Dark Matter Digital

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a customer service representative at Pool to Spa Services. We work with customers in the North Central Washington region to take care of their pools and spas.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital?

Our website was outdated and not functioning in the ways our expanding business needs it to. We were looking to achieve better branding design and a platform easier for our customer base to browse and quickly get the information they need and reach out to us in a way that's manageable for our smaller office staff.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking at designing our own site to allow for our staff to make changes easily or simply going for a redesign on a basic platform. We had an appointment with Dark Matter and really appreciated the honesty and how they took the time to get to know our business and needs and made useful recommendations. The time and personalization put into our project really showed up.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After a few meetings via phone to discuss our goals as a business and our ideas for the website redesign, we started the project. The Dark Matter team was great about staying in contact with us, even going into our busy season and we were able to follow along with the status of the project all the way.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We were in contact with 1 member the whole time, but I know there were about 3 others working on our project and they did a fantastic job!

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The web leads are much more thorough and customers provide a lot more information that we can move forward with.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager was very easy to get ahold of and communicate with! Brandon was also flexible with our spread out schedule and available at good times even though there was a time difference.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were really impressed by the personalization and thought they put into the icons on our website! As well as how they incorporated branding continuity from our service vans to the website. They were extremely creative and professional.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not that I have noticed, but we will continue to be working with them as our website hosts.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of a commercial real estate firm. We are one of the highest volume producing agencies in our market area.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

We had a very old and outdated website. We were looking to start fresh from the ground up and our team in house had a lot of ideas that we wanted to incorporate to best suit our individual agents needs as well as the overall company platform.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Dark Matter Digital was referred to us by someone we have a high trust factor in. We did interview and collect proposals from several vendors. Dark Matter was a clear front runner from the start as they were very receptive to what we needed as we came in with our own ideas and they were willing to incorporate and suggest improvements to further those goals, as well as give us a very detailed proposal.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had two key players in our organization who would be the points of contact for our project. We worked directly with Brandon via Slack, email, and phone. After the initial framework was developed, we moved to MarkUp where we would all communicate on the actual layout and watch changes and adjustments in real time. It was incredibly easy for us to work with Brandon and his team and as we are very busy this was a must for us.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Brandon was out primary contact for the entire project and secondarily Joel was involved in some of the backend work.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have just launched our site and have already gotten excellent feedback from our clients and other agencies we work with. We have a monitoring plan in place to track our effectiveness over the next few months.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

There were many days we communicated multiple times a day, as we are very busy so when my inhouse coworker and I had time to get together to review Dark Matter was readily available to meet our needs.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Our site is fresh and updated and very easy to navigate. We know that one of our main data suppliers is doing a roll out in a few months and Dark Matter has already begun preparing to make those adjustments to our site in advance. That will keep us ahead of the curve rather than trying to update after the facet.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We have zero complaints, our entire process was excellent.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Brandon is very knowledgeable about SEO and was responsible for increasing our organic traffic and ranking significantly. He also helped us migrate our site from webflow to Contentful making sure our site health remained in the high 90s. Now only is Brandon an SEO expert, he is also very knowledgeable about website development so that came in very helpful during the site migration. This is the 2nd time I’ve worked with him and would absolutely recommend him. He is a pleasure to work with, communicates well and most importantly drives results.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

Technical and on page SEO. Our goal was to improve our ranking significantly.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had worked with Brandon at a different company before. He had a done a great job there so I chose to work with him again.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

The process always starts with a site health audit after which he lays out a proposal for technical seo, on page and off page. Included is some keyword research and content topics to go after.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We interfaced with Brandon for everything which was straightforward and efficient.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Since working with Brandon our organic volume and search ranking has increased significantly.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We communicated through slack which was great. All deliverables were done very quickly. They are very fast.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their expertise in SEO was really helpful as we ran into some challenges migrating our site. Brandon was very helpful and knowledgeable about best practices to make sure everything got migrated over without breaking anything or disrupting our SEO efforts.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Brandon’s technical capabilities are fantastic. Don’t think our site health could be better! There were a few missed meetings so communication around attendance could have been a little better. But overall the work was great.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and co-founder of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the political space focused on strengthening and preserving the guardrails of democracy. We formed around a year ago, and we’re currently three people in the organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Dark Matter Digital?

We were trying to update our website. One of our key initiatives for this year was an election pledge, so we hired Dark Matter Digital to upgrade our website and create a database of the people who signed the pledge.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we went together through the specifications document I had built. Dark Matter Digital then created the wireframes for the database, and we iterated on that part a couple of times.

Dark Matter Digital built the solution using a few robust products, including Webflow and Airtable, which was good — I really liked that part. They also extended it in very useful ways for where we want to go in the future. For example, they implemented a way to pull in some data through a Google Services API, which was very useful. Additionally, they created an online update process for the database, which was also useful because my original update process was through a spreadsheet.

What is the team composition?

I’ve mainly worked with Brandon (Founder & CEO). I know that he had other people from his team working on the project, but we only had reviews and discussions with him during the process.

How did you come to work with Dark Matter Digital?

I contacted Clutch, and they gave me 5–6 different options for potential partners. We were hoping to have this project completed by mid-January 2022, so I wrote a document with our specifications, which I then sent to those potential partners. They all came back to us very quickly with their estimates. Then, we talked to each of these companies, and they went through their proposals.

Ultimately, we went to Dark Matter Digital because they had a good approach to the project from a technology perspective. I felt that they would get us there with a good and scalable solution. Additionally, their proposal was very cost-effective, and Brandon was very responsive.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $8,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and we’re still working together.

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

The measure of success for this engagement was delivering the product on time and within budget. Dark Matter Digital went above and beyond to deliver what we needed, and they delivered the product when we needed it.

The solution they’ve built is a good reflection of our requirements. It meets our specifications, and they built it on standard products, which has been very beneficial because we can depend on those. Overall, they’ve created a good-quality solution.

How did Dark Matter Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Dark Matter Digital does an excellent job sticking to schedule and budget. Brandon was very responsive throughout the process. For example, we could communicate with him if there were any issues, and his team quickly addressed them. We’ve mainly communicated via email and Google Meet, and Brandon has shared many documents through Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Dark Matter Digital’s strength is their responsiveness. Whenever we had any concerns through the process, they immediately grasped them and updated what they were doing to address them. We appreciate their willingness to collaborate and make things work very much.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Dark Matter Digital has done a very good job, so we will continue to work with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Dark Matter Digital is very good at working quickly and cost-effectively, and they work very closely with great tools. The tools Brandon used for our context, Webflow and Airtable, are very useful, so if those tools fit your environment, they’re a very good choice.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President & Founder of my Luxury Hospitality Firm that specializes on providing exceptional Learning & Development to hotels and resorts.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

I felt that my initial branding and logo aspects were not as exceptional as they should have been. This I hired DMD to refine and reinvent the company for 2002 and beyond.

How did you select this vendor?

I found them online and after speaking with them and receiving their pitch I was sold on their services.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

Redesign of existing logo, branding guide development, font selection, branding guide, social media banners/icons, Favicon

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One member worked with me; the CEO.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The outcomes were full completion of the project in a timely manner. Not to mention products I am very excited about and cannot wait to implement across my company and social media.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

I felt that the communication was quite excellent and they used a variety of tools to connect with me whenever they needed things from me. Slack, email, and text were all implemented to allow close communication.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their approach and personalization was outstanding. I really enjoyed the process and how easy it was to get in touch with the CEO to communicate about the project.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None that I can think of. Everything went extremely well from beginning to end.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for a marketing firm as a fast track to project management.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

Wow, I don't think I've ever written a bad review but at this point my hands are tied. STAY AWAY! I hired Dark Matter Digital and within the first month I had an issue with communication. It took 2-3 weeks for someone to get back to me. They never answer the phone or respond to emails.

They finally got back to me and apologized and said they were M.I.A. because of COVID and then changed their number without telling me or updating their social media or website with the new info. I gave them the benefit of the doubt because of COVID. I explained that I was using a large chunk of our budget to retain them and that I needed them to communicate with me. I stressed this factor a lot.

They assured me it wouldn't happen again and apologized. Then I paid them $325 to design me a new website, letting them know that this was time sensitive because of the holiday rush. They quoted me a 7-10 day turn around and said it wouldn't even take that long but they "wanted to be safe". Another month went by without any communication despite my multiple attempts via email, text and phone.

Then they lied about a server issue with GoDaddy to cover their ass as if they had no control over the situation. Someone finally got back to me and apologized again and then set up a time to speak with me the following day to demo my site. That was the last time I heard from them.

It's going on 3 months now without my website, no refund and ZERO communication. They have my number and email address and I have reached out over a dozen times in 3 different ways. I own a business, this is highly unprofessional. I have NEVER dealt with a company that was so incompetent, unethical and unresponsive.

I am now out of my advertising budget for this years holiday season and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. They didn't even do any work for the retainer I paid them, just "research". I will be filing a complaint with the BBB and looking at alternative options of recuperating the funds spent on their "services". I don't even know what to say.

DO NOT CHOOSE THIS COMPANY!!!

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They had good reviews... at first. They seem great at first and then take your money and don't deliver work or respond to you.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

I hired them to design a new website and to retain for marketing/PPC campaigns.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

one, the owner.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Nothing. They didn't do anything except take my money.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

There isn't any. It's nonexistent.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They're horrible.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Every single aspect of the business needs to be improved.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an Associate at a Wealth Management firm. Our firm specializes in investing for high net worth clients in private equity, private real estate and private debt.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

We had a majority of our design already prepared by our designer but we needed someone who could help us with the execution of the design and make all our designs workable. We needed someone who was familiar with web development and graphics so that we could smoothly transition from static designs to actually converting them into workable elements.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We found Dark Matter Digital through Wix - the platform for we used for our website development.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

After we submitted a collaboration request through Wix, Brandon from Dark Matter Digital reached out to us and we explained our needs to him. Our requirement was to convert our existing static designs into a fully functional website. We shared the mock up designs with Brandon and he was very forthcoming and understood our requirements in no time. We used Wix for our website development. We also wanted our email signatures to be converted into a workable format which we could not figure out a solution for without Brandon's help. Brandon developed a HTML code for our email signatures which we were seamlessly able to use in Outlook.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Brandon was our main point of contact at Dark Matter Digitals. He was the only person we communicated and worked with.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Within 24 hours of launching our new email signatures, we received great feedback from our clients and partners on how well they looked. We have yet to launch our new website, but we anticipate a similar reaction to it as well.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We communicated daily with Brandon and there was no delay in his promised timelines. He delivered all required items as we expected and made all the changes we asked for in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

For us personally, we were impressed by the following:

1. Brandon was extremely forthcoming
2. There was never a lack of communication
3. He very clearly understood our specific details
4. They did not shy away from working to get us what we needed, even if it meant multiple revisions.
5. Did not charge an excessive amount for projects

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We are thrilled with our partnership with Brandon and Dark Matter Digital, and we would definitely consider him for any future project we wish to embark on.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of NGWSCustoms.com I hired dark matter to do a revamp of my current website. They offered me a very reasonable price for AMAZING work. We couldn’t be more pleased with the website.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

We hired Dark Matter Digital to do our initial website creation/revamp and launch. We had a very short timeline to get it finished and a very set budget and they accommodated us perfectly

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I found them on Facebook because of their amazing reviews. Happy I did because they did an amazing job!

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a kick off meeting to discuss my goals and vision. I worked specifically with Brandon Holt. He did An amazing job of setting proper exceptions while also meeting the requirements with budget and time.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked directly with Brandon. He was not only the person who handled my initial consultation but also the entire development of the website

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The look of the website took my company to the next level! We have our big event coming up and we are very excited to showcase the new website.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had a open Line of text communication and email communication

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The open line of communication and ability to meet my deadline and price range

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nope everything was perfect!

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company sells jump ropes and offer online fitness services. I am the owner.

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

Our goal with hiring Dark Matter Digital was to have them create a great looking and super functional website in a short amount of time. They did just that- they were able to create a custom site in just 2 weeks and the communication was great all throughout.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched around for a while for a site developer but came across Dark Matter Digital on Upwork. As soon as we reached out, Brandon followed up and after discussing with him over the phone, I know he would have the company's best interest.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a kickoff meeting discussing the deliverables needed. For example- we provided all of the product pictures/l, descriptions, etc and showed Dark Matter Digital a website skeleton of what we were looking for.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Just one I believe- the owner named Brandon.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Before this, we did not have a site that we sold products from so we can’t compare there. However, we did use to sell on Etsy. Based off our 4 months selling on Etsy vs selling on our site now for 1 month, we have seen a 65% increase in jump ropes sold in 1 month vs the 4 months of selling on Etsy.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Communication was great- all done professionally through email.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The communication and responsiveness was our favorite thing.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No- the service we received was great.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the Executive Director is a non profit organization

For what projects/services did your company hire Dark Matter Digital, and what were your goals?

Our website was created and very difficult to navigate. We wanted to add new Information, components and include a design for new site as well.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We researched web designers, and selected this company based on reviews which were very good, talent and pricing.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We decided to add new pieces to our site, build a new brand and invite web users to a site that was easy to navigate.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with one person, the owner of the organization.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have had positive feedback on the website already. The information and interactive components that were added make it clear that this web designer knew how to build and rebuild a site with the customer in mind.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We emailed, spoke over the phone and made clear expectations from the beginning of the project. This company met our expectations and there was no need to go back and forth, once a piece was complete it was done perfectly and we simply moved into the next piece.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

This company was far better than other organizations we’ve worked with. We were able to have one on one conversations to explain our ideas and get proper feedback.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None at this time