectives to say about how well they worked with us. My understanding of IT is very rudimentary, and they were so good at explaining it and making sure that we understood what was going on, and solicited questions all throughout the process, and kept us up to date. They were just fabulous to work with.

Was there anything unique or special about them compared to other companies that you might have worked with before?

One of our partners who had worked with the previous website was very impressed. As I said, EDUCO made it feel as though it was their privilege to work with us, rather than our privilege to work with them, which was the sense that we had gotten from the other Web designers.

Looking back on the project, is there any area that you think that EDUCO Web Design could improve on or that you would do differently?

I can’t think of anything. They did exactly what they said they were going to do. There were no surprises. Even the little technical hiccups that you would get because something didn’t launch quite right. As soon as they knew about it, they fixed it immediately.

They never lost their perspective. Nothing ever got tense. They always made sure that issues were resolved quickly. I can’t think of anything negative to say.

BACKGROUND

Please give us a brief description of your company.

We’re Cobra Electronics. We are 52 years old. We’re a consumer electronics company. We are market leaders or a close second in all the different markets we work with, including professional drivers for radar detectors, CBs, navigation for truckers, walkie-talkies, and marine radios. We’ve got a lot of different products and a lot of different markets we serve.    

What is your role?

I’m the director of marketing. I handle marketing communications, so anything from collaterals, to packaging, to press, trade shows, websites, public relations, and content development.    

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

When you approached EDUCO Web Design, what was the business challenge that you were trying to address?

We were working on redoing our website. Historically, our website was a product category, product-focused site, and we wanted to move more towards a user site, user group or market lifestyle type of direction. They helped us lay that out in a way that is easy for our consumers to not only to view our product and get more information, but [find] where to buy our product, whether it be online from us or through our Cobra select partners or our authorized retailers.   

Did you have any other business goals for the project?

Update the website, the look, and the feel. We needed it to be responsive for all the different multimedia that are out there because we actually do make an app as well. So, you need to have a site that reflects that you are part of the mobile community. Since you’re developing apps, your site should work well, and be able to function on mobile devices, whether they be tablets or phones.

SOLUTION

Can you talk about the scope of the project?

To redesign our entire website and rebrand us to some degree and find a way to showcase our products within lifestyle, but still make it easy for people to buy from us. We’re a manufacturer that sells our products on our website, but we have a strong retail presence as well. We’re in almost every major big-box retailer and online manufacturer in the world. Selling your stuff through your site, but also making it easy for people to find it through your partners was one of the challenges, too. We didn’t want to drive everybody just into our shopping cart. We had to find ways to offer different solutions and different buying opportunities, more of an economic channel approach so our customers can find our products and get them where they prefer to buy.

EDUCO had to build our new site, which was done in Drupal, and they also had to integrate with a third-party shopping cart company called Shopatron that we use for our ecommerce platform.  

Did they provide training as well?

They have great training. They showed us everything. I had two new people start here in January, and Marty [Vernon] and Rami [Atassi] from EDUCO came down to show the new staff how everything works on the website and how to set it up. They have great training videos if you need a refresher, you can just download from their Google Drive or SkyDrive. It’s easily accessible to go through and to remember how to do different things. If you have a question, you can call them up, and they’ll help you out right away.

How long did the project take?

I want to say we started July 1, and we were up and running and fully functional in mid-October of 2013. So it was really quick for us for a ground-up site project.

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

We met with some very big companies, some medium sized companies, and some smaller companies. What we liked about EDUCO is that they were willing to create everything from the ground up. For the personal meetings, it worked out for us because we’re based in Chicago and they’re in Oak Park, [Ill.], so [the developers] just come down here, and we work through things. They’re a perfect size for us so we could get things done quickly and on budget.

Could you give a sense of the size of the initiative, either in dollars or in personnel work hours?

It was maybe $50,000. We got a brand new site and for a reasonable amount from the ground up. We’re still expanding the site and adding new things. We’re still working with EDUCO. It wasn’t a one-and-done deal. We don’t have an internal Web development team here, so EDUCO is Cobra’s Web development team. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of the results, are there any metrics or feedback that you can share that indicate the success of the project?

Our site traffic is significantly up. Our Web sales are about double what they were this time last year as far as our month to month. So, it’s been successful.

The staff here has been working with them great. We’re still working with them. We’re constantly adding new things. The fact that we work together on a regular basis all the time, and we’re happy with that is a testament to their ability to get the job done on time and under budget to the scope and to the level we expect. We’re not the largest company, but we’re pretty demanding as far as what we want and how it should function.

[Again,] the sales numbers speak for themselves. We’re literally doubling what we did last year on web sales, so it’s obviously working.

When working with EDUCO Web Design, is there anything unique or special about them compared to other companies that you may have worked with in the past?

It’s just the style in which they work. We work well together. We get each other.

You’ve said a lot of positive things here. But, looking back on the project, is there anything that you think that they could have improved or that you would do differently?

No. I don’t think there’s really anything that they could have done differently.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a garment decorator to the asi, corporate and license property industries

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire EDUCO?

They did a web site and are working on SEO

What were your goals for this project?

Being able to use one website to cover multiple types of customers and address their unique needs

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Good.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Web design, copy writing, graphics and SEO

What was the team composition?

Their complete team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We are able to have a web site and cover several industries with one site

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The owner Marty over saw the project

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed that they put in the time to learn our business and our customers' needs. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not that I can think off