Webmaster Services Hawaii

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The Domestic Violence Action Center provides legal and advocacy services to victims of domestic violence. Here at the Teen Alert Program, we're specifically working with teens throughout the state of Hawaii. We provide prevention and education and make numerous presentations to youth throughout the state. We also have a teen advocate who works directly with teen victims of domestic violence, who are themselves in abusive relationships.

What is your position?

I am the Teen Alert Program manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Webmaster Services Hawaii?

We needed to create a new website from scratch. We needed a site that specifically targeted the youth in our state. We were looking for something that was engaging and interesting to that population, and we wanted to maintain a local vibe as well.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They created the entire WordPress website for us. Initially, they created several different templates for us from which to choose. We then tweaked the one we thought would work best for us and for what we were looking to do with, of course, their expertise and feedback. That was helpful.

They were also super flexible with us as far as making changes. They put in a lot of time and energy creating our own power and control wheel, which is an interactive visual that describes the different power and control tactics that might show up in an abusive relationship. Those interactive parts are unique to our website, and they built those from the ground up for us.

How did you come to work with Webmaster Services Hawaii?

I first did a lot of online research. Then, I met with a couple of different companies and made my decision from there. We were on a limited budget, and Webmaster Services Hawaii was able to work within that budget while, at the same time, making a quality product that we would really like.

The owner was super personable and friendly and responded quickly to any questions I had during the selection process. It wasn't that hard of a decision by the end. Webmaster Services Hawaii was definitely the best candidate.

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

We have spent something less than $10,000 working with Webmaster Services Hawaii.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in May [2015], and we launched in August [2015]. I still have contact with them if random questions pop up as we're updating content.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from your work with Webmaster Services Hawaii?

The feedback has been positive from both the young people and adults that have used the website. In particular, we're getting a lot of positive feedback about the visual aspects of the site. Our users like the template that we chose. The home page has a blog feature, so that page is being updated constantly. That's cool, and many people like that, and all of that was Webmaster Services Hawaii's idea. We have seen an increase in traffic since we've launched. Everything has been good.

How did Webmaster Services Hawaii perform both in terms of the quality of the work and from a project management standpoint?

The quality has been great, and we were able to launch within the timeframe we had set for ourselves. Webmaster Services Hawaii kept us moving forward and responded to issues quickly. My team and I had a lot of content to write while the site was in the development stage, so that influenced our timeline, too, but Webmaster Services Hawaii absolutely met our timeline.

What distinguishes Webmaster Services Hawaii from other providers?

Webmaster Services Hawaii's response time has been great. They get things done quickly. If something were going to take a little bit longer, they would let us know – and know why. They always kept us in the loop, so we always knew where they were spending their time and energy. Everything was super transparent.

I always felt like I had a say in what was going on, and they were very flexible if I changed my mind on something. They were realistic with what could be done, but also creative and thought outside the box for some of the issues that we were having.

Is there anything Webmaster Services Hawaii could have improved or done differently?

No. I don't think so.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an architectural firm providing architectural design services for clients. We have a wide portfolio of different types of projects from hospitality to single-family home residences.

What is your position?

I'm the principal of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Webmaster Services?

Our main business challenge was to bring our website into the 21st century. We had an old website, and it didn’t reflect well on the firm. Our website before was a Flash website, and it was difficult for clients to either access it on mobile devices or other platforms. Just from an aesthetic standpoint, it just looked really dated: the text was small, and you couldn't maneuver through it very well. It was done when anything on the web looked cool, maybe 10, 15 years ago. We hadn't really updated it since.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

The project was to update our site, not only the aesthetic and update the projects but to also make it easier for it to be used on different platforms. The new website is a WordPress site. Webmaster Services Hawaii built it from scratch. They also gave us SEO advice.

How did you come to work with Webmaster Services?

We went out to three different web designers. We looked at their qualifications, what they had done before, their portfolio of work and also their cost. Although they weren't the cheapest, it seemed like they had the most experience in regards to getting the website done and designing it basically from the ground up. We're not web designers. We know what we like when we look at it but we don't know how to get there. That was key.

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

The cost was under $10,000 for the project.

What was the timeframe for the project?

The project lasted about two and a half months, and the majority of that was us trying to make up our mind on how we really wanted it to be presented. It's always easier to critique something that's been designed or built as opposed to be able to visualize how it works. They pretty much had to build it and make it operational. We would then comment. In fact, there was I think one case where he almost had to rebuild it, not from scratch but just how things were formatted. Currently the website is up and running. It's been up and running for the last month or so.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know. I know there are analytics, but I don't run them. There aren't too many people who shop for our services. We use the website if a potential client wants to know more about us and our projects. In the old days, we used to print portfolios in books and things like that, and give it to them. Now, the website was designed to take the place of those things.

Internally, everybody likes the website. I haven't talked to any clients about it specifically. Most of our clients are repeat clients, so very rarely will they go back onto a website to see it. I've had other companies look at it, other competitors and other associates, and they like it.

How did Webmaster Services perform from a project management standpoint?

I think they did well. If we ranked them from one to ten, I think they did a nine and half/ten. The main thing with Webmaster Services Hawaii is that they're able to give us advice, as far as how things should work. That's what we do in our business. To us the internet is just this big black box, and how it operates and how people comment to it, and how all the functionalities of it tied into each other is a mystery to us. At least they were able to guide us through those kinds of things. That helped us make decisions on what social media sites to link to and whether to have a blog or not, which was very helpful.

What distinguishes Webmaster Services from other providers?

Webmaster Services Hawaii was great at explaining how technical things worked and what we should focus on. They gave us a lot of insight into search engine optimization and how to best lay out our website to meet our objectives. Guys like us, we don't understand a simple thing like search engines. We just think of it as static information. Again because they know that, there were able to advise us and that pretty much helped us set up our format.

Is there anything Webmaster Services could have improved or done differently?

No.