Black Antelope

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

We've gotten very good feedback from our partners. We set up analytics for the new site they just finished after we announced it, and we've been getting quite a few hits. Everyone who has reviewed their work has been really impressed. They should be very proud.

Black Antelope did a phenomenal job of developing our website, including the CMS and design. They were able to work with anything we threw at them, and the finished product came out perfectly. 

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been great. I appreciate how Black Antelope communicates. We used to send them tasks by email, but they transitioned to Basecamp. As an online tool, it helps facilitate interactions between the client and the vendor. 

Now, we use it to put in all our requests, and they always get back to us quickly. We have running threads within the forum that include comments, posts, and images. This tool has streamlined our process and been very successful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed by the level of one-on-one personalization they offer. They have excellent design judgment and provide better alternatives to our suggestions for placement and functionality. 

Black Antelope is such a small team that they feel more like a family-owned business than a bureaucratic corporation. We never get automated ticket responses to the task requests we send. 

Since the developers run the project themselves, there are never layers of divisions to communicate through. They respond very quickly, even though I work unusual hours including after 10:00 PM. Even at night, they usually get back to me right away. They’re willing to support us beyond the standard workday whenever the need arises. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really have nothing to complain about. Black Antelope has been doing a phenomenal job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We always let them know our priorities and which less important items can wait. Since we know we're not their only client, we respect their time. Make sure you’re addressing what's most important. Delineate urgent matters like deadlines and be clear about what you need the most, so they don't get bogged down. 

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

When we started working with Black Antelope, our company only had about 150 members. I had no team of my own and was working exclusively with vendors. I had to rely on Black Antelope as my technical advisors as well, in terms of site hosting. I was also able to reach out to Black Antelope later on for consultation, which is something that I greatly appreciated. Black Antelope knew our site and needs, so they provided valuable technical advice for free.

Our company has close to 500 employees at this time. Our website traffic increased tremendously. Even though not all of this is attributable to Black Antelope, having a much more robust website contributed tremendously to our success. We had significant peaks of traffic at times, but the site never went down.

Black Antelope helped us with initial SEO implementations, giving us core advice for this area. We definitely saw an uptick for Google search results.

Six months after we stopped our engagement with Black Antelope, we hired our own SEO person. Until then, Black Antelope acted as our advisor. Because the site was faster and more professional, our rankings went up, which was great.

How did Black Antelope perform from a project management standpoint?

The only negative feedback I have in this sense is that I was sometimes nervous about Black Antelope's ability to deliver something on time. I didn't see many of the intermediate steps at certain points, even though the work still got done in time. I know now that Black Antelope is a competent company, but since I wasn't familiar with them in the beginning, I had some doubts.

Many project vendors suggested using project management tools, but I'm usually resistant to this. I always preferred having calls and using email for our collaboration with Black Antelope.

What did you find most impressive about Black Antelope?

Black Antelope has good technical abilities and I always felt that I could trust them and ask their advice on hosting packages, what types of resources we should hire, and so on. Black Antelope didn't have a get-in-and-get-out approach. At one point, I wanted to use Black Antelope for maintenance. They were upfront about the fact that they don't prefer working on retainers as a business model. Black Antelope could have taken my money and strung me along for a while, but they didn't. Black Antelope did offer assistance for any urgent issues, even though their suggestion was for me to hire someone in-house. I appreciated this level of honesty and professionalism.

Are there any areas Black Antelope could improve?

I would appreciate more visibility into milestones. If Black Antelope is working remotely, the client needs to have a level of comfort.