# Straight North Straight North Reviews (135), Pricing, Services & Verified Ratings - 4.7 out of 5 average review rating - 12 connections joined Straight North's Network [Visit Website](https://www.straightnorth.com/?sncid=2&utm_source=clutch&utm_medium=referral) [Get a Custom Proposal](https://clutch.co/profile/straight-north) **Hire Your Last Agency.** **Call us today: 844-219-3699** Straight North is an industry-leading digital marketing agency with 100+ experts leveraging data, tech, and exceptional service to **deliver revenue growth**. Since 1997, we’ve partnered with thousands of businesses to customize and execute successful campaigns that generate results – and earning us **100s of 5-star reviews**. We provide leading SEO services to many types of businesses across a wide range of industry verticals. We have experienced, specialized teams focused on B2B, B2C, ecommerce, local, national, small business, and enterprise campaigns. We keep our finger on the pulse of the SEO industry, ensuring that we always employ the latest proven methods. Our paid advertising services include campaigns running on Google, Bing, Facebook and Instagram. Our skilled team combined with their mastery of AI-driven bid/budget management technology helps us keep you on top of your competition. Our team of web designers, developers, copywriters and project managers are experts in UX, CRO and SEO and focus on creating websites that generate sales leads. Our creative team supports every component of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy – from an engaging on-site experience to a powerful paid social ad – to capture your audience’s attention. Contact us today to find out why 100s of agencies have made Straight North their last agency. ## Company Information - Minimum project size: $1,000+ - Hourly rate: $100 - $149 - Number of employees: 50 - 249 - 2 Locations: - Chicago, IL (Headquarters) - Charlotte, NC - Founded in 1997 - 1 languages: English ## Services, Focus Areas, Industries, and Clients ### Service Lines - 70% Search Engine Optimization - 25% Pay Per Click - 5% Web Design ### Focus Areas - PPC Focus: - 80% Google Adwords - 10% Bing Advertising - 10% YouTube Advertising - SEO Focus: - 30% Link earning & development - 30% Local search - 20% Content development - 20% On site optimization ### Industries - 10% Dental - 10% Medical - 10% Business services - 10% Education - 10% Manufacturing - 10% Financial services - 10% Real estate - 10% Hospitality & leisure - 10% Automotive - 10% eCommerce ### Clients - 20% Small Business (<$10M) - 50% Midmarket ($10M - $1B) - 30% Enterprise (>$1B) ## Pricing Snapshot Average rating for cost based on this provider's reviews: 4.5 out of 5 **What Clients Have Said** *(This summary is based on verified Clutch reviews.)*: Straight North offers competitive pricing with project costs ranging from $2,000 to over $250,000 annually. Clients report good value for cost, with many noting effective SEO and PPC services that lead to increased traffic and conversions. **Most Common Project Size**: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 121 reviews *(Pricing information for this provider is based on reviews where the project size was available.)* ### Pricing by Service - Search Engine Optimization: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 68 reviews - Pay Per Click: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 35 reviews - Web Design: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 25 reviews - Web Development: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 15 reviews - Other Digital Marketing: $50,000 to $199,999 based on 15 reviews - Content Marketing: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 3 reviews - Product Marketing: $50,000 to $199,999 based on 1 review - Advertising: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 1 review - Logo: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 1 review - Direct Marketing: $50,000 to $199,999 based on 1 review - Digital Strategy: $200,000 to $999,999 based on 1 review - Branding: $10,000 to $49,000 based on 1 review - Content Writing Services: Confidential based on 1 review ## Reviews Clutch investigates each reviewer's identity and work history. Every review goes through a rigorous, human-led verification process to confirm the reviewer's identity, and reviews that we verify are visibly marked as 'Verified' so you can trust that they come from a real client. [Learn More](https://help.clutch.co/en/knowledge/how-clutch-verifies-reviews) ### Straight North Review Insights Overall Review Rating: 4.7 - Quality: 4.6 - Schedule: 4.7 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 4.7 ### Top Mentions - High-quality work (27 mentions) - Timely (27 mentions) - Communicative (24 mentions) - Great project management (17 mentions) - Transparent (16 mentions) - Easy to work with (15 mentions) - Professional (13 mentions) - Flexible (10 mentions) - Helpful (9 mentions) - Honest (8 mentions) - Accommodating (7 mentions) - Knowledgeable (7 mentions) - Patient (7 mentions) - Results-oriented (7 mentions) - Unique expertise (7 mentions) - Exceeds expectations (6 mentions) - Great team (6 mentions) - Open to feedback (6 mentions) - Personable (6 mentions) - Straightforward pricing (6 mentions) ### Review Highlights **Focus on Data-Driven Strategies** Straight North is recognized for their data-driven approach and use of analytics to optimize campaigns. Clients appreciate the insights provided by their reporting tools, which help in making informed decisions and tracking progress effectively. **Strong ROI from SEO and Digital Marketing** Several reviews commend Straight North for delivering a strong ROI through their SEO and digital marketing services. Clients have reported increased website traffic, improved search rankings, more qualified leads, and significant business growth, with some seeing a 70% increase in traffic and a 233% rise in conversions. **High-Quality Website Design and Development** Straight North's website design and development services receive high praise for their aesthetic appeal and functionality. Clients note that the new designs have improved user experience and contributed to better engagement and conversions. **Effective Project Management and Communication** Clients frequently praise Straight North for their project management and communication skills. The team is described as responsive, timely, and proactive in providing updates and adjusting strategies as needed. Regular meetings and detailed reports help maintain transparency and client satisfaction. **Positive Impact on Lead Generation** Clients report significant improvements in lead generation due to Straight North's efforts, with some experiencing record months for new leads. Their strategic use of SEO and PPC has been particularly effective in driving high-quality leads. **Professional and Knowledgeable Team** The team at Straight North is often highlighted for their professionalism, expertise, and dedication to client success. Their ability to understand complex industries and provide tailored solutions is valued by clients, contributing to successful engagements. **Partnership and Collaboration** The collaborative approach of Straight North is frequently highlighted. Clients feel that the team acts as an extension of their own, fostering a partnership that enhances project success. Their willingness to listen and adapt to client needs is well-regarded. **Mixed Results in Content and SEO Services** While many clients appreciate Straight North's content and SEO services, some reported dissatisfaction with content quality or strategy alignment. A few clients noted issues with copywriting that didn't match their brand voice or failed to deliver expected results. **Challenges with Initial Project Setup** Some clients experienced delays and challenges during the initial setup phase of projects. Issues included slow campaign launches and misalignment with client expectations. Straight North addressed these issues over time, but initial hiccups affected early impressions. ### Straight North Reviews #### SEO & Content Optimization Services for B2B SaaS Platform (Featured Review) **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Oct. 2023 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provides SEO services for a B2B SaaS platform. The team is responsible for offering content optimization, on-site optimizations, technical SEO, keyword research, and link acquisitions. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Content & Communication Manager, Whip Around - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Dec 9, 2024 **Feedback Summary**: Thanks to Straight North, the client has seen increased SEO website conversions and visits and improved rankings for critical keywords. The team is friendly, adaptable, and action-oriented, provides timely deliverables, and goes above and beyond to ensure meeting the client's needs. ""We are very satisfied with their work."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and position.I am the Content & Communication Manager of Whip AroundDescribe what your company does in a single sentence.Whip Around is a fleet inspections and maintenance B2B SaaS software platform. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What specific goals or objectives did you hire Straight North to accomplish?Improve SEO rankingsOptimize and maintain website health from SEO perspectiveImprove and optimize PPC performance **SOLUTION** How did you find Straight North?ReferralWhy did you select Straight North over others?Close to my geographic locationPricing fit our budgetReferred to meHow many teammates from Straight North were assigned to this project?6-10 EmployeesDescribe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.The scope of work for Whip Around's National SEO campaign conducted by Straight North includes a comprehensive set of activities aimed at enhancing the business value of Whip Around's website by increasing targeted organic search traffic that converts into sales leads. The campaign targets the USA and involves both on-site and off-site SEO strategies. Below is a summary of the key deliverables and activities:Goal: Expand the business value of Whip Around's website by increasing targeted organic search traffic that converts into sales leads.Content Optimization:Objective: Mitigate content decay and ensure continuous improvement of target page content.Activities: Iterative optimization of target pages to maintain relevance and accuracy.Technical Optimization:Objective: Ensure the technical structure of the website supports SEO performance.Activities: Diagnostic checks for issues such as manual actions, security issues, indexing, HTTPS, mobile usability, and page speed.On-Site Optimization:Objective: Optimize existing pages and create new content to improve SEO performance.Activities: Analysis and optimization of target pages, content creation, and publishing.Content Assets and Link Acquisition:Objective: Develop high-quality content to acquire valuable inbound links.Activities: Content creation, publisher outreach, and link acquisition targeting relevant publisher websites.Keyword Research and Content Gap Analysis:Objective: Identify relevant keywords and uncover content gaps compared to competitors.Activities: Crawling the website, keyword research, and competitor analysis.Target Page/Keyword Selection, Mapping & Prioritization:Objective: Develop a strategy for target pages and keywords.Activities: Selection, mapping, and prioritization of target keywords and pages.Technical SEO:Objective: Identify and address technical SEO issues.Activities: Diagnostic checks and recommendations for technical improvements.Backlink Profile Audit:Objective: Ensure a healthy backlink profile.Activities: Audit of the backlink profile and disavow file submission if necessary.Objective: Capture and analyze conversions generated by the SEO campaign.Activities: Implementing form and phone tracking technologies.GoNorth! Reporting Dashboard:Objective: Provide a detailed, real-time view of campaign performance.Activities: Access to a reporting dashboard with various metrics and insights.Navigation Improvement Recommendations:Objective: Improve website usability and dwell time.Activities: Analyzing user behavior data and providing navigation improvement recommendations.Conversion Optimization Recommendations:Objective: Increase the conversion rate of the website.Activities: Analyzing user behavior data and providing conversion optimization recommendations.Monthly Campaign Management & Communication: **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?We have seen increases in SEO website conversions and visits along with improvements in rankings for critical keywords since embarking on this project with Straight North.Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?Weekly meetings are very helpful, to the point and action oriented. Projects are delivered on time and reporting is provided each month (and more frequently if requested). The team will go above and beyond if something outside of the ordinary is requested and are willing to adjust to meet our needs. We are very satisfied with their work.What was your primary form of communication with Straight North?Virtual MeetingWhat did you find most impressive or unique about this company?Their friendly, adaptable demeanor and emphasis on continually analyzing performance to fix issues that may arise as we go along.Are there any areas for improvement or something Straight North could have done differently?None at this time. --- #### Digital Marketing for Asset Security & Control Company **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Apr. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provides digital marketing services to an asset control solutions company. The team created and continues to maintain PPC campaigns. They monitor content, search terms, and web forms. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Head of Customer Relations, Asset Security & Control Company - Industry: Business services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 8, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: Internal stakeholders are highly satisfied with Straight North’s ability to optimize their web presence. The responsive team facilitates a personable and client-oriented engagement. They maintain transparency and understanding by providing frequent progress reports through a portal. "“They meet deadlines and do what they say they’re going to do, so we’ve been very pleased.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the director of customer care at an asset control solutions company. We manufacture and sell key management products to car dealerships, apartment complexes, hotels, jails, and other institutions. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We’re a small company of about 25 people, so digital marketing is an area in which we don’t have any expertise. We outsource this work to keep our web presence up-to-date and running smoothly. We’d been working with another company for several years, but they weren’t performing. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North maintains our organic SEO. They make sure our web pages have relevant content for our desired search terms on Google so that clients can seek us out. The team monitors all of our web forms; if someone fills out a contact form on our site, Straight North validates it and provides reporting. They also help us with some basic web editing.   Straight North created and continues to maintain our PPC ad campaigns. Right now, they’re running a specific search campaign for a tradeshow that we’re doing soon.  What is the team composition? We’ve probably worked with 5–6 people over three years. When the partnership began, we had an onboarding specialist. Since then, we’ve worked with account managers, who serve as our main point of contact when we need something. How did you come to work with Straight North? I’ve met with Straight North since they began working with my company, but I wasn’t involved in seeking them out. A former employee at my company who maintained our e-commerce store took on the task of finding a partner. Straight North came highly recommended. My company vetted 3–4 other companies and, after initial meetings, felt that Straight North was the best option to help us with our SEO and PPC needs.  How much have you invested with them? My company has spent somewhere in the range of $50,000–$100,000. What is the status of this engagement? We began working with Straight North in 2018, and the engagement is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Compared to our previous provider, Straight North has been a big help in increasing our SEO and PPC presence.  There are two things that we feel puts them above the rest. First, they have a dedicated portal that we can log into at any time. We can see our results in real time; we don’t have to rely on getting an email with results once a month. That was something we weren’t expecting, but it’s been great to have. Second, for someone such as myself who’s not familiar with the SEO and PPC industry in general, it’s hard to verify what’s actually being done. Straight North does a good job of providing monthly updates and relaying what tasks they accomplished on our website or blog sites. They give us quantifiable information that we can look at and see that they’re actively doing stuff to keep us high up in search engine results. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They seem to do very well. They’re easy to get ahold of. For the specialty things we’ve done outside of scope, such as the work for the tradeshow, they’ve been very responsive. They meet deadlines and do what they say they’re going to do, so we’ve been very pleased. What did you find most impressive about them? Even though they’re a national company, they’re very personable and make us feel valued; we’re not just another client in their portfolio. They’ve always been willing to have us come to their office, and they come to us when we need them to. Getting that personal touch goes a long way for us as a small company. Are there any areas they could improve? I wouldn’t say so at this time. Before, we went through a few different account managers, but our most recent contact made the effort to come out to our facility, look at our equipment, and learn our business. That was something that we felt was lacking for a bit, but they made up for it, and we’re really appreciative of that. Any advice for potential customers? It’s easy to lose track of their work and just assume that they’re doing everything, but it’s important to stay engaged. They make it easy to do so through the portal, which provides tons of great metrics and reports. You need to look at the portal on a regular basis so that you can learn how it works; this is how you’ll get the most out of their service.  --- #### SEO & PPC for Dental Product Manufacturer **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: June - Aug. 2018 **Project Summary**: Straight North was hired to deliver SEO & PPC services. This review includes the vendor's response. **Review Rating**: 0.5 - Quality: 0.5 - Schedule: 2.5 - Cost: 0.5 - Willing to Refer: 0.5 **The Reviewer** CEO, Dental Product Manufacturer - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Jan 3, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North underperformed relative to the client's expectations. Despite an impressive ability to present services well, the partnership was tarnished by obtuse communication and a lack of professionalism. ""It seems like they were making random changes that they couldn't explain or rationalize." " **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. We have 2 companies. One manufactures teeth whitening products and the other offers invisible aligners direct to consumer. I'm the CEO of both. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire Straight North? SEO for one of the companies and PPC management for both companies. What were your goals for this project? We were spending too much money and not converting enough on PPC for both companies. We also wanted to rank higher in the organic results for the aligner company. **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor? They sounded like they really knew what they were doing. They said all the right things. Describe the project in detail. We had a kick-off call. Then they proceeded to do basically nothing for the next month on SEO. They couldn't even get tracking code set up till around 30 days later when this should have been the first thing. On the Adwords front, they were doing a bunch of non-sensical things. They had told me they do single keyword adgroups, but they basically kept the same limited number of adgroups we already had. What was the team composition? I talked mostly to the project manager, who I don't think had a clue of what was going on most of the time. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success? It seemed like they did almost no work, at least nothing of value. They did make a lot of changes to our Adwords accounts, but they didn't seem to make any sense nor did they seem to provide any improvements. It seems like they were making random changes that they couldn't explain or rationalize. In one month of SEO all they did was put up 6 links in directories, which are worthless as far as SEO goes. Anyone can do that. That's ALL it seems they did as far as SEO. Not a single link anywhere that would provide real link juice. Not a single link in a good blog or anywhere other than those 6 useless, lowly ranked directories. How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs? It was really difficult to have effective communication with them. I don't think the project manager had a clue. After I started complaining and showing them that they didn't have a clue, I finally talked to one of the senior managers, but I think he left the company soon after I proved to him that they were doing either no work or useless work. I assume he was fired for the lack of performance they were providing. After that, they put me in touch with one of the Partners, who said that he was very disappointed with my email explaining all their shortcomings, and he even offered to keep working for free till the middle of September (2 additional months of work for free), but I told him that the people they had working for them didn't have a clue and that I thought it would be a complete waste of time. They never refunded me anything. What did you find most impressive about this company? Nothing, except maybe their sales skills in suckering me into hiring them. In my opinion, they are a bunch of con-artists that charge you and then probably do a minimal amount of work each month. Beware!!!!! I believe all the good reviews they have are from people that don't know anything about SEO or PPC. They will show you reports and give you info that make it look like they are really helping, but from my experience, and I have a lot of experience dealing with SEO and PPC firms, this company cannot provide services that are worth anywhere near what they charge. Also, it is my understanding that they appear so high in the results on Clutch because they pay to have that sponsorship position in their listings. Are there any areas for improvement? They could try doing what they put in their SOW and what you pay them for. **Company Response** The vendor responded on January 17, 2020. Thanks for your review of the services that we delivered nearly one and a half years ago. While we appreciate your candid feedback, we disagree with a number of your accusations. We are sorry that we were not a good fit for your company. --- #### SEO & SEM Services for Home Products Retailer **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Jan. - Dec. 2019 **Project Summary**: Straight North came on board to provide SEO, SEM, and PPC services to a home products retailer. This review includes the vendor's response. **Review Rating**: 1.0 - Quality: 0.5 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 0.5 - Willing to Refer: 0.5 **The Reviewer** Dig Marketing Manager, Home Products Retailer - Industry: Retail - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 3, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: Although Straight North provided a responsive and committed account manager, internal stakeholders were ultimately disappointed in their ability to grow the online business and generate sufficient leads. The return on ad spend was very low. The team didn’t provide data to back up their actions. "“Beyond the good communication and the good reviews, we didn’t find any value in working with them.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m a digital marketing manager at a Canadian flooring, rug, carpeting, and window covering company. We sell our products online and in stores. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? Over the last few years, we’ve taken our business online. At the end of 2018, we decided to start marketing online and reworking our website. We were starting from scratch because flooring isn’t really something that’s been sold online, so we didn’t have any industry standards to work against. We hoped that month-over-month, we’d be able to see some results and start to build goals. When we hired Straight North, we were hoping that their SEO and SEM services would boost our online business and help us get leads for the in-store portion of the business. We hadn’t been happy with the performance of some SEM services we’d used previously.  **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North fulfilled a one-year contract for SEO, SEM, and PPC services.  What is the team composition? We had an account manager that we were in contact with for SEO and SEM. I believe she mentioned that there was a team of content writers. For the PPC campaigns, we were in contact with the director of online advertising.  How did you come to work with Straight North? My boss hired Straight North, and I believe he did some research.  How much have you invested with them? We spent closer to the higher end of $100,000–$250,000. What is the status of this engagement? My company signed the contract for SEO and SEM in January 2019. We didn’t start online advertising until April because we were implementing the SEO changes that they suggested for our website.   **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Unfortunately, we were never able to project goals or set standards because the numbers just weren’t there. The results of the cooperation weren’t very good. The return on ad spend ended up being 0.05, which was extremely low. Although we’re a Canadian company, Straight North set up our Google Ads account in US dollars. That messed up all of our metrics and added another level of complexity in trying to convert the numbers. Our ad spend was $120,000 CAD, yet our return on the ads was less than $6,000 CAD. They also Americanized a lot of our text and misspelled our company name twice in the first SEO document that they provided. When we mentioned the misspellings, they never fixed them. We told Straight North that our top priority was growing the e-commerce portion, but they weren’t really able to do so. Although they got some leads, growing our e-commerce business was an area that they fell short in achieving. We also suggested that they build business profiles in Canada as part of our SEO efforts, but they kept building them in the US and even Europe.  There were a lot of things that we weren’t happy with regarding Straight North’s SEO and SEM services. When we raised questions and tried to get an explanation, they didn’t provide satisfactory reasoning behind what they were doing.  How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? The account manager was good. She communicated well and answered the questions that she could. There were a lot of ongoing projects, so we shared a simple Google Doc so that both of our teams could see where the projects stood. Our account manager kept on top of those tasks. If we had a question, she tried her best to find the answer with the tools she had.  However, I think the problem lay in the answers themselves, as they weren’t based on numbers or facts. The answers they provided were incomplete and didn’t help us understand what was happening. For instance, they ran ads with our URL varying between .CA and .COM. We didn’t have a .CA domain, and when we inquired why they were using it, they said they were testing it out to see how people would react. We still haven’t received the results of this test. What did you find most impressive about them? The relationship started well in terms of our confidence that they were going to perform based on the reviews we’d read about them on Clutch. We also liked the project manager. Beyond the good communication and the good reviews, we didn’t find any value in working with them.  Are there any areas they could improve? In order to understand our specific business, Straight North needed to learn a lot, and I don’t think they ever really did that. They didn’t seem to understand the online and in-store portions of our business and how they needed to approach the two separately.  Any advice for potential customers? It’s always hard to find the right agency for you, but inquire and have in-depth conversations with them before you sign the contract. They should demonstrate that they really understand the business that you’re trying to bring them into. **Company Response** The vendor responded on January 17, 2020. Thanks for your review. We understand that you were happy with the quality of service that was provided by our Account Manager. However, it seems that you were not satisfied with the results of your SEO and PPC campaigns. During the sales process, it was communicated to us and documented in the contract that your company’s main focus was to drive sales leads. As you mentioned, the reasoning for this was “because flooring isn’t really something that’s been sold online.” Since March 2019, over 1,600 leads were generated from organic search. Since May 2019, over 740 leads were generated from your PPC campaign. We feel we worked with you over the course of 12 months in a positive and mutually beneficial relationship. While you communicated to us that the results were not as successful as you had hoped, they were positive, showed return and were appreciated. We did everything we were asked and everything that was documented in our contract. --- #### Web Development and SEO for Waste Equipment Company **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: July 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North migrated multiple websites to Drupal for an industrial manufacturing company. Working with various platforms, the team continues to develop sites for the client and provides SEO services. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Digital Marketing Manager, Wastequip - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1,001-5,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 3, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: The team has successfully migrated two sites, with plans to complete two more within the year. Additionally, the sites have seen an increase in organic search rankings. Straight North actively participates in feedback cycles, adapting accordingly and crafting an enjoyable process for both teams. "“Straight North is really easy to work with, it’s been a very simple process.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the digital marketing manager at Wastequip, an industrial manufacturing company operating in the waste industry. We manufacture a wide range of trash can sizes and the garbage trucks that pick up the trash. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, we have eight brands under that waste group umbrella. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? Our eight brands had eight different platforms and we had recently purchased a company based in California that hadn’t updated their website in years. We needed help migrating these websites to Drupal and fixing our organic SEO. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North is moving our websites to Drupal. Thus far, we have launched two and expect to complete two more in 2020. Drupal allows us more flexibility and searchability, as well as being easily optimizable for organic search. The Straight North team understood the importance of organic search and optimized our sites.  What is the team composition? I have had conversations with four members of the Straight North team, including a writer, a designer, and a project manager.  How did you come to work with Straight North? I had done a lot of research into companies that worked with Drupal and sent out an RFP. After speaking with multiple companies, I recieved a word of mouth referral for Straight North from someone who had heard good things about them. We had two initial conversations before we decided to work with them.  How much have you invested with them? We have invested $40,000–$50,000. What is the status of this engagement? Our ongoing engagement with Straight North began in July 2018. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  We have successfully migrated two sites to Drupal and our search ranking is better than our old site by far. We’re looking good for 2020, with two more sites to come. My main point of contact at Straight North has been phenomenal in guiding this process, making it enjoyable and easy to get through. They were able to cross out a lot of things I was specifically looking for, How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? The project went smoothly. In our initial meetings, they outlined the schedule of the project, which they’ve stuck to. My project manager was incredible and responsive. She was always there when I needed an answer. She and I would have weekly meetings to follow up on our progress.  What did you find most impressive about them? Straight North is really easy to work with, it’s been a very simple process. They’re receptive to changes and understand that at the end of the day we know the content best. They take our feedback seriously. Are there any areas they could improve? One area they could improve is integrating a tracking tool for project management as opposed to tracking changes through paper documents. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Follow the schedule and be prepared. If you’re not prepared, you’ll be playing catch up. Make sure you’ve got your ducks in a row before you engage with them. --- #### SEO Campaign for Online Retailer **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: June 2019 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North created content to build backlinks on external sites. Their aim was to improve an online retailer’s SEO by increasing the site’s domain authority. They used Google Analytics to measure progress. This review includes the vendor's response. **Review Rating**: 2.0 - Quality: 2.0 - Schedule: 1.0 - Cost: 2.0 - Willing to Refer: 0.5 **The Reviewer** CEO, Software Development Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 2, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North failed to deliver major results and regularly missed deadlines. Additionally, they created low-quality content. Although they have a strong marketing team, they lack the necessary skillset to successfully improve SEO. Without strong leadership, they couldn’t manage quality control. "“There were a lot of individuals working on different things, but they weren’t strategic and didn’t control quality.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m an executive for a software development company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We reached out to Straight North on behalf of our client. They’re in a very competitive market, so our objective was to improve their SEO. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Our key metric was improving domain authority, so Straight North launched a link building campaign. They provided a six-month statement of work and outlined the process. They were supposed to build backlinks from reputable websites by creating contributed content for external blogs. They also had their own dashboard that pulled information from Google Analytics and provided a list of backlinks they’ve created. They also helped develop onsite SEO practices. What is the team dynamic? I had a primary point of contact for the majority of the campaign, but I’ve spoken with 4–5 people throughout the project. How did you come to work with Straight North? I found them online and they were highly rated on Clutch. There’s a difference between SEO for a startup versus a large corporation, so we needed a team with enough resources to support the project. I contacted a few companies, but Straight North was the only company that responded in a timely manner. I’ve worked with other SEO companies in the past, but they didn’t have the resources to work on a project like this. How much have you invested with them? We’ve spent about $30,000 so far. What is the status of this engagement? The project began in June 2019 and we plan to terminate the contract soon. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** How did your relationship with the vendor evolve? After working with them for two months, we hadn’t received the major deliverables that were outlined at the beginning of the project. We did receive a few smaller deliverables, like links to sites with weaker domain authorities, though. I reached out to my main point of contact to express my concern, but there continues to be a delay. For what our client is paying them, we expected the quality of their work to be better. Their team seemed to copy and paste text from the website for the content they were producing. As a result, the content was awkwardly written. Anyone could have done that. There was no quality control. I provided feedback, but nothing I suggested was incorporated into this particular project. On top of that, their team is more focused on building backlinks than increasing domain authority, which is our primary objective. I guess they want to increase traffic to the site, but we’re not aligned on what we need to get done. How was project management handled? Our primary contact did the best she could, but we needed a project manager to really direct the project. There were a lot of individuals working on different things, but they weren’t strategic and didn’t control quality. What did you find most impressive about them? They do have the resources they need to support a project of this scale, but don’t have the necessary skills to market themselves as SEO experts. In what specific areas can they improve? With proper leadership, like hiring a new SEO director, they could improve their effectiveness.  For now, though, the way they represent themselves is misleading. What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours? I would only use them in a strict marketing capacity. **Company Response** The vendor responded on January 17, 2020. Thanks for taking the time to leave your review. From our discussions with you, it seemed that you were happy with the quality of our copywriting work with regards to your product category pages along with the content asset and content-based links that we built for you. However, you were not satisfied with the timeliness of our service delivery. We are confirming that 100% of the campaign deliverables are complete per the scope of work detailed in our contract. We apologize for the delay in completing work by the end of each month. To make things right we have offered to refund the last monthly payment for your campaign. --- #### SEO for Family Dental Practice **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Aug. 2019 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North redesigned a website as part of a digital marketing and SEO partnership. Their services included keyword analysis and PPC campaigns. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Advertising and Marketing Manager, Sycamore Hills Dentistry - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Oct 14, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: The website has seen growth in traffic volume, along with a boost in PPC results and keyword searches. Straight North is a dedicated and responsive team with reliable account management. ""They’re personable and they make sure we know they care." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I handle marketing and online advertising campaigns for Sycamore Hills Dentistry. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We were previously using a dental-specific SEO company and we weren’t happy with their cookie-cutter marketing. It was too generic for us. We wanted somebody who could bring a more personalized approach to our account and get better results. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They overhauled our website, working on content and optimizing pages for SEO. They redesigned the pages and the flow of the site, including updating all images. Other services included keyword analysis and ran PPC campaigns. What is the team composition? I worked with Natalie (Project Manager, Straight North) as my main point of contact. She handled everything with my website. How did you come to work with Straight North? I used to do marketing for another company and they used Straight North. I knew of their reputation and I was always impressed by the quality of their work and the personal attention they gave to each client. How much have you invested with them? We started working together in August 2019 and the engagement is ongoing. What is the status of this engagement? We’ve spent $10,000–$25,000. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? They’re driving traffic to our website and we’re moving ahead in PPC results and keyword searches. They bring a lot more to the table than our previous vendor. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Most of my communication has been with Natalie, and she’s always exceeded my expectations for managing our account. She makes sure I know what’s going on. Any issues have always been resolved very quickly. What did you find most impressive about them? Having worked with other agencies before, I’m really impressed with Natalie’s handling of our account. Whenever I talk to someone else at Straight North, they know who we are and what we’re trying to do. They’re personable and they make sure we know they care. Are there any areas they could improve? No, I can’t think of anything. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Find an account manager who’s really good at communicating with you and keeping you on the same page. We didn’t have that with other companies. --- #### PPC Campaign for Real Estate Service **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: Less than $10,000 - Project length: May - July 2019 **Project Summary**: Straight North was contracted to do paid search on Google and Bing. After a two-week delay in setting up the campaigns, they delivered leads outside the targeted audience and disregarded client input. This review includes the vendor's response. **Review Rating**: 2.0 - Quality: 2.0 - Schedule: 2.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 1.0 **The Reviewer** CEO, Sol Green Homes - Industry: Real estate - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 15, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: Converted leads did not fit the target profile, and Straight North’s openness to suggestions for improvement were not encouraging. Spending more time acclimating themselves to the client’s business realities would have resulted in a more trusting relationship. Their responsiveness was a highlight. ""I gave them suggestions of what might work best for my business. They just kept doing what they were doing."  " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the CEO of Sol Green Homes. I flip houses; essentially, I am a real estate investor. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? I was looking for a marketing company who could do paid ads on Google. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We discussed everything over the phone. They said they would set up new landing pages for me and do all the research about my business. According to them, it would take them two weeks to set up all the campaigns and initiate them. Actually, it took more than four weeks, which was the first red flag for me. I sent several emails asking about progress and when they would be starting the campaigns. We kept going back and forth and they said they were working on it. At some point, I sent a final email letting them know it had already been more than four weeks, and that, at that point, I was considering hiring someone else so I could get ads running by the end of that week. It still took them another week to actually start running the campaigns. In my initial call with the sales representative, they said they would run ads on both Bing and Google. I am a small business with a limited budget; I wanted to start small and asked them to focus on Google to start. Although I am not sure they ran ads on Bing, I am sure they ran ads on Google. They gave me access to the Google Ads account so I could see what was going on. What is the team composition? I worked with a sales representative initially, and, after I signed a contract with them, I was assigned an account manager and a customer care manager. How did you come to work with Straight North? I started searching for a reliable company with great reviews. I began my search on Google, and I knew about Clutch and found Straight North through the site. I wanted to hire a company that could do PPC and Google ads, but additionally SEO and Facebook ads in the future. Their profile mentioned they work with small businesses like me, with lower budgets in the beginning. I contacted them, as well as two other companies with similar competencies from Clutch. Straight North seemed to be more flexible with their terms and I decided to go with them. The other two companies didn’t follow up or there were other reasons I decided not to go with them. How much have you invested in them? In total, they charged me around $2,100. It may not seem like a lot of money, but considering they charged me that amount and wasted two and a half months, it was. Someone with better expertise may have done the job better, and I maybe would have made some more money during that time. What is the status of this engagement? We worked together from May–July 2019. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business. They ran my ads for about a month, and for that entire month they set up a few ad groups and campaigns in one account. I had around 1,000 impressions, and 42 clicks. The click-through rate was 3.86%, and the conversion rate was 7%. There were certain types of audiences they had to focus on rather than only driving traffic from people who wanted to sell their properties. All the conversions they brought me were irrelevant. Most of the leads who converted were people who wanted to sell their houses faster, and, in return, they had to sell at a cheaper price so I could sell it, fix it up, and make a profit. How was project management handled? They did communicate and were responsive to my emails, but when it came to fixing those things, most of the time they didn’t agree with me. Although they have experience managing Google Ads, from my standpoint, I know my business better and I gave them suggestions of what might work best for my business. They just kept doing what they were doing. Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength? One positive thing was their communication. When I would reach out to them, they would reply the same day, if not immediately. They scheduled calls so that we could discuss things. In what specific areas can they improve? For the money I paid them, they didn’t put in enough effort to fix things in the campaign. They just ignored most of the suggestions that I gave them to improve the performance. What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours? It seemed like they have quite a few staff members, and they should be doing great business if they have that many people working for them. I would suggest for people that are considering working with them to find out if it is worth it for a small business, especially if you don’t have a big budget to spend per month. Maybe a small mom and pop company that will put more effort into your campaign would be better than a large marketing company like Straight North. **Company Response** The vendor responded on August 21, 2019. Thanks for your review. It seems while you were happy with the level of communication our team provided, you were not satisfied with the time it took to build and launch your new PPC campaign along with the performance that was produced in just over one month. Regarding the timing, the contract that you signed clearly stated a 17-business day timeline from the kickoff meeting to campaign launch. Our team delivered this in 20 business days. There must have been a misunderstanding on this, and we apologize for the three-day delay. In response to the performance, PPC campaigns require data to be collected in order to make strategic decisions that allow us to improve the performance of your campaign over time. In 36 days, your campaign garnered 87 clicks and 8 leads. Unfortunately, at your monthly budget, this short timeframe did not allow for adequate data collection, which would have enabled us to make larger-scale changes to improve future campaign performance. Please note that nearly 50% of your total investment went into building out a new PPC campaign that you now own. You are free to manage the campaign yourself or hire another firm to manage it for you. We are sorry that we did not deliver on your expectations. In order to make things right, we decided to release you from a legally binding contract and the associated billing one month early. --- #### Web Design for Renewables & Environmental Company **The Project** - Services: Web Design - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Jan. - July 2019 **Project Summary**: To replace an antiquated site, Straight North developed a new website to attract customers. It featured a mobile-responsive design, updated content, and interactive graphics. They also created an SEO strategy. This review was updated by the client on January 14, 2020. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Vice President, Renewables and Environmental Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 14, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: The new site has pulled in more leads and better conveys the business’s messaging. Thoughtful and amenable, Straight North made sure to keep the client’s input at the forefront. They took the time to explain their thought process on specific decisions to best manage expectations. "“They acted like a partner that was willing to listen to what we truly wanted instead of pushing their own agenda.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the executive VP of a national recycling company. Our business handles recycled paper, plastics, and metals. We provided services throughout the US, operating our own network of plants in addition to brokering recycled products. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?   We were looking for a vendor that could rebuild our website, which hadn’t been updated since 2011. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We tasked Straight North with creating a brand new website that would allow us to grow as a business. Our main goal was to obtain new customers, so the platform needed to be mobile-friendly.  As for the content, we wanted to highlight who we’ve become as a company by integrating more interactive graphics. They also set up the on-site SEO for our target keywords and developed off-page SEO strategies. But, we haven’t gone live with those yet because we wanted to see how the first two months after launch would go. What is the team composition? We interacted with 3–4 people in total. There was the initial salesperson who pitched Straight North’s services. From there, we were assigned a project manager and a writer, who became our main contacts across the process. How did you come to work with Straight North? We were looking for firms in the Chicago area, and one of my personal contacts happened to mention Straight North. After interviewing a few companies, we felt the most comfortable with them. They truly understood what we were trying to accomplish, and, personality-wise, we meshed very well with them. What is the status of this engagement? The bulk of their redesign work lasted from January–July 2019. The goal, now, is to implement their SEO strategies over the next few months. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We don’t have any feedback yet because we’re less than two weeks into going live. However, in that short timeframe, we’ve definitely received leads more consistently than before. They did a fantastic job ensuring the site is easy to follow. It now more accurately represents who we are and helps portray our message quickly. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? The team was easy to deal with. We had face-to-face meetings, and they were timely in their responses and willing to listen to our comments and questions. We used web conferencing tools to visualize what had been done. They did a very nice job of explaining the rationale behind doing one option instead of another. What did you find most impressive about them? I appreciated how they worked with us as we tried to make something specific to our company. They acted like a partner that was willing to listen to what we truly wanted instead of pushing their own agenda. Are there any areas they could improve? No, we were very pleased. Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs? Clients should voice whatever questions they may have. If things are going a certain way, just ask for an explanation—there’s usually a good reason why. **UPDATED REVIEW** This review was updated by the client on January 14, 2020.  RESULTS & FEEDBACK What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Since the website’s launched in Early August 2019, we’ve seen a nice uptick in the number of visits to our site as well as the number of requests from potential customers and suppliers. We’re also getting positive comments on the look of our site. It’s professional, easy to follow, and impressive overall. What did you find most impressive about them? What’s impressed us the most is their timeliness when responding to our concerns. They’ll sit down and have a conversation with us to explain why something was done a certain way. And, as we all agree, they’re then able to assist us with making any changes that we might not have realized during the first iteration. Do you have any advice for potential customers?   Make sure you ask questions so that you understand their rationale. At times, you might not see why something needed to be done a certain way—maybe certain pages were linked together or some other detail. Whatever the reason, don’t be afraid to ask any questions you may have. --- #### Lead Generation Optimization for Cleanroom Testing Company **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: June 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North developed a B2B lead generation site, integrating it with Salesforce Pardot and their own proprietary reporting tool to better analyze key metrics. Currently, they support digital marketing. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** VP Marketing & Digital, Technical Solutions Holding, Inc - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 501-1,000 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Apr 3, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: For five months, there has been continuous month-over-month traffic growth, and conversion rates for new leads have remained strong. Clients have also responded positively to the new site. Easy navigation and new content on service offerings have helped attract more business from existing clients. "“Straight North’s key differentiation was their methodology, transparency, lead validation, and real-time reporting.” " **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. I am the VP of marketing and digital strategy at Technical Solution Holdings. One of our portfolio companies is a leading provider of controlled environmental testing and certification services. They serve a variety of industries, including hospitals and healthcare, laboratories, pharmaceutical manufacturing, academic and animal research, and biotechnology. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire Straight North? We initially engaged Straight North to develop a new B2B lead generation website that would be integrated into Salesforce. This would optimize the leads and allow us to score accordingly in Salesforce Pardot. Now, we continue to use them for digital optimization, SEO/PPC, and lead generation support.  What were your goals for this project?  The goal of the project was to deliver a best-in-class B2B website that brought in new customer lead generation. We wanted to have the platform integrated into Salesforce along with a user-friendly portal where we could track key performance indicators (KPIs) and lead generation metrics. We also needed to deliver an ROI on lead generation and track the original traffic source. In the end, we wanted to be able to duplicate the structure and strategy of the final model for other companies within our holding company portfolio.  **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor? We found Straight North through a recommendation and vetted them with our statement of work (SOW) deliverables and lead generation strategy. Our CEO, president, and I oversaw the selection process.  Brian (Senior Account Executive, Straight North) was the pivotal reason we chose Straight North. We had a lot of back-and-forth with him, and he brought in their web design and SEO/PPC teams for additional dialogue and strategy review. Straight North’s key differentiation was their methodology, transparency, lead validation, and real-time reporting.  Describe the scope of their work in detail. Our previous site was nonresponsive and had broken links. The load times were terrible, and the trust and citation flow metrics were not good. Straight North was responsible for building out our new B2B site, collaborating with our team to integrate it into Salesforce for lead generation. Since then, we’ve expanded their role to include digital marketing services (e.g., SEO, SEM, PPC). The team supports us on keyword research, site map updates, internal links, backlinks, and content creation. They’ve also given us access to their proprietary analytics portal called GoNorth Reporting. It provides real-time reporting on KPIs and lead metrics on traffic and SEO/PPC along with form lead details and phone lead recordings. What was the team composition? The team structure has been consistent throughout the engagement. Ann (Senior Project Manager, Straight North) acts as our account manager for web design, and Courtney (Account Manager, Straight North) is our lead for SEO/PPC. Both work with our project manager who coordinates with our subject matter experts (SMEs), senior management, and digital team. For ongoing support, we rely on their digital director. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success? We’ve been very satisfied with the success we’ve seen in just over five months. We continue to see month-over-month (MOM) traffic growth and double-digit new lead generation customer conversions. As for the website, numerous customers have complimented on our efforts. The site’s hierarchy allows our customers to move through our pages at a comfortable cadence. In addition, they’ve recognized the new content on our services, and we’re seeing more success when upselling additional services to existing clients. How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs? Our internal project manager works with their two account managers. During development, we had a very detailed timeline and expectations on deliverables. What did you find most impressive about this company? We are in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, nanotech, and medical device industry space, so our services are very technical. Despite the complexity of our field, we’ve been impressed by Straight North’s patience and professionalism when creating content for such niche topics. Are there any areas for improvement? No, I can’t think of anything. They did a great job and continue to do so for our PPC, SEO, digital optimization, and lead generation. --- #### SEO, PPC, & Web Update for Construction Company **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Nov. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North made design and development updates to a residential home remodeling company’s website. They also coordinate SEO and PPC campaigns, which includes keyword analysis and content creation. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Manager, Construction Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Mar 20, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North delivered website updates that have drawn extensive internal and external praise. They utilize a thorough and well-researched project plan to ensure a successful engagement. The staff is client-oriented and spares no effort to meet deadlines and fulfill all requirements.   ""Straight North presented a thorough plan that mapped out all meetings and deliverables." " **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. I am the marketing manager of a construction company specializing in residential home remodeling in the Chicago area. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire Straight North? We engaged Straight North to make design and development updates to our website and manage our PPC and SEO campaigns. What were your goals for this project? Through this engagement, we hoped to increase web traffic to an updated website. We wanted to present ourselves better to our targeted audiences. **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor? We initially met with Straight North in 2013, but we decided then that they were not the best fit for our company. It wasn’t until several years later that we became unhappy with our current website and the company managing our SEO. At that time, I reached back out to Straight North to see if we could strike a deal. Describe the project and the services they provided in detail. We’ve relied on Straight North to improve our website’s design and functionality. Further, they currently conduct keyword and backlink analysis as part of their ongoing management of our PPC and SEO campaigns. They also create search-friendly content for our website to drive additional traffic. What was the team composition? We initially met with a salesperson who presented Straight North’s services. Once we signed a contract, Straight North dedicated a project manager to our account along with a web designer, a content writer, and an SEO/PPC specialist. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business? Our online traffic has increased by 30% since the launch of our new website. We’ve received compliments about the site’s design from our team and clients alike. We are currently working with Straight North on SEO strategies that will include targeting specific locations and utilizing our blog section. How was project management arranged and how effective was it? Olivia (Associate Project Manager, Straight North) ran the website update project very well. It was helpful only to have one point of contact. She was responsive and personable. She held her team accountable and made sure they were making progress toward our goals. They met all of our deadlines and regularly followed up with us to gather feedback.   What did you find most impressive about this company? I was impressed by their process. Straight North presented a thorough plan that mapped out all meetings and deliverables. They proved that they were prepared. We have a similar approach to projects with our clients, so to see that commonality was very reassuring. Are there any areas for improvement? I can’t pinpoint any areas that need improvement. So far we are extremely satisfied with our new website and Straight North’s performance with our other projects. --- #### WordPress Design and Digital Marketing Planning for Multi-Brand Co. **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Apr. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North has built two WordPress websites. Services include digital marketing, beta testing, SEO, and PPC.    **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Founder & Chief Officer, Twelve21 - Industry: Government - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 15, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: Vastly improved search result rankings have exceeded expectations. The site design encourages user engagement and garners overwhelming praise. Customers can expect an undemanding, full-service experience. "“Straight North has done a fantastic job capturing my company’s vision.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the founder and chief officer at Twelve21. Our two holding companies are an automotive consulting firm and a career advocacy and head-hunting agency. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We needed help with the relaunch and redevelopment of two websites. We wanted original and conspicuous designs that would appeal to a wide audience. We also needed a technically straightforward platform that our team could easily manage. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North built a WordPress site for the automotive consulting firm. Currently, they are working on a site for the career advocacy and head-hunting agency. They are in the process of beta testing and finalizing our SEO and PPC plans. What is the team composition? Michael (Business Development Manager, Straight North) oversees sales and business development. Natalie (Project Manager, Straight North) has been our project manager for both websites. We have also worked with creative developers and graphic designers. How did you come to work with Straight North? We initially contracted Straight North for digital marketing services, then hired them to build a site for the automotive consulting firm. We reengaged them to build a site for the career advocacy and head-hunting agency. How much have you invested with them? We have spent over $10,000. We expect to exceed $20,000 by the end of this year. We agreed to a flat service fee and pay in monthly increments. What is the status of this engagement? We began working with Straight North in April 2018. They completed work on the automotive consulting firm site that fall, and they began developing the head-hunting agency’s site about a month later. Our work with Straight North is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Before hiring Straight North, our automotive consulting firm site did not register on any rankings. We were on the 98th page on Google. A month after Straight North launched the site, we jumped to the second page of almost every key web search. We have not put any additional money into SEO or PPC, yet our rankings continue to improve. The head-hunting agency site has not launched yet, but customers regularly provide positive feedback on the automotive consulting firm site. They praise the clean and unique design. We have received many inquiries about who built the site. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Straight North is incredibly accommodating of our small, busy company. We have made significant progress because they instill deadlines and regularly follow up. They cater to our demanding schedule and needs. We communicate online and via conference calls. What did you find most impressive about them? The automotive consulting firm site’s initial metrics have exceeded our expectations. Straight North has done a fantastic job capturing my company’s vision. Once we provided a brief description of what we wanted, Straight North handled everything and performed very well on their own. We are extremely pleased with the automotive consulting firm site and are looking forward to the head-hunting agency’s site launch. Are there any areas they could improve? No, I cannot think of anything. Any advice for potential customers? Provide as much vision and context to Straight North, and they will take care of the rest.   --- #### SEO, Content Marketing, & PPC for National Legal Services Company **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Oct. 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provides various digital marketing services, including SEO, PPC, and content strategy. They’ve also implemented analytics tools to track efforts and drive lead quality. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** SEO Manager, Legal Services Company - Industry: Legal - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Oct 30, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Since Straight North’s initial involvement, site traffic has continued to grow as lead quality improves. The team focuses on data-driven strategies, recording all campaigns to gain crucial insights. Customers can expect responsiveness, transparency, and open communication throughout. "“They’re quick to get back to my inquiries, and the turnaround time on projects is pretty good.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I work for a nationwide legal services company. In my role, I work with our outsourced SEO agencies to make sure that they’re getting our leads up and promoting our Google rankings. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? When I joined my position, we didn’t have any digital marketing strategies in place to boost our Google visibility let alone any analytics. We were also buying firms across the US, so we needed a way to promote all of our locations. Straight North came onboard to establish our SEO/PPC efforts, track our marketing data, and improve our lead generation. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? During our preliminary meetings, we discussed our needs to give them a better sense of the situation. Straight North then outlined an SEO plan, showing us the trending keywords and how they related to our field. We refined that list to make sure that those keywords reflected our services and added new terms to target. They also created a strategy to get our directory listings published, support our PPC campaigns, and improve our web content. Because content is king with Google rankings, it was imperative that we had strong pieces to bulk up our site. Their team wrote several articles, ensuring that the pieces were appropriate and included the right keywords. To track our marketing efforts and cultivate qualified leads, they set up our Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts along with their own reporting tools. One tool allows them to record the first 30 seconds of a call to determine whether or not it was from a potential lead. Currently, they continue to drive our digital marketing efforts, delivering a separate monthly report for our SEO and PPC campaigns. This allows us to compare our month-to-month results and better adjust our strategies. Additionally, as our organization buys up more firms, they’re proactive in getting the new firms situated on the main site, Google Maps, and searches. What is the team composition? We’ve worked with two account managers so far, including our current point of contact. How did you come to work with Straight North? A colleague recommended Straight North to me. After looking at multiple agencies, I decided to go with them. How much have you invested with them? We spend about $2,500 a month with another $1,000 dedicated to ad fees. What is the status of this engagement? Their work started in October 2016 and is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Everything is on an upward trend. In the last two years, we’ve seen a big increase in organic traffic. Stronger content and targeted keywords have spiked our Google visibility, and our lead quality has also improved. A few months ago, we reached a new high of 81 leads. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They’re quick to get back to my inquiries, and the turnaround time on projects is pretty good. If we need to add something to the website, they complete the task within a fair timeline. As for communication, we email a few times a week and hold monthly calls. What did you find most impressive about them? Their account manager is exceptionally responsive and communicates well. She updates us on production status and passes on messages on our behalf. If she doesn’t know something, she checks with the relevant resource and gets back to us. It’s an open and transparent process. Are there any areas they could improve? There were some website changes that could've been completed faster, but that might be unfair to say since I don’t know how complex it is on the development side. Do you have any advice for potential customers? If you’re building a web page or implementing a change to the site, make sure that Straight North understands exactly what you want. That way, you won’t have to redo work due to an initial misunderstanding. Maintaining open lines of communication is also important to keep everyone on the same page. --- #### Digital Marketing Optimization for Marketing Software Company **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Mar. - Sep. 2018 **Project Summary**: Straight North optimized product-driven PPC campaigns by modifying the key messaging and updating the Google AdWords account. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Digital Marketing Director, Marketing Software Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Sep 11, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Their innovative marketing techniques have generated a large number of qualified leads and reduced the $1200 cost-per-conversion rate to $365. Straight North adjusted well to the project’s ever-evolving direction, proving that their team can strive in any environment. "“The work that they did for us was integral to our success.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. We’re a sales enablement technology company that creates software for an efficient sales environment. As the digital marketing director, I manage the website and oversee all of the online ad campaigns. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? When I came onboard, our company didn’t have a real marketing team, so we had trouble shifting our focus to PPC marketing. We already had a Google AdWords account but had only used it for one-time campaigns. Although I tried my best to optimize the keywords, we simply didn’t have the frame of reference to know if our strategies were producing results. As such, we needed an agency that specialized in PPC to guide us in the right direction. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Our VP of marketing believed that most of our leads were generated from trial downloads, so we decided to focus on demo-driven campaigns. Straight North reviewed the ad campaigns that we had already created and modifying our approach. It was a repetitive process of testing different strategies and learning which messaging, keywords, and landing pages generated qualified leads. We used Pardot in conjunction with Google Adwords to measure how many downloads converted into customers. What is the team composition? We interacted with their account executive during the contract process. For the project, we worked with the account manager and a PPC specialist. How did you come to work with Straight North? The first agency that we reached out to declined our offer because they had signed on with one of our competitors. We then started asking around for reputable PPC companies, and several people in our network gave Straight North a glowing recommendation.  How much have you invested with them? In the beginning, our monthly spend was between $16,000–$17,000. Near the end, the monthly cost increased to about $20,000 each month. Overall, their services only accounted for 15% of our media expense.  What is the status of this engagement? The project lasted from March–August 2018. Although their services have helped us tremendously, we’ve decided to shift our focus to content-driven campaigns and produce the work in-house. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Before we hired them, our cost per conversion was at an astronomical rate of $1200. After they came in and modified our key messaging and digital ad strategies, our average cost per conversion dropped to $365.  How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Straight North is one of the most transparent and responsive companies that I’ve had the pleasure to work with. We didn’t know what to expect when it came to setting deadlines, so we relied on them heavily for scheduling. They stayed true to the suggested timeline and kept us updated along the way with biweekly phone conferences. Their project manager was very responsive to our needs and always had an answer for our inquiries. It was also nice to have their PPC specialist present during the meetings; he gave feedback on all of our business ideas, even for matters outside of the scope. What did you find most impressive about them? Their work was integral to our success, so I hold their optimizations in high regard. Straight North used their knowledge to transform how our team thought about PPC campaigns. They cleaned up our AdWords account and helped us focus on what was most important for our business. Are there any areas they could improve? They spent a significant amount of time conducting tests on material that they had already observed during the onboarding process. They should keep a record of their results so that they can refer to them and avoid redundant evaluations. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Have an honest conversation with your team. Map out what you hope to accomplish and how much you’re willing to spend. When we reached out to Straight North, we didn’t have a solid plan. One of the biggest disservices we did to Straight North was changing directions halfway through the project. Had we gone into the project knowing that we should spend our efforts on content-driven campaigns, we would have seen great results instantly. --- #### SEO, PPC, and Web Dev for Auto Transport Brokerage **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Oct. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provides 360-degree SEO and PPC services, handling AdWords and inbound lead validation. Currently, they’re also redesigning a website to boost overall functionality and design. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** General Manager, Stateway Auto Transport - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Sep 10, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Search rankings and inbound leads have improved dramatically since Straight North was first engaged, while conversion costs have dropped. Their consistent communication, responsiveness, and understanding of digital technologies justify the investment and make them a valuable partner. ""They've done a great job at getting our name out there and having our site show up before our competitors." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I'm a general manager at Stateway Auto Transport. We ship cars across the U.S. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We initially wanted help with our SEO. We needed our company to show up in online searches and rank higher than our competitors. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? In terms of SEO, they've created some new campaigns for us and added more keywords. They also investigate and validate our inbound leads. In addition, we've asked Straight North to take over our PPC efforts. We’d been using a separate provider and decided it made more sense to have everything centralized. They've integrated us into a platform called Kenshoo, which automatically identifies the cheapest keywords at select times. As the engagement progressed, we decided our old WordPress site needed updating. Straight North is doing the development work to completely revamp the site, which will launch next month (October 2018). What is the team composition? Hillary (account manager, Straight North) handles the SEO and PPC, and Ann (senior project manager, Straight North) is the lead on the website development. How did you come to work with Straight North? We’d been looking around, and a couple of local companies referred us to them. How much have you invested with them? We're currently spending around $6,000 dollars a month, which will go down substantially after we launch the new website. We pay them 11% of our ad spend. What is the status of this engagement? Our work together started in October 2017, and the engagement is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? They've increased our domain superiority, and we're getting a lot more inbound leads. We're generating more leads per month than we ever have in the history of the business. Plus, our cost per conversion has gone down significantly. They've done a great job at getting our name out there and having our site show up before our competitors. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Their team is very good. Hillary and I have biweekly meetings to go through everything they're doing for SEO and any changes that they've made. Ann serves as my liaison for the website developers and writers. We have a set schedule to review anything they send us, as well as deadlines every few days to get them our feedback or approval. She’ll pass that along to the developers and make sure that the job gets done. If there's something wrong or I flag some issue, they’re on top of it and get it fixed right away. Straight North has an excellent platform for reporting a full breakdown of project metrics. It shows organic and PPC leads. It covers what they're doing for SEO, too (e.g., backlinks, blog posts). Everything is completely accessible to me in real time. They also use Google Analytics, and we get monthly reports from AdWords. What did you find most impressive about them? Their performance, especially when it comes to SEO, is excellent. One of the most helpful things that they do is lead validation. They have somebody listening in on all incoming phone calls to make sure that they're valid leads. That way, we don't spend time on leads that are shopping around or aren't serious about paying for our services. Are there any areas they could improve? It's hard to say what they could improve upon. I would like more information on the website development, even though it's much more technical than I'm probably able to understand. I suppose I could reach out and ask Ann those things. I haven't yet because they've always delivered everything they said they would within deadlines. Everything else is great, so I have zero complaints. Any advice for potential customers? Be totally honest about what you need. Don't be shy in asking for help. They have a very skilled team with lots of manpower. For example, I didn't even know that they had a PPC team at first. Once I found out, it seemed obvious that we would reap the benefits of using them for both SEO and PPC. Make sure to ask about all their services you may need. --- #### SEO Campaigns for Midwestern Manufacturer **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: Confidential - Project length: May 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North created and implemented SEO campaigns to increase visibility in a niche market. Using Google Analytics, the efforts focus on improving search rankings in Google to attract new business. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 0.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Technical Sales Engineer, Meyer Tool & Mfg. Inc. - Industry: Manufacturing - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 16, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: So far, Straight North’s outreach strategies have generated new customers, increased traffic rates, and improved search rankings. With a balanced, collaborative, and transparent approach to the partnership, the team is able to develop valuable strategies that drive business. "“Overall, the entire experience has been positive.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the Technical Sales Engineer at Meyer Tool & Mfg. Inc., a specialized custom fabrication shop. We apply our expertise in engineering, welding, machining, and testing related to pressure vessels, vacuum chambers, and cryogenic systems to a diverse array of custom products and services to industrial and research based customers around the world. We have built up our fabrication core competencies and business processes around custom particle accelerator and high energy physics related products and we apply those skills on projects in need of some degree of engineering or fabrication related problem solving. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We wanted to grow our business by finding new sales leads and potential customers. We needed a partner to help increase our visibility within our industry. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Belonging to a very niche market, we gave Straight North a set of goals to increase our visibility within our industry. The team implemented a campaign that focused on generating new customer traffic and improving our rankings in Google searches. For a brief period, they also provided PPC services. The Straight North team tracks our progress using Google Analytics and forms reports based on that data. At our request, they promptly make any changes to the campaign. What is the team composition? We worked with an account manager who was supported by a behind-the-scenes team. How did you come to work with Straight North? The company was looking for a group of professionals to work on SEO campaigns. I wasn’t with the company when they made the decision to partner with Straight North. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in May 2017 and the partnership is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? In the year that we’ve worked with Straight North, we’ve received more new customer orders than any of our previous years. Our website traffic has increased, our rankings have improved, and we have a stronger digital presence, which has definitely brought in a significant number of new clients. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? We have a monthly teleconference to discuss the project and any updates or issues. Straight North is very friendly, yet they maintain a sense of professionalism in their work. Our partnership is very collaborative. We continuously send suggestions back and forth until we agree. What did you find most impressive about them? Overall, the entire experience has been positive. All of their work brings value to our business. I appreciate the way they handle the project and their high level of communication. Are there any areas they could improve? There are no areas for Straight North to improve because they are already so open to change. We consistently have discussions if we find that any element of the partnership needs to be tweaked. Any advice for potential customers? The technical terms involved in a project like this are pretty easy to pick up with a little bit of research. I recommend clients try to learn some of this language to get a better grasp of the type of services that Straight North is providing. This will result in a more efficient collaboration. --- #### Digital Branding and Marketing for Orthodontics Company **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: Less than $10,000 - Project length: Jan. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North implemented digital marketing strategies focused on improving search rankings and driving new business. Having redesigned the website, the team continues to manage the growing digital presence. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 2.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Orthodontist, Jacqueline G Rosen's Nothin' But Smiles Orthodontics - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Aug 16, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North’s SEO strategies led to higher search rankings and instilled a sense of internal confidence and pride in employees. The team’s involved approach to the project, their responsiveness, and their level of experience are key to generating positive results. "“We ask a lot of questions, but they always willingly and patiently provide answers.” " **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. I’m a partner at Jacqueline G Rosen’s Nothin’ But Smiles Orthodontics. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire Straight North? Following an unsuccessful run with a different web agency that claimed to specialize in marketing for orthodontists, we were looking for a new partner to help us develop our brand, web presence, and improve our SEO strategies. What were your goals for this project? We wanted to improve Google rankings, attract more potential clients, and strengthen our digital presence. Also, as our practice grew, we wanted to be able to transition our brand to reflect our evolving company. **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor? We thoroughly researched other companies in the industry and contacted some of their past clients. We received the most compelling recommendations for Straight North. Describe the project in detail. We started the engagement with a phone conference to see if their capabilities matched our needs. They led an in-person meeting where they described areas in which our company could benefit from their help. They discussed strategies for a website redesign, branding, digital marketing, and search ranking optimization. After securing our approval, they implemented these various outreach campaigns that aimed to improve visibility. What was the team composition? We work with a project manager, who is supported by a team of resources. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and impact of the engagement? As a result of Straight North’s efforts, we’ve experienced steady improvements in our website’s rankings. Internally, we feel more confident in the site’s new design and layout, which really highlights our new brand identity. How did the Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? We track the project and discuss updates during scheduled monthly meetings. In between, we send emails as needed to touch base and continue to plan our next steps. The Straight North team is always available. Having no experience in this field, we rely on them heavily to explain the technical details of their work. We ask a lot of questions, but they always willingly and patiently provide answers. They provide step-by-step guidance to help us reach our goals. What impresses you about the Straight North? I really appreciate their responsive communication skills. --- #### Paid Advertising for Logistics & Supply Chain Company **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: June 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North transformed a website into a lead generation engine. They manage paid search and the distribution of advertising and display marketing. They also work with Google AdWords and analytics. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Digital Marketing Director, Coyote Logistics - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 5,001-10,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 15, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The collaboration with Straight North resulted in dramatic increases in the ROI for paid advertising. Over the past year, they tailored their services to respond to evolving business needs, delivering strong expertise. They’re easy to communicate with and expedite work with flexibility when needed. "“We’re generating four times what we spend on search and about two times on margin.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. Coyote Logistics is a UPS subsidiary. We’re a freight brokerage company or a third-party logistics broker as we’re also known in the industry. I’m the director of digital marketing, responsible for all digital lead generation initiatives: search, display advertising, and video. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? As a fairly young company, we needed to transform our website into an inbound lead generation engine. One of the tools we leveraged from Straight North was their search expertise. We started off with an initial goal geared toward generating avenues and brand awareness. We’ve now transitioned toward optimizing how we spend our money. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We initially started by researching opportunities that could generate leads. Over time, they defined the most relevant keywords and ad groups for us. They not only provide inbound leads through form submissions or personal quotes, but they also convert those into revenue-generating customers. We’ve used Straight North primarily for paid search but also for the distribution of marketing content like brand advertising and display. We use Google AdWords and analytics to get insights into our website audience. Also, being a part of UPS, we have a dedicated advisory group that Google provides us. The account manager from Google works closely with our internal team and with Straight North, and Straight North has its own reporting portal as well, which we use for high-level communications with our executive management. What is the team composition? We have a main point of contact who coordinates their team to provide what we need. How did you come to work with Straight North? When we first started, we were looking for a local agency that could partner with us tactically. Straight North made the cut out of all the agencies we shortlisted. How much have you invested with them? We’ve spent roughly $30,000 per month. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with Straight North in June 2017 and the collaboration is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? One key metric we measure with these initiatives is the gross margin for the ROI across all paid channels. We’re generating four times what we spend on search and about two times on margin. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? We have monthly strategy calls and weekly optimization meetings with Straight North. We have a weekly cadence for everything that needs to be done. We can also address anything that comes up in-between, like strategy discussions, planning new campaigns, implementing new tracking code, or creating new landing pages. Our initial contact person went on maternity leave, but she was replaced by someone who is equally good. She’s responsive to what we need and flexible in working with us, especially if we have to turn something around quickly for a business meeting. She does a good job of harnessing their internal resources to put together whatever is required. One of the things I love about Straight North is that they’re not hierarchical and it’s easy to communicate with them. They don’t have the overhead of a large agency. What did you find most impressive about them? Straight North was responsive during our journey from where we started to where we are today, and they’re honest and open about their limitations. We’ve had a few international expansions, which is a bit of a deficiency for Straight North, as they haven’t worked with other languages, especially European ones. I appreciate the fact that they’re open and honest about it. Are there any areas they could improve? I would love to continue working with them for international regions as well. Straight North should develop competency in foreign languages like French, German, and U.K. English. That would exempt us from working with multiple agencies. Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs? It’s important to define expectations and communicate them with a regular cadence so that there won’t be unexpected surprises. --- #### SEO, PPC, & Content Marketing for Retained Search Firm **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: May 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North organizes SEO campaigns to increase organic traffic and drive leads. Although they briefly provided PPC services, the current focus remains blog and content development and tracking analytics. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** COO, Grant Cooper - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 14, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North’s thorough market research and bright keyword interpretation made for successful organic traffic and paid advertising campaigns. Their inclusive project management approach ensured seamless communication. They are accountable and provide a number of services other firms cannot. ""They are quite ambitious—they aim to outperform themselves every month." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the COO of Grant Cooper, which is a retained search firm. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We recently rebranded our company and transferred our website to WordPress, and we wanted to optimize our new site. We contracted with Straight North to organize our SEO efforts and introduce us to paid advertising, as well. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We transferred all of our SEO practices from a different vendor over to Straight North and added PPC to our agreement. We relied on them to earn us higher ranks for different keywords. We have nine different areas of expertise, so Straight North researched which keywords tied to those areas. Further, we were attracted to Straight North because of their ability to develop content, which our previous firm didn’t have the capacity for. Straight North created backlinks for our site, and they developed infographics and other content to better optimize our webpages. They also built out a section of our site for blog content, which they will contribute to for the next six months. Another firm in our space utilizes paid advertising, and we realized we were being circumvented by their ads, which spurred our decision to explore that tactic, as well. Our paid campaign featured display ads and PPC ads. What is the team composition? Our account manager, Caitlin, has been our point of contact throughout the project. We love working with her. How did you come to work with Straight North? Our SEO firm prior to Straight North produced modest results, but we were uncomfortable with other aspects of their business. We wanted our partner to be more reliable and accountable. We conducted an online search and found Straight North. We were impressed with their website and reached out to them. They were one of four vendors we considered, and we felt they would be best for the job. How much have you invested with them? At one point, we were spending about $3,000 a month in management fees for the SEO and PCC campaigns. During that time, we paid between $3,000-$5,000 for the paid ads. We have since transferred our entire budget to the SEO campaign. What is the status of this engagement? Our engagement began in May 2017 and is ongoing. The paid ads returned promising results, but when we analyzed all of our leads, we realized that the most fruitful leads and the leads that were the most important to us were generated by organic search. We currently work with Straight North only for SEO and content development. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We have experienced record months for leads through our website because of Straight North’s involvement. We have already landed an organic client whose work has covered the amount spent with Straight North to date. Through seven months in 2018, we’ve seen 50 leads. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They earn very high marks in that regard. Caitlin, our project manager, is very responsive. I never have to follow up with her to determine where we stand, which I have not found to always be the case in this industry. They are very accountable and keep tasks moving forward so that I don’t have to micromanage. We have monthly meetings to review our reports, and we’re in communication throughout the month as necessary. What did you find most impressive about them? Based on my experience with other firms, project management is their strength. They are quite ambitious—they aim to outperform themselves every month. And they are versatile in that they have the ability to produce marketing pieces, and they have writers on staff to fulfill a number of tasks we may need. Not a lot of firms can offer that. Are there any areas they could improve? No. They have been quick to problem-solve when something goes awry. For example, our Google Analytics metrics stopped tracking for a short time as a result of a Google problem. Straight North corrected it and took measures to implement a failsafe to prevent similar occurrences in the future. Any advice for potential customers? Each side should set expectations for the other side at the beginning of the engagement. Straight North is happy to have us be involved as much as we are, but not all firms are the same in that regard, nor do all companies in our position want to be hands-on. It’s important to set ground rules for both sides. --- #### SEO Campaign for Online Canvas Seller **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: July 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provides SEO services, including keyword research, backlinks, and creating website content. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Owner, Canvas Vows - Industry: Retail - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 14, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The number of visitors and the search rankings have increased markedly since Straight North was first engaged. Their consistent communication, responsiveness, and ability to work within strict budget parameters justify the investment and make them a valuable partner. ""Our site traffic is four times higher than it was last year." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I'm the owner of Canvas Vows. We make personalized canvases, which are printed in-house and shipped ready to hang. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We needed to get our website ranked higher for relevant keywords. We want people to find our site when they’re searching for custom artwork and custom home decor. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We started by giving them a brief overview of the company and our target market. They did their own keyword research, and made a few new suggestions. They also confirmed some of the keywords we were already targeting were correct. Together we agreed on a list of the top 10–15 products to target. The list is based on the strength of the keywords and how much competition there is for each one. They also created backlinks and website content to support the SEO strategy. What is the team composition? Our account lead is my primary contact. How did you come to work with Straight North? I did a lot of research, and worked with a couple of other companies. Straight North kept showing up in my Google search so I decided to give them a call. How much have you invested with them? We started at $2,000 a month, which was all we could afford at the time. They were very willing to work with me on the budget. We recently increased our spend to $3,000 dollars a month. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in July 2017 and the engagement is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Our site traffic is four times higher than it was last year. SEMrush estimates we had only 93 views a day in August 2017. In August 2018, that number has grown to 386 views a day. A big reason we increased our budget with them was because of that uptick. They continue to push things forward in order to get the site ranked up near my competitors. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? My account lead is excellent. She responds really fast and gives me an update every month. They describe the way they use their time in action steps, and they share those action steps every month. That includes what they’ve worked on in the past month, and how many action steps (e.g. backlinks or web content) they completed. Every once a while, she’ll email me with ideas they can implement to boost our site. She always answers my questions within the day. It makes me feel good about where my money is going. What did you find most impressive about them? They’re very knowledgeable about SEO, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can. It’s been helpful to have a partner that I can ask all of my questions. I've never been left dissatisfied by their answers. They help me understand why they're doing things a certain way. Any advice for potential customers? Do the work upfront before starting the keyword research. Making sure you understand your target market really well. That will give Straight North a better starting point to do their research, and bring their creativity to the table. --- #### SEO & PPC Campaigns for Startup Shipping Company **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Sep. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North coordinates SEO and PCC campaigns to increase organic traffic and sales. Straight North conducts research to determine successful markets and develops strategies to influence online visibility. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Manager, Shipping Startup - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 14, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North’s involvement increased online traffic and business opportunities, creating a successful engagement. Straight North features thorough researchers and talented strategists that combine their efforts to craft strong solutions. They are accessible partners that are eager to help. ""They have coached me to better understand their work so that I can better explain it to our leadership." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the marketing manager for a shipping startup. We are a less-than-truckload online shipping exchange. We offer consumer and commercial shipping solutions. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We contracted with Straight North to assist with our online marketing efforts, including SEO and PPC campaigns. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We explained our business model and who we were targeting. They took it upon themselves to do the research behind which markets would perform the best and which pages we needed to be seen on. Once a strategy was in place, they orchestrated our organic search and paid advertising campaigns. What is the team composition? We worked with the director of sales operations and a pair of project managers. How did you come to work with Straight North? I found them through a Google search, and they were among the 10 SEO and PPC vendors I vetted to determine the best fit. They submitted the best pitch, making us comfortable enough to move forward with them. How much have you invested with them? Our total for their SEO services is around $5,000. Our total PPC costs have increased from $2,000 a month at the start of our engagement to about $10,000 a month now. What is the status of this engagement? We started utilizing their services in September 2017, and the work is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We have certainly addressed certain matters on our end, but Straight North’s efforts have made us a more visible option in the marketplace. Prior to their involvement, in September 2017, we averaged about 68 users a month, and we had no shipments that month. In July 2018, we had 1,200 unique visitors, and in June 2018, we had 69 shipments. We’re still very new, but relative to what we experienced before, we’ve seen a significant increase in our traffic and our business. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Whenever I am asked to provide answers to our CEO, I can get those answers usually within a few hours but always by the end of the day. I really appreciate their responsiveness. What did you find most impressive about them? I don’t have a background in SEO, so they explain to me their processes and their rationale. If I have questions regarding Google Analytics, they tell me how to find my answers and what my answers reflect. They have coached me to better understand their work so that I can better explain it to our leadership. Are there any areas they could improve? When we first started, our campaigns were more geared toward the consumer market, which is our secondary target audience behind the commercial. That was one thing we had to readjust so that we could better connect with smaller business shippers. Any advice for potential customers? From the initial meeting, it is important that both sides have a clear set of expectations. --- #### Organic SEO Campaigns for E-Commerce Website **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Oct. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North crafts SEO strategies for different sales campaigns to increase organic traffic to an e-commerce site. They provide diagnostic assessments and offer suggestions to increase visibility. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 0.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Operations Director, E-Commerce Site - Industry: Utilities - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 7, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The number of unique visitors to the site has risen since the start of Straight North’s involvement, and organic sales have increased, as well. Straight North features an attentive and intelligent team driven toward determining the most successful digital strategies. ""We’re depending on them and their knowledge in this industry, and the insight they’ve given us has been very useful." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the operations director of an e-commerce website. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We run a different campaign on the site every three weeks, which necessitated the need for an SEO company. We wanted to increase the organic traffic to these campaigns. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They coordinated a full diagnostic assessment of our site and immediately provided suggestions, including having all pages receive https certification and changing images to improve site speed. Over time, they addressed our goal of increasing organic traffic. What is the team composition? We worked almost exclusively with our account manager. How did you come to work with Straight North? Our company worked with them in the past and was familiar with their work. How much have you invested with them? We spend about $2,000 per month for their services. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in October 2017, and the work is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Within the first month, we saw a jump in sales. In each following month, we continued to grow, and we outperformed our sales from the same month the year before. They increased our traffic from maybe 2,000–4,000 unique visitors per month to almost 10,000 per month. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? We reference the in-house tools they use to track their progress. They communicate well and keep us informed. From the beginning, we requested biweekly calls so that we could be involved in the process, and they have been fully accommodating. What did you find most impressive about them? We’re depending on them and their knowledge in this industry, and the insight they’ve given us has been very useful. Are there any areas they could improve? We’d always like to reach our goals faster, but we understand this is a project that requires patience. Any advice for potential customers? Our approach has been to be as open and communicative as we can be, and I think we’ve been successful that way. --- #### Website Redesign & Digital Marketing for Software Firm **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: June 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North redesigned an existing website, integrating Mailchimp and Intercom into the interface. They currently manage digital marketing, including SEO, PPC, and online copy. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Co-Founder, Revzi - Industry: Business services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 22, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North followed project requirements and consistently sought feedback to improve performance. The website is sleek and professional, attracting new clients and expanding the business. The team’s variety of talent means they can work on virtually any project in any stage. "“The end result perfectly matched what we wanted. Working with them has been a great experience.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the co-founder of Revzi. We provide software to small businesses to help them capture customer, product, and staff data to grow their sales. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We were initially looking for a company to refine our brand and develop a new website. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We gave Straight North direct access to our website, and they did an entire overhaul and numerous revisions. They also work on SEO and PPC, as well as banner ad displays that we’ll soon launch. They’ve done a variety of tasks, including writing and refining our content and creating customer-facing marketing pieces. Both Mailchimp and Intercom are integrated into the site. The design work is mainly finished, and now Straight North is working on just a few smaller projects. What is the team composition? The project manager was our primary contact. I also had several meetings with their whole team, which consists of a designer, content writer, and a few others. How did you come to work with Straight North? We found them online. Their sales process was easy, they’d worked with companies like ours before, and they seemed professional and trustworthy. How much have you invested in them? We’ve spent about $40,000 so far. What is the status of this engagement? We’ve been working with Straight North since June 2017. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Due to the professional look of the site, our sales team has already been able to book more meetings with prospective clients. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? We maintain contact through their custom GoNorth platform, in-person meetings, and ZoomInfo conference calls. They’re easy to reach and work with. They always make sure they’re meeting our goals, and they welcome constructive criticism and feedback. What did you find most impressive about them? The end result perfectly matched what we wanted. Working with them has been a great experience. Are there any areas they could improve? No, I don’t think so. Do you have any advice for potential customers? They’re a flexible firm. Potential clients can come with a rough idea or a full plan, and Straight North will be able to execute on it. They have a large team with a vast array of business experience, so they can work on any phase of your project. --- #### SEO Consulting for Set of Brand Sites **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Dec. 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provided SEO services for three websites, including content strategy, blogs and webpage content, keyword services, etc. They continue to maintain and monitor site performance. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Design Specialist, Westfalia Technology - Industry: Automotive - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 19, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The websites have seen a significant increase in organic traffic since Straight North started. Their detailed analytics reports continue to prove the value of their services. Additionally, their customer attention and support is fantastic, making them a pleasure to work with.   ""Our Westfalia USA website has seen an increase in organic traffic of 56% year over year.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I'm the marketing design specialist at Westfalia Technologies, Inc. We are a leading provider of automated storage and automated parking systems in the America’s. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We needed help boosting our SEO and overall website performance, and we were dissatisfied with the results of our previous vendor. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? At first, Straight North's team assisted with the content for one of our websites, but eventually worked on all three under our umbrella. For one of the sites, for example, they have an account team that works on strategy and a writer who creates blogs and updates content on various pages with our keywords. Across the board, they've helped improve SEO for each site, rewriting content and restructuring the overall layout and navigation of pages as needed. More recently, they've provided SEO services for a website that has more of an international audience. They also pull quarterly reports analyzing how our sites are performing compared to our competitors. What is the team composition? Initially, we worked mostly with Carolyn Goettsch (Director of Client Services, Straight North). After she was promoted, we started working with Caitlin Munchel (Account Manager, Straight North). They've both been great. How did you come to work with Straight North? I wasn't originally involved in the selection process, but I believe someone on our team chose to work with Straight North based on research of the quality of their work and the types of customers they'd worked with previously. How much have you invested with them? We spend about $4,500 on a monthly basis for current services for two websites. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in December 2016 and continue to collaborate. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Since going live Q4 of 2016, our Westfalia parking site, our Westfalia USA website has seen an increase in organic traffic of 56% year over year. Since going live last year, our Westfalia parking site has increased an average of 42% each month. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Their team is very helpful and friendly. They're always willing to explain any questions we may have in detail, providing any additional reporting on certain requests as needed. Caitlin and I touch base through monthly calls to go through their custom reporting dashboard, GoNorth, which shows us an overview of how our websites are performing, what leads are coming in through web forms, etc. That's incredibly helpful in understanding the value of the work that they're doing for us. What did you find most impressive about them? Our account manager, Caitlin, has been wonderful to work with. She answers any questions I have thoroughly and promptly. She's even visited the office and sat down with me one-on-one. That personal touch is very important to us—their team is just a good match for us. Are there any areas they could improve? It would be helpful to have a more detailed strategic end goal in mind, but overall there's not too much that I'd change about their approach. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Provide as much detail as you can and make sure to ask any questions you may have. Since each business is unique, the more detail you can provide them, the better the service will be. --- #### Website Redesign, SEO & PPC for Investigator **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Aug. 2015 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: To combat a lag in the economy, Straight North assisted with SEO and PPC efforts to generate new leads. The team conducted a complete website redesign, and improved the corresponding mobile app. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** President, Arkus Inc - Industry: Legal - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 9, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: Instating a regular blogging schedule helped drive web traffic to the site. The project lead is enjoyable to work with, consistently available, and offers useful input that improves the project. Recently, the company signed another annual contract with Straight North, and highly recommends them. "“Whenever I have a question or concern, they're available to answer or resolve it.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I'm the president of a private investigation agency that works with businesses, attorneys, and private individuals. I supervise staff, read reports before they’re sent out, and am responsible for the website and health insurance. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? Business had gotten a bit slow due to the economy, and we wanted to increase the number of calls we received from the internet. Business was lagging with our established clients, so we needed new leads. We had been using a company for SEO and PPC work, but were not satisfied with the results we were getting. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North initially worked on PPC, and then focused their efforts on SEO. They aimed to increase our traffic using blog posts. Our previous vendor had posted very sporadically, and the team indicated that a consistent posting schedule would yield the best results for Google searches. In 2017, they executed a total redesign of our website. They also improved our app, a mobile version of the website, which hadn’t been working well previously. After describing how it needed to be changed, they executed the necessary steps. Currently, they are continuing to monitor keywords. What is the team composition? Our rep was my main contact on a weekly basis. When I worked on the website with Ann Rickerman-Hambry, she was very responsive. In addition, a couple supervisors helped jumpstart the project for both the website and app. How did you come to work with Straight North? I found Straight North via a web search for companies proficient in SEO services. After I assessed their ratings and compared them to some other vendors, we decided to hire them. How much have you invested with them? We spend $2,000 a month on their services. They agreed to do the website for $5,000 if I signed up for another year contract. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in August 2015, and our engagement is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Instating a regular posting schedule helped drive traffic to our site. Improving the mobile app was a critical effort, since so many of our users prefer to access content via their phones, rather than computers. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Our main point of contact did a great job, and we really liked working with him. He was always available and had a lot of input that improved our project. We mostly communicate via email. They send us monthly reports that link to a platform where I can view the status of our PPC and SEO efforts. I have the option to print this data on our monthly progress, or view it digitally. What did you find most impressive about them? They've done well in general, and have been responsive to my needs. Whenever I have a question or concern, they're available to answer or resolve it. Are there any areas they could improve? I asked one individual a question four times and never received a response. We wanted to be able to differentiate between phone calls that came from their team, or from Yelp. I recently received an email from a new staff member, who might be handling the account from now on in her stead. --- #### Website Redesign and SEO Services for Chemical Company **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Jan. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North redesigned a website and created an SEO and PPC strategy to drive traffic and increase leads. They also provide a dashboard to track metrics and allow frequent updating of keyword targets. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Customer Service, Enviro Tech International - Industry: Manufacturing - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 7, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The website performs significantly better in Google search rankings for key products, resulting in eight verified leads per month. Superior responsiveness sets them apart from other providers, along with the ability to communicate technical details in an easy to understand manner. "“[T]hey're always developing new ways to drive more people to the site.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. Enviro Tech manufactures degreasing solvents for different sectors. I process orders and invoices, as well as help out with social media and the website. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? Our website was pretty rudimentary. We weren’t happy with the team we were using to manage the site, so we were looking to switch to a new firm. **SOLUTION** What is the scope of their involvement? Straight North did a total overhaul of our website and built out our blog. They also took over all of our search engine optimization [SEO] and pay-per-click [PPC] efforts. They bid on leads for words within Google and other search engines to help drive more traffic to our site. They targeted our key products and markets, and established a tracking system so that we can see the viable leads that come through each month. They’ll establish a target goal—such as getting X many leads or having Y ad in the top spot on Google—and develop new targets as soon as each goal is reached.  What is the team composition? Caitlin [account manager, Straight North] has a team that does advertising and design, and then another team that does research on the leads and verifies them. I'm not sure how many people are on each team but all of our communication goes through her. How did you come to work with Straight North? I'm not sure because I wasn't part of that process. How much have you invested with them? It’s about $44,000. What is the status of this engagement? Work began in January 2017 and is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Previously the only way to find our site on Google was to type in the company’s name because we didn’t show up in searches for key products. Now we're on the first page of results when you search keywords such as vapor degreaser. Since we launched the new site, we have about eight leads per month that are verified in terms of orders coming through or we're starting to work with them. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They perform really well. Caitlin is great and really has a handle on everything going on with our account. We do a phone conference with her once a month and then she gives us updates on projects in the interim over email. Occasionally some projects take a little longer than planned but she’s pretty good about letting us know upfront. Straight North created a dashboard in the admin section of our website that shows all the site and lead metrics. We can access it any time to see the data, but Caitlin also sends us a monthly report that includes a summary of how we’re doing and her recommendations for the next month. Then our team provides feedback or any changes we want to make. What did you find most impressive about them? I've worked with other companies and they were all slow to respond to requests. It could take a month just to update one thing on the website. With the last company we used, we didn’t have access to the backend of the site to make simple changes. With Straight North, we have the ability to go in and change things ourselves. If we do send them a request, we get a response within 24 hours and the site is quickly updated. I also really like that they're always developing new ways to drive more people to the site. Are there any areas they could improve? I don't think so. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with working with them. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Talk over any concerns with your project manager because they're great at explaining everything in detail. We didn't know all the steps that go into verifying leads and moving up on Google and Caitlin did a great job explaining that to us. --- #### Email Marketing Consulting for Professional Events Company **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: June 2017 - Jan. 2018 **Project Summary**: Straight North provided a variety of marketing consultation services including email strategy, marketing automation, and SEO. They also helped to create a marketing calendar for deployment. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Director, EFM Events - Industry: Education - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 30, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The client had a single point of contact that took a proactive approach to learning about the company and its target audience. Improvements to email subject headings and verbiage according to best practices yielded a 30% increase in open rates. "“[Our project manager] was extremely helpful and really seemed to understand our business goals.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. My name is Bri Berte, and I’m the marketing director at EFM Events. We host one-day IT symposiums throughout the U.S. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We were looking for a company that could help to strengthen and redirect our marketing campaign to increase visibility for attendees and sponsors. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North provided marketing consultation services and helped us to build a marketing calendar to keep track of our deployment schedule. We created new strategies around press releases and emails, including the implementation of a new marketing automation system. They originally suggested going with Campaign Monitor, which we had already been considering prior to the engagement, but we ended up getting a great deal on Pardot through Salesforce. They also walked us through best practices on SEO/email marketing, while helping us to hone in on understanding our target audience and how to reach them more effectively. What is the team composition? I had an introductory meeting with an account executive to start off the engagement and then worked with Natalie [Project Manager, Straight North] for the project itself. How did you come to work with Straight North? We started with a simple Google search and after reading several reviews, we decided to go with them. They’re also located in Chicago and we’re based in Iowa, so we’re relatively close to one another. How much have you invested with them? Approximately $10,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in June, and our contract has just ended. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? After scrubbing our email lists to remove soft/hard bounces, we worked with them to improve our subject headings and verbiage according to best practices. These improvements have led to a 30% increase in open rates, and our click rates have started to increase as well. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? It was very nice to work with Natalie throughout the project because I didn’t have to retell our story. She was extremely helpful and really seemed to understand our business goals. We communicated primarily via phone and email, as well as webinars for screen sharing when necessary. She also had me send her team PDF files with emails that we had written so they could track changes and send them back. What did you find most impressive about them? We really appreciated the fact that they didn’t have us working with a whole team. Natalie understood our specialized market and took the time to learn about our company at the beginning of the engagement. She did her own research and learned about the audience we were trying to reach. This really stood out to me because I didn’t have to keep explaining myself. Are there any areas they could improve? Not that I can think of. They did a wonderful job, and we plan to reach out to them for any further adjustments to our marketing strategy as we move forward. Advice for potential customers? Make sure that you have a goal in mind. If you express that goal clearly, Straight North will be able to accomplish it. --- #### SEO for Independent Landlord Support Service **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Oct. 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North used backlink building, content production, and additional enhancements on existing web pages to improve organic keyword performance. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Vice President, Real Estate Services Firm - Industry: Real estate - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 26, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The most competitive keyword is now ranked no. 1 in Google results, while previously poorly performing terms are now on the first two pages. Straight North’s team is thorough, efficient, and responsive, providing valuable feedback when needed. "“Their team has managed to get us on page 1, if not the top placement, for some of our keywords.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I'm the vice president for an independent landlord support company. We provide tenant screening services and forms, webinars, and other types of assistance to landlords. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We were looking to improve our SEO position on a number of different keywords. Previous vendors had proven unsuccessful in improving our keyword rankings. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? In addition to SEO services, Straight North helped with backlink building, content production, and provided feedback on new or existing pages. (The design of our website was already in place.) What is the team composition? We mostly just work with one project lead, Jess. How did you come to work with Straight North? We found them through a Google search and, after speaking to them, decided to give them a shot. We had tried a number of other vendors prior to Straight North for many years. How much have you invested with them? We were spending about $5,000 per month, but we believe in them so much that we just increased our spend to about $7,000 per month. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them around October, 2016 and have continued the relationship. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We're very happy with them, especially with the progress of our keyword results. We've had one specific, highly competitive keyword that their team has been able to make #1 in Google search rankings. Other keywords that weren't previously placing well have now moved up to the first couple of pages. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They're very thorough. We have weekly status calls with their team and they also provide monthly reports detailing all projects. They communicate using their own project management software, GoNorth Reporting, which provides us a detailed report of all our keywords and linkbacks. It also updates us on how many points we're using under their system and what articles are in progress. What did you find most impressive about them? They're able to do what they say they can do. Their team has managed to get us on page 1, if not the top placement, for some of our keywords. I also appreciate Jess's communication; she's great at staying on top of things. Are there any areas they could improve? No, they're great. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Be patient. Climbing the rankings takes time—it's not an overnight process. --- #### Website Redesign & Collateral Design Services **The Project** - Services: Advertising - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Mar. 2014 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provided marketing strategies for two sister companies. The work included rebranding to coincide with 100th anniversary celebrations and designing newsletters and catalogs, plus site redesigns. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Strategist, Commercial & Consumer Insurer - Industry: Financial services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Dec 6, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Innovative design ties company history to the present. Straight North understands the appropriate aesthetic, and produces attractive, high-quality material for consumers and partners. Though adept at both print and digital media, they shine online. "“They created a phenomenal theme that matches our company’s history perfectly.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. We are a twofold business. We have a retail brokerage that sells directly to consumers, and a wholesale side that markets to other brokerages. I am the marketing strategist for both sides. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We wanted a marketing advisor to develop our websites and boost our retail generation. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They developed a website for each side of the business, and currently assist with our retail campaigns and wholesale interactions. They help considerably with marketing strategies, particularly as we focus on clientele with high net-worth. Some of our campaigns include digital or direct mail, which they help us brainstorm. They developed an entirely new look for us, including rebranding for our 100th anniversary. Much of their involvement was technical, but they also helped design product guides and big brochures to send to agents. They helped us with our newsletters for years but haven't been tapped for that more recently. What is the team composition? I work extensively with Natalie [Project Manager, Straight North] on newsletters and our product guide. Ann [Senior Project Manager, Straight North] oversees the website and any digital aspects. How did you come to work with Straight North? I joined the company in 2014, when the relationship with them was already established. They previously developed the retail website, and we redeveloped the wholesale website in 2015–16. How much have you invested with them? I don’t have direct access to the numbers, but our annual spending is usually north of $10,000. That number may have been lower last year to reallocate funds to our company’s 100th anniversary celebrations. What is the status of this engagement? The collaboration began in 2009, and they still assist us in various projects. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We’ve never had an issue, and have no negative response from customers whatsoever. We’re very pleased with the products and materials they produce. They do a great job understanding who we are as a company and presenting that aesthetically on our website. Their work is beautiful, and great quality. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Natalie and Ann are both responsive and understanding. Natalie is fantastic in any editing process, and Ann helps me understand some of the technical details so I can give her what she needs. Most of our interactions are by phone or email, and I’ve had very good experiences with both of them. What did you find most impressive about them? They deal well with all of our wild organization, and are open and responsive to anything we want to change. They created a phenomenal theme that matches our company’s history perfectly. They wove that imagery through our website, which I’m very proud of. Do you have any advice for potential customers? I use them for both digital and print work. They provide very high quality for both, but their digital output for websites, social media, or online newsletters is where they really shine. --- #### Website Updates & Graphics Services for Billing Solution **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Jan. 2008 - Dec. 2016 **Project Summary**: Straight North supplemented internal web design efforts with multiple site revamps. Specific services provided included infographic development and photo retouching. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Manager, Billing Software - Industry: Information technology - Client size: 10,001+ Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Dec 4, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Their sleek, professional designs were frequently lauded, furthered brand recognition, and helped foster a long-term relationship. Their grounded, communicative, and consistent approach to customer services serves them well. ""They’re consummate professionals and a joy to work with." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the manager for the interactive marketing team at an international communications service provider that specializes in operations services software and business systems software. Our company builds software used by communications companies to track their users cell phone usage and billing. The interactive marketing team focuses on running the corporate website. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We update our website design every year-and-a-half. We don’t have in-house graphic design experts, so we needed help refreshing the look of the site. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They’ve designed our website multiple times throughout the eight years that we’ve worked with them. We kept them on retainer throughout our collaboration to provide us with graphics as well as for retouching photographs we needed. They acted as our main in-house graphics team. What is the team composition? For larger projects, such as complete website redesigns, we worked with a team of their employees. Various people sat in on meetings, including the owner. For smaller projects, we worked with one person as our primary contact—usually Natalie [Email Marketing Specialist, Straight North]. How did you come to work with Straight North? A former employee who managed all of our internal branding and visual branding had worked with Straight North on a previous project. He recommended them to me, and we started working with them immediately thereafter. How much have you invested with them? In the years that we used them as our in-house graphics team, we spent between $10,000–$20,000. When they did full site redesigns, we spent around $100,000. What is the status of this engagement? We collaborated with them starting in 2008 through December 2016. We only stopped working with them after new team members chose to work with a different firm. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We don’t use our website for lead generation, but instead use it as a brochure and brand communication tool, so it’s difficult to determine the impact they’ve had on our success through their designs. However, the designs have been consistently popular internally, and we’ve never received negative feedback from customers or prospective clients on any aspects of our website they designed. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They managed the project efficiently by involving more of their team members when a project was larger or more complex. Our process included several conversations on what we specifically needed, but these conversations did not slow turnaround time. They delivered high-quality work, quickly understood our brand, and translated it into a sleek, professional, consistent vision for our website. They were also receptive to feedback and willing to makes changes, while remaining on schedule and moving forward at an efficient pace. Throughout the project, their customer service was excellent. We used state-of-the-art project management tools for communication and collaboration so we could view designs and leave feedback. What did you find most impressive about them? I was pleased with Straight North as soon as we started working them. Their design work is impressive because it is both sophisticated and elegant. Their team particularly stood out because they are down-to-earth, friendly, and responsive. I enjoyed working with such polite people. Are there any areas they could improve? They could more aggressively highlight their other capabilities, such as SEO and services beyond web design. Nevertheless, this is certainly not a complaint. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Engagements with them are straightforward, so I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them as a full-service web design company. --- #### Marketing Creative for Healthcare Service Evaluator **The Project** - Services: Content Marketing - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: June 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Currently working on roughly 20 creative projects, three digital campaigns, and one major project converting marketing content to new templates, Straight North has been a versatile creative services vendor. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Director, The Joint Commission - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 501-1,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Nov 27, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Their digital work has improved the quality of leads passed through to the sales team. Straight North is highly responsive, considerate of timelines, and proactive with insights and suggestions. They proactively seek out feedback and ways to strengthen the partnership. ""The new pay-per-click digital projects have outperformed our previous Google ads by about 20 to 1." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the Director of Marketing for the Domestic Segment Team at a national healthcare company that writes safety and quality standards and evaluates providers. I work with marketers to build awareness of our products and services, drive sales, and speed physical adoption of our products throughout the industry. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? Initially we were looking for creative design services to help with printed materials and sales enablement pieces that marketing develops for our sales teams. These include everything from flyers and brochures to PowerPoint decks. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? A lot of their work has been sales enablement pieces that help tell our story, such as print collateral and PowerPoint decks that enable our sales teams to do in-person presentations, virtual presentations, and even national conferences. They've done checklists assessments, white papers, and about 20 full product portfolio pieces (which have been versatile enough to add and remove components for specific appointments). We've also begun to work with them on pay-per-click advertising and digital media including three Instagram pages. Finally, they are working on converting current content to new templates, as well as creating new content in those templates. So in total, we have three digital campaigns, about 20 creative projects, and this one major conversion project. What is the team dynamic? We basically have two direct points of contact, who are project managers on the creative and digital sides. Each project also gets assigned an account manager who brings in the right analysts and creatives. How did you come to work with Straight North? I was looking for a local provider because we really value having in-person meetings with new vendors, but we also needed an agency with national depth and an ability to be responsive to our needs. I did some Google searching and asked industry colleagues for referrals, and when their name came up they seemed to fit the bill. We did a discovery phone call and soon began with a few small projects, but have ramped up our relationship significantly since. How much have you invested with them? We've spent about $200,000 so far. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them in June 2017, and the work is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? The new pay-per-click digital projects have outperformed our previous Google ads by about 20 to 1. Their project actually validates respondents, which ensures that the leads we pass to our sales teams are qualified, and thus even if the sheer number has decreased, the value from these leads has definitely been augmented. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? On the creative side, we were originally doing a lot of in-person meetings, but have transitioned to more virtual meetings and phone calls. Usually, there is a discovery call where we set expectations for timing, budget, and communication, and they usually send us a statement of work afterward. They always take the time upfront to ask plenty of questions and understand the objectives and how each piece fits into our larger goals. Their responsiveness is off the charts, and they often send reminders and check-ins which is really helpful given how busy we are. After each project, they always ask for feedback on our level of satisfaction, which has almost universally been very positive. What did you find most impressive about them? They put a lot of thought into our accounts and our specific projects, with consideration of what we ultimately want to accomplish. They contribute fresh ideas and alternative approaches that either improve or validate ours, and their responsiveness really makes them feel like a partner. All of that together plus the extra insights they have provided for our business makes them a very valuable partner. Are there any areas they could improve? Nothing comes to mind. We really have been pleased with everything. --- #### Web Design & SEO for Consumer Goods Company **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Sep. 2013 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North revamped the website of a CPG company. They provide ongoing SEO strategy, which includes written content about company products. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Director, CleanTools - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Nov 8, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: The redesigned website increased online sales to a point thought previously unattainable by the company. SEO metrics continue to increase each month. Straight North’s detail-oriented process works to efficiently realize the project vision. "“[T]hey're able to really see the vision and develop something that the client is going to be happy with.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the marketing director for CleanTools, a manufacturer of consumer packaged goods in the automotive aftermarket, as well as the pet and marine markets. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We needed our company website redesigned and built out. An ongoing SEO strategy was also necessary for advancing our online presence. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? The state of our website before honestly was an embarrassment. We occupy a large market share in the automotive aftermarket but our digital presence was not evident of that. Straight North overhauled our website and really brought forth our vision. The responsive website now communicates that we’re a premium brand to every consumer that visits. We’re a small team and rely on Straight North to handle all aspects of site design and development. We’ve recently expanded into the pet and marine markets and used their GoNorth! platform to launch 2 corresponding websites this past summer. Straight North provides us ongoing SEO services as well. They write content and clean up backlinks for us. We'll approve the content and give feedback as much as we can, but they really spear-head that initiative for us. What is the team dynamic? I worked with the project manager, Ann, several times and always request her when reaching out to Straight North. She is great to work with. The VP of sales, Ian [Stevenson], is who I originally spoke with about revamping our website. He’s been amazing to work with and has always been willing to answer questions. How did you come to work with Straight North? We found them through internet research while looking for firms. We went with Straight North because they offered a complete package. Instead of just listening to our requirements, they were thinking about the overall purpose of the site and how the SEO content would factor into that purpose. How much have you invested with them? We spend $3,800 a month for their services. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in September 2013, and the partnership is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We’ve seen continuous growth thanks to the SEO work they provide. Prior to working with Straight North, our e-commerce platform wasn’t successful. Since the new site launched, we’ve seen a significant increase in online sales, including a new product that has doubled in online sales over the last six months. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Their project management abilities are top-notch. They have methodical processes in place to ensure efficiency. In terms of communication and scope adjustment, they’ve been extremely flexible and easy to work with throughout the course of the engagement. What did you find most impressive about them? Their expertise and creative approach to website development are where they truly shine. They never have to go back and redesign a landing page because they listen to the client’s wishes. Their process is so fine-tuned that they're able to really see the vision and develop something that the client is going to be happy with. Are there any areas they could improve? At first, the SEO content they produced wasn’t always well-researched. I know that the SEO content they're writing serves its purpose through keywords. But as a consumer, I could see that what's written is very shallow in terms of helpful information. It was all basic knowledge material as opposed to an in-depth write-up. That could’ve been a wrong expectation on my part, but I had a different vision for the content we put out. Additionally, some of the writers they would hire clearly wouldn’t do enough research on our products and we’d have to do a lot of corrections. After some communication, that hasn’t been a problem as of late. --- #### Website Redesign & SEO Strategy **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: May 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North executed a direct mailing to engage a difficult target demographic. After this initial campaign, they refocused efforts on a website overhaul and SEO keyword research. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CFO, The Tooth Factory - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Nov 6, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: The website targets a specific demographic using technical terminology and topical content. Straight North tailored the project to size and need, rather than offering a needlessly expensive and customized solution. Increased traffic should yield sales leads within the calendar year. ""The new site provides a more professional introduction to our company.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the CFO of The Tooth Factory, a dental laboratory that produces crowns, bridges, dentures and other related products for dentists as the end consumer. My larger, boutique private equity firm, Pareto & Company, is located in Chicago. We’ve been an investor in The Tooth Factory for almost three years. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? Since dentists are frequently occupied by patient appointments, it proved difficult to schedule phone calls or in-person meetings. To reach this demographic, we contracted Straight North to create a direct mailing. When this project generated only minor traction, we refocused our efforts on revamping our website and creating a stronger online presence. Despite limited expertise, I’d personally compiled our existing site using off-the-shelf products. With just 4-5 pages of basic content, it needed a complete overhaul. Like most comparably sized labs, our site lacked SEO and functioned akin to a business card. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Shortly after investing in The Tooth Factory, we commissioned a direct mail piece. Straight North designed and disseminated a flyer to reintroduce our company. A promotion for five crowns at $50 each offered dentists a significantly lower price point than our competitors. We hoped a physical flyer, lingering on their desks, would have a greater impact than a missed phone call. Ultimately, this proved ineffective, and we commenced a website overhaul. Equipped with extensive company materials including logos, they started the backend redesign. Two months of prep work and research segued into content generation. Their photographer took new product and personnel photos onsite. The redesign’s first draft necessitated nominal measures: furnishing technical terminology, improving the flow of copy, and experimenting with different images. As medical professionals, our target audience necessitated a different strategy than direct consumers. The site went live in September. Unveiling our SEO push, the team continuously review keyword efficacy to improve organic rankings. Current work involves building out a calendar for a blogging strategy. What is the team dynamic? Our project lead, Natalie Berberet, represented the development and copywriting teams. She scheduled timeframes for photography and conference calls, notably a live walkthrough of the site. Since completing her role in the site launch, she’s offered continued availability as a secondary support. She coordinated the handoff to our current SEO lead, Caitlyn Muchel, who provides a comparable level of service. How did you come to work with Straight North? The CEO has known me for 15 years, and my partner at Pareto & Company for 30. Comfortable and familiar with the firm’s work, we reengaged after investing in The Tooth Factory. Our initial website redesign consultation delimited project needs and defined marketplace climate. Keyword and search volume data validated the cost of pursing this specific niche. How much have you invested with them? We’ve invested $10,000 so far, including our $5,000 upfront fee and two $2,000 monthly payments for ongoing SEO work. We selected their streamlined “Go North” option. It’s neither an off-the-shelf product nor a complete, customized website (a $10-$50,000 proposition). For a lab our size, this is a large, but not insurmountable expense. Solidifying good quality leads, like monthly dentist users, should generate recurring revenue that pays for the cost within a year. What is the status of this engagement? We've had two engagements. Two years ago, we requested a direct mailing, and our ongoing website redesign started in May 2017. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? The new site provides a more professional introduction to our company. Significantly more user friendly, it enables dentists to easily locate topical information. Raw Google Analytics-type data indicates more visitors to the site. Although this traffic has yet to directly generate leads, this pace reasonably corresponds to the volume of required preparation. As an inherently slow process, the minor traction thus far validates pursuing this under-served avenue. Few competitors are taking similar measures, and bolstering our online presence will produce more sales in the long run. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Our project lead kept in constant communication. Providing ongoing material to review, like sample copy, helped consistently capture our desired tone. Consistently responsive to requests, she contributes metrics to support the SEO team’s keyword research. We've held what we term "campaign calls" biweekly. As a lab of only five employees, they significantly outpaced us. Our capacity to respond accordingly sometimes prolonged facets of development. In light of these limitations, they offered timeline flexibility. Friendly reminders about deadlines held us accountable, and they communicated repercussions on the launch date. What did you find most impressive about them? Tailoring the service offerings and the product itself to individual customers preempts wasted money on overly-customized solutions. Very early on, they calibrated the appropriate service offerings for our current needs. We have a functional website with a fitting level of SEO work, without overpaying. Are there any areas they could improve? To clarify the time horizon, we probably could have had a better conversation upfront. We didn't fully comprehend the length of time between site launch to lead generation. A number of calls with Caitlin have clarified that lead traffic will reasonably increase before the end of the calendar year. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Identify your company’s needs as they correspond to your size and budget. As a small lab, we easily could have spent twice the money needlessly on an entirely proprietary site with another firm. --- #### Website Design & SEO Content for Home Inspector **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Jan. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North began by doing web design and SEO for a Weebly website. When Google ranking didn’t improve, they migrated the site onto their own platform with a proprietary CMS. They now add content monthly for SEO efforts. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Founder, Chicago Metro Home Inspection - Industry: Real estate - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Nov 1, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: While the site’s Google ranking didn’t advance as quickly as they projected, it has improved after migration to Straight North’s platform. Its user-friendly design and relevant content upped the business’s credibility. Their transparent project management makes progress easy to track. ""The content, usability, and design of the website is impressive and I’m happy with it." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. Chicago Metro Home Inspection provides inspections in the Chicagoland area. When someone purchases a home, if they’re not familiar with the mechanics or the way a home operates, I come in and inspect it for them and make sure they understand exactly what they’re buying. I’m the founder. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? I ultimately wanted to be on page one of Google search results so that my customers can find me instead of my competition. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We initially had a Weebly website that they worked on, but it didn’t perform well. We transferred it over to Straight North’s platform using their proprietary CMS. They largely recreated the website itself on that platform. They build out my website on a monthly basis and add content and links to it. What is the team dynamic? I interact with one person and I think they are doing all of the work. How did you come to work with Straight North? I found them through a friend of mine who is a graphic designer for them. How much have you invested with them? I've spent $17,000–$18,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in January and the work is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We haven’t reached the ultimate goal of getting on page one, but we’re moving forward. I have seen growth in traffic to our website. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? I’m happy with it. They are very open with me. We communicate through email and phone calls. I can log in to their website and see what they’ve accomplished each month. What did you find most impressive about them? The content, usability, and design of the website is impressive and I’m happy with it. My business has more credibility now as a result. Are there any areas they could improve? We worked on the Weebly website for 5–6 months without seeing the growth that they assured me of. They were confident that they would meet or exceed my expectations by then, but it didn’t happen. They suggested that this was due to the way Weebly’s websites are structured, so Google didn’t recognize our SEO efforts. They recommended I move to a Straight North website, and we transferred over the next month or so. My satisfaction has improved, but my ranking isn’t moving at the rate that we discussed in December of last year. --- #### Website and SEO Services for Foundation Service **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: Less than $10,000 - Project length: July 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Using a proprietary CMS, Straight North created a professional online image, improved marketing schemes, and solidified SEO features. They continue to maintain the website, including some copy writing. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Co-founder, Foundation Doctor - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Oct 25, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: The new site receives good response in its desktop layout, and keeps its integrity on mobile devices. Organic leads and site visits are up since completion, and tracking systems will increase the efficacy of future marketing. "“It’s a great site, and everyone tells us how professional it looks. We had no idea how valuable it could be.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. Foundation Doctor is a foundation repair company based in Charlotte, NC. My brother and I started the company about a year ago, and work together as joint business partners. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? About six months ago we decided we needed better marketing. We had a website that a friend had designed, but we wanted a more professional site and help improving our SEO [Search Engine Optimization]. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They rebuilt our website and set up better SEO. We met to discuss our ideas, asked some follow-up questions, and then took things from there. Our original site was on Wordpress, but Straight North was using their own proprietary CMS [Content Management System]. They’re helping us with content for some of the services we’re focusing on. They’re pitching us to different websites to add us to their backlinks, and are actively working to add us to listing sites and directories to improve our web presence. What is the team dynamic? Nathalie [Project Manager, Straight North] was the contact for the website build, and Courtney [Account Manager, Straight North] oversaw the SEO for us. How did you come to work with Straight North? We spoke to 8–10 companies about the project. I was educating myself on SEO practices, and did a Google search for SEO companies. Straight North appeared as the number one option organically, so I reached out to them. They were the most knowledgeable company we spoke with. How much have you invested with them? We’ve spent about $4,000 so far, which includes $2,000 for the site build, and $1,000 a month for tracking and maintenance. They’re a little pricier than some of the companies we looked at, but we felt they were our best choice. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in July 2017. They’ve finished our site, and we have a monthly maintenance contract with them now. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? It’s a great site, and everyone tells us how professional it looks. We’re really pleased with the feedback. They installed a tracker, which we started using in September. It may be a few months before we have a clearer picture of the impact. For just the month of September, we had 8 organic leads and 30–40 clicks on the site. We also have a dynamic phone number listed, so when a user calls from our site, it goes to a separate line. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Nathalie and Courtney were both great. They were quick to respond and keep us updated, and always got back to us with no issues. What did you find most impressive about them? We’re most excited by the design of the website. When we built our first site, we had no idea how valuable it could be. The website they designed is mobile-friendly and looks good on a desktop. The tracking they put in place helps us decide how to spend money on advertisements and SEO in the future. --- #### SEO & Digital Marketing for Custom Sign Design Company **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Feb. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provided extensive website improvement, utilizing their in-house CMS. They optimized content with industry keywords and supply ongoing SEO services. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Director of Marketing, Graphic House, Inc. - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Oct 24, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North’s strategies led to a significant decrease in bounce rates and increase in new visitors. They offer competitive rates and take special care to understand industry requirements. While their CMS lacks flexibility, its simplicity makes it easy to use. ""They're an SEO company that truly cares about their clients." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the director of marketing for Graphic House, Inc., a premier sign manufacturer based in Wausau, Wisconsin with offices throughout the Midwest. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We wanted to improve our website design and increase traffic, with a specific focus on lowering our bounce rate. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They used their in-house proprietary CMS to redesign our website, incorporating infographics, and the intuitive layout allows us to maintain the site and make changes as needed. They found keywords accurate to our industry and used them to optimize our web content. They also write blog posts, with any copy sent to us for final approval. Our package includes monthly SEO services in order to improve and maintain our search rank. What is the team dynamic? My initial point of contact was their vice president of sales. Now that the deal is finalized, I work with our project manager and design team. How did you come to work with Straight North? I considered several SEO companies, but I'd worked with Straight North in the past through my work with previous company. They were willing to work with us on pricing and I knew they were reliable based on my past experience. They also have offices in the Midwest, making it easy to conduct occasional face-to-face meetings. How much have you invested with them? Our contract is $48,000 per year. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in February 2017 and our relationship is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Our previous site’s bounce rate was roughly 60%. After working with Straight North these last nine months, that rate has gone down to 35%–40%, which is the industry standard. Three-quarters of our site visits are from new users and they’re consistently staying on the page for 2–4 minutes. These analytics prove to us that their work is producing results. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Our project manager calls every two weeks to provide a breakdown of our site analytics. We’re consistently updated, and I can contact them via email or phone if I have any questions, receiving a response within 48 hours. They make an effort to keep in touch with their clients, as their VP of sales checks in occasionally to ask if we have any concerns. Overall, working with them has been great. What did you find most impressive about them? They have a strong worth ethic and are very straightforward. We’ve had issues with previous companies relying on bots to artificially boost our web traffic, but Straight North understands that the ultimate goal is to convert traffic into actual sales. They also took the time to understand our industry, taking a tour of our manufacturing facilities to get a firm grasp on who we are and what we do. They're an SEO company that truly cares about their clients. They consistently meet the quarterly and annual goals that we set. Are there any areas they could improve? Their CMS could use minor improvements. It’s great for people who want a basic, easy-to-use system, but lacks flexibility for more advanced users. Of course, this simplicity gives their CMS a wider appeal. Advice for potential customers? Having worked with them through two different companies, I’ve had nothing but positive experiences. Straight North will hit their goals for a good price, so they're worth a try. --- #### Digital Marketing Work for Yoga Business **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Jan. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provides local digital marketing services including SEO, web redesign, and sales call tracking with a focus on the Chicago area. The main goal is to improve incoming sales and brand awareness. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Co-owner, Yoga Business - Industry: Arts, entertainment & music - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 24, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North has improved traffic and sales conversions coming through the website. They have made a huge step forward with the website design and user flow. Straight North is approachable and honest. ""I feel like they're very honest and they do what they say they're going to do." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am one of the owners of a yoga studio in the suburbs of Chicago.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? I wanted to optimize our website for organic search because we are opening a few more locations in the area. It was important to also improve the flow of our website. We get sales conversions through our website so it was important to improve the experience for potential customers. New students come to the website to book their first set of classes. Existing students come to the website to check class schedules, buy a membership, or book more classes. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They helped design the website. I already had a website but they improved my Squarespace website. They helped with SEO and gave me recommendations and also help add company reviews and get us higher on various third party sites. They also helped with us tracking clicks so we can figure out where our customers are coming from how often they're calling and all of the phone calls are also recorded. We record the calls so that we can improve customer service outcomes. We don't do PPC with Straight North, we just focus on organic SEO. How did you come to work with Straight North? A family member recommended them to me. How much have you invested with Straight North? The first year should be around $12,000 because we spend $1,000 month so far. What is the status of this engagement? We started the work at the beginning of 2017 in January. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? I don't have anything available right now but I can check my reports. Straight North supplies that information to me on a regular basis. What I can say is that the SEO work is positive. Our second office location is making drastic improvements and the highest performing webpage. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? I am satisfied with Straight North. I think that they're really good at SEO and they're experts in the field so they could tell me exactly what I needed to change. And they also helped me change things so I didn't have to do it on my own. I love the website where you can see how exactly it's helping where people are coming from and how often people are visiting me.  I can go there and sign in anytime I want. And also they're really easy to talk to so I can just email them and they respond quickly. I just feel like as a company they're very easy to talk to. I feel like they're very honest and they do what they say they're going to do. So I feel like the money I'm paying them is worth it. I just trust them.  So that makes a big difference for me. I've worked with other companies where you're not getting what they say you're going to get. They just really follow through. And I believe that they are experts in the field.  So I just like working with them. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? We don't work face to face at all. It was originally a phone call and now it's just through email which just great for me.  Are there any areas Straight North could improve? There is nothing that I can think of at the moment. Any suggestions for future clients of Straight North? I would suggest that they have clear objectives and make sure they discuss the objectives with Straight North so it's clear. Clients should do what Straight North recommends since they are experts. The conversation should always continue. --- #### Web Design and Local SEO for Moving Company **The Project** - Services: Web Design - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Apr. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North was hired to build a new website and provide SEO services for a moving company in order to drive a more organic traffic and increase leads and sales. The SEO work is ongoing. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Director of Sales, Moving Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 1, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: The project went smoothly and the redesign surpassed all expectations. Straight North's team was always prompt and assigned experts to very specific tasks. The new website is now driving 10 times more organic traffic than its previous version. ""They've got the most up-to-date products and looks." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I'm the sales manager for a moving and relocation services company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We picked Straight North to build us a new website and drive organic traffic to it. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North handles SEO [search engine optimization] and web design. We haven’t asked for social media work because we just kicked-off and want to start slower and then ramp up. We’re in our busy season and didn’t want to attract customers that we can’t properly service. It’s a very small local and regional campaign. We have a request submission box on the website, and its goal is to get somebody to fill out that box and submit a request for us to contact them, or for them to call us — we want both. Basically, we want to get in contact with them so that we can set up an in-home estimate. How did you come to work with Straight North? I got a referral from our corporate office for them and a couple of others. Basically, the reason why we chose them is that they were a lot more up-to-date with new designs. They have the most up-to-date products and looks; we didn't want to buy something that was already an old version.​ ​​​​​​How much have you invested with Straight North? It's probably a total of $15,000–$20,000 a year. What is the status of this engagement? We're still doing some SEO work. We started working with them about 3 months ago. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? I'm overly satisfied with the website. This is actually our third website build, and by far, this has been the best one. It looks way better than I thought they could make it look without me. I just gave them some white papers and some pictures, and they did all the research and put everything together. It exceeded my expectations; everything was very, very, smooth. I would give them six stars if I could. I can't give you specific metrics, but I can tell you that without any SEO, we are getting more traffic than we got with our old website, paying $1,500 for pay-per-click. Just organically, it is 10 times better than all the money we were spending with the old one. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? I think they were very prompt. They have individuals that do very specific tasks, which is nice, instead of someone that does everything but really does nothing and then you have to ask questions, and then that person has to ask someone else and get back to you later. They're very specific with the steps that they take and the people that are involved. They kind of pass you off but they're passing you off to the expert, which is great. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? I don't think so. They’ve quickly addressed everything I asked them to do, change, or fix. I had a few things that I had forgotten that I needed and they did them without a problem. ​​​​​​Any suggestions for future clients of Straight North? As long as you're honest and open with them along the process, they'll give you their best opinion. I called them and asked them about buying something, and they told me that they have it but that it's worthless for me and recommended not to buy it. So, just be open with your ideas and they'll give you their honest advice, which is important. --- #### SEO and Web Design for Renewable Energy Provider **The Project** - Services: Web Design - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Jan. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provided digital marketing guidance and web design, implementing features like inquiry forms and call tracking. They also created and now manage an SEO campaign for lead generation.  **Review Rating**: 4.0 - Quality: 3.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 3.0 **The Reviewer** VP of Sales and Marketing, Renewable Energy Provider - Industry: Energy & natural resources - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jul 5, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: The new website boasts an elegant UX/UI and supports simpler in-house maintenance. Although lead numbers haven’t changed yet despite SEO and marketing efforts, Straight North anticipates better success in the future. Their responsiveness, transparent costs, and adaptability inspire loyalty.  ""They’re easy to work with as a team."" **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. We are a renewable energy company that sells digital solar energy panels to residential and commercial customers. I’m the vice president of sales and marketing, and I oversee all of the administration within the office. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We needed to generate leads. When someone looks at the website, we wanted them to submit their information to us through a form to receive more information. They can also call us.  **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They built our website and SEO campaign. They also helped with the design of the website and digital marketing. Straight North has a number that they track so we know if any calls are coming from the site or from somewhere else. We have a unique number that customers call to let us track conversions easily. How did you come to work with Straight North? I didn’t find them originally. Years ago, we hired an SEO company. I’m assuming that they were bought out by Straight North because the former owner currently works with them. Everything transitioned from his original company to Straight North. How much have you invested with Straight North? We spend between $4,000 and $5,000 in an average month. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them on the website and expanded to the digital marketing campaign in January 2017. Our relationship is ongoing.  **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement? As of right now, the work has not been worth it. We’re currently coming up with a new game plan because our leads haven’t changed since we revamped our site and started a new marketing campaign. I don’t know why we haven’t seen any results. Our website was not good before we revamped it, but we had traffic coming in non-stop. Now, we have a gorgeous website, but we’re getting 4 leads a week, and half of them aren’t even legitimate leads. We might get a single call. It doesn’t make sense. Our leads actually went down last month. We should be getting 30 or 40 leads a week. Straight North has all kinds of reports and statistics, but that’s not helping me at this point. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt, and we’re going to try again. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Everyone was easy to work with except for our project manager, who has been replaced. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? I’ve never worked with another company like this before, but Natalie [Email Marketing Specialist, Straight North] has been awesome. She’s very responsive and answers my questions. I can edit the website myself now because she’s trained me, which makes my role a lot easier. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? They don’t offer social media services, and I wish they did because I believe that goes hand in hand with SEO. They’re easy to work with as a team. Upper management has been in contact with me to figure out the issue with our lead generation. I’m happy that they replaced the initial project manager. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? Usually, communication is a problem with any business partner, but they’ve been responsive. If you have a question, they’ll get back to you.  --- #### Web Dev & Redesign for Medical Scale Manufacturer **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Jan. 1970 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North revamped an outdated Drupal website, focusing on improving the visual impact of medical products. The team continues to update the site and develop new features. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Specialist, Medical Scale Manufacturer - Industry: Manufacturing - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jun 20, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North is reliable, delivering bug-free code on deadline and responding quickly to inquiries, both in person and remotely. Their high-quality work has resulted in the new site receiving significant positive feedback from users. "“Straight North figured out the best way to get our message across.”" **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I work in the marketing department of a medical scale manufacturer. Our products are used in hospitals and doctors' offices. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? For years, we had a very old website that was hard to look at. We knew that the website was supposed to be updated every once in a while.   **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We discussed the design — how the website should be organized and what we needed. Our website is informational and not sales-focused because we sell through distributors. Straight North figured out the best way to get our message across. They designed a completely new website using Drupal, which we access through Acquia. Straight North put graphics on the homepage, added new pages, and displayed all the product info. As we get new products, they add other little things on the website to make them stand out. How did you come to work with Straight North? We did a Google search and found Straight North. They were close to our office, so we decided to contact them for a quote and some ideas about our website. We liked what we saw when we went to Straight North’s office and met them. We visited a couple of other offices in the area, but Straight North had a better quote. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them in the spring of 2013. I don’t remember how long it took them to update the site. Every once in a while, they’ll help us out when we have changes or new pages to add on the website. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? The launched website got good feedback. There weren’t any serious bugs that needed to be fixed. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They are good at meeting deadlines. I don't recall them ever having an issue or not launching when we wanted them to. They pretty much get things done in a timely manner. They've been great. The communication is good, and Straight North’s project manager is responsive. We sometimes meet in person since we are so close to each other. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? I haven't had any big issues with them. --- #### Website Launch and SEO Work for Glass Retailer **The Project** - Services: Web Design - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Jan. 2011 - Jan. 2015 **Project Summary**: Straight North developed a brand-new e-commerce website in Drupal, creating an engaging online presence. They also launched relevant SEO and PPC campaigns to attract target customers to the platform.  **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Owner, Quality Glass Block - Industry: Retail - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jun 14, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Since the site’s launch, annual retail revenue has increased by $580,000, and page visits and view times have increased significantly. Straight North’s professional designs, impeccable quality, and adherence to all scheduling and pricing estimates built a rewarding partnership. ""If you give Straight North an objective, they're going to achieve it."" **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I own an online retail glass block distributor called Quality Glass Block.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We wanted to develop a website that was able to communicate the differences between our product lines and serve as a resource for our customers shopping online. We also wanted to build links and SEO into our actual website. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? They set up and managed my pay-per-click (PPC) services and did my SEO. They also built a brand-new website in Drupal; the old site was in HTML. When they completed the web design, they showed me a few different mockups to choose from. The only things they didn’t do were my email marketing (because we don’t have an email marketing campaign) and social media. How did you come to work with Straight North? I interviewed about 12 or 13 different companies. When it came down to it, we decided to pick Straight North. They were the highest in terms of price, but I knew what I wanted in a website, and I got what I was exactly looking for. In the end, it was more about getting the service and the product that I wanted than a certain price point. How much have you invested with Straight North? It costs me $3,000 a year to maintain the site. What is the status of this engagement? We started in March of 2011 and rolled out the new site in October of 2011. For the next year, we did SEO and then jumped into PPC. In 2012 and part of 2013, we did SEO. Then, all the way through 2015, we did PPC. Now, the site pretty much runs on its own. They do some maintenance for me. If I need to fix or change anything, they’re just a phone call away. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement? Hands down, Straight North has helped my company grow. We were making about $120,000 a year in e-commerce before, and we're up to about $700,000 per year. I would attribute 90% of that growth to Straight North. The biggest thing was growing our presence online. That was the big portion of what they did for me. We took everything that was in binders and on shelves and put it on a website that's available to our customers as a resource. We watched the number of people that jump off Google Analytics drop. The time spent on our website increased, as well the number of pages that the average customer views. Customers absolutely love the website’s clean layout and the fact that all the information is so informative. Because it’s so professional, most of them think that we're the manufacturer, not just a distributor. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? Their content is second to none. It brings people in and makes the information readable. They do a really good job at writing the content in a way that’s SEO friendly and attracts the right client. A portion of our website is very technical to attract architects. Another portion of the website is dumbed down for the do-it-yourselfers. A third portion is moderately detailed for contractors. That's what I liked the most about the site. Straight North uniquely juggles different things. We asked them to put in a customer image process—a place where people could upload photos—and they found a way to do it. They were constantly working to give us what we want. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? Their pricing is expensive, but you get what you pay for, so I would not ding them on that. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? Be prepared for when the site goes live. We were not prepared for the increased business we were going to have, and we had a ton of overtime while working late on weekends. If you give Straight North an objective, they're going to achieve it, but you're only as good as your internal structure. That was the biggest lesson we learned through this process.  --- #### Web Redesign and SEO for Staffing Agency **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Jan. 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North designed and developed a Drupal website. Now, they provide ongoing SEO and digital marketing services focused on attracting quality job candidates. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Director of Corporate Communications, Staffing Agency - Industry: Business services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Jun 14, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North delivered a high-quality site in a short delivery window because of their proactive project management techniques. The site has produced a five-fold increase in qualified job applicants. The team had a strong design sensibility that has pleased stakeholders. ""Straight North can do anything if the client provides the concept." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the Director of Corporate Operations for a full-service, multi-disciplined staffing firm headquartered in Chicago. We help our clients find quality job candidates for a variety of key industries. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We had an existing, old website that needed to be redesigned. We were looking for web design and SEO companies who could first deliver a new Drupal website and then generate more qualified job candidates through an online marketing campaign. We generally wanted to get the word out around the country about our services. We also needed a new website to improve our public presence and marketing in general. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North was hired just to redesign our Drupal website and then manage a coordinated SEO campaign targeting educated job candidates. There were no other service involved. How did you come to work with Straight North? We put out a competitive bid using a traditional RFP process. We narrowed our choice to six similar agencies. Straight North came in and pitched us in person. They had the best team and the most helpful suggestions on how to reach our goals. We also liked their expertise and pricing so we decided to hire them in early 2016. How much have you invested with Straight North? We generally spend about $20,000 per year on SEO work. We decided to add more additions to the website build and Straight North priced that for us separately. What is the status of this engagement? The engagement is ongoing for SEO services. They started by redesigning the new website in Drupal and then immediately optimized it for organic search. We have no plans to stop the partnership with Straight North. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? Straight North delivered a magnificent website that everyone on our team loves. They were able to launch the new website on time because they have great project management and communication.  The website was immediately more productive than the old website. In fact, we had five applications filled out in the first hour of going live! We only had about 10 applications per week with the old, obsolete website. We now receive about 50 applications per week, which is a five-fold increase. We are very happy with Straight North. The website design is also excellent and has received high marks from stakeholders. Our marketing team is doing outreach to our existing clients to share our new website. Our clients are quite impressed with the clean and simple design. It's provocative and attractive, we have received many compliments from clients and job candidates. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? I have no complaints about the Straight North team and couldn't think of anything they can improve. They were able to take our concept and run with it. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? My advice for other potential clients is to be clear about your goals and make sure your team is on the same page with objectives. Straight North can do anything if the client provides the concept. --- #### SEO Services for Debt Lender **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: July 2015 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North improved the SEO of a financial services website by reconfiguring the backend architecture and supplying relevant content. The team continues to monitor and update the platform. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Partner, CapX Partners - Industry: Financial services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jun 9, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North’s team is made up of professionals whose detailed and timely work generates significantly more leads for the company. This is particularly impressive given the sometimes confusing nature of the business.   "“Our business is quite esoteric, but Straight North has definitely been able to grow our leads.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am a partner in CapX Partners, a debt lender targeting the middle market. We offer leases and loans to middle-market companies.   **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We were looking to drive external leads by improving our web presence. Our business driver is inbound leads, so our main focus was our standing on search engine optimization. We don’t drive all our business through the Internet, which is true for the financial services industry as a whole. Even though we don’t have a web-driven industry, we do strive to improve. A show store can easily move to e-commerce, but lending businesses offer more abstract services that people don’t look for online. Instead, they would rather go to their banks or lawyers for these services. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? In their proposal, they explained what they would be doing, as well as outlined what they saw as our shortcomings and objectives. Straight North worked over a period of time to make the required changes and fixes. They started by changing the architecture of the website’s backbone, followed by supplying proper content, tags, and keyword attribution. We only worked on unpaid search, which involved developing keyword attribution. Straight North also built the perception that our company was a knowledge center. They looked at what we should be putting on our website, essentially tackling web PR. They also offered to write our content, but we were using an external PR person who understood our business. Nevertheless, Straight North collaborated with that resource very well. How did you come to work with Straight North? I am on the board of a design firm and started to ask around there, looking for people who were good at SEO. Straight North specialized in what we needed. Since our group has used outsourced parties in the past, I looked at other vendors as well. I chose Straight North based on web research, relationships, and my own judgment. How much have you invested with Straight North? The cost of their work has been around $50,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with Straight North in July 2015. At the moment, the work involves monitoring, reviewing, and maintenance. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? Our business is quite esoteric, but Straight North has definitely been able to grow our leads. Thanks to their efforts, we’ve gone from 0 leads per month to 10. Some industries can see 1,000 leads per month, but we’re a bit different. We've moved up in Google rankings and achieved our objectives. They also sent detailed monthly reporting on the use of our keywords and leads. There is staff in place for scrubbing these leads. We can easily see what leads are coming through and who they are. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Straight North has a comprehensive process that followed best practices. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? They’re pros who do a great job. I was pleased with Straight North’s performance. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? I chalk some of the results up to our business being more esoteric. Our hits have grown significantly, but people can’t necessarily order our services online. Given the nature of SEO, Straight North is best at generating leads for companies with more concrete products. --- #### SEO for Manufacturer Group **The Project** - Services: Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: May 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North migrated the content of 3 websites into a single platform. They are optimizing the new site for mobile responsiveness and search engine performance.   **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Industrial Marketing Manager, Manufacturing Group - Industry: Manufacturing - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jun 1, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North implemented an intuitive navigation system that encourages visitors to make a purchase. The new website is sleek, which customers appreciate. While Straight North’s communication methods need improvement, their project management is strong. ""We went from an old, tired website into something that we feel has that wow factor." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the industrial marketing manager for 3 divisions of 1 company. The first is a 140-year-old perforating division in Pennsylvania. I also work with another division that emulates our Pennsylvania facility. It’s a smaller branch that handles shipping for the Midwest. The third division is in Kentucky, and it manufactures screen products that are sold worldwide. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? The challenge we were trying to address with Straight North was twofold. First, we wanted to merge our 3 existing websites into 1 website that had a more contemporary style. A couple of them were pretty old and were not mobile responsive. To make it even more complex, the 3 divisions of our company wanted to be treated as separate entities. It was a little complicated to design a website that would serve all 3 entities without confusing the visitor about what entity they were visiting. Second, we wanted to improve search engine optimization so that we would rank better online. Merging these sites would help us get better SEO results since we were splitting it 3 ways before. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? The project involved a complex redesign. Straight North helped us restructure the content from the old websites and move everything into a single site. In the end, they moved all 3 sites under 1 domain while treating each site as its own individual site. When we contracted with Straight North to do our website, we recognized that they were a leader in the SEO arena. We asked them to start working on that after the website went live, and they’ve just started to phase that in. Back in January, we contracted them to manage our global AdWords account and handle some of our retargeting as well. How much have you invested with Straight North? The website rebuild cost us $40,000–$60,000.What is the status of this engagement? The initial part of the project was the website rebuild, and we started that in January 2016. We signed the contract with them to do the web rebuild in May 2016. Straight North works really fast, but we had some constraints on our end. That’s why it took about a year or 2 to release the new website. So far, we’ve worked with them for about 5 months on SEO, Google AdWords, and retargeting. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? I depend on our sales people to get feedback, and what I've heard has been great. We’ve had a lot of positive responses, both internally and externally. I know that we went from an old, tired website into something that we feel has that wow factor. Straight North’s design is great. The overall layout is more robust, and the navigation is much clearer. People can easily find what they’re looking for. We’ve also increased what we can do on the website. It’s faster and mobile responsive. We’ve added other features that we didn't have before, like a search function. From a marketing strategy, we can now embed different collateral on multiple pages. We can provide material to the visitor right where they are on the site. If a customer is visiting a given page, there’s a ton of information that they can access through related resources. It’s much more intuitive. Our lead generation has increased exponentially. We probably saw a 20% to 25% increase in our leads, especially with the retargeting. The cost of doing that has been extremely low. In fact, we were surprised at how low it is. I'm looking forward to the SEO results. I wish we’d been with them longer and I was able to give you better feedback on that. I think we’ll be satisfied with them like we were during the web build.   How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? They have been flexible. We had to do some deviation from the initial project scope, and they kept the change orders to a minimum. They adapted the scope or added things without even having to do a change order and incurring costs on our end.    What did you find most impressive about Straight North? I can say that Straight North has been the most professional group I’ve worked with, by far. When we told a competing company that we brought in during our request for quotation process that they lost the business to Straight North, they said, “You’ve got a great company.” I feel that Straight North is well-known. We’ve had a good experience working with them. I think that we’ll enjoy their services for a long time to come. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? Sometimes, the process they used to communicate updates was a little clunky. For instance, they would send us a Word document. I actually found an online utility that would work way better, and Straight North is looking into using that for all of their accounts. However, that was really a minor thing. We were able to communicate effectively, but using something online would have made things easier. --- #### Digital Marketing for Sports Apparel Retailer **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: Jan. 2007 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North has helped a client increase sales through its eCommerce business through more focus on website design, SEO, PPC, and social media marketing. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Vice President, Sports Apparel Retailer - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 30, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North has helped the client turn a small web business into over a million dollars in revenue. Their attentiveness and response time stands out. ""Without Straight North, we would have been significantly behind compared to where we are now." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the vice president of a company that manufactures athleticwear and apparel. Our products are sold locally in the state of Maryland as well as nationwide and internationally.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? The landscape seems to be changing a little in that many people are going online first for shopping, even in terms of uniforms. We've noticed this trend so we're putting less of a focus on local internal reps and channeling those resources into the site. Specifically, we wanted a new design and an increased SEO effort. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Our 2017 scope includes a buildout of a brand-new website. We're also working with Straight North's web marketing department on SEO, pay-per-click, and social media campaigns. How did you come to work with Straight North? We started working with Straight North around a decade ago when they had a different name. We had an existing comfort level—Straight North had performed well for us and we communicated well with the team. After seeing Straight North's proposal, it was an easy choice to keep with what we knew. How much have you invested with Straight North? In 2017, we plan to have a $70,000 spend on marketing, along with the cost of the website which was around $30,000. The total budget is $100,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with Straight North's team 10 years ago while they were part of another company. There was a lot of continuity in terms of their resources and location, which was comforting, but we've also met new people for the web development work.  **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? Our site has gone live only a few weeks ago, so its success rate remains to be seen. I've been very satisfied with Straight North within prior experiences. They've been phenomenal to work with. When we first started working with their team, we weren't in the web game at all. They brought us into the scene and it has developed into a million-dollar business for us. Without Straight North, we would have been significantly behind compared to where we are now. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? I've worked with many different companies; Straight North stands out through the level of attention given. Our phone calls are returned quickly and Straight North's team went out of their way to accommodate any special requests we had. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? They're there to work for us, not just complete what they signed up for. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? I am satisfied at the moment, but that could change in 2 to 3 months if our leads haven't increased. I wasn't disappointed with Straight North in any regard. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? Trust the experts and let them do what they're good at. Clients shouldn't insert themselves too much into areas they don't understand. --- #### Design for Legal Group **The Project** - Services: Web Design - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Jan. 1999 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North was responsible for planning and launching a new publication design scheme to improve engagement and overall readership. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Managing Editor, Legal Association - Industry: Legal - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 30, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North delivered a beautiful website and met the client's design goals. Their project management could improve but they are a fun group to partner with. ""Our day-to-day team was awesome, and I enjoyed working with them." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. The Association for Legal Administrators has a staff of 30–35 members and serves as a professional organization for people running law firms. Our members include CFOs, executive directors, and basic administrative staff. I am the managing editor of the organization. I run our publication. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We needed help with the design of our publication. I have been working with the organization for 2 years. Before I was hired, there was a board decision to get rid of the print publication and continue it in app form. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North works on our publication providing design work. We have recently made a redesign which launched in January 2017. Straight North originally developed the iOS and Android apps, as well as the website for our publication. Through no fault of their own, the result was not well-received by members, leading to low readership numbers. We came up with a plan and had Straight North phase out our apps while making the website more robust and responsive. We put together a plan for making the content ungated, instead of having a membership lockdown. Straight North was instrumental in having us get it off the ground. How did you come to work with Straight North? We have a longstanding relationship with Straight North, going back 20 years. When we remade our website, we didn't look anywhere else. How much have you invested with Straight North? The cost of the web redesign was $31,800. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with Straight North back in the 90s. The relationship is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? Our readership had been abysmal before the redesign, and our ad sales plummeted. This is more of a reflection on our internal processes. Straight North developed a beautiful app initially, but it was never properly introduced to our readership. We took away a print publication which readers didn't want to get rid of, and threw an electronic version at them. Our members are not a very change-happy group, so the app didn't work as well as we would have wanted. We're hoping to push our content out there more, employing a social media strategy. Having more hits on our content will hopefully bring back advertisers. The new site has only been out for 3 weeks, so it's too early to tell. Our readers had been requesting a functionality for viewing the entire publication in PDF form. As a result, Straight North has designed 2 versions of the publication, a web version and a fully-designed PDF which members can print. I anticipate that this will make our readers very happy. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Our day-to-day team was awesome, and I enjoyed working with them. Project management was a bit challenging, given that our contact from Straight North didn't communicate deadlines very well. We had very little time to give feedback, so being a day late meant that the project wouldn't be done in time. It wasn't a major issue, but Straight North's project management could have been stronger. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? Better communication and having an upfront schedule would be an improvement. Having one day for client feedback is not feasible. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? Clients should go in with a clear plan and outline their requirements. We had a wish list which ballooned the budget, so researching the project and having clear requirements is important. --- #### Web Design and SEO for Electrical Contractor **The Project** - Services: Web Design - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Dec. 2013 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North produced a new website design for the client's main corporate website and also have marketed it to make sure the right types of potential customers find it online. **Review Rating**: 4.0 - Quality: 4.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 4.5 **The Reviewer** Project Engineer, Electrical Contractor - Industry: Utilities - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 6, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North has a flexible team that hits deadlines even with challenging circumstances and many client change requests. They have improved overall web traffic to the new site. ""Even when things are down to the wire and the timeframe isn't as it should be in order for them to do certain things, they make things happen." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I work for an electrical contractor that designs, builds, and installs lighting and power systems in a variety of industries. I have an electrical engineering degree and I do special projects and a little bit of business development for the company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? The goal was to create a new design for our corporate website. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North did the web design and launch for our corporate site. We’re now in the process of doing SEO. I provided them a list of professional organizations within our industry for them to reach out to in order to create links back to our site. They’re also trying to figure out where we need to make modifications on the website in order to draw more traffic to it. How did you come to work with Straight North? We’ve used Straight North for the majority of our marketing tools, brochures, pamphlets, presentation books, etc. Using them for our website design was a natural progression. They did our first website so they’re familiar with the operation, the server, and everything else. How much have you invested with Straight North? I don't know that information off the top of my head. I’d have to get the numbers for you. What is the status of this engagement? We’ve been working with them for a little over 3 years. The work is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? I’m satisfied with Straight North’s work so far and I feel like it has been successful. It’s so new that we haven't been able to measure a lot of direct metrics yet. We only started tracking in November. We have seen a lot of new traffic to the site, but we can't really compare the new website’s traffic to the previous website because we never did any tracking on it. We’re also receiving some new leads, which is a positive. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? I think their team is great. They’re attentive and their turnaround time is excellent. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? Even when things are down to the wire and the timeframe isn't as it should be in order for them to do certain things, they make things happen. That’s a great plus for Straight North and it’s why we love to work with them. Even in the toughest of situations, they make things happen. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? They could improve by double and triple checking their work before submitting it to us. They miss a lot of the more technical writing stuff, such as misspellings and punctuation. When the work comes back, I have to go through everything with a fine-tooth comb to catch the errors they should have seen.   What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? I would recommend other businesses do a thorough review of the work when it comes back to them. --- #### Web Design and Collateral Development for Insurance Company **The Project** - Services: Web Design - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Jan. 2014 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North provides web design and marketing collateral development to improve the brand image and professional face of the client. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Owner, Insurance Company - Industry: Financial services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 5, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: The creative aspect of the web and marketing collateral design is top notch. They offer customized strategies and sound project management. ""Everything is always on time, and their follow-up is first rate." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. We have two insurance agencies, and I'm the president. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We hired Straight North to help us with web design and supporting collateral materials. **SOLUTION** How did you come to work with Straight North? I don't remember. It’s been several years, and I don't recall how we first came into contact with them. How much have you invested with Straight North? We’ve probably spent about $30,000 annually over the last few years. What is the status of this engagement? We’ve been working with Straight North for at least four years. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? I would say Straight North’s project management is excellent. Everything is always on time, and their follow-up is first rate. They’re always on top of everything, and their estimates, at least for us, have been right on. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? I’m satisfied with Straight North, and I think they’ve been successful. We’re particularly pleased with the design, especially the creative aspect of the design. They’ve been able to capture the essence of our companies in how the materials look, which is not easy. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? Maybe they could spend a little more time understanding the nuances of our particular business. That’s just something that takes a while for each client because every client is different. I expected that would take a while.  What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? I would recommend that other companies spend a lot of time orientating Straight North to their particular business. Their work is really customized, and they need to spend a lot of time upfront understanding the way a particular company operates. --- #### Digital Marketing Projects for CPA Firm **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Sep. 2015 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North built a new website and provide SEO work to update the firm's outside image and improve recruiting outcomes for new CPAs graduating from college. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Marketing Director, CPA Firm - Industry: Business services - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Dec 2, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North created an attractive website and met their goal of recruiting more qualified CPAs from colleges. Straight North provides a dedicated project manager to keep progress moving forward. ""Our website is amazing and our printed materials were always on par with our high-quality standards." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. We are a CPA firm based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, with 120 partners and 60 employees. We have around 12 million dollars in annual revenue. We're a full-service firm providing audits—tax and insurance—as well as advisory services. I am the marketer of the company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? When I took over the marketing division, the initial goal was to rebuild our site. We wanted to launch an SEO strategy, but the old page was non-responsive and out of date. Another reason for developing a new website was to gain an advantage over other accounting firms when it comes to recruiting. Many of our competitors run multiple microsites detailing how it is to work for those companies. We got left behind in terms of the website; it wasn't very appealing and didn't represent us as a firm.  **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North completely rebuilt our site. We took a lot of time with this because we wanted the result to be perfect and it had many custom functionalities. After the site was launched, we started working with Straight North on SEO and other smaller projects, like the design for brochures and general marketing materials. We have a social media presence, but not paid; we also don't use pay-per-click marketing. A part of our SEO work involved Straight North writing guest posts on other companies' blogs. How did you come to work with Straight North? We're a 20-year-old company and we've worked with Straight North for most of those 20 years. There wasn't really a question in our minds about using them on the current project. We wanted to work with someone who knew our company and our business. How much have you invested with Straight North? The cost of Straight North's services has been around $50,000 in 2016. We have a $2,500 per month fee for SEO, but we also work on additional build-outs for the site. What is the status of this engagement? Our current project started in September 2015. Since then, we've gone through a complete rebranding. Our work with Straight North is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? I don't think I could've done my job without Straight North. Our website is amazing and our printed materials were always on par with our high-quality standards. We launched our site at the beginning of November 2016, so we haven't even received the first SEO report for it yet. As we approach the end of 2016, we will start seeing more and more traffic, as this is the time when most people switch CPA firms. In addition to gaining new business, rebuilding the site has helped our recruiting efforts a lot. We recruit heavily on college campuses. Several students have mentioned seeing certain bits of information on our site. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? As a marketer, I have many responsibilities. Things can sometimes slip through the cracks. I haven't worked with other companies, but the biggest thing I've appreciated about Straight North is that they have a designated project manager whose entire job is making sure that the team is getting everything it needs. She has helped me make sure that I knew what I had to deliver and when. When I needed it, Straight North made accommodations for my own timeline as well. There was constant follow-up, project tracking, and updating. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? Not having worked with other marketing or development firms, I couldn't say. I've appreciated everything that Straight North has done. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? I advise clients to be prepared for the project. I felt the most ups and downs during moments when I didn't realize how much of a time commitment would be necessary from my end. I thought that Straight North would simply take what we had and build a new website, but the project turned into a complete rebranding. We had a 2-month delay just because we had to make all-new corporate photography. If we had known this would be necessary, we could have taken care of it before the project even started. --- #### Web Design for Nonprofit Fundraiser **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: Feb. 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Previously, Straight North provided SEO for another of the client's websites; this time, they designed a new responsive website with a custom form and will continue to do SEO for it. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Sales & Marketing Director, Nonprofit Fundraiser - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Nov 23, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North successfully designed the website better than expected and without much additional guidance or editing, which impressed the client. Straight North was particularly praised for being extremely detailed and communicative. ""Straight North got things right the first time, which was really nice." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. Our company is a small non-profit fundraiser based in Washington DC. I am the marketing director of the company.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We were starting a new project and needed to create a website for it. We knew what we wanted in terms of content, but we are not designers.  **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North has developed our website. It's a pretty basic page in terms of structure, but there were some custom features we wanted for it. We utilize lead generation as a business, which is done through phone calls and online forms. We had a rather complicated custom form in mind that we'd wanted to implement for a couple of years. We described what we were looking for and asked Straight North to work out something. They blew it out of the water on the first try, doing a great job on a couple of different custom elements on the site as well. We had a few concerns with the site's responsive design in general. Tablets and phones are always receiving updates, while screens are also constantly changing sizes. We told Straight North about this and tested the site on literally every device imaginable. Even the most complicated elements have performed beautifully. How did you come to work with Straight North? Straight North had worked on SEO for one of our websites for the past 2 years. Because we had such a good relationship, we inquired about their web design services as well. Straight North gave us some past projects to look at and we decided to move forward. How much have you invested with Straight North? The initial budget was $10,000, but we went over that because of additional features that we requested along the way. Straight North offered us a special deal based on our existing SEO work. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with Straight North in February 2016. We've contracted Straight North for SEO work on the site after it’s completed.  **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? I don't have any significant metrics for the site, other than the fact that Straight North was able to complete it on time and on budget. The site looks good, much better than we anticipated. I gave them some direction on what I wanted to see within each page, but Straight North actually wrote all of it. There were hardly any edits needed. I found that impressive, considering that the topic of the website can get detailed and research-intensive. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? I cannot give enough praise to our project manager. There was some misunderstanding in the beginning, but she went above and beyond, going through everything with a fine-tooth comb. We became clear on all aspects of the project and maintained almost daily communication. I wish that she was a part of our SEO team, given how great she was to work with. One of the things I liked about Straight North, particularly in the case of our project manager, was that they were extremely detailed. I always received recaps of our conversations with bullet points detailing what needed to be done and what had been completed. I remained in constant contact with our manager and everything was scheduled well. I immediately knew when a project would be started, how long it would take, and what, if anything, could postpone certain elements. Knowing the timeline from start to finish was awesome. I feel that some website jobs can take forever, but with Straight North, there was a very strict schedule. Straight North communicated daily, telling us what was going on, what we needed to do, and so on. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? I could simply give concepts to Straight North's team, and they would bring to life what I wanted to see. I didn’t have to go into the minutiae of the requirements. Normally, on our other internal projects, I am involved in the nitty-gritty of writing content. It can be exhausting to describe exactly what elements I want to see on what pages. Straight North got things right the first time, which was really nice. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? We've had some SEO-related issues with the website, but this is mainly due to the competition in our industry. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? It's fantastic that Straight North is extremely responsive in communicating what we need to do on weekly. However, there are quite a few things for which clients need to review and provide advice. If clients keep requesting multiple revisions on certain pieces, their timeline will be shifted back. I made that mistake at the very beginning, but after we had a conversation about this with Straight North, everything else went swimmingly. My advice is that clients determine exactly what they want and express that at the very beginning of the project. I deal with many vendors day in and day out. I've found that I must be very detailed when giving them instructions, otherwise, I won't get what I'm looking for. --- #### SEO for Venture Capital Advisory **The Project** - Services: Search Engine Optimization - Project size: $10,000 to $49,999 - Project length: May 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: Straight North was tasked with building a new website to explain a new value proposition and also market it via SEO and other marketing techniques. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Board Member, Venture Capital Advisory - Industry: Financial services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Nov 22, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: Straight North provided a quality website on time and on budget. Straight North has a regimented process that could be made more personalized to each client but they are well organized. ""Our project came in on budget and on time, which are two important statistics." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. We are a board and strategic advisor for private-equity-backed companies. I am a board director and partner of the company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? We were looking to build a new website for strategic value proposition rebranding and digital marketing. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? Straight North took part in a full marketing and rebranding strategy process for our company. They also built our website and handled its SEO. How did you come to work with Straight North? I went through a due diligence process based on the scope of service, their timelines, and pricing. We also looked at the account management team working on the provider's end. How much have you invested with Straight North? The cost of Straight North's services for the first year will be around $100,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with Straight North around May 2016. Our relationship is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? The website won't be live until next week, so it's too early to provide any metrics for it. How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint? Our project came in on budget and on time, which are 2 important statistics. What did you find most impressive about Straight North? Straight North has a very good process, but it is very regimented. Are there any areas Straight North could improve? Filling out forms in order to provide feedback takes out some of the human element needed for collaboration across functional teams. It would be a big help in the future to have more interaction between Straight North's team and the client. What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Straight North? 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