Tiny Frog Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Milikowsky Tax Law, a law firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

Every couple of years, we redevelop our website. We reached out to Tiny Frog for that purpose. Our existing site wasn’t performing well, so we weren’t looking for a website that’s merely aesthetically-pleasing — we wanted to ensure the new website had a high conversation rate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We discussed our website’s current status and what our objectives are for the new site. Tiny Frog’s user experience expert then helped determine a website concept and sitemap that our users will respond to. The layout we settled on, in comparison with our previous site, is more inviting and less cluttered. They then developed the framework and the actual website on Wordpress. The last step was to add content. We developed the new content, and they borrowed the rest from our older site.

What is the team dynamic? 

We primarily worked with three members of their team who had expertise in either user experience or website design.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

We were considering three other companies aside from them. What distinguished Tiny Frog is their knowledge in user experience and website functionality, rather than just aesthetics.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $10,000 to $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in November 2016, and the project was completed at the end of September 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Though it’s too early tell for sure how well our website is doing, I believe the new design is contributing positively to our conversion rates. Internally and externally, we’ve received positive feedback overall.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job. Each person we worked with had their own speciality, instead of one person juggling several different aspects of the site. It made the process very organized and efficient. Our communication with them would fluctuate based on our needs, but we spoke at least two to four times per month.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We hired them to optimize user experience, and they did a great job with that. The website isn’t too convoluted. It flows very nicely.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No matter what company you work with, the process of rebuilding your website always takes an erroneous amount of effort. The process is very burdensome and time-constraining. I’d rather it done the right way, which Tiny Frog did, but it’d be great if website development companies could find a way to take some of the burden off their clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m part of the mainframe business unit for a large independent software company. We handle a lot of mainframe traffic for Fortune 50 and 500 companies and provide different software services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

We needed a website built from scratch to showcase our business intelligence, machine learning, and artificial intelligence on the mainframe. It’s a content site where we publish various views on those subjects from different authors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They had a very detailed project plan to meet our aggressive timeline. We collaborated on the project with them but provided the business requirements ourselves. For the design, we went through rounds of revisions and changes, which Tiny Frog handled well.

We needed to integrate with Marketo, which can create technical challenges. We’re still in the process of making that happen due to a delay on our side. Also, we had to find a clear way of assigning categories and authors to different pieces of content that we had.

We chose to use Tiny Frog for hosting, which has worked well. We’re going to be doing that for the next few months before hosting the site ourselves, but they were flexible about getting us up and running even with our changing start date.

We worked with a total of 5 people from Tiny Frog. When we had to update the timeline, they willingly assigned more resources to meet our goals.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

They were referred to me by a former business partner. Originally, Tiny Frog was on a shortlist of 6 companies we wanted to interview. We viewed their bid, saw that they won some awards, and looked at their portfolio. When I talked with their team, they seemed like a good fit for us. They seemed to have a lot more knowledge than the other companies that we interviewed.

What is the status of this engagement?

The original project timeline was 90 days, and we actually had to change that to 30 days. We’re pretty much done with the work, but we’re still finishing some small tasks.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

Being able to finish the work within 30 days was our biggest metric. Going from an idea of a site to launching in 30 days is incredibly challenging due to all the revisions. It was a lot of work, but Tiny Frog rose to the challenge and didn't complain about our timeline. It was tough for them, but they got through everything. We're really happy with the site.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very flexible. They understood when our business requirements shifted and we needed to change the timeline. They were available pretty much at any time. We just scheduled everything. They were pretty good about addressing any type of question or concern.

I wasn't expecting to manage them at all, and I didn't have to. That was really important for me because I have other responsibilities to juggle. That's why we hired them to take care of this project for us. Both sides offered input because we were building a site from scratch. Overall, the process was smooth.

We primarily used email and phone to communicate. Working through email gave us proof of agreement on design changes. We had to go through lots of images for those.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog?

They were professional, which was a big factor in choosing them in the first place. We needed a company that does a great job and is really responsive. Tiny Frog met both of those criteria.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog could improve?

No. They're really responsive to emails and phone calls. We threw them some curveballs in terms of the timeline speeding up, and they took it in stride. They’re very easy to work with. Updates were made quickly and to our specifications. We had a lot of changes after the site was just ready to launch, and they were able to complete them with short notice.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Tiny Frog?

Be responsive to making changes quickly and efficiently. Avoid trying to make the process longer than it should be. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive editor at Ken Blanchard Companies, a world leader in management training and management consulting. Ken Blanchard is the author of more than 60 books, and I oversee all publishing efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

Ken Blanchard Companies has a corporate website, but the author did not have an author site. We needed to create a website for the fans of Ken Blanchard's books, who may or may not be users of products from Ken Blanchard Companies. We wanted something that was aligned with the corporate site but wouldn’t be confused with it. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before jumping into website design, we first met with an associate of Tiny Frog called Wolfhound Interactive. Brian [Founder and CEO] at Wolfhound Interactive is an expert in understanding what people are looking for when coming to a website, so they helped us determine what should be on the site and how it should flow before they started discussing the website design or web proposal. Their statistics-based approach really impressed me.

The site is built on a WordPress platform that's been customized, which was suitable for us since we would be doing a lot of the updating ourselves. It needed to be very user-friendly because I’m not a technology expert, and I'm primarily responsible for the content of the site.

There were about 4 layers of the company that we worked with. Tiny Frog’s CEO, Mikel, acted as our principal. Wolfhound’s services were a value added to the Tiny Frog contract. Brian worked on the visitor models and got us thinking through what should be where on the site. Natalie [Web Designer, Tiny Frog] handled the actual website design and worked on each page with me. Also, Tiny Frog had a whole separate department for the production phase, which included Chris [Hosting Manager/WP Trainer] and Inga [Lead Development Coordinator]. They were fantastic as well.

We went through the pre-website design discussion first to find out what really needed to be included. We had several levels of approval because we needed to make the Ken Blanchard Companies’ executives comfortable with the whole idea of having another website with the name Ken Blanchard on it. We didn't want the sites to compete; we wanted them to be in alignment.

Once we finished those discussions, we went into the design and wireframe phase. We had plenty of opportunities to ask questions at that point before too much work was done. It was a very deliberate, thought-out process, which helped us maximize the results of our spending.

Tiny Frog designed a logo that was complementary to but distinct from the Ken Blanchard Companies logo. They created visitor models at the Wolfhound Interactive phase. Once we did the wireframes, then they did the actual design of specific pages—a custom home page and 3 custom design pages.

The site contains content for a backlist of the 60 books. It introduces Ken as an author and catalogs all of his books into several different categories. We have “Managing Self,” “Managing Another,” “Managing Teams,” “Managing Organizations,” and “Growing Spiritually.” Within each category, you can search by book. Then, you can view details about the book and author, videos, reviews and press coverage, social media graphics, webinars, and “Buy Now” buttons that link to third-party sellers. It's really quite extensive. There's also a menu that deals with Ken's speaking career and a link to our nonprofit institute. We also have a blog on the site with contact information and newsletter signups.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

I described the job to a few different website developers. Not only did Tiny Frog have a competitive bid, but their reviews and references were way above other companies, so I was very influenced by that. When I met with them, I was very impressed with their personalities—easy going, quick learning, highly intelligent. The team understood what we needed and had a deep experience that really impressed me.

How much have you invested with Tiny Frog?

It's quite incredible. You would expect a website of this size to cost tens of thousands of dollars, but we spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We reached out to Tiny Frog in January of 2016 and did a final agreement in March of 2016. We developed the site throughout last year. A lot of the time was taken up on our end, gathering all the data that we needed, but they were very timely.

The site launched in May of 2017 to coincide with the publication of Ken's new book. For the most part, the project is completed. Tiny Frog is still available to answer our questions, but the transition has been a very easy process. We will go back to them as the website develops to add features and customize a few pages, but we certainly have everything that we need at this point. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

We don't have any hard numbers or search engine-type data because we haven't promoted the site yet. However, people who have seen the site are incredibly impressed with it.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re outstanding. It’s evident that they know what they're doing, they know the timeline, and they know who to contact for predictable problems (although we really didn’t have any problems come up). They gave us a sense of tight management and coordination. Hand-offs between departments were very smooth.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog?

We had another firm who had been designing individual websites for each book that Ken had been publishing. These were basic websites—no more than a page that just scrolled down. I can tell you from a project management point of view, designing this multiple-page, in-depth website with Tiny Frog was a much more coordinated process than working with other firms on single-page sites.

The firm that used to publicize Ken's books also bid on this project, but I know it would have been a nightmare working with really anyone else but Tiny Frog. They know what they're doing. They've done a lot of these, and they understand the process. They also offered wonderful training when we were ready to take over the website.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog could improve?

I honestly don't think they could have improved anything. It was a dream project. Over the past year, they were patient, alerted us in advance, and kept us informed. They stuck to their pricing, and we had no surprises there. I think they're a great organization.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager for an air- and climate-control systems company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog Technologies?

Our project was combining two old websites down to one website for eventual inclusion into the main company site. We needed to pare it down in the interim, so we reached out to them to get that done. We wanted the sites combined because we’re eventually switching to a company-based platform Tiny Frog is still building out. All the products will be listed, whereas before we had a commercial distributor-type product website and an end-user focused consumer website.

Now, we’ve got them combined to where everybody comes to one spot. Consumers can head off in their own direction, and distributors can see products they’re more interested in, but everyone can get to that. Even an end user can see the distributor products if they’re interested. It makes more sense to put them all in one, and just have separate gates to get people to what they want. They don’t have to look through 200 products to find what they want.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They came to us and gave us a way to gateway all the items together through one portal. We have a nice landing page, and then we give customers a simpler, cleaner way to divide and conquer from that point. Our main challenge was to get something with the right look. We also had to involve a look that’s similar to what the new company-wide site will look like. They’re not ready with e-commerce, but they’re building out other parts of their site that we’re involved in, so we wanted to keep the look similar to what they’re doing.

Tiny Frog gave us a design premise based on a similar look but with better functionality for our end customer. Our old sites were very dated, and the new WordPress site is much more user-friendly. It’s more crisp, clean, and clear to the customer where they’re going, what they’re looking at, and how they got there. We gave Tiny Frog the challenge of incorporating a certain look with much better functionality.

There’s an API function on there as well, and there’s also integration for customer screening via a tool for international trade compliance regulations. So, we can screen those customers prior to the purchase and determine if they’re on any denied parties list that would restrict them from buying a product from us before we even finish the order. I believe we’ll have to switch what we’re using by the end of the year, so I’m going to have Tiny Frog change us over to a completely different platform. It was really easy the first time, so I’m hoping it should just drop in and we’ll essentially swap out parts.

On the home page, a lot of the images we have are still design elements that they pulled in. We gave them the content to fill in. We either pulled some from the old sites, or we integrated the two things that were on the different sites into one piece. So, they didn’t create content for us. They were mostly responsible for the structure of the design.

I believe we had three people working on our project. We had one woman filling in the home pages, and then Raymond [Moul, Web Developer} was doing all the background development. So, we had one guy doing all the base structure, and they had one person throwing some content in for us. We had to populate all the product information, but some of the basic information that falls on the home page, and different things happening there, we gave them the content and they populated it. Raymond was pretty much doing all the background design himself, and then Andrea [Duszynski, Designer/Development Coordinator] was helping with populating some stuff on the home page for him.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog Technologies?

We got bids from a number of companies, including the company hosting the site previously. Tiny Frog came in with the best bid and the best ability to get it done in the timeframe we wanted. They offered the right spend and the right look.

How much have you invested with Tiny Frog Technologies?

The total development was just under $19,000, and the hosting agreement for one year is about $2,000

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in April of 2016, and our relationship is ongoing. In the last week or so, I got notice I have to switch the screening providers by September, so I’ll have to go back to Tiny Frog for that project. Other than that, we’re making image changes and things internally. We needed it up and running by a certain point, and we slid past that a little bit. If we find any errors or issues, I just contact Raymond and ask him to look at it. They’ve been really good about handling those.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It turned out very well, and we’re super-happy with the look we got. The functionality is a thousand times better. The president of our company said it’s the best-looking website we’ve ever had, and I agree. It’s easy for the customer to figure out how to buy the product. You can’t miss the ‘buy’ button. On our other site, you could hardly find that button. The old sites became more informational than anything, and people would go elsewhere to buy. Now I think we’re going to convert more sales. It’s okay if they go somewhere else, as we’re selling product either way, but it’s always nice if we can convert it ourselves.

It hasn’t been running enough to see a lot of data, and we’re in our off-season anyway. What little I’ve seen so far is inconclusive. I personally think there’s a little more traffic already to our website, even in the off-season. We typically had a purchase every couple of days, and I’m seeing almost one a day. It’s still statistically insignificant, but it seems that the volume is up already just by being simpler and easier for customers to use.

We’re still trying to get people to the site and making sure everyone is redirecting correctly. I think that could potentially be holding up a couple things, but we’re working all that out. We haven’t been running it long enough to have a good number, but I think we’re close to 10% or 15% over normal.

Everyone that’s seen the site has been very happy with it. Our president is ecstatic. He says this is the classiest, most well-organized site we’ve ever had. The old ones were super-dated and not user-friendly. It’s now extremely user-friendly. Everyone we show it to says it’s great, it looks clean, and it’s easy to follow.

How did Tiny Frog Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They were good. We threw them a loop in the middle. We had someone working the project, and that person was a contract person within the company, and they took another opportunity. I then got assigned to the project about halfway through, and they did a good job of getting me up to speed on where we were at, what decisions had been made, and where they were going with the process already. They had a pretty good handle on where it was going and why. They helped me get on task with them quickly so we could get it cleaned up as soon as possible.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog Technologies?

I was extremely happy with the people working on the project. They were available when I needed them. When I asked for a change, it was made in an acceptable amount of time, usually quicker than I expected. They were always attentive and ready to help. They were always there with ideas. I haven’t had any issues. They’ve been easy to work with and extremely helpful. If we ever wanted to see something different, they’d do their best to make it look that way.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog Technologies could improve?

There was a handoff period where they had a project manager person involved, and then they passed it to the developer at a certain point. I think they could clean that up a little bit. It seemed a little juggled for a bit for me. The developer got us rolling and we were fine, but there was a short period of time when I wasn’t sure who to go to with my questions. It could have been cleaner, but it wasn’t terrible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

B&G Consultants is a company in San Diego that does construction management and development consulting for developers and building and land owners. For instance, if a company or organization knows they need to build or renovate a facility, but they don't know anything about construction or development, they would hire us as a consultant and an owner's rep to embed within their organization and shepherd them through that development process. I’m the VP. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

We were trying to update our website. Our website, at the time, was old and behind the times as far as our recent project history, company history and overview, and contact information. We needed a refresher as far as the digital outlay of the company, modern technology, client relations, marketing, and branding were concerned. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were pretty comprehensive as far as giving us what we wanted in terms of updating the website and content and working with us on the preferred design, layout, and software that would be used while we gathered content. The platform they used is WordPress. We got training on WordPress, and it seems pretty easy to use. We had a program called GatherContent for photo and text uploading on behalf of us pushing our content to them.

One thing that's really helpful is we've got a contact module now, and it's really easy. It's set up through Outlook, and it's an info contact-solicitation module. You go in and type a message, and it sends the message from the website directly to me, which is an info address. That's really cool because it's really easy for clients and folks to get in contact that way. Also, we updated our featured projects module, giving clients an idea of what we've done in the past and what our bread and butter are. That module now has nice-looking photos and easy maneuverability.

Five people total were involved on their side—Mary [Development Coordinator], Chris [Hosting Manager/WP Trainer], Ben [Web Designer], someone else, and Mikel [CEO] in an oversight role.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

We talked to a few different groups. Tiny Frog came in with a solid, comprehensive proposal; they were the lowest number as far as their bid was concerned. Mikel talked to us in our office, giving us a nice presentation and formal handoff of the proposal. Their fee structure was good and definitely doable for us. They put a platform in front of us and sold us on their bill of goods as far as what they've done in the past for website renovation and what they recommend. They really walked us through how they thought our website should look. We had a recent marketing brochure that we gave them. They internalized that general look and feel and company culture and gave us a good, solid example of what they provide. It was upfront customer service, giving us examples, having the right fee, and explaining how they would walk us through the process.

How much have you invested with Tiny Frog?

All in all, their proposal amount was $6,500 or $7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in November of 2016, and we just wrapped up last month. It was a five-month deal. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

It was unsolicited hits on the website. If anything, we've been telling people via word of mouth that we've renovated the site. It has new features, and it looks better than the last version. We've gotten people, unsolicited, telling us that they've been to the website and that it looks great. In the three or four weeks since we've launched, I've gotten two or three info hits with the contact form. One was a summer intern looking for work, which is cool, and the other two were requests for more info about the company. People are noticing and using the info module to send us contact info and get in touch with us, so I've noticed a difference. It's nice when you get unsolicited comments like that.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

They did well. They were always available when we called. They would do stuff as far as uploading content for us if we pushed it to them right away. Within a day, changes were made, and action was taken. They worked with us every step of the way. Honestly, we're a small company and busy right now, so sometimes it would take us some time to gather photos, content, and relevant facts and figures and throw that over to them. I will wholeheartedly admit that if it wasn’t for us, it would probably have been more like two or two and a half months. They understood and were good about it. They launched when we wanted them to launch and took us through all of the training. I have no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog?

As a distinguishing factor, they have multiple departments and expertise ranges at their disposal. For instance, they have a design group; a comprehensive project manager, Mary, who helped gather our content and push the different activities to the different departments; the trainer, Chris, for WordPress; as well as the yearly maintenance department. Everybody digs in and does their own thing, which was helpful.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog could improve?

I can only think of one thing. We had an initial face-to-face kickoff meeting, which was really helpful. We burrowed in and exchanged paperwork and ideas. Maybe in the middle of the process, it would have been good to have an additional face-to-face meeting, even a progress update or a middle-of-the-road meeting. If they had offered to come to our office or vice versa, just to see how things were going, that would have been helpful instead of emailing back and forth. But, it ended up being fine. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company sells genomic services and microarray products to the research community worldwide. I’m the business development manager. I run the daily operations of the US office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

We wanted a more modern, global, and responsive website to attract B2B customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went through an overview phase in building the wireframes of the website and defining the look we wanted our website to have. We also discussed the general content that we wanted to cover as well as five custom pages. Lily helped us with that and was extremely helpful. The second phase was the design phase which Ben Valentine [Web Designer] helped us with. The third phase was with Jasmin Morales [Development Coordinator] who helped with gathering content and putting the actual site together using WordPress. The relationship was very collaborative and Tiny Frog was very responsive to what we were asking for. The site is mobile responsive.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

We saw their reviews on Yelp. We had considered other companies but Tiny Frog did an excellent job in presenting what they were going to do. Mikel Bruce [CEO/Founder] had a lot to do with our decision. He’s very thorough and I like everything he had to say. He seemed very confident and I felt we could trust them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2016, and we just launched the project in April 2017. I have a small staff internally so it took a long time to put the content together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I don’t have metrics because we just launched this week. The internal staff who worked on the site are very happy.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job. We had three main contacts that I already mentioned. We used GatherContent during the content phase. We used another tool where we could share the site as it was being worked on.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog?

I was very happy with the whole process. They were great to work with. Lily was really great in helping with the strategy and content of a couple of the custom pages. We would get stuck and she would move the project along.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a full-service wealth management firm headquartered in San Diego, and I’m the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

We needed somebody to help redesign and develop our website. We had a current website up, but we were frustrated with our current designer and developer. I went searching for a new agency that could help us continue to stay on top of our site and stay ahead of our competitors from a design standpoint.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially wanted a refresh of our website, so I linked up with Tiny Frog's designer Ben and their developer Raymond, and the three of us worked to upgrade the current website and brand. It probably took about two months to get everything updated and to go live. I was on a different hosting server and was having some problems with it, so Tiny Frog transferred my site from GoDaddy to WP Engine, which has helped the speed and performance of the site. It’s always stayed a Wordpress site. The security is much better. We moved all the current content and everything, so we didn’t lose any of the existing stuff we had going.

Once we moved to the new host, they did the refresh of the existing site. Now I retain them on an ongoing basis so I constantly lean on them for different projects. If I need little things here and there, they’re always quick to respond and help. They don’t usually charge me for little stuff, but sometimes if things start to add up they will. I brought on a new person to my staff recently, so Tiny Frog helped build out a new team page and get his info up there. As we grow and need to change, they’re always helping with those little projects.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

I just found them by asking around the community, and their name came up a couple times. The web designer/developer guy that I was frustrated with heard that I was considering Tiny Frog and he actually made a positive comment about them, so that made me feel a little better. To be honest, I’ve had a hard time finding a good agency and I know that it’s never permanent, so I just gave them a shot knowing that I can always change if needed. I met with Mikel Bruce, the owner, and we talked about my needs, and it’s been a year or a year and a half already.

How much have you invested with Tiny Frog?

I’d say $5,000-$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It looked like we got going in November of 2015 and we still have them on retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I can say that prior to working with Tiny Frog, we were on a shared server with GoDaddy and we were constantly being hacked into and we had constant security issues; it was just kind of a nightmare. It has been nice, from a security and efficiency standpoint, not to have to deal with that. We did have one outage recently, but for the most part, the site has been fast and secure, and to me as a business owner, that’s definitely important. We do get a lot of compliments on our website, and I think the design turned out great.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

For the most part, it’s been good. I appreciate quick response time. I’ve always been able to get in touch with them. Things don’t always happen overnight or as quick as you would hope, but communication is the most important. They’ve always been good about staying in communication and being accessible. I’m pretty happy with it.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog?

Recently, WP Engine, our host, updated their servers and it knocked my website out at about 9 PM. My site was inaccessible. I emailed Mikel Bruce, the owner, and within two or three minutes he emailed me back. He got his developer on the email and by 6 AM the next day, the site was up and running again. It was a little longer than I had hoped, but it was late at night, so I was still impressed. What I appreciated the most was the quick response from Mikel himself, knowing that he was attentive and got right back to me.

Other than that, the biggest difference is communication. Getting a quick response is really important to me, and that’s something new and different that I haven’t had from other agencies. Ben, the designer that I worked with, was of a higher caliber than anyone I’ve worked with before. He really understands my brand and image and vision, and he’s done an incredible job bringing that to life. He’s been a complete joy to work with. I’ve learned that it’s really challenging to find good designers and good developers that work well together to put together a great product and a great price, so Tiny Frog is right there in the middle. They’ve got a terrific product, the results are really good, and they’re affordable, which is great.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog could improve?

I don’t think so. I’ve always gotten what I’ve needed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an associate at La Jolla Capital Group, and we arrange financing for commercial loans in San Diego and nationwide. I do preliminary underwriting and analysis, loan processing, and all of our marketing and web presence management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog Technologies?

We had an outdated website that was heavily content driven with a lot of words presented in a layout that was not pleasing to look at. The website was confusing and it wasn't representing us the way we wanted it to. There wasn’t much of a strategy behind it. When we approached Tiny Frog, we were looking for a team that would learn about who we are, what we do, and what we were trying to put out there and come up with a strategy to help us best meet those criteria.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first thing Tiny Frog Technologies did was arrange a face-to-face meeting with us in our office, which was awesome and worked out well for us. We’re a small team in a boutique shop, so we liked that personal touch to get to know us. They looked at our website and learned about the work we do, our company culture, and the product we’re trying to put out there. From there, they made a basic sketch of what our site could look like, and they gave us some insight and a template. We weren't trying to develop anything from scratch because we don’t have the time or resources to make that happen. That being said, they were open to the idea of letting us include our creativity and points of view on different issues that were important to us. That always felt like it was a high priority for them, which was great.

After they started building the new website, we would get updates on their progress every couple of weeks or so. They were very hands on in developing the site, and when we had input and opinions, they were quick to understand and tell us why what we wanted would work or why it wouldn't. We valued their insight, but they respected our wishes too. I’m not sure what platforms they used to build the new website, but we do all of our updates through WordPress.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog Technologies?

We did a lot of research on competitor sites to see what other people were doing. We also looked at many of the companies that Tiny Frog had made sites for in the past. We were impressed by the clean and effective look of the websites we found.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think we started working together somewhere near the end of 2015, and the new website launched in November or December 2016. We continue to work together; Tiny Frog Technologies hosts our website now, which is great.

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 metrics at this point. That’s something we might get further down the road. We have gotten a lot of feedback from people who we work with regularly and who have visited our new website. They love it. I think our clients are impressed by the look of the new website overall. Our old site was outdated, and the new one represents us more accurately. In our office, we’re now proud to send people to our website. 

How did Tiny Frog Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I thought Tiny Frog did a great job from a project management standpoint. They built out everything from the beginning, including the timelines and their commitments to us, all of which were included in our contract. When I reached out to them, there was never a lack of feedback or communication. I don't think it ever took them more than a couple of days to get back to me.

Overall, I had a great experience working with everybody from Tiny Frog. They were timely and respectful. I've used WordPress in the past, but anytime I have questions about something, Tiny Frog has been super responsive, available, and helpful.  They’ve been respectful, they’ve clarified questions, and they’ve gone out of their way to make us happy. I kind of thought that once the site was finished I might be on my own, but it has not been that way.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog Technologies?

Our company is unique in the sense that we’re a boutique shop that customizes things for our clients. My favorite part was when Tiny Frog came into our office, met us, and showed us that they cared about our vision, our culture, and our guiding principles. They also were excited to give us a product that we could be proud of and that fit us. I'm sure other companies wouldn't have paid as much attention to who we are and what was important to us. I really appreciated that from Tiny Frog.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive vice president of JMJ Financial. It is a 15-year-old investor company that makes private investments, primarily on publicly held companies. We target growth companies and provide the working capital they need to help them continue and enhance their growth.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

Our existing site was very static and did not provide any interactive communications capabilities such as lead generation forms, newsletters, and signups. It was also technology that looked stale and did not communicate our corporate image effectively. We needed to substantially enhance and upgrade our website by making it more interactive, attractive, and communicative. Another goal was wanting to have the ability to utilize a content management system to change and tweak the content of the site ourselves without having to go outside and hire developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We contracted with them to provide a turnkey web development service for us. We wanted a WordPress ground up implementation. That began with strategic goals and objectives, the implementation thereof, progress through initial design phases to actual production, and then training and launch.

Tiny Frog has a very focused and effective development process. They utilize a project manager on every project and the involvement of a team of individuals throughout their organization. The team is selected on the requirements of the project at hand. In our case, we worked with strategic designers, SEO staff, and strategic communications staff. From there, it progressed into a development phase where programmers worked on the WordPress code.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

I had used them for projects in the past with other companies and had always been very pleased with their performance. They were my number 1 choice. Although we went through a competitive bidding process, they were certainly a company that we wanted, from the beginning, to bid on the project. As well, Tiny Frog is an expert at WordPress, and that was one of the criteria we used to select their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them July 2016 and launched late November 2016. It was very unusual in the web of world development that we were interested in a rather long timeline as opposed to trying to get things done rapidly. We provided them with a substantially longer timeframe than they actually needed to get the job done. This was in order to merge with other activities we had undertaken that had their own timelines.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our sales force went from hating to talk about our website to loving to talk about it. We’ve gotten tremendous positive feedback from our stakeholders and clients.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive, very focused, and complete on the project management. They use a platform and a number of tools that they use to communicate with the clients. They displayed any changes, asked for feedback, allowed us to circulate internally, and aggregated that feedback. It’s a very focused and stable process that they use. I never felt that I had to bug them; it was more along the lines of them bugging us because we weren’t meeting their deadlines and were dragging out the process. It wasn’t them; it was us because we were slow to respond.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog?

In my experience, a lot of web development firms are focused on getting projects done and applying what they have done in the past that they know works to every project that comes along. Tiny Frog takes each project individually and really tries to focus on the specific goals and objectives of the client, and then build the appropriate technology to meet those.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog could improve?

I don’t think so. They’ve performed extremely well and we’re extremely satisfied with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a boutique domestic staffing firm. I’ve been in business for 12.5 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiny Frog?

I wanted an updated, SEO-optimized website with a customized look on a WordPress platform. This will take the place of my third website that a friend of mine had created.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was probably one of the most cohesive processes I've ever been through. I was over the top impressed with everything. In the beginning, Mikel came to my home to pitch me and explain the process, how everything worked, the cost of it, and what I would be getting. Then I was introduced to my team. We started with the architecture and design of the website. I wanted the website to be aesthetically pleasing and designed in a way that would relate people that are younger than me. I also wanted to make sure the website had an architecture that made sense and improved the user experience. We modeled my website on 2 beautiful websites we found during the research for the project. The Tiny Frog team also taught me about SEO optimization and the rules and guidelines of how to have effective SEO.

How did you come to work with Tiny Frog?

I researched them online and saw that they had 5 stars on every Yelp review. They looked outstanding, so I reached out to them first. I called a couple of people through oDesk and made some connections, but at the end of the day, I felt a little uncomfortable having someone in India develop and make my website. I saw that Tiny Frog was local and had expert reviews, that’s why I went forward with them.

How much have you invested with Tiny Frog?

I’ve probably invested around $13,000 out of pocket. The original quote was $10,700, but we added a little more to the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

I want to say we began working together sometime around March or May 2016, and then we launched around December 29. I continue to use them for maintenance, hosting, everything.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Everybody loves the site, and all the feedback has been above and beyond. The website is gorgeous. In fact, I think it’s probably the prettiest website I've ever seen on Tiny Frog’s website. Maybe I'm biased.

One problem is that as of yesterday, I’m now at the bottom of the second page on a Google search. I’ve been on the front page for years; the original website was bought in 2004. It’s probably because our meta tags were not what they should be. Yesterday, I was stressed because of it. I’m hoping we can get this problem solved, but I know they’ll resolve it because they’re flipping awesome at what they do.

How did Tiny Frog perform from a project management standpoint?

Really excellent. This is the first experience like this I've had, but it’s been an excellent one. I’ve been in contact with multiple members of the team, depending on what stage of the project we were in. In the beginning, Lilly and Nathalie were my go-tos. I was introduced to Inga as the project manager, but she didn't really come into play until we had the art and design done and most of the stuff in place. Since then, Inga’s been my point of contact.

I’m easy to work with because I don't have a schedule to put people under pressure. If they needed something from me, I tried to deliver my information to them within that day. When they were done with their phase of development, they would get back in touch with me. They might have had to wait for me a couple of days here and there, but I tried not to stall them. They did everything I gave them.

What did you find most impressive about Tiny Frog?

I’ve had an incredible experience working with Tiny Frog’s team. I’m in the service industry. I’m used to taking care of people. And that’s what they did for me. I was taken care of. It has been spectacular. In fact, when I have a minute, I am going to write an amazing review for them on Yelp because they deserve it. The project has been cohesive from start to finish and it’s nothing short of fabulous.

Are there any areas Tiny Frog could improve?

No, not at all.