Digital Elevator

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Christina Grice, the owner of Life in Balance. Life in Balance is a full-service bookkeeping provider. While dealing only with US currency, we provide our services in the following areas – accounts payable, financial reporting, payroll, bank reconciliation, invoicing are just a few of our bookkeeping services

For what projects/services did your company hire Digital Elevator?

We hired Digital Elevator for a full brand revamp and web design.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to transform the overall look of the company to take it from that small business feel into a corporate feel. The business has been expanding and I knew Dan and his team would capture that in the best way possible.

How did you select Digital Elevator?

Digital Elevator was referred to me. 

Describe the project in detail.

At our round table, I gave them details on what my brand is about, what it stands for, where I see it going, and what I would like to change. I translated the vision I see for my brand, but I do not have the tech background to explain in detail what I want the site to be.

They were able to execute my vision perfectly based on the depiction I gave them. When the drafts began to roll in, it was so spot-on that it made me emotional.

What was the team composition?

After the round table, I worked mainly with our project manager. He requested anything he needed and as did we from him. Our process went extremely smoothly.

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

With my new web design, my clients and customers are able to clearly see what my firm offers and how it can help their business. They get a layout of my different packages and a page of FAQs - one of my favorite touches.

Current clients are also able to get to their client portal, which is on a third-party site, from the website. Their approach to design is user-friendly, and they considered all of my company moving parts.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective. Their response time is superb, it is usually within the hour, definitely before end of day.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

From the moment I decided to work with Dan and his team, they were dedicated to my site's relaunch. It was like magic how they put together exactly what I envisioned after just one round-table conversation on the expectation and vision I had for my brand.

Dan and his team created a brand kit and website that completely transformed and elevated my brand, and they included me in every step and decision. Their approach to design is user-friendly, and they considered all of my company moving parts. You honestly can not go wrong with the Digital Elevator - you NEED them!

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not that I can think of.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing and Business Development for a home decor ecommerce company. Our success over the last 10 years has been largely thanks to word of mouth, believe it or not, but it was time for us to start getting a bit more deliberate in expanding our reach in order to continue that growth.

For what projects/services did your company hire Digital Elevator?

Being a small company with an even smaller team, we try to identify where our strengths lie and enlist best in class help for the areas where we aren't as experienced or can't dedicate enough time from internal teams. There were a number of initiatives in the SEO world that we recognized we needed help with, but decided the priority was to focus on the content strategy for our blog. Our blog had been up and running for about 6-12 months, but the approach was very sporadic and we weren't seeing much return on our efforts.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted our blog to become a valuable source of traffic to our website. We are not a universally well known brand, so we wanted to utilize our blog to get in front of new audiences who may be interested in what we have to offer. We wanted to rank higher for some core topics in our industry and become a trusted resource within the decor world.

How did you select this vendor?

Digital Elevator came highly recommended to us, so they were at the top of our list when we started evaluating partners. I connected with them directly, but also looped our Digital Marketing Manager and CEO into the evaluation process. We are a quite budget conscious company given our business model, and Digital Elevator was understanding of this and able to make a solution fit our budget.

Describe the project in detail.

Since they are the experts in SEO, we leaned heavily on them to help us determine what areas would be most worthwhile to focus on. We had some ideas that would have allowed them to do more / make more, but they were very honest and forthcoming with us in explaining that some of those ideas wouldn't be worth our while or were better suited to tackle down the road. That is when we knew, without a doubt, we had made the right decision going with them. We mutually decided that our blog was the best area to begin with, so they wasted no time doing their research on our existing blogs, our industry, our competitors and then specifically our unique business model and the challenges that come with it. From there we were provided with several well thought out topics to write about each month, as well as the keywords to focus on, and several other valuable data points and suggestions so that our internal teams could take those ideas and form them into articles that would perform well for our business. They were even looking at our product release calendar and the seasonality of our business, to make thoughtful recommendations on topics that would provide us selling /linking opportunities throughout. it was far more than purely giving us a few titles to write about.

Their team was more than capable of bringing the whole content development piece in-house, but constraints on our end limited us from engaging them on that level so this was a happy medium. We also had a dedicated number of consulting hours on other SEO topics each month which my team benefitted from tremendously. Even outside of those hours, we were getting reports, helpful articles and other tools sent over to us to ensure our success. Truly a top notch team & operation.

What was the team composition?

Since our project was small in scope, we only really interfaced with two people from the Digital Elevator side, which was more than enough. As for who was a part of the behind the scenes efforts, I can't be sure, but we had a single consistent contact, and a backup contact, in the event our primary contact was unavailable. This worked beautifully for us.

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

It is nearly a year now since we engaged Digital Elevator, and I am thrilled to say that the blogs we worked on together are ranking #1 almost across the board for the keywords we targeted. This has increased the traffic to our site, and we couldn't be more pleased with how it has impacted our business.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We mainly communicated via TeamWork, but also had direct phone calls for consulting hours. The DE was always very quick to respond and always made themselves available when we needed them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

A few things that stood out to me about DE were firstly, how knowledgeable they are in their field. They truly are experts, but were able to explain complicated topics to those of us who are less savvy in a way that was easy to understand. They treated our small project with the same detail and enthusiasm as one might expect from a project 10x the size which was really meaningful to us. They took the time to understand us fully, and make recommendations that were in our best interest, not theirs. What more can you ask for in a partner?

Are there any areas for improvement?

We have nothing but positive things to say about Digital Elevator.

Please describe your company and your position there.

New Hope for Children is a state-licensed, Hague accredited non-profit adoption agency located in the seacoast of New Hampshire. Tim is the Chief Financial Officer and Director of Domestic Adoptions and Alisa is the Chief Executive Director. Their team consists of attorneys in both New Hampshire as well as in Accra Ghana, Managua, Nicaragua and Kampala, Uganda. NHFC has a Ghana Program Director who works from London, England. NHFC has an NGO in Ghana and is accredited to facilitate international adoptions in all three countries.

For what projects/services did your company hire Digital Elevator?

The New Hope for Children website needed to be updated to include more recent technological features while making navigating the site as user friendly as is possible. The agency is working to target audiences of both pregnant women in crisis who need support as well as those interested in pursuing an adoption.

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

The agency directors saw the opportunity on a charitable giving website and after reviewing Digital Elevator's site and services, directors wanted to work specifically with the company.

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

NHFC met with about ten of team members from Digital Elevator to discuss the plans for overhauling the website. One of the most beneficial things was to spend time with the team so that they understood the agency's mission and purpose. From there, director's sent the most current information on the different programs it offers. Photos and testimonials were also sent for inclusion in the new site. Digital elevator then created a shared workspace so everyone could collaborate together toward successful completion of a fresh, attractive, user friendly new site.

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

The agency worked with about ten team members from Digital Elevator from the director, developers. Dan and Rob were the lead and toward the end of the project, we also enjoyed working with Jake.

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

The project has been completed and the agency can see that the site is much more user friendly and has a new more exciting look to it. We are looking forward to tracking the effectiveness of its ability to attract desirable online users to our site, ie. prospective birthmothers to the families who are waiting to adopt.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Digital Elevator team was incredibly easy to work with. The best part was they were so interested in our work and could easily see our passion for needy children which came through in the new site.

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

The Digital Elevator team is incredibly knowledgeable with regard to technological features for prospective clients to efficiently navigate the site. They made suggestions that we simply had not heard of, which resulted in exciting new opportunities for the agency.

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

NHFC does not have any suggestions for improvement.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Perfect HQ, a goal-oriented design company that provides research, strategy and design. We help brands create digital experiences that removes frustration and brings delight to everyday life.

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Elevator?

One long-term client that relaunched their website needed marketing and design services. We routinely partner with subject matter experts and in this case reached out to Digital Elevator for SEO and content creation strategies.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a custom solution using ethical SEO practices. Whereas many agencies use black hat methods, which manipulate numbers with fake articles and landing pages, Digital Elevator focused on increasing genuine traffic through search engines.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two or three people. The founder lead the strategy and two content SEO strategists supported him.

How did you come to work with Digital Elevator?

I met the founder, Daniel at a local tech meet-up put on by The Palm Beach Tech Association; As we got to know each other we realized that there was synergy in both of our offerings. When the right client opportunity came across my desk I reached out to Daniel to collaborate

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration started in Q1 of 2016 and ended in Q4. The engagement was successful, and our client was very happy. 

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

We were extremely satisfied with their work. Digital Elevator’s team was very professional, well spoken, and used slide decks effectively to explain complex content strategies. Our client was very happy, having experienced a 40% increase in traffic as well as boosts to social traffic, the number of engaged visitors, and content.

We've worked with other SEO firms in the past, but none understood our needs like Digital Elevator. Their content strategy led to higher click through rates and longer reading times on the site.

How did Digital Elevator perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was a very close-knit collaboration. We shared common values about proactively staying ahead of deadlines; often, we waited for the client to follow up. Digital Elevator was also proactive in adjusting strategies to changing needs found in their reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their knowledge and ability to form relationships stood out. They didn’t focus just on numbers but created a plan after listening to our company’s and our client’s needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Off hand, none that I can think of. Working with them as a vendor/agency partnership was a perfect fit. We heavily screen any vendor that we work with before making the decision to include them in client work, and Digital Elevator met our standards and continues to deliver solid work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an internal medicine practice. We specialize in alternative medicine.

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Elevator.

We were looking to increase our exposure through digital marketing, and very specific brand awareness.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started by optimizing the website that we had in place. There was a detailed analysis of the website, the market, and of our competitors. We discussed our goals and based on the current conditions of them, we put together a plan with the SWOT analysis to specifically target and go after the market.

Their work included SEO, email marketing, and publishing an e-book. There are continuous advancements to the site to increase brand awareness and exposure in the market. They did a little bit of everything. It was all a part of the analysis – we designed a specific plan to get the job done, and we’re executing that plan.

What is the team dynamic?

We were usually in contact with 3 or 4 individuals. Our project manager was Dan [Founder, Digital Elevator] who has been the main individual that we've worked with, but there were several others involved in various projects whether it was the print ads or publications.

How did you come to work with Digital Elevator?

It was a referral from somebody else that I work with at another business. At the time I was working with another SEO group, and after meeting with Dan and seeing what they were about it was an easy decision to switch over.

How much have you invested with them?

About $2,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

The results have been significant. In general, overall traffic has increased by 1000% percent. It’s unbelievable. It’s unusual for them to get us to rank as quickly as they did. I’m very impressed at the speed and their whole approach to the process. They’ve done a great job for us.

They’re very educated on how Google's administrative policy operates. They understand it and they work within the confines that Google has set out. There's a lot of other groups that go the bounds of SEO marketing, but they don't do that and they do an excellent job of getting it done. I’m very impressed.

How did Digital Elevator perform from a project management standpoint?

They're really good. That's one of the key things that I like the most about what they do. They have a plan every month and then they accomplish it; then, you get a report and an analysis on what they've done. The whole process is very transparent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're just highly professional. I’m sure plenty of other companies are too, but they get the job done right. It’s that simple.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At this time, no. I plan on staying with them for a while.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My name is Eddie Lester and I'm the CEO of Fitness Mentors (www.fitnessmentors.com), which helps trainers develop their personal training careers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Elevator?

Increasing my company's mostly non-existent Google presence. Another key challenge was making sure that the website is up to par.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a new WordPress website, and created an email marketing strategy. For the website, I gave them a basic idea of what I wanted and they brought that vision to life.

The team also did an analysis about the company’s competitors on Google. They are providing ongoing SEO [search engine optimization] services, as well as site maintenance.

What is the team dynamic?

My main contact is Daniel [E. Lofaso, President & Founder, Digital Elevator]. I have also worked with a few other employees.

How did you come to work with Digital Elevator?

Daniel sent me a message on Instagram because he noticed we both worked with surfers. We had a call to discuss what kind of work my company needed, and then I spoke to a few other other companies as well. I had the best feeling—a sense of common ground—with him, and decided to move forward.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started in April 2015. They continue to provide ongoing site maintenance and SEO work, and we're discussing a redesign for the website.

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

Taken all together, their work has helped increase my revenue by 1000%. In terms of Google ranking, they were able to make the company the top search result for all of our keywords within six months of launching the SEO plan.

The new website has been very effective. The layout is very simple and clean, which is what I was looking for.

How did Digital Elevator perform from a project management standpoint?

Daniel is awesome. He is very patient, especially with a client that doesn’t know much about online marketing. Very easygoing and personable.

He’s readily available. Deadlines are kept, and he’s clear about what to expect throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A strong sense of honesty is very impressive. Being personable and having good communication skills is another core strength. They have the patience and ability to explain what is being done, why, and the potential benefits to the business. And then they very effectively perform the work and deliver those benefits.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of marketing at DuvaSawko, an organization that provides revenue cycle management for emergency medicine physician groups by way of billing and coding.

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Elevator?

Our company has existed and excelled on a word of mouth for a long time. We didn't have valuable content on our website, so we were looking for someone to help us build strong content and direct traffic to the website. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We're a niche business and most of our sales take 3–6 months, so it was important to deliver the right content to our prospective clients. Digital Elevator positioned us as subject matter experts in the industry, changed some design elements on our website, making the "call to action" more visible, and added pages for various services we offer. They also emphasized the specific areas around the revenue cycle management that matter to our clients.

They continue doing digital marketing and writing blog posts for us.

What is the team dynamic?

Most of the time I work with Dan [Daniel E. Lofaso, President and Founder, Digital Elevator]. I also speak with some members of his team, usually when they need clarification or additional insights from us. Everyone is very personable. 

How did you come to work with them?

I worked with Dan in the past. I knew he is very capable when it comes to finding a distinct match between our services and what our prospects are looking for when they go online, so I was confident in hiring him.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $2,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working with them in October 2016, and we continue working together.

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

The digital imprint they're making brings us more clients. Since we're a niche business, we don't have a plethora of people knocking on our doors. Driving traffic to our website and having valuable content helps people who need our services find us.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint? 

They're very responsive, never miss deadlines, and report the progress. We had no communication issues. They use Basecamp, and everything is transparent. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Dan is very frank with us, offers feedback, and brings new perspectives. I'm comfortable doing business with them because of their high level of expertise. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and a co-founder of Allocable. We’re a software as a service company that provides time tracking, business intelligence, and human resource management in the cloud.

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Elevator.

We have a sufficient team on the product development side, but we were lacking resources on the marketing and sales side. It was too costly to hire staff, so we started looking for a digital marketing and SEO vendor to help build our brand and extend our reach.

What was the scope of their involvement?

D.E. originally agreed to help with SEO and content strategy, mostly to help build up content on our blog. We had a lot of need since we had no staff in that area of the business so they ended up taking on much more work to help us out. Our software is one of the more innovative products in the market and there is not a lot of content about our core technology – predictive intelligence and scenario planning analytics. At first, it was difficult for the D.E. team to help create blog posts, content, and white papers because the subject matter was so technically scientific in nature. They did a great job of researching and working with me to put relevant content out there.

What is the team dynamic?

My relationship was with the founder, Dan [President, Digital Elevator], but I also worked with Rob [CTO, Digital Elevator] who acted as our project manager. Over the course of the time we worked together, there were always at least 2 people dedicated to us, sometimes more. If we had a big push to create a lot of content, complete web work, and SEO at the same time, they would bring on additional resources depending on our needs.

How did you come to work with Digital Elevator?

I'm a member of the Palm Beach Technology Association and I met Dan through the association. I had heard a lot of great things about him and his business. I reached out to him and 4 other vendors which I interviewed; some of the vendors were large marketing agencies in Boston or New York, and I chose D.E. because of the proximity to my location. I wanted to work with a local expert. Also, secondary, because he was also a member of the Palm Beach Technology Association.

How much have you invested with them?

We started off with a budget of $2,000 per month for the content creation and SEO strategies. When we started doing more PPC and retargeting that went along with our digital marketing strategy, we started spending over $6,500 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2016, and the engagement is ongoing. We’re actually selling our company, and I’ve cut spending on almost everything except for Digital Elevator because they are that valuable to us.

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

They’ve been highly effective. Dan’s been coaching me on how to write better blog posts and white papers as well as helping me truly understand the SEO KPI’s that are the most important for a business like ours. Because of our combined efforts, at one point, we experienced a 211% increase in new business over a 3 month period.

We had measurable progress in SEO every month. It took a little while in the beginning because of how long it takes to get indexed and make any traction, but we started to see an increase every month.

How did Digital Elevator perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive. It was super helpful when they added Rob as an additional project manager. Whenever I had tasks I couldn’t fulfill with my own team, they would jump in and take care of it for me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide a highly boutique customer experience, and they are very knowledgeable about the right things at the right times for a business to do. Best of all, they treat you like family. They actually care very much about your success. It was clear in the way they managed me and the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be nice to see them add additional services, such illustrations, infographics, and video. I had to go elsewhere to outsource those things, and it would have been great to get it all in one place.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you run a small company like ours and can afford it, I suggest bringing on a marketing focused resource, that has worked in multichannel marketing to help coordinate the day-to-day tasks associated with digital marketing and working with a vendor like Digital Elevator. There are a lot of moving parts and it moves fast. It is easy to get behind.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founding attorney at The Lewin Law Firm, a criminal defense service provider.

For what projects/services did your company hire Digital Elevator?

We needed Digital Elevator to develop a logo and website for our firm.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted our site to have quality SEO and be user-friendly. It also needed to convey key information and entice potential clients.

How did you select this vendor?

We looked for website developers online.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Digital Elevator began the project by providing design drafts for the logo. We went through a few rounds of edits until they produced a clean and modern final product. From there, they designed our website and integrated the written content we provided for the site. Lastly, their team helped us launch the platform.

What was the team composition?

We worked with Daniel (President, Digital Elevator) and Rob (CCO, Digital Elevator), who provided more than enough resources to complete the project.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They helped create a top-notch website and logo that represented our business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Daniel set clear expectations about the timelines and requirements from both teams. They were responsive throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Though their team handled all the technical work, they still taught us how to make minor changes to the site by ourselves. Their dedication to elevating our online presence while teaching valuable skills made them an asset.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I can’t think of anything they could've done better.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CIO of a pharmaceutical company.

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

Our website was growing stale and outdated. We wanted to create a corporate identity the brand could be proud of by modernizing the aesthetic, provide a cost-effective solution with a web partner, provide hosting support, provide long-term maintenance, and create a reliable platform in which to edit and maintain the web presence. The ask is to create a new website with its own unique presence and user experience that is related to the primary demographic that will be using the site.

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

Though many years of working with The Digital Elevator in past roles, I trusted this team to deliver a website with its own unique presence and user experience. Their in-house talent, expertise, attitude, engagement style, and creativity were second to none.

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

We had a kick-off call to discuss project milestones including discovery and research, development of strategic concepts, development, quality assurance, and launch. After the team developed all the content, they delivered a wire-frame, mock-ups, and graphics. After a few iterations, their team delivered a WordPress site including WCAG 2.1 compliance technology for attestation reporting, Global Privacy Controls API integrations for future state privacy, Salesforce integrations, among a few other backend integrations.

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

A project manager was our main point of contact throughout the process. There was 1 full stack developer and 1 content marketing specialist.

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

After launching the site, the new modern design was welcomed with organizational wide enthusiasm which provided a moral boost.

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

We had regular check-ins including e-mail, web meets, Teamwork, and Loom.

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

The Digital Elevator Team is on my most trusted partners all-star list. They are an incredibly bright, capable, and easy to engage with group of professionals that rebuilt our existing website giving it the modern look and feel we needed, rich with valuable content. My endless thanks to TDE! Well done!

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

This team is an experienced, polished, well-oiled machine.