We work with a very different philosophy than most software and web development companies, involving six key points:
- Fast development
- Inexpensive Project Cost
- Complete Project Analysis
- Customer Education
- No Lock In
- Appropriate Billing
Fast Development: Â Not matter what market you’re in the world has gotten more competitive. Â The time between an idea and a finished product has to be as short as possible, lest your competition get there first. Â Being first to market with a new idea is paramount sometimes. Â And sometimes it’s just a matter of getting yourself into a crowded market quickly, before the money dries up. Â Our development process helps shorten development time (see our Project Blog entries for an example of a complete eCommerce system going from idea to completion in 4 days, for example)
Inexpensive Project Cost:  We don’t work with million dollar development projects.  It’s not that we wouldn’t want a million dollars – it’s that we feel we should be charging a fair price for a good project.  Additionally, most of our customers are smaller (sometimes just single-person start ups even), so we try and keep our development process light and inexpensive every step of the way.  The little things are what make the difference – for instance, we could laboriously create new photos for the site, write copy from scratch, and a whole host of things many development firms would do.  Instead, we find what competencies the customer already has that could be leveraged to bring our development cost – and the customer’s final bill – down to the lowest possible price.
Complete Project Analysis: Â Sure, we could be like every other company, and just do the job while asking as few questions as possible. Â We don’t – we like happy, successful customers. Â So we dig in further during the project planning phase. Â We identify potential flaws in the plan, both from the technical and business standpoint, and make sure those flaws are communicated to the customer. Â Additionally, we also find points where the development plan could be enhanced, giving the customer better bang for their buck.
There’s another thing that goes with our complete project analysis policy – sometimes we turn down projects we just don’t feel will have a good chance of success. Â Yes, the customer will find someone else to do the project, and yes, we don’t get paid for it. Â But we like to keep a track record of happy, profitable customers, not customers who’ll feel like we’ve swindled them because we took their money, built their website, and they still failed. Â We do everything within reason to make sure our customers are successful.
No Lock In: Â Many web development companies have a very specific concept – they will build the website for you, and after it’s done, they’ll also handle all updates for you no matter how trivial. Â Of course, they charge you over and over for those services. Â We take a different approach – when we’re done, we create a set of passwords for you to update your own site. Â Most of our customers come back to us for major updates, but handle their own minor updates like adding an event to their online schedule. Â Why lock a customer in, where they begrudge having to call us for every little thing, when instead we have a happy customer on the line who is happy to be talking to us about a major expansion since they’ve saved so much on those little updates?
Customer Education: Â Every time we do a project we teach the customer how to use the site. Â It’s a part of our No Lock In policy really, but we feel it also stands on it’s own – we’d rather the customer feel confident about their site, and eventually proud of the work the do from time to time on their own. Â But it helps us too – next time a major overhaul needs to happen, it’s not a mystery to the customer – they have a bit of an idea how the site works, so they understand the work and attention to detail we put into our projects.
Appropriate Billing: Â As mentioned before, often we work with projects for groups as small as one man startups, and sometimes we work with non-profit organizations. Â These aren’t people with huge budgets, but still have large needs. Â So, when appropriate, we take payments as low as $50 / month (depending on many factors.) Â Not all of our customers have to take this route, of course, but it’s an option we throw out there. Â It beats throwing it on a credit card too – these are flat payments without interest or finance charges. Â It’s another way we can enable our customers to have successful projects.
Like what you’ve heard about us so far? Â Great – we’d love to tell you more about ourselves, and talk to your about your project! Â Hit the Contact Us button up top, and leave contact information and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!