DoJo Web Strategy

Today I’m officially launching my company, DoJo Web Strategy.  In my travels to conferences around the country I have found a common thread in higher education - admissions, fundraising, alumni relations and public affairs professionals who understand the power of the web but just don’t know where to start or even if they’re on the right track.  With the economic downturn and budget cuts looming at most institutions, many places are going to be forced into moving some of their print communications online to save money.  These places don’t need huge consulting firms with a minimum buy-in of $10,000.  They need advice, guidance and a roadmap to follow given their resources and goals, and they need it at an affordable price.  


What makes it different?

DoJo offers goal-driven strategy at an affordable price.  You guys know me - I’m all about efficiency and return on investment.  When I started writing the business plan, my goal was to cut as much fat as possible out of the process to make it affordable for colleges on a tight budget.  The result?  Most schools will be able to get a custom web strategy plan from DoJo for about the price it would cost to send one staff member to one conference. Additionally, these are no boiler plate plans - they are specific to the institution based on their goals, human resources and budget. 

I want to work with schools that are serious about improving their web strategy.  To get started, potential clients will have to fill out a questionnaire outlining where their school is at and what they hope to achieve.  I’ll then take that questionnaire, do some research on my own, and provide them with a proposal of the services I think they need to achieve their goals and a quote for how much those services will cost - that proposal is returned to the potential client for their review within five business days.  From there, it’s up to the client  about which services they want and how much they want to dedicate. 


Why now? 

This has been a long time coming - about two years to be exact.  I’ve always done consulting but have never marketed it so, really, this isn’t something new.  But I read a book over Christmas break that inspired me to formalize it and market my services out there to colleges.  I decided to take it out from being under strictly under my name because I do have people I’m working with in the background to make everything happen, and also to give it a fresh start.


What’s in a name? 

It’s a combination of my parent’s names - Doug and JoAnn.  When my father started his business many years ago, he named it KarMax after my brother and I. I figured turnabout is fair play. Plus the goal of DoJo is really to teach and empower colleges and universities, so I love that its a Japanese word for a “place of learning”. 


Special Thanks

To Nick Tillman for helping me with the logo.  For those of you who don’t know Nick, he is awesome - one of the early thought leaders in admissions e-communications though you would never know it since he doesn’t really put himself out there like others do. I was lucky enough to come across him on my last blog and by pure chance, re-connected with him during a reference check for an email service provider about a year ago.  

Also, thank you to CSS guru Christopher Schmitt for listening to my complaining and breakdowns all weekend when I was trying to launch DoJo’s site and the CSS wasn’t working the way I wanted it to, and offering help along the way.  I can safely say that the website would not be live right now if it wasn’t for him. Oh and the gradient thing…that worked out OK too. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you read here? Subscribe to this blog through RSS or sign up to receive email updates when new content is posted.