Direct Line Development

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Love in Media Photography. We do wedding photography, corporate photography, headshots, photobooths and more.

What challenge were you trying to address with Direct Line Development?

We hired Direct Line Development to provide digital marketing support. More specifically, we wanted a new website and new leads on Google.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Direct Line Development created our custom-built website using Python. Based on our design preferences, they provided several options and incorporated the one we chose. On this platform, they’ve built a functional booking module and incorporated animations, as well. Additionally, they’ve integrated our site with Instagram, so the posts populate on both platforms. They’ve ensured the site has an easy-to-use CMS.

Additionally, they provide technical SEO support, focusing exclusively on organic traffic. They write content for us every month, also working on backlinking and crowd-marketing the links. Their team is also working to optimize the site’s speed. 

What is the team composition?

There have been at least 10 people working on our project from Direct Line Development. A project manager, head designer, graphic designer, copywriters, and SEO specialists have been helping us. 

How did you come to work with Direct Line Development?

We followed a referral and chose Direct Line Development. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $5,000 on the website and the monthly fee is $1,500. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2019. 

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

We’ve already started to rank higher for keywords like “professional photographer near me”, “wedding photography near me” and “photobooth rentals”. Their monthly reporting shows that my ranking has improved and we’ve gained more leads through the website. 

How did Direct Line Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is very responsive. We communicate a few times a month, if not weekly. It’s easy to get them on the phone and get a follow-up within 30 minutes to an hour. If we need something changed, even after a deadline, they accommodate it. We primarily speak through email, text message, or monthly phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The results have been great, the design of the site is awesome—everything is top-notch quality. We like the fact that their work is custom, not like a pre-made template. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The development of the site took over three months, so even though it’s custom work, it would have been helpful if it were done more quickly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

A project is a two-way street. As far as communicating and setting your business goals, make sure you’re involved in the process. You’ll get a better product if you don’t just set your requirements and forget about the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of Speed Raceway, which is an indoor electric high speed go karting facility. We have two locations, one is in Horsham, Pennsylvania and the other one is in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.

What challenge were you trying to address with Direct Line Development?

We had a WordPress website made in 2012, but it was far below the standard we set for everything else in the company. The site was crowded, and although it functioned semi-well, the mobile speed was poor. It wasn't designed well and failed to represent our business. Our competitors had vastly superior websites, so we needed to make a change.

Our old website used embedding. We use a Club Speed operating system to run everything in our building including our timing system for our laps, our fail system for the go-carts, our accounting system, and all of our frontend and backend operations. We needed to embed Club Speed into our site, but we also wanted our site to look better.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on our entire site using Python. I described my vision for the look of the site and showed them what I liked about our competitors’ sites, and then they did the rest. They brought my vision to life. They managed and executed the design aspects such as colors, graphics, and content flow. They improved our site’s operation speed, and added the desired flare to its design. Before hiring them, our site look like plain embedding coded and displayed using Times New Roman font on a white background.

They helped make the desktop and mobile site look clear and run quickly and concisely. They executed various specifications for us such as enabling event booking online. They were the first firm to execute this for Club Speed, and to successfully connect the API on the backend to allow booking. They perfected our reservation system, and they wrote it into our coding. They also helped us sell leagues and summer camps online in site coding, and helped improve our online system for processing and selling gift cards.

They are working on SEO now, which they kept in mind while building the site. We paid for an 18-month package, which started this month.

What is the team composition?

I mainly worked with two people, Anna (Project Manager, Direct Line Development) and Greg (Sales Manager, Direct Line Development), and I worked with developers through them. I didn't have to deal with 30 different people, which was great because I didn’t want to interface with too many people.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together August 2017 and continue to work together. We may eventually implement electronic gift cards or other such updates and changes.

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

I don't have a lot of statistics because the site launched recently. I know we had a strong first weekend, and with their help, our e-commerce has increased significantly. We've never had as many reservations as now, which can only be attributed to their hard work and attention to detail. From the font to the background, everything flows well and looks ideal. Over the last five years we’ve received many complaints about online errors with gift card sales, but now we don’t have errors and purchases with gift cards are processed immediately.

We have so many new customers, but we haven't announced the new website yet. We want to wait at least two weeks before making an announcement, so we can find and resolve any bugs and make sure everything runs smoothly. I talk to most people who book with us and ask for their feedback, and everybody remarks that the site is smooth and user-friendly. 

How did Direct Line Development perform from a project management standpoint?

When I requested an online event booking feature, we weren’t sure if they could implement it; they said it was possible and got the job done. We didn't follow a strict timeline because we weren’t sure how much time the site work would need. Despite this, the new site runs great, and everything was delivered relatively quickly.

We could have done better as the clients because we asked for certain features late into development. If we had our specifications set ahead of time, development could have proceeded faster. We met on site at our office multiple times. The majority of our communication is through email or phone. If I tell them I need to speak to them in person, they don’t hesitate to come in.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It's worth noting that if you work in this industry, you’re most likely using the Club Speed operating system; they have built the best website for it. Our competitors’ websites are all inferior to our site now. They have a lot to offer, and I know they're already working with a couple of other companies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Any problem I had was on my side and my team. I can’t think of anything they did that I have an issue with. They had to do a lot of integration work, and it was the first time anyone has really done the type of work they did.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take a month to think about exactly what you want and ask for it. Don't add specifications six months into development, which is what we did. This has bothered me because we set ourselves back by doing this.