Grant will build Web sites for 200 Spokane regional firms

Spokane’s Echo Creative Group http://www.teamecho.com gets funding from unnamed Seattle businessman

Tom Sowa
Staff writer

Spokane Internet design and marketing company Echo Creative Group has been given a $200,000 grant to build 200 Web sites for regional businesses.

The money is from an unidentified Seattle businessman who wants to encourage more Northwest businesses to use e-commerce to increase sales, said Echo Creative owner James Aubertin.

"He’s a business owner in Seattle and runs his own marketing company," Aubertin said.

The grant will mean that small businesses in the region can apply to have a Web site developed at no cost by Echo Creative Group.

Aubertin said his company won the grant in a competition among 40 Web development companies in Washington.

One criterion was that the companies have not only Web designers but marketing talent to help drive business to Web sites, Aubertin said.

The companies also needed to submit letters of reference and a list of clients.

Echo Creative has been in business since 1998. The three-person company operates from a South Hill home, but plans to relocate downtown, said Aubertin.

It has assorted clients in the Northwest, but its primary success has been with California firms.

"We get the work because we give quality services at prices lower than they pay in Southern California," he said.

Companies that want to take advantage of the Web site program need to contact Echo Creative, either at its Web site or by e-mail.

Companies are eligible for Web site development if they are at least one year old and have fewer than 150 employees, Aubertin said. Nonprofit organizations and sole proprietorships are also eligible. Companies with existing Web sites can also apply to have those sites redesigned.

The one hitch: all 200 new Web sites must be hosted by a company that Echo Creative Group currently uses, said Aubertin. Using the same host provider ensures that Echo Creative can provide reliable and effective marketing services, Aubertin said.

Developing sound marketing strategies for e-commerce companies is different from what companies use for print or broadcast media, he added.

In part, half the strategy relies on developing smart software coding and Web design that uses Web search engines, like Google, to send customers to the new Web site.

Aubertin said Echo Creative Group is eligible for another $100,000 grant if it completes the 200 Web sites by June 1. "That money would help develop 100 more e-commerce sites," he said.

•Business writer Tom Sowa can be reached at (509) 459-5492 or at [email protected].

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=021503&ID=s1303166&cat=section.business