Pearl Lemon

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Co-Founder and Marketing Director of an online B2B professional service provider.

For what projects/services did your company hire Pearl Lemon, and what were your goals?

Our company has depended almost entirely on organic website traffic for our customer enquiries since it was launched in 2014. My own knowledge of SEO got the site to a number of competitive (often no. 1) spots for many valuable keywords, however in late 2020 we noticed many of our rankings drop.

Our SEO has never had a consistent strategy behind it, with me trying some of one thing and some of another, with mixed results. I realised I no longer had the time or depth of knowledge to continue to run the company's SEO efforts so wanted to outsource this to a specialist SEO agency.

How did you select Pearl Lemon and what were the deciding factors?

In my opinion, the SEO industry is filled with both companies that claim they know SEO, when really they know little more than the basics, and SEO companies that are more established, but in my experience choose to hide behind an elaborate series of smoke and mirrors...

You never really know what process they will follow, who actually achieved the results they claim to have achieved, how much it will cost you, or what the end result will look like.

It's a minefield. I have also had some very bad experiences with digital marketing agencies in the past, so not only did I have high expectations of Pearl Lemon (as I'm not new to SEO myself), but I was admittedly paranoid about hiring another agency too.

Fortunately, I found Pearl Lemon twice - both via a Google Search and also on Upwork (always a good sign for an SEO company...) - and the overwhelming first impression I had from both online profiles was "these guys know what they're doing". Their customer reviews spoke for themselves. It only got better when I then spoke to Ion, Pearl Lemon's Sales Manager.

He made a really fantastic impression and didn't try the usual pressure tactics I'd found when speaking to other SEO agencies - they were totally transparent about what they can and can't do, and left it with me to decide. I think it was clear from the outset that they had nothing to hide and are simply good at what they do.

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

The team was tasked with improving our rankings for 7 valuable keywords, including at least one which I would describe as "highly competitive" with high search volumes.

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

Pearl Lemon is made up of a team of specialists - everyone from technical SEO specialists and PR experts, to a backlink builder. I also spoke with Ion (Sales Manager) and the Founder, Dee.

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

Since Pearl have started working on the site, our rankings have not only returned back to the place they were before (a real relief), but our rankings for a number of keywords have also improved further than this. This is just after 2 months of working with them.

We have also significantly improved the loading time and UX of the company website, following their detailed technical SEO recommendations. Their advice and support has led to us hiring a new (much better) web developer, who is now rebuilding the site from scratch with many key technical improvements in mind.

Long-term, I expect this will further improve our rankings on Google (and overall user experience for all website visitors). They have also reviewed and cleaned up our current backlink profile, provided an SEO-led content calendar for our Marketing Manager to follow, and much more.

Aside from the "doing", Pearl Lemon are also incredibly transparent about the process they follow and help their clients understand exactly what it is they are doing.

As soon as we started working together, they sent across a very detailed guide on exactly how they build backlinks for their clients (and, importantly, why they take their particular approach), and every single aspect of the work they do is backed up by a video explainer video.

I have also had some quite detailed/complex questions at times - they have always been handled very well. The level of detail is insane and so the value for money we have seen from the SEO work alone has been excellent.

I say "the SEO work alone", because working with Pearl Lemon has actually been transformative for me as an "entrepreneur" on many levels. I feel like I have hired an SEO company and a business coach (in Dee) at the same time!

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

I have direct access to every person working on the site, and a Whatsapp group with Ion and Dee. The entire team is incredibly responsive, helpful and honest. The relationship is totally free of the usual BS I have grown to hate when hiring many professional service providers, across many different industries.

I have access to a client folder on G Drive containing all updates and reports, and receive a very clear report on the work completed every fortnight without fail. I have genuinely enjoyed the experience from day one. They just "get it"...

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

I feel Pearl Lemon is a direct representation of Dee himself - he goes out of his way to add huge value, above and beyond what someone could reasonably expect as a customer.

The company's ethos and approach are totally unique as a result. On a personal note, working with Dee and his team has made me remember exactly why I've also chosen to run my own company. I never thought I'd use the word "inspired" in a review about hiring an SEO company... but there we go. I just did.

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

I can't think of a single thing.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of the leading website for 529 and college savings information, with millions of annual visitors.

For what projects/services did your company hire Pearl Lemon, and what were your goals?

Primarily for Technical SEO, Keyword Research, and LinkBuilding

How did you select Pearl Lemon and what were the deciding factors?

Quality of team, breadth of knowledge and reference materials, can-do attitude, and relevant experience. Plus, they just seemed like awesome team to work with.

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

They did an incredible job of auditing our SEO: technical, on-site, and off-site. They then prioritized the activities that needed to be done, and worked hand in hand with our tech team on areas they needed some help with, and with our content team to develop content and/or edit our existing content to rank higher and drive traffic.

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

They assigned a project manager, but we had interactions with various specific members of the team that had different areas of expertise.

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

We have a sizeable editorial team and couldn't seem to break 15% growth YOY for a couple of years now....with Pearl Lemon we more than DOUBLED our growth rate to 33%+ YOY.

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

Email, Slack, whatsapp. They were very hands-on, communicated a lot with us, always replied within hours and thoroughly. They really felt like part of the team and not a traditional agency, which was incredibly refreshing.

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

Super responsive, they really take ownership of the project, took the time to really understand our business, and like I said earlier, they felt like part of the team and not an agency.

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

None at the moment.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of sales for a facility management services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pearl Lemon?

We hired them to assist my sales team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

 There work included a combination of SEO, email marketing, and calling. They also supported us with general consulting.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 of them. We worked with a company director, sales team, and sales director.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about £5,000–£7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started work in June 2020 and it’s ongoing.

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

They work very hard. They increased conversations and helped us understand our market a lot better. They are extremely responsive and very helpful.

How did Pearl Lemon perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed extremely well. We communicate by messaging on WhatsApp or by calling them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work very hard. They listen carefully and ask questions constantly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They won’t let you down.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Commercial Manager at Insly in charge of building new outbound business

For what projects/services did your company hire Pearl Lemon?

To assist us with the scaling our our lead generation to pass onto our sales team to close

What were your goals for this project?

To generate an additional 10-20 leads per month

How did you select Pearl Lemon?

I know their founder Deepak, and have seen him generate leads on a consistent basis for his business as well as clients - so asked him to present to Insly alongside several other firms

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

To assist with building out our pipeline. We do a combination of cold email with a follow up phone call and Pearl Lemon introduced LinkedIn into the process which has been very powerful for us

What was the team composition?

Deepak, Phillip, Skylar and Melanie

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

We generated from 12-25 leads per month through Pearl Lemon of which 2-3 were quality leads that could afford our mid 5-figure and above ticket prices - making their fees more than worthwhile

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Easy, whatsapp + email were our communication channels - no complaints

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They make it all look so easy. The generation of leads using a sophisticated array of tools and automations alongside human intervention was extremely impressive

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to mind. Their reports could be prettier but I'm an excel guy so actually I enjoyed the data. My MD less so - but you can't please everyone ha :P

Please describe your company and your position there.

At DVC Resale Experts we help buyers and sellers of Disney Vacation Club, Disney's version of timeshare, purchase and sell their memberships on the secondary market. I am the co-owner.

For what projects/services did your company hire Pearl Lemon, and what were your goals?

We started with a PPC and email campaign and intend to continue with those, as well as add SEO. Our goals are to drive buyers and sellers to our site to purchase and sell Disney Vacation Club contracts. Our initial goal is 4 new listings per week and we are seeing that met immediately.

How did you select Pearl Lemon and what were the deciding factors?

Google search and my deciding factor was that they were ranking in the search results, proving their ability to achieve success for their own website, hoping that would translate into success for their clients.

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

PPC campaign, as well as initial email campaign to test the success of working with our database.

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

Ion and Deepak, owners. Sam worked with us on PPC management and Phillip worked with our email campaign.

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

We've seen an immediate flow of new listings from the email campaign as well as a couple of buyer leads. We've taken 3 new listings that we can trace back to the email campaign. We've not seen any results yet from the PPC campaign.

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

Initial zoom and phone calls were great, followed by mostly email communication. I found Phillip and Sam very responsive via email.

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

Specialists for each field, such as PPC, SEO, email marketing, etc. We appreciated their specialized knowledge.

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

I would have liked more detail and transparency. In the email campaign, I didn't realize the follow up emails would be sent, which may be great for most campaigns, however our database of DVC members is a little different.

I'd have liked to see the PPC campaign landing page tied in with our website and our Google Analytics so I could see traffic numbers, especially since I'm not seeing results. I'd also like to see the ads, etc.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a B2B e-commerce development agency. We deal with industrial companies, construction companies, that sort of thing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pearl Lemon?

They do everything regarding SEO for me. I was working with another agency, and they were really lacking. Now he handles large SEO contracts for me so I can focus on development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re just working with them, establishing an online store, and creating an SEO campaign. We had a discovery session to discuss what are goals were and what we wanted to rank for. We chose a few key terms to drive product sales.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, but we have an entire team dedicated to this project.

How did you come to work with Pearl Lemon?

I can tell the quality of a company based on the amount of work they put on their own site and the amount of content they publish. I actually found Pearl Lemons on LinkedIn, and selected them based on the content they provided. It was spot on with what we were looking for.

Obviously, their case studies and reviews stood out, and then ultimately, the way they conduct business was huge for me. They were flexible and understanding.

How much have you invested with them?

They’re on a monthly retainer, so it varies. Right now, we’ve spent about $10,000 with them, but we’re about to double that campaign.

What is the status of this engagement?

We were in contact with them last year, but we started working together in February 2020.

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

All of our tracking is set up on Google Analytics. My client also asks how callers find them. Based on the tracking and my client’s feedback, my client has seen calls pretty much double. Especially during COVID-19—although we took a hit, it seems to be doing better than before.

The amount of calls that we’ve gotten has been tremendous. Now that we’re launching the online store, we’re really going to reap the benefits of that.

For example, we were working with a company in the septic and agricultural industry. Pearl Lemon has helped us get them to rank on the first page, which has provided traffic and increased leads.

How did Pearl Lemon perform from a project management standpoint?

They send videos to explain everything. So if we had a question, they sent us a video to explain it. That was very helpful as our clients tried to understand SEO.

The team was very organized, and they tracked it in Google Sheets, and within the document, there were resources where we could find the answers to our questions.

They’re reachable within 24 business hours on any platform—WhatsApp, email, whatever. They also follow up with me if I haven’t responded in about 24 hours, and I love that. They constantly check in to make sure we’re staying on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication and transparency. In my experience working with other providers, trying to establish a reliable network is difficult. But working with Pearl Lemon, I know who is on the team and can see their biographies. They get back to me, they always follow through. In terms of deadlines, they’re always spot-on. They’re always honest and open about what they’re doing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not at this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set expectations. They’re really good with that. Realize that SEO takes time, so be patient and trust they’re putting in the work. The results will take time, but it will come.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Follow Alice, a travel agency. We organize international trips starting from London.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pearl Lemon?

We needed help with SEO and lacked the internal resources to make it happen. The goal was to bring our rankings up for select keywords.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Pearl Lemon for link building. We did a content plan. We also did a technical analysis of the website to figure out if there are onsite improvements to be done. Most of the work was offsite with link building.

What is the team composition?

There were at least 4–5 people. Our first contact was with the relationship manager. Deepak (SEO Director) was in contact with us as well. There were 2–3 more people that we worked with mainly via email for the technical parts.

How did you come to work with Pearl Lemon?

The initial due diligence was done by our CMO. He compared a few agencies and read reviews. Pearl Lemon stood out to him: we liked the conversation with the, and they seemed to know what they were talking about.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together in March–April 2020. We initially agreed to work for at least three months, but we stopped because of the COVID-19 crisis. We agreed to reengage once our revenues come back and people travel again internationally.

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

There was a huge shift in customer behavior in the middle of the project, so it’s hard to know what impact there has been. I can’t tell any metrics. 

We enjoyed working with Pearl Lemon, though. They’re very responsive and helpful, and they took care of our questions. The work they were doing was great. We’re very happy with what they were doing for us.

How did Pearl Lemon perform from a project management standpoint?

I’d give them a perfect score. They’re very proactive, quick, and well-organized. The onboarding was flawless. We had a group chat on WhatsApp with the main people involved. The rest of the communication was via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Pearl Lemon had good depth to their analysis. The technical analysis went through every detail on-site with specific recommendations to improve them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t say anything negative. It was great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend using them. Make sure to communicate clearly what it is you want and what your targets. Part of the impact comes by how well you internally manage them or what particular goals you want to achieve and how narrow you formulate them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager for a private jet charter company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pearl Lemon?

We needed to improve our digital marketing at scale and to take a more targeted approach to our efforts. We needed to combine strategy with copyrighting expertise.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team helped to develop a sales playbook, which includes lists of approved wording that’s designed to convert. They’ve also worked with us to ensure that our templates are technically deliverable and that the bounce rate’s down. Their team also worked with us on segmentation.

What is the team composition?

Overall, we’ve worked with three people.

How did you come to work with Pearl Lemon?

We originally found them via Google. They used a live chat tool, so I got in touch with their team and was impressed by their speedy replies. Their team got back to me with all of the answers that I needed before any of their competitors replied to me at all. We chose them because of their keen and hardworking approach.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $4,000 per month on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking with Pearl Lemon in November 2019 and the project started in January 2020, which is ongoing.

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

Anecdotally, we’ve seen an uplift in the sheer quantity of our outreach. We’ve also been able to keep our performance solid. When we’ve scaled in the past, we’ve seen a decrease in our performance stats. It's useful for us to increase scale and keep performance steady.

How did Pearl Lemon perform from a project management standpoint?

We operate over WhatsApp mainly but also have weekly calls. Their team has quick reaction times. They keep everything on point honestly. They’ve been good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Pearl Lemon’s energy sets them apart. We work with their company's leadership, which gives us a personal touch that we couldn’t get from employees. Not that employees would do a bad job. But when its someone’s business, there’s a unique passion.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We cleared up any issues early on in the engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep your communication channels open. Pearl Lemon responds to constant feedback well. It’s not going to be a hands-off relationship where you leave them to execute on their own. They work best as a partnership.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CMO @ Pitchground - we are a site that helps entrepreneurs launch their app to a hungry audience of buyers

For what projects/services did your company hire Pearl Lemon?

We discussed how we can work on a collaborative course launch to our audience to provide them with SEO-led copywriting advice

What were your goals for this project?

To grow the Pitchground audience and engage our current users as well as run a successful launch on Product Hunt of the course

How did you select this vendor?

Our founder Udit has known of Deepak for some time and we’ve seen Pearl Lemon grow on Facebook and LinkedIn over the last two years

Describe the project in detail.

To build a course around blogging and producing excellent content and launch this on course.pitchground.com as well as product hunt in a sustained campaign launch

What was the team composition?

Deepak Shukla (lead), Max Carrol (support), Lydia Sims (content design)

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

So far the feedback for the course has been excellent. We’ve had around 1,200 people sign up and it’s looking like it will get to 5,000

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were blown away by how quickly Deepak get’s things done and the standard at which he does it.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The energy and adaptability of the company. They are engaged and are really committed to the success of Pitchground.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing in particular. Deepak doesn’t prepare as much as other people do but then he still produces amazing content

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the marketing executive for an E-learning company. We provide online courses teaching 21st-century skills for teenagers. These include skills like critical thinking, entrepreneurship, and resilience, and our goal with them is to prepare students for university and the workplace.

What challenge were you trying to address with Pearl Lemon?

Our website needed a significant amount of work on its SEO. I am not an expert myself, so we needed someone to step in. The head of marketing had stepped down and we hired Pearl Lemon to help us with that.

We also used to be B2C focused, selling to individual students, but then we decided to make the shift to B2B selling to schools and institutions and we were looking for help with making that shift.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pearl Lemon helped with keyword ranking, link building, and general SEO. They provided us with monthly reports on our keyword rankings and building on that, as well as helping us with our website health, including the metadata and things like that. In addition, they did a lot of background work to improve the speed of the website for us. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with four people from Pearl Lemon. Deepak (Founder, Pearl Lemon) was our primary point of contact. He was very responsive and sorted things out when we needed them to. The rest of the team was really good and provided useful weekly reports.

How did you come to work with Pearl Lemon?

I wasn’t involved in the process of finding Pearl Lemon, but I know that the person that hired them liked their style of work and the way in which they were always trying to innovate. 

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from June–December 2019.

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

When it came to the link building activities, I believe they had a certain number of links they were supposed to provide and they definitely met that. Deepak sent us a summary report and we significantly improved in our keyword rankings.

They provided us with some Google Analytics reports on top traffic channels and the channels that worked best for us, and although I didn’t see a massive change in that, there was a rise particularly when it came to keyword ranking.

How did Pearl Lemon perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a casual relationship and it was really easy to talk to them. They were very good at responding, as we spoke primarily on WhatsApp and email. They had a lot of ideas for us and were good at meeting deadlines, so we received all the reports when we should have.

I would say that we occasionally felt a little bit ill-informed about the details of what was going on. They were sending a lot of information to us, and we aren’t experts in this sort of thing so it was a lot of information to take in. They definitely provided a lot of reports, which they said they would, but it was a little bit too much information.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think if you like having a very relaxed relationship and you like working with different people who are experts in different fields, that is what Pearl Lemon is really good for. They are all remote, but they are experts in whatever they do. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes we could have done with a little bit more of a walkthrough as to what was going on. If you have a lot of knowledge in the area then what they are doing is probably perfect. If you don’t know anything, however, it can be quite time consuming because there is so much information and at a certain point you have to just trust what they are doing. Generally, they were good but it would probably be more useful if you have more knowledge in the area.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Depending on how much management you like to give people, it might be good to set up a more regular call with them which we didn’t do. I personally would prefer a little more of a structured meeting schedule, so I would say to book meetings with them to make sure you understand what is going on.