We Help Communities Win Online
Choose Our City is a web design and digital marketing agency built specifically for economic development organizations. We believe every community deserves a digital presence that matches its ambition — and that most communities aren't there yet.
Why We Specialize in Economic Development
Economic development is one of the most consequential fields in local governance, and it's chronically underserved by the marketing and technology industries. Most web agencies that work with EDOs treat them like any other client — building technically competent sites that miss everything that actually matters in this space.
Our founder, Max Karren, came to this industry through his work with the Dallas Regional Chamber, where his team built the digital platform for Say Yes to Dallas — one of the most successful regional talent attraction campaigns in the country. That project drove a 98% increase in website traffic, doubled the usage of the cost-of-living calculator, and brought 160,000 annual visitors to a platform that didn't exist two years earlier.
That experience made one thing clear: the strategies that work for EDOs are different from what works for everyone else. Site selectors don't behave like typical website visitors. Business attraction content doesn't convert the same way as e-commerce copy. Talent attraction requires a completely different voice than business development. And most agencies have no idea any of this is true.
Choose Our City exists to close that gap.
Our Approach
We start with strategy, not design. Before we touch a template or write a line of code, we need to understand your audiences, your competitive position, your existing digital footprint, and what you're actually trying to accomplish. A beautiful website that no one can find — or that doesn't speak to the right people — is just an expensive brochure.
Every website we design is built with search visibility, lead capture, and audience-specific pathways built in from the start. Every SEO strategy we develop is grounded in how site selectors, corporate executives, and talent researchers actually search. Every brand system we create is designed to differentiate your community in a crowded field.
We keep our client roster intentionally small. It means every organization we work with gets our full attention — not a junior account manager and a templated deliverable.
What We Believe
The question is whether anyone can find it, and whether it's told in a way that resonates with the audiences who need to hear it.
An agency that understands your industry can contribute to strategy, not just execution. That's a fundamentally different value proposition.
A well-built website and a thoughtful SEO strategy don't just deliver results on day one — they build authority and visibility over time. That's where the real return on investment is.
We'd rather tell you we're not the right fit than take on a project that won't succeed. That reputation matters more to us than any single engagement.
Who We Are
Max has spent his career at the intersection of web development, SEO, and economic development marketing. His work with the Dallas Regional Chamber — including the Say Yes to Dallas platform — gave him a front-row seat to what it takes to build digital infrastructure that actually moves the needle for a region. Choose Our City is the agency he wishes had existed when that work was getting started.
Ready to Work Together?
If you're an EDO, chamber, or community organization that takes its digital presence seriously, let's have a conversation.
Book a Free Strategy Call →