Internet Design and Publishing, Inc.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an e-commerce business.

What challenge were you trying to address with Internet Design and Publishing, Inc.?

I have had a Magento site for ages, and I needed to be able to upgrade it without the site breaking. I brought in Internet Design and Publishing, Inc. (IDP) to do that work for me.

What was the scope of their involvement?

IDP stabilized my Magento website and integrated a WordPress blog. We gave them color schemes and things like that, and they did all of the website’s design and branding. They also take care of hosting the site. They help me do upgrades that don’t cost me a ton of money every single time. 

IDP also built a custom database application that renders data on the actual page based on what product is being shown. They integrated that solution into our site.

They did a big site upgrade in March 2020, but we outgrew it in February 2021. Because my business is growing, IDP recommended I migrate my site to BigCommerce, which is more of a SaaS platform. They’re currently doing the migration.

What is the team composition?

I work with John (Web Developer) and Monte (Owner & Principal). I also have a contact, which I find is really rare; I can just email them if I have any questions or problems, and they take care of it.

How did you come to work with Internet Design and Publishing, Inc.?

I had been looking for a more economical company. A friend who worked for a pretty large insurance agency recommended that I give IDP a try. I kept trying companies that were really big and didn’t have the time or interest to help out. However, IDP was really good at scaling to my business.

How much have you invested with them?

Last year, our spend was about $15,000–$20,000. Previous to that, we spent $5,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve been managing my site for about six years now. We’re in the process of upgrading the site.

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

Much of my business’s growth is thanks to IDP. We used to primarily be an Amazon business, and the website was an afterthought. IDP has helped me grow the business so that I’ve gone from doing $2,000 to almost $50,000 a month on my website. They’ve been able to optimize their servers and get me going.

How did Internet Design and Publishing, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done really well. I usually work directly with both the owner and the developer, which I think is an advantage. They’re both on the call if there are any issues or problems, so I’ve found that they don’t overschedule themselves. They’re honest about when they can deliver the project. They get the work done and that’s it. It’s been very refreshing to deal with a company of their size that has their act together.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do what they say they’re going to do on budget and on time. I haven’t come across many people in the tech space that can do that — many companies overschedule or can’t deliver on expectations. So far, all of my projects with IDP have launched on time and on budget, which is pretty rare in tech.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They previously did all case management over email, so if we had an issue, there was a lot of back and forth. However, they recently implemented a project management system, and I’m excited to see how it works. They issue a ticket so that when we call, we can follow up on that specific ticket. It’s been a welcome addition.

Any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend doing your homework in terms of scoping out what the project is so that expectations on both sides are correct. Also, being honest about expectations allows the vendor to determine whether they’re realistic or not.