Century Moves Forward With No-Bid $11,450 Website, Marketing Plan

December 27, 2011

Century will unveil a new $11,450 website and accompanying marketing plan in the new year developed under a no-bid contract by a Pensacola company.

Mayor Freddie McCall said that the town’s attorney, Matt Dannheisser, advised that the town could enter into the contract without a bid since it was for professional services and under the cost limit per contract.

The Century Town Council voted 4-0 in late November, with council member Annie Savage absent, to purchase the package from Ideawörks, contingent upon the attorney’s approval.  The town council was not presented with any other bids or proposals.

The $11,450 package includes $4,200 for a “basic website design”, $1,750 for a content management system (CMS) to allow town employees to update the site, and $5,500 for a five-year comprehensive marketing strategy to include “grant identification, development, PR plan, five-year marketing plan and budget”. After the initial services are provided, an hourly rate of $75 to $95 will apply for additional services.

Caron Sjöberg, president of Ideawörks, told the council in November that her company has created over 200 websites, including the current site for the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, the Three Rivers Resource Conservation & Development Council and the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce.

Sjöberg said the brand will be created for Century with a goal of economic development on the website with a “simple” homepage, contact page, staff page, history, a photo album, business information, chamber information and town news.

To read the complete Ideawörks proposal accepted by the Town of Century, click here.

Pictured: Caron Sjöberg, president of Ideawörks, pitches her company’s website and marketing plan to the Century Town Council Monday night. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

10 Responses to “Century Moves Forward With No-Bid $11,450 Website, Marketing Plan”

  1. jokersmild on December 31st, 2011 8:33 am

    Personally, I think that they could have gotten a better deal on the site and spent the excess on paving overlooked roads… Like Ivey St.

  2. Bama Lama Ding Dong on December 27th, 2011 6:28 pm

    A professional web development/marketing company or brand manager is well worth the money for any serious business. The question is: Is Century serious about this?

    If you’re not serious or don”t care about your image, get your nephew or your sister-in-law to build a website for you. It’ll fall short in every professional measurement but HEY! It only cost 400 bucks!

  3. cygie on December 27th, 2011 4:47 pm

    Char said “as they are the same people who didn’t
    even see if someone was wanted by the police before they invited them into their homes for dinner, had ribbon cuttings, and talked about jobs to the towns people.”

    If I am wrong correct me, but did not the charges against the two primary figures in the lumber treating business get filed because they tried to sell futures/securities for said lumber facility? I don’t believe there were warrants outstanding for either individual at the time they made their presentation to the town.

  4. Chris on December 27th, 2011 9:52 am

    A reasonable price for the actual website itself would be in the vicinity of $2500 (a simple CMS like WordPress, a semi-custom theme, masthead design, less than 7 main pages, a photo gallery, and email list setup and integration).

    But this assumes stock art and pre-produced content. That’s not what the city was shopping. Most of the cost detailed in the proposal is for copywriting, custom photography, developing a marketing plan with the city, training, and grant writing. There’s also value in the search engine and social media marketing, though these aren’t really detailed.

    The city got a fair deal. They’re getting services at a fraction of the annual salary that would be drawn by a salaried city employee. If they aren’t already doing a lot of rural development grantwriting, the project pays for itself.

    Quit yer grousing. It’s a large project, not just a simple website buildout. Ideaworks is a local company with a track record. Much better than taking the cheapest offshore bid.

    FWIW, I’m in the website and marketing sector, but have no connection with Ideaworks or the city of Century.

  5. Char on December 27th, 2011 8:13 am

    You can’t say they are corrupt on this, as they are the same people who didn’t
    even see if someone was wanted by the police before they invited them into their homes for dinner, had ribbon cuttings, and talked about jobs to the towns people.
    Maybe they are just ignorant and don’t know how to do their jobs, use the web,
    or get bids.

    I have never understood why they would spend money to bring in business
    when they still have the main street looking like a slum.
    Don’t mean to offend but…. it is what it is~
    Businesses have to have people with money to spend to make a go of it,
    and that’s not what that town says to any normal business owner looking
    for a place to open.

    Businesses want to have good clean workers, willing to work hard, do a good job, and take pride in a job well done.. What do you think that main street says to any business owner?

    My mother told me once it’s not what you have that counts, it’s how you
    take care of it and the beautiful picture you present.

    There are a lot of people there who want jobs, but you have to present
    yourself right to a business, or they pass you buy every time. Don’t have delusions of grandeur take a hard look, clean up, and then do your
    homework.

    It CAN HAPPEN.

  6. Safebear on December 27th, 2011 7:39 am

    Stupid idea – there are much more reasonable companies out there. $400 would be too cheap but I’ve got companies that do much more than this for less than $2500 – I guess if you have the money spend it – there will never be a rainy day, right?

  7. resident on December 27th, 2011 7:38 am

    So you think they’ll put crime states, Pond and Ramar streets and the number of people in poverty on this thing? I bet the pictures of the council will be real big and they will lie a lot about what a great place it is.

  8. Friction against the machine on December 27th, 2011 7:12 am

    Follow the money trail people and you’ll find what the “real” facts are.

  9. Jim on December 27th, 2011 6:12 am

    @huh, if you think $400 dollars is a reasonable price point for a website you have no idea what your talking about. But, I would agree $11,450 is an overkill for something that will not profit century.

  10. huh on December 27th, 2011 4:18 am

    If you needed any proof that politics in century are corrupt, look at the cost of this website. Tax payers get to spend 20x the cost of a normal site. Even $1,000 usd would have been overkill. $400 would have been reasonable

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News