Codebase plus
Code. You need it, we develop it. From scratch if needed
Terrific design
Art. Code, image, word. We bend them to your vision
Stellar narrative
Story. We craft your story. Tell us, and we’ll tell everyone.
Mission
To create seamless communication paths between your ideas and your audience. We listen, develop, design, deploy. That we happen to do most of this on the web with a strong focus on eCommerce – well, it’s a great & useful medium.
eCommerce
We develop 100% eCommerce-ready sites of every size in every industry. Whether you want to sell a few products on your existing website and need a shopping add-on, or whether you need full-featured, scalable, headless eCommerce with full omni-channel representation, we build it for you.
Web Design
Web design was our first developmental core and we go back to 1999 with it. We’ve evolved with the Internet, so there’s very little about developing for the web at which we aren’t expert. That means whatever you need to get up and running online, we can build it and have almost certainly already built something like it. Yes, we know exactly what we’re doing.
Content
We include a level of service that few offer: true content creation during your site build. You can outsource your content to us, and when we’re done, all you have to do is review and ask for tweaks.
Here’s a story. We’ve been building websites and web applications since 1999. In that time the Internet has gone from a programmatic playground for hard-core developers, to a place where anyone with the patience for it can launch a WordPress site. We think that’s great – as technology gets better, it should also get easier to use and build with.
But then the other shoe drops. Once you’re happy with your setup – logo, header images, backgrounds, color, etc. – you run into the problem of content. What words do you put in there to convey your message? How do you say it? How do you make it matter? How does it tell your story? How, ultimately, do your words represent your business and drive visitors to your business goals?
It’s a bit of a revelation to learn how hard it can be putting thoughts to paper. It’s even more difficult when you have to take into account SEO (search engine optimization), because you’re not only writing for human beings, but also for search engines.
That’s where our content creators step in. We research your industry & competitors, write professional, stylish copy that represents you in your industry, create your bylines and headings and blurbs, remove the corporate or technical jargon, modularize copy into central and supporting messages, even pass all this into brochure or other off-site material for you.
Believe us when we say this is the hardest part of website development.
Satellite Services
Design-development are our core strengths, but that doesn’t mean we neglect the secondary or satellite aspects of developing for the web. Branding – yes, we brand you online. SEO – we bake it right into our content development. eMarketing – yes, we Mailchimp you right up. Social – while we don’t post on your behalf, we’ll set you up with or link to any account as well as brand that ccount. Anything else – if you can think of it, we can cover it.
Support
Yes certainly we provide you with emotional support. But so you don’t end up needing some, we provide stellar support for anything we build on your behalf – as little or as much support as you need. That includes training and maintenance, along with ongoing product-building or content development (if you want to leave that in our hands). You need it, we offer it.
Our Waterfall Process
Web makes up a huge portion of our portfolio, and we won’t deny it. But that’s because it’s so exciting! We use “Web” of course in its broader definition, as more than a website: as an interactive medium that allows you to communicate your ideas and business goals directly with your audience, in a most immediate way. To ensure that this communication process is absolutely great between you and your audience, we follow our own process when we work with you.
Listening (skill)
Our objective is to tell your story so our first step is to listen. Structured listening, however, because what we need to know is specific: your audience, your goals, your preferences. These grasped, we can measure results as we develop, design, and articulate.
Programming (technology)
We do all our own custom programming and software installation and configuration. More important, we break this down into manageable blocks whose purpose is to keep you involved at every step. Some of our clients need to know the mechanics of things – this is for them.
Visual design and language (art)
Ideas and strategies outlined, we start turning these into what your audience will experience. As we go through creative iterations that move us progressively toward clarity of message, we keep you close. And we only stop when you are happy with the message, aesthetically and narratively.
User experience design (science & art)
We start with the most important question: how do you want your audience to feel when they first encounter your product. Why? Because how a visitor feels will determine their response and that will in turn determine whether they do business with you or not. Since this question is quantifiable, once asked we can apply principles and practices from various domains in our effort to quantify and direct user response. Among them are: information architecture, visual design, cognitive anthropology, psychology, even literary principles to help determine the flavor of the language we select.
Bear in mind that we use a waterfall approach to your project, so that the preceding does not necessarily happen serially but all-at-once. This allows us to create at top speed, with maximum accuracy – which inevitably keeps your cost down.
Values
Excellence. We work very hard to outdo ourselves on every project, and we’re already really really good at what we do. But we don’t think that’s enough, so we’re the folk you’ll find constantly learning, constantly hammering away to make every detail a little better.
Honesty. We won’t lie to you, we won’t cheat you, we won’t pretend. If we tell you we can do it, it’s because we can. Otherwise, we’ll tell you we can’t (hasn’t happend yet).
People. We have never, ever made it about money. People come first and we know that we’re only as good as our relationships. So we place you first. Simple.
Getting paid. You will love what we make – or you won’t pay for it (not that you’ll get to keep it). Clear?
Joy. That’s what it’s all about. We have a lot of fun building our sites and get huge joy from the beautiful things we make for you. So we keep right on making them.
History
Our values express who we are and we prove them over and over with each new build. But we have one other value that isn’t often referenced: we’re local. Local and present. We don’t outsource a single line of code or element of design. Does this matter? To us, yes. One, it makes us a tight team. Two, it means we’re available. We’re based out of Saratoga Springs and much of our design work is in the area, with the rest scattered across the United States.
Dr. Richard Calo has been at the helm since 1999; and now, with the introduction of his son Sebastian to the development team, the company has entered its second generation. Two of our members, Ara and Liz, have been with us since 1999. Brittany and Ron, since 2010. What can one say about these epochal durations in an industry where changeover is often monthly? That we’re tight. We’ve reached the point where communication is non-verbal; what you’d call “being on the same page.”
