Web Dev for Vacation Rental Firm
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Web Development
- Less than $10,000
- Mar. 2017 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"I don’t think I’ll ever go to anyone else for web development."
- Real estate
- South Bend, Indiana
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
Orbit Media Studios provided detailed webpage redesigns to target local audiences, creating a seamless UX/UI and sharing strategic guidance for market-specific content. They now manage SEO and element updates.
Since Orbit Media Studios joined the team, search keyword rankings jumped immediately from page 2 to page 1, and longer view times indicated stronger user engagement. Their open communication, insightful suggestions, and combined business and technical savvy continue to impress.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the director of marketing for Rent Like a Champion, a vacation rental platform focused on sporting events.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Orbit Media Studios?
We had trouble figuring out how to marry our web design and user experience [UX] with our marketing. We wanted the site to be intuitive, user-friendly, and not frustrating, but we also needed to make sure we were driving conversions and showing up well on Google. We needed SEO that was on-par with best practices.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
Orbit listened to the unique problems we were facing, determined what our real issue was, and shared their expertise in SEO and web design. It’s easy to become outdated in these areas, and many of our strategies were no longer effective. Orbit provided valuable clarity in that respect.
One of our biggest issues was redesigning our market-specific pages. We are hyperlocal; even though we’re present in 100 locations, only 25 of those are actually core locations. We’re focused on sports fans, so every detail about a local market needs to be targeted and not a watered-down presentation for football fans, for example. This involved everything from showing up in search results correctly and ensuring we were targeting our audience to the UX of our site. We can’t afford to be general, so we optimized our market-specific pages, making sure that our SEO and general digital presence (from paid, unpaid, and social standpoints) appeared correctly.
We had some technical SEO issues related to website mods and other tools, which were affecting us negatively. Our in-house content manager and I worked closely together and debated different approaches. He proposed redirecting to a single page for every market, while I wanted to 400-error the pages we had and tell Google not to follow them. Orbit told us that neither of those approaches would work and showed us the actual problem: our specific market pages weren’t even built correctly. They walked us through a redesign and gave us a list of page elements. This simplified our issue tremendously.
How did you come to work with Orbit Media Studios?
I’ve known Andy [Co-Founder and Strategic Director, Orbit Media Studios] for a couple of years and was referred to him by a colleague when we were facing our initial design and marketing issues. From my experience with Orbit, this is where they provide the most value. I reached out to them a year ago about the issues we were facing. I knew our criteria, but it was difficult to find someone with the right technical chops who could build a website and apply marketing skills. Every designer should have conversion-science knowledge in order to make a user convert on a page. I’ve met very few developers who have this, but Orbit’s team does.
How much have you invested with Orbit Media Studios?
Most of their work has been in credit or trade form. For the most part, this hasn’t been a large financial investment for us. To finish this campaign, we will likely engage Orbit financially.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our most recent campaign with Orbit started 3 months ago. We plan on working with them again at the end of 2017, after we’ve ended our busy season and when we have the resources.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?
Orbit helped us figure out our direction and the best approach utilizing our limited startup resources. We’ve already seen big improvements, but the largest effort that Orbit helped outline won’t be implemented until the beginning of 2018.
We had an immediate jump in our rankings for a chunk of our keywords, after making the changes suggested by Orbit. We’ve added elements to the page, which amounted to a boost for a number of terms without affecting any of the others negatively. We’ve made it to the bottom of page 1 from the middle or bottom of page 2 for many keywords. That’s the difference between life and death for our business.
We haven’t seen any negative or positive changes in user engagement, but we have seen an uptick in the time spent on pages. It’s probably too soon to make a conclusion, but it’s a good leading indicator. The additions created a better UX and keep people on the page for longer, but these are still early results. We’ve seen no negative user behavior and have an uptick in SEO, which was our original goal.
How did Orbit Media Studios perform from a project management standpoint?
We primarily worked with Andy, who led the whole conversation. We traveled to Chicago to meet him once every 2 months for the last year. Most of our visits have been around the work I discussed, but he’s clarified other major overhauls around strategy in person.
What did you find most impressive about Orbit Media Studios?
I appreciated the accessibility of Orbit’s leadership. Their generosity and openness made us feel that we partnered with the right people. It’s rare to find someone who can build a business solution who actually has business sense.
I don’t think I’ll ever go to anyone else for web development because I feel that Orbit will lead us to the best product that can serve a business function. I’ve worked with too many designers who are proud of their work from an artistic standpoint but butted heads with us from a marketing standpoint because they didn’t deliver ideal designs for conversion. They excel at making professional and aesthetically pleasing designs that drive conversions. They merge business and technology perfectly.
What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Orbit Media Studios?
Before starting an engagement with Orbit, try to learn about SEO and user engagement from the team so you can engage in the conversation and understand the value being provided. Any software shop can build an online business card, but driving business is the hard part.
RATINGS
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Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"The deliverables have already led to a significant uptick. We’ve seen more of an SEO boost from those than from anything we’ve done ourselves over the last year."
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Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"They are true professionals, especially Andy. He’s always available and punctual."
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"I know their prices and would rate them well, even beyond our informal agreement. I don’t know of any other dev shops in Chicago that provide the same scope at this price."
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"I’ve sent them business in the past and will absolutely continue to do that.