ePageCity

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Fourth Estate Audio Inc, a professional disk jockey company.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

We needed a new website to optimize our digital presence.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ePageCity has helped me establish my brand when I’ve started my company. As I’ve grown my business, we’ve decided it’s high time to automate my customer-facing processes through a website. We’ve relayed our design preferences and content materials to ePageCity, and they’ve built a WordPress website based on those. They’ve made the backend customizable to help my team deploy edits and web updates independently.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Jessica (Account Manager).

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

I had a long-term engagement with ePageCity. Their team helped me with several previous projects, so I was no stranger to their capacity to generate beneficial solutions.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent about $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing collaboration started in January 2002.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Most of the traffic increase we’ve been getting can be attributed to ePageCity’s development efforts. The website has enabled us to pivot our marketing efforts and promote our services to our customers in a more cost-efficient and user-friendly manner.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Zoom meetings. ePageCity has top-notch accommodation and project management skills — they simplify technical processes to help us understand each phase and determine if they’re working towards meeting our goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ePageCity has helped us grow our client acquisition rate and song selection programs — they’re a reliable partner that motivates us to aim higher.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints. They’ve done a brilliant job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as specific as possible in highlighting your vision and project goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of the National Registry of Environmental Professionals, and what we do is certify people within the environmental and safety industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

We needed someone to provide us with web development and SEO services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started our web development project with an initial discovery phase where we discussed our requirements. After they finished the website, they then proceeded with giving us ongoing SEO support.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with a project manager and several developers.

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

They came highly recommended by another company we know.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2015.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Thanks to ePageCity, the company is able to achieve the number one rank in Google and other search engines. We’ve also had a tremendous amount of customers coming to our website.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good from a project management perspective as they’re able to consistently stick to our budget and timelines.

We typically communicate through phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re very impressed with their responsiveness and excellent customer service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Certified Public Accounting Firm, specializing in Forensic and Valuation Services. I am a Managing Member

For what projects/services did your company hire ePageCity?

redesign our existing website

What were your goals for this project?

fresh, clean, redesigned website

How did you select this vendor?

designed/hosted our prior website

Describe the project in detail.

Redo and rethink every part of our website

What was the team composition?

Both Managing Members and the Finance Manager

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

New website is awesome, very happy

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their workflow was perfect with no issues

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Didn't hassle me for my own delays

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for Milsoft Utility Solutions.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

Our team was trying to do a few things. As a B2B company that promotes software solutions for electric utilities, we also provide billable training sessions. In total, we have between 25–30 trainings scheduled throughout the country each year, and we also have a billable user conference. We needed a website that’d not only promote our products and services but would also replace all our manual registrations, which we used to process through our administrative teams.

We’re a software company, so we have a lot of engineers who technically know how to put a website together. However, there’s a big difference between knowing how to build a website and making one that’s commercially viable and sustainable without that person becoming the anchor that holds that whole process down whenever someone wants to make a change.

Our marketing team isn’t IT-savvy, but we needed the ability to edit the majority of the content in time and make the site much more dynamic and fluid. The opposing method would be having the process be so complicated that we’d have to go to that one person, who also had a full-time job doing something completely different. We tried that approach, but it was horrible.

We also tried some smaller website companies whose pricing was a lot cheaper, but we got what we paid for. ePageCity became the first professional organization that fit our niche more than a one-or-two-person shop could. They were also very fair from a pricing standpoint, compared to having to hire someone to maintain the website on a full-time basis.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve done four websites with ePageCity, with the main one being redone in 2020. In each instance, they had us find our five favorite websites on the internet, and prepare to talk about what we liked and disliked about them. We’d initially brainstorm internally and without ePageCity, and then come up with a lot of input from key people in our small marketing department.

I’d gather everyone’s input, and we’d try to come up with a good definition of what we were looking for. Once we all settled on an agreement and had samples, we’d sit down with ePageCity.

Before that, I’d copy URLs, make screenshots, and go over what we liked and didn’t like. We could be looking at a website that costs between $25,000–$100,000 to make but we were really looking for key elements we wanted on our new site.

Once we gave those details to ePageCity, our hope was that they’d find a solution within our budget. We’d have a free-for-all in terms of brainstorming and talking about what we were looking for. ePageCity would listen carefully to what we wanted and then come back with their own wireframes and solutions.

As for functionality, our goal was to automate all of our platform’s processes. If someone wanted to attend one of our conferences or trainings, they’d call in and have their information taken down. I wanted to automate this process so that people could find the registrations they wanted by using an intuitive template. They could either search for conferences by month or select a particular class to see all the different dates and locations for it.

We also wanted to offer software uploads and downloads to customers paying for support. It was vital to improve the process tremendously, given that it was convoluted in the past. Customers would contact our support team, and then the team would send them a link to an FTP site where they could download their software.

That used to be done one-on-one, tying up the support team's time; it’s another piece of our website that became fully automated. A customer would come to our website, enter their username and password, and arrive at a page where they could download the software themselves.

From the non-traditional roles of our website — software downloads, training registrations, and billing — it was clear we needed to add those functions to the typical roles of a website which include generating leads and optimizing traffic. We know that roughly 80% of people who want something will go to a website first, and begin their searches through search engines.

That was also on the top of our list for our diverse products — to make sure we were zeroing in on the most favorable keywords for people looking for us. This would allow us to pop up desirably on the first page for any search for our products.

What is the team composition?

They have a sales staff, and the people I’ve worked with have changed over the years. I’ve worked with an SEO person, content management person, and technical people on the more complicated things. Also, I’ve worked with one of their developers to figure out a way to identify all customers in our CRM and make sure we could look up a customer who was trying to register then determine whether they wanted support help or not.

I’ve worked with Kate (Content Coordinator) for things dealing with content management. I also worked with Diana (Digital Marketing Manager) on SEO. We’d meet monthly to go over the previous month’s statistics and see what needed to be improved. Alex (Chief Strategist) is the main project person, he’s the one making a lot of the process move forward. I work with everyone else on an as-needed basis.

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

I googled different companies and sent out bids to a few in the area. We just hit it off with ePageCity from the start. More specifically, I wanted to work with a company that was located within a half hour’s travel time so I could meet people face-to-face. Having said that, I think I’ve gone there 4–5 times over the course of our engagement. There hasn’t been a big need for me to visit them.

Technically, there’s never been a need for me to go there, outside of due diligence at the very beginning. A lot of people would want to go and visit a provider that they were getting ready to spend tens of thousands of dollars with, in order to see what their organization looked like. I’ve done that and taken a few of the CEOs I’ve worked with there as well. This allows them to see that ePageCity isn’t a make-believe company and that they have an office and full staff.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $60,000 on the latest project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with ePageCity about 6–7 years ago. The latest project began in 2019, but I delayed it significantly. We acquired a company before the project really got going, and it took several months for us to determine whether we could legally promote their product. I believe we started in September or October 2019, and the websites went live in April 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We launched two websites simultaneously during the last project. The previous version of the site served as both a commercial website and a customer portal. We’d track and monitor the traffic to it. Now, we’re finally starting to see what the commercial traffic is in comparison to customer traffic.

Prior to the separation, I’d see competitor websites that were more focused and arguably better than ours. Now, when I go to a competitor’s website, I have no doubt that I like ours a lot more. For someone shopping for our kinds of products, our site is going to come across as cleaner, more professional, and more informative.

It’s too early to tell what the quantitative results are because the site’s only been up for two months, but I’m pretty optimistic that what we’ll see is going to be pretty favorable.

The automation of our manual registration’s improvement alone improved our ability to collect revenue. We made it super easy for customers to find revenue locations and register and pay for those. They got reminders and confirmations automatically, without anyone at our company overseeing that process.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically have phone calls and meetings over Zoom or GoToMeeting where we do a lot of screen-sharing. Most of the time, I’ll have a main point of contact assigned, but we’ll also have group meetings infrequently, especially as we get close to going into the launch phase.

One thing they do a good job of is documenting work that needs to be done or in other words, what their interpretation of our requests is. There’s a signoff process where every aspect of the job is defined, and our job is to do our due diligence and make sure that they’ve interpreted our requests correctly. They’ll give us a login for their website, and we’ll manage the process from there until launch.

Every new wireframe and concept are provided there for review. If we disapprove, we can document what it is that we’re disapproving, and they’ll come back and either agree with us or explain why what we’re seeing is there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If they feel that something they’re recommending is the right way to go, and, as a customer, we have it in our mind that it has to be a specific way, they will always capitulate in the end. They’ll tell us that we’re the customer and do what we want, but they don’t necessarily roll over on every request. If they feel that we’re doing something in an antiquated way or one that’s no longer a best practice, they’ll take the time to explain why we’re wrong.

Sometimes, that’s very refreshing. If we only associate with companies that do whatever we ask them to do, we could escalate our costs or end up with lots of compromises on the site, which make it incohesive. They try to keep us in line and ensure that we’re following the best practices. If we disagree with them, they’ll take the time to explain why they chose that specific path. In the end, they’ll do anything we ask them to do, but they do defend positions and design concepts that they raise, and that’s a good thing to have.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could do differently or better. ePageCity has been very flexible with us on a number of occasions. They’re very responsive and reasonable in terms of cost.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager of Matanky Realty Group. We’re a commercial real estate firm that’s been in business since 1955. We primarily deal with retail assets, but we’re also full-service and do multifamily leases, and so on. We specialize in underserved markets and have a little over 30 companies. As the marketing manager, I oversee all of our marketing activities, PR, and advertising.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

Our business challenge was rooted in the fact that our previous website was a complete and total disaster. The backend was an absolute mess and there were broken forms and pages. Things didn’t work the way they were supposed to so we really needed to create a new website that’d have a seamless UX design. Then, we needed to drive the traffic and conversions forward.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ePageCity developed our new website from scratch and through WordPress. They looked at our backend and knew it really needed to be salvaged. The theme that our previous vendor used was too rigid for what we needed. Our company had grown significantly in size and scope of our work since we originally had the first website created.

The website’s biggest feature is a custom property database that shows off our properties. We have a ton of listings, about 50–100 at any given time, and needed a way for our clients, potential tenants, and property managers to see listings. The database helps to sort those listings. Our previous database’s filter function didn’t work, it had formatting issues, and the pages weren’t displaying properly. ePageCity resolved all of those issues.

The rest of the site is pretty standard. It features information about our services, team page, blog, and a contact form.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact and liaison is Alex (Chief Strategist), he coordinates everything for us. Kate (Content Coordinator) is our content guru. We work with her when we’re putting content together and if we have any SEO questions. She really lays everything out for us.

Our team also has a little bit of interaction with Jessica (Account Manager). We interact with her more now through our support package. She handles technical issues and answers billing questions. However, we primarily correspond with Alex and Kate.

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

We conducted a Google search and did a lot of online research. Our team looked at ePageCity’s Clutch reviews and website. They do a lot of commercial real estate websites. We looked at their past work with clients, their portfolio, and the sort of industries they work with. Then, we talked to their recommendations. One of our CEO’s friends from another real estate company used ePageCity so we had a candid conversation about their experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $21,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in July 2019. The site launched in March 2020. Now, they’re hosting our site and handle our WordPress updates. We’re about to engage them for another contract. One of our affiliate companies needs a website, and we expect to have the contract ready to go in the next couple of months.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Since launch, we’ve received 10 or so qualified leads through our contact forms. This is something we didn’t see on our last website. That platform had a ton of spam coming from around the world. However, we’ve seen a significant reduction in spam messages on this new website. ePageCity put some reCAPTCHA barriers on our contact forms. They’ve significantly helped us combat spam.

There has also been an uptick in site visitors. We doubled our traffic and decreased our bounce rate in half in just one week following the site’s launch. What’s more, we’re seeing a steady increase in traffic. I’m very happy with the results thus far.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really awesome with project management. Everything is organized, and we always have a clear understanding of what’s going on and when. ePageCity does a great job of keeping us on track. Internally, we had problems with dragging the project out because we were trying to improve content. We have a lengthy internal approval process, and they were great at communicating when we needed to move to the next step.

ePageCity were great drivers of getting the website finalized and guiding us through the finish line, which we really appreciated. They have their own project management tool where they upload the documents of project reports and things that need approval. I check it any time I have questions about content, designs, or drawings. We mainly communicate through emails, phone calls, and video conference calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ePageCity was completely honest with us from the get-go. Even from our initial call, Alex was clear in explaining why our proposed choices would ultimately have a negative impact on our UX. Then, he provided options that would cost less and greatly benefit our users.

I really appreciate the fact that they don’t push us to spend more money. It’s clear they’re looking out for what’s best for us in the long term. Their honesty and care for the customer’s UX set them apart. It’s a very stark contrast to our previous vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be nice to have an in-person meeting. I understand they like to keep things virtual so everything can be recorded and referenced back if any of us have questions. We’ve worked with them for almost a year now so it’d be nice to have some face-to-face interaction.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re prepared internally. That was our largest stumbling block by far. We weren’t ready with content because we were receiving different ideas from different members of the executive team pushing us in completely opposite direction. This really delayed the launch of the website.

When someone’s looking to work with someone like ePageCity, it helps to make sure you’re all aligned internally before you engage. Despite this stumbling block, ePageCity was great at helping us manage that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a member of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

We wanted to build a website that would share information and engage our members.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ePageCity helped us develop the entire layout and content of the website. They gave us a framework as well as ideas about what we could or couldn’t do.

The site has a range of functionalities, including being an informational hub regarding jobs, benefits, and other things that affect our members. It also allows members to pay their dues online through a portal.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five or six different people in total. Kate (Content Coordinator) was our main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

We received several recommendations from our colleagues, and they’re used by our regional council. We decided to partner with them because they were highly recommended and had experience with our industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from March 2019–February 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re happy with the results—the site is exactly what we wanted it to be. It’s a very specific, targeted page, so we weren’t looking for a huge, public engagement. However, we’ve seen a decent amount of engagement from our members, especially as more and more become aware of the online service. Those that have used the site think it’s a great resource.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

Everyone involved with the project was very helpful. They pushed us along in the project, especially given that we weren’t sure what exactly we wanted the site to look like. 

Now, even as the site has wrapped up, I’ve remained in contact with Kate, who’s been supportive and responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Anytime I had a question or a problem, they were extremely responsive and understanding. We didn’t have any experience with web development, but ePageCity was always able to break the process down effectively. Now, I feel adequately prepared to manage the site on my own now that the engagement is over.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re very pleased.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know exactly what you want from the engagement. ePageCity will go all in, and if you’re not ready, you’ll slow down your own project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a legal recruiting firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

We needed a new website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ePage City was responsible for building our new website. In doing so, they both built new elements and updated previous ones from our original site. They used WordPress.

Currently, the team is running a digital marketing campaign for us through Google Ads.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with about five or six people from ePageCity.

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

I found out about them through a network of legal recruiters that they created. We weren’t on the directory, so I reached out to them to be added to it. Once we had that initial contact, we found out more about their business and that they offered web development services as well. We ultimately hired them because of their knowledge of our industry, as well as the strength of their portfolio.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $15,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in August 2019 and it is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

It’s too soon in the engagement to track any meaningful results of their work in terms of metrics. However, they’ve been excellent to work with. 

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

ePageCity has performed really well. The team is timely, responsive, and professional. They do what they say they’ll do. We couldn’t ask for better service from a vendor.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a broad range of skills, and their knowledge of our industry makes them unique.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a property manager for Focus CPM, a commercial property management company.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

We needed to update our website. It was quite old — from 2005 — and we wanted to make it more secure and user-friendly for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ePageCity did a retrofit for our website to make it responsive to cellphone and iPad browsers. They put in place an SSL certificate as well. The website and its content were already in place; we just needed their help to make our site look more modern. 

What is the team composition?

About four people worked on our website.

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

They made our first website and are our website’s host, so we’ve kept working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $4,775.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project ran from June 2019 until January 2020. The delay came from my end. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

In my business, a website doesn’t do a whole lot. We didn’t see a business boost, but we also didn’t expect one. We just needed it to be safer and more modern.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very professional. I’d definitely recommend them to anyone. We’d communicate via email, but when it got to more technical things, I spoke on the phone with them. They’d explain it to me so I could better understand what they were talking about. If anything, they waited on me to approve different stages of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ePageCity is very knowledgeable; they know their stuff well and helped us through the process. They also gave their opinions on specific choices we had to make, and I found that helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I didn’t see anything that they were lacking.

Any advice for potential customers?

Just tell them what you’re looking for, and they’ll follow through with what they can help you in that regard.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own my own design firm: Bernie Kapuza Designs. I work with clients in the B2B sector.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

I hired them to help out a client to redesign their website. ePageCity had designed their original site, but it was starting to look dated and needed a refresh.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ePageCity redesigned the website from scratch. We started by having conversations with Alex (Chief Strategist, ePageCity). He made suggestions to better focus what we want to do on the website. We then worked together to figure out what products our client’s customers would like to see, what the navigation would look like, and other design elements. 

As ePageCity created pages and images, the navigation became even more important. ePageCity also offered a selection of templates that we could consider for layouts, and then they tailored it to our client’s needs. From there, they built the website on WordPress, gave us a final walkthrough once it was ready to go, and helped us launch it

What is the team composition?

Our point of contact was Kate (Content Coordinator, ePageCity), and then Alex got involved at various points.

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

ePageCity had done our client’s original website. They were familiar with the products and principles of the organization already, and they were really easy to work with, so we decided to go with their services again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May until August 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The website was 100% what I expected it to be. The design was good and simple. Alex had a strategic point of view about the business; he really helped us focus our direction at times.

We measured the users and the sessions. A month before we launched the website, we saw 295 users and 356 sessions. Immediately after the launch, we received 340 users and 453 sessions. We’ve been seeing some drop-off lately, but we attribute that to the fact that our client’s customers weren’t buying products in November or December.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

They struck a very good balance between being too pushy and too hands-off. We emailed all the time and were always in the loop; there were no surprises in the launch. Once we were ready to go, Kate walked us through the whole website and showed us how to make updates ourselves. Some of them are too complicated, and we’d bring in ePageCity to make them happen.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their focus and knowledge of the B2B industry stood out the most. ePageCity knows what makes things tick as well as what people look at on a website. They’re very strategic, easy to work with, and understanding. I’m very proud of the work we did together. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

If there are, I don’t know what they would be! We received an excellent product and top-notch services from ePageCity. I’d be happy to recommend them to anybody.

Any advice for potential customers?

Talk to Alex. Listen to him and Kate. Take notes. It’s a hard process, and it pays for clients and consultants to have a small ego and listen to people who do this every day. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the office manager at a carpenter's union. We fall under the umbrella of the Chicago regional council of carpenters.

What challenge were you trying to address with ePageCity?

ePageCity was already providing some services for our website, but they discovered our site needed some updates. That aligned with our efforts to facilitate dues payments for our members, as we wanted to offer an online payment program, so we wanted to take care of both of those needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

To begin with, ePageCity designed and developed our original website.  Our website was pretty dated, and ePageCity evaluated it and offered updated solutions to make it easier to navigate. They also incorporated an online payment section for our dues and added a link to that payment portal, which was completed by our bank and an outside developer. They uploaded pictures of events and added a calendar functionality as well.

What is the team composition?

We had three main points of contact from their team.

How did you come to work with ePageCity?

I received feedback from other locals who also used ePageCity, as well as the previous office manager, who mentioned they were easy to work with.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested approximately $20,000 on the development and revamp of our website. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2010, and our engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The end result was really great. The team was good about explaining how the page is working, how everything is tied together, and how much of it is controlled. Now it's much more streamlined and efficient. When we first looked at the various ways to revamp the website, what we wanted to communicate was our specific branches' style and look. They allowed us to incorporate the look of the older site and clean it up to add newer aspects.

Overall, our members love it, and we've gotten really good feedback about how the photo galleries are laid out, how the calendar of events looks, the ease of which they're able to find resources.

How did ePageCity perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication with all three of our points of contact was phenomenal. If anything I was the one slowing down things, since I'm the only one that manages the front office and we have peak times.

What I like about how things were managed was how organized their follow-up emails were. If they were ever waiting on approval for anything, they sent me an email with clearly outlined bullet points and the next steps, which I found easy to manage. It kept the momentum of the project moving forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've had experience working with different IT web developers and ePageCity is much more client-focused by far. That was a real treat. They were open to our ideas, and I always felt they were very patient. While other IT providers always seemed to think they knew best, and acted condescendingly towards us, I never got that from ePageCity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to do yourself a favor and have a good vision of what you want. ePaigeCity will make things happen, but they're not mind-readers. Visit the pages they offer as examples and review and plan out what you're going for. They'll make it happen.