Old City Interactive

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a software company that creates software for data analysis, data visualization, predictive analytics, and so on.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the VP of client solutions. I am a liaison with the project team doing the coding and programming. I also liaise with our sales people and our clients. We're a small company, so everybody wears many hats.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Old City Press?

We needed to create a new website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Old City Press did website design and development. We did the content, and they did the design.

What was your process for selecting Old City Press to work with?

Somebody else in the company selected them. They did some research and sent out some RFPs [request for proposals]. They just did the one project for us. It was completed in the first quarter of 2014.

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

I don’t have specific information. Every time we ask them to do something, they turn it around fairly quickly. They are very responsive. Their work on the project took place during three or four months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was very impressed with the way the project came out. We're a small company, and this was the first time I engaged in a project to create a website. I have nothing to compare it to. I felt the project went very smoothly. Old City Press was very responsive and offered a lot of great suggestions when we felt overwhelmed by the project. They compared our situation to previous work with other clients, and mentioned the solutions to their issues. Their suggestions were very helpful.

How did Old City Press perform and execute?

I had contact with an account rep. We would speak and go over different criteria. He, in turn, turned it over to his team of programmers and designers. They gave me an estimate of how much time it would take. They were also spot on with that estimate. When they told us that a particular portion of the project was done, it was made available for me to review and comment. The whole project went smoothly, in my opinion.

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

This is the first project of this kind that I’ve worked on, so I have nothing to compare it to. Their suggestions were very helpful, and we ended up using them. When we made suggestions, they gave them possible consideration. They almost always took our suggestions and were able to implement their ideas.

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.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a medical practice called the Aesthetic Medical Center. We are a practice that is now devoted to nonsurgical cosmetic medical procedures. Our medical director is a retired microsurgeon who put himself through two years of additional rigorous training for the aesthetics work, and he does all the procedures.

What is your role and responsibilities?

We are a small company. It is the medical director and myself. I am the practice manager. I handle almost everything except the clinical side. We work together closely. I was tasked with finding a Web designer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Old City Press?

We were opening a brand-new practice, and we needed a website. In my initial research, I learned that you can get someone to design a website for $20,000 to $30,000, and $7,000 for a logo. That was more than what we had in our budget, but we needed a professional-looking, beautiful website. We are an aesthetic practice, and we wanted something in between someone who does this part time and the people who are out of our league. I started talking to different companies, and I was extremely impressed with Old City Press.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They are hosting our site, took care of our logo, designed the website, and worked closely with us through the entire process. We have been delighted with them. We got value for our money.

What was your process for selecting Old City Press with which to work?

I did a Google search for web designers. The first step was that I looked at their own site. I looked through 30 or 40 Web designer sites. Initially, I was able to cut it down by recognizing the big players. I called a few of the big firms and got referrals. I narrowed it down and wanted to find someone local. We didn’t want to work with a company that was located in another state. We preferred to have people we could talk face to face with here, and we prefer to support local businesses.

I want Web designers' sites to look good. After I looked at their work, I began calling and talking to people. We learned very quickly about pricing and ownership rights of the logo. It was a steep learning curve that took about three to four weeks.

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

We have the home page and five other pages. We don’t have a blog or videos at this time, just photographs. We have downloadable and printable forms that patients can bring, which protects their privacy. Including the logo, it was between $4,000 and $5,000, which I found to be a very good value. Not only that, what is hidden in that value is that whenever I call them, someone answers the phone. If they didn’t have the answer right away, they got back to me very quickly.

In terms of deadlines, they were very sensitive to our needs. Until your website launches, you’re invisible. They didn’t sacrifice quality to rush things, but they were outstanding to work with. They were patient. People who need a website designed know their own business, but most of us don’t know much about Web design or search engine optimization. Old City Press took extra time, for which we were not charged, to discuss with us ways that we could accomplish SEO [search engine optimization] in an organic way without having to pay someone a lot of money.

When the site was launched, we had a wonderful couple of meetings with one of our contacts there who went through the entire administrative side of the site with us. They have been there for us every time we have a question or an issue.

When was the engagement completed?

The site launched in mid-January of 2014. We started working with them in August of 2013. One thing that slowed us down was not their fault. We insisted on doing all of the writing, which I thought would be easier than it actually was. We thought we’d have it done in two weeks. It was more like two months for us to do our own writing. It took a lot longer, and then the holidays came. They could have launched it for us earlier.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is beautiful. We’ve received great feedback for it. We had a specific idea in mind. We had seen a website from a dermatology practice near us. We told them that we wanted to work with that template. We didn’t start from scratch. They designed the website according to our specifications.

They also gave us advice if there was a point where they felt we should consider something regarding our vision. We’ve been thrilled. They are expanding the website for us, and we're adding a page of patient testimonials. I spoke with our contact on how to optimize our testimonials because they’re so important. In our area of medicine, people who have had cosmetic work done don’t want to put their name and picture on an Internet review. Our testimonials are very important because we allow patients to make anonymous testimonials.

Our contact said that a great way to optimize it would be not just to put the testimonials on a separate testimonial page within the site. We could also have them on the homepage as a manual scroll-through. They said that would liven up our home page a bit without making it cluttered. That way, it will also show up a lot faster when somebody does a Google search.

We broke down exactly what each component would cost, and I’m taking their advice.

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

It's difficult to make that comparison because we didn’t engage any other firms. However, there was one firm that had been referred to us by someone at a very big design firm. The reason we did not proceed with them is that they insisted that they would own our logo and all the rights to it. Even though we were new to the game, that didn’t sound right to us. Indeed, I learned that would not be in our best interest. Of course, the people at Old City Press said that we own the logo. They have been great about getting us the logo in different formats.

The fact that they’re local helped us get outstanding service for the price. It was very personal. They were pleasant to work with, and they’re good people. We trust them.

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

The only thing was in the very beginning. It took a while for the logo. They ended up putting a second graphic design person on the project because the first one just couldn’t seem to get our concept. I would have preferred to have a little faster work on that. At the same time, this is not a major problem. We had it done, and I have to give them credit. Within two or three weeks of realizing that this person just wasn’t getting it, they immediately put somebody else on it and created a beautiful logo. A logo is extremely tricky and so important. They fixed it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I work at the Parent Encouragement Program, also known as PEP. We are a nonprofit that provides parenting education and parenting classes to people in the Washington, D.C., area.

What is your role and responsibilities, please?

I am the marketing coordinator and am responsible for overall marketing and social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Old City Press?

Our goal was to develop and launch a new website for PEP that would enable us to continue online registration, but also add new features such as a blog, library, and bookstore.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

I joined PEP exactly a year ago in May of 2013. When I came on, a lot of the work, such as writing the RFPs [request for proposals] and the selection of Old City Press had already occurred. I worked with them on the content development and the website's structure. They helped us take all of that and develop our site to get it launched.

What was your process for selecting Old City Press with which to work?

The organization put out an RFP before I joined PEP.

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

I believe the project was about $10,000. They charged us additional when we did a couple of new items toward the end that they considered to be outside the scope of work. They were fairly small charges, just their hourly rate.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched in February, and the next thing on my to-do list is to compare our Google Analytics for the current site with the analytics we had for the old site.

Do you think the project was successful?

Yes, we think the project was successful. We think we got a very good final product. Everybody was very happy with the look and feel of the site, design, and functionality. We haven’t done a comparison with the numbers as far as how it compares to our old site. We want to compare similar time periods and see what differences and similarities we can find.

How did Old City Press perform overall?

They performed very well. They were very responsive to us. In the beginning, we had a project manager who worked with them with the initial work. I didn’t do that as much, but she was very happy with them. She had just done a huge website project for the government. I think she had a lot of ideas that she brought them. They were willing to consider and implement her ideas, even though they were new or bigger. They always said "yes" to us and helped us create the best site that we could.

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

I’ve never done this before, so I can’t really compare them to other companies. The Web developer and our project manager were both very helpful and hands-on. They have a button on their website for client support. If we ever had a question, we could send in our question or concern, and they would get back to us. I feel like it's been a good relationship.

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

One of the reasons we chose them was that their references said that they finished on time. Our project did end up running late. We take some of the responsibility for that because we had these new, bigger ideas and expanded the site a bit.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

Crawford PR is a boutique PR agency and content marketing company. We focus on serving the tech community and telecom community. We’ve been in business since 1996.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Old City Press?

I wanted a more dynamic-looking website that had plenty of eye candy it in to attract people. It also served the purpose of making it easy to find our content. To me, a website is a showcase of who you are and what you can do. After that is done, it's really the job of SEO [search engine optimization] to make it found.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Old City Press did Web design and development. We did the SEO ourselves with a separate vendor.

What was your process for selecting Old City Press with which to work?

This was our third or fourth website, and I’ve had a lot of experience dealing with designers. I’m used to dealing with people who are unreliable. They promise the moon and deliver an asteroid. I like Old City Press because they do great work, the price was right, and they were only 20 miles away from us. I put them in total shock and showed up at their office. I wanted to see how they worked, and they were fine with that. They are nice people, a young, eager crowd and full of creativity and ideas. That’s how we picked them. We go through a lot of designers, and they do the best job, creatively and within budget.

We hired them in early 2013, and they were done by June of 2013.

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

The budget was $5,000. They did a great job for the budget.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I didn’t hire them to do SEO. Their premise was to create pages that had to be designed and optimized a certain way. They relied heavily on a common plug-in called SEO by Yoast. I did that mostly on my own. In certain areas, Crawford PR has always had a highly ranking. [However,] they had nothing to do with traffic. For that, we went to a separate SEO vendor that helped us optimize pages after the fact. Old City Press got the process started and gave us a great website.

Success depends on how much new content you create, and Old City Press does a great job producing fresh content, including videos. We're producing between three and five blogs per week, and that’s very important. We're active on Twitter and other social media, which is up to us.

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

I like their structured app using wireframes. I liked the designer and their creativity, and they’re good at follow-through. The bigger the budget, the more attention you’ll get from any designer.

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

They talked about getting it done in five or six weeks, and for whatever reason, it went on longer than that. It was probably on my end. We did the content here. I would say making sure that they stuck to deadlines. Part of that was my fault. Other than that, I wouldn’t improve on too much. They’re great people to work with and very responsive. If I had a question or issue about something, the president was all over it. They never ignored me.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

Run Stroller Run is a website for families that lists stroller-friendly and kid-friendly races in the entire United States.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Old City Press?

The goal was redoing the entire website, starting from the ground floor. We want to get more people registered. Old City Press was able to rebuild the entire calendar portion from ground zero.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They did Web design, development, and hosting. We're looking at moving the complete URL  to them, but we didn’t do it in time because there was so much involved. They are also developing a registration portion, which is developing a backend that is bigger than just the development of the site. They also provide support and maintenance. I have another project with them for CCI for the website development. They have ongoing projects with me and, at the moment, I don’t have a plan to stop.

What was your process for selecting Old City Press with which to work?

I looked at three or four firms. I have friends in different firms, and I had a few that were nonlocal. I chose them because I felt they had the best price. Also, they were very responsive.

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

They don’t charge per change. They charge whatever it takes to get the project done. They dealt with some of my website issues overnight for a while, for more than 24 or 48 hours at a time. The cost for the initial site build was $9,000. For the other corporation, it was about $10,000. However, the ongoing portion for the registration for Run Stroller Run is about $5,000 to $10,000 by itself.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of the new site being built, we had about 18,000 visitors within about two months. That was above my original expectations. We are very satisfied with their work.

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

They don’t charge per change. Most design development firms give you three changes to your design, and then you pay for it. With Old City Press, there is no additional charge. They do it until it's acceptable to you.

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

The daily communication once the project is past the main work period, when we're not in the throes of it and it's been done, could improve. If I have basic questions about some hosting or something, it takes longer to get back to us. I don’t need an immediate response, but sometimes it takes two days. During the throes of creating the website, they communicated with us more often. It was more when the project went into the maintenance or support stages, it took a couple of days to get back to us by email.