Razor Rank

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and business development for Pierro, Connor & Strauss, a trust and estates and elder law boutique firm with offices in New York City, Albany, and other satellite locations. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Razor Rank?

We hired Razor Rank to design a new website for the law firm and manage our SEO, Google Ads, and paid media campaigns. The goal was to boost organic search and improve the quality of leads, as well as offer an exceptional user-designed experience on www.pierrolaw.com.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the web design project, Razor Rank transitioned our old site from Squarespace to WordPress. They kept all of our prior content and designed the site in a manner that highlighted our services and optimized our organic search performance for prospects and current clients. They also turned the website into a robust platform for our blogs, event management, and contact forms. They also wrote and added multiple new practice area pages. 

Our ongoing contract with Razor Rank beyond the website involves managing and writing new content for us every month. The team also does keyword research to optimize the website for Google search results, helping our prospects find us more easily. 

What is the team composition?

I started working with Razor Rank’s account team, and then they transitioned me to one of their partners and two different teams. One of them was the web design team. 

After website launch, I primarily now work with two account teams: SEO and Paid Media.

How did you come to work with Razor Rank?

I spoke with the marketing director of another law firm, who mentioned that he had used Razor Rank for their SEO campaigns. He said no one was better than Razor Rank; that they are the “best in the business.” After talking to Razor Rank, I decided to hire them for web design and SEO. Later we added the account for paid media. That was how our engagement started. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $14,000–$16,000 on the website, which went live in March. For ongoing services, our monthly bills are around $6,800 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Razor Rank in January 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. We finished the web design project in March 2021. Additional work is ongoing.

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

Razor Rank has brought threefold more business than what we had before through Google and SEO. Traffic to the website is up over 50%. Conversions are up and our Firm is seeing exciting improvement in page rank for key practice areas. In addition, we are at the top of page 1 for estate planning in our key markets directly due to Razor Rank’s management of LSAs. In fact, it’s almost too much to keep up with all the leads; Razor Rank is so good, that we’re doubling our efforts to contact all the prospects they’ve generated.

The quality of the leads is also solid. We have two flagship offices in New York City and Albany, with affiliate locations in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Florida. Razor Rank uses an algorithm that positions us smartly geographically. Through keyword research, we’re generating so much business that even my boss is praising Razor Rank during staff meetings. 

Overall, everyone is truly impressed with Razor Rank’s services. The team has been fantastic from the get-go. They listen to our goals and craft a strategy, and they’re highly collaborative as they make great suggestions for the direction of our campaigns. 

How did Razor Rank perform from a project management standpoint?

Razor Rank’s project management is exceptional. I work with two teams: SEO and Paid Media. We have bi-monthly meetings, and the team is always on time with an agenda. Their reports are easy to understand, and their members are collaborative. 

Even though they’re a vendor of ours, it feels like they’re a true part of our team. There’s mutual respect for new ideas, though we leave our SEO decisions to their expertise. At the same time, they’re interested in our feedback. As a result, our campaigns are crushing it. 

Overall, the Razor Rank team is excellent, smart, and professional. They bring new ideas to the table. I can’t say enough about how much I recommend them for both SEO and paid media services. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been able to compare Razor Rank with two other vendors, and they are exceptional in terms of expertise, collaboration, and results — hands down. In my mind, they truly blow away the competition, delivering a fantastic, user-friendly and engaging website. 

On top of that, Razor Rank has also given us ongoing customer services that are professional and friendly. As a result, I’m confident that we’re in extremely adept hands. The team members assigned to us are responsive, and it’s easy for me to reach out to their higher management. Overall, the Razor Rank team has been a game-changer for our firm, and I’d highly recommend them to any other law firm or company in the same profession. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t. I’m 100% happy with their services.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can’t get optimal results if you silo what you do from what their team does. To get the best results, go in as an equal partner and be involved with them on a frequent basis. Razor Rank is responsive, so you must stay on top of everything that’s happening.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Metis Partners are a multi-disciplinary IP valuation firm with a proven track record in the assessment, exploitation, monetisation, valuation and sale of intellectual property assets.

We have extensive knowledge and experience in helping companies leverage the often hidden value of IP to support their business goals. We operate from offices in the UK and the USA. I am Director of Marketing.

For what projects/services did your company hire Razor Rank, and what were your goals?

We had a very heavy, content rich but dated and poorly performing website. We were looking to build a new site to coincide with a major rebrand.

The purpose was to two fold:

1. to present a contemporary company with wealth of experience and knowledge to new markets, predominantly the USA
2. to improve our digital performance both through paid media and SEO. We needed not only build capabilities but digital consultancy to ensure the project met our business goals.

How did you select Razor Rank and what were the deciding factors?

We worked with a third party, The Agency Guy, who helped find us the right agency to work with. He chose a team that had not only the breadth of capabilities that we required but who had also worked with clients from the professional services.

Razor Rank's legal experience would support their understanding of the markets we operate within.

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

We took on two projects with Razor Rank:

1. one was the website build that has been a considerable piece of work from detailed forensics to understand our competitive edge and key word rankings. This project is currently just completing the design phase
2. we have worked with our own graphic designer on our identity and Razor Ranks Lead Graphic Designer has executed the new designs into the website design and templates. We also undertook a Paid Media campaign which Razor Rank designed, built and executed on our behalf. We used both Facebook and Google Ads. We are currently in the early stage of the campaign and have seen some success already (albeit not fully converted to date).

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

We worked early on with the two business owners Andrew and Jason to ensure the project contract fully encapsulated the brief. We then have a project manager in Thom; Fernando and Logan for the Paid Media Campaign, Paul for Graphic Designer and now moving to work with Ralph for the web build.

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

It's early days still. We have hit all our project deadlines to date (and indeed are a week ahead of design). For the Paid Media campaign, we are already seeing conversions but again, early days.

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

Project management to date has been purely through email. They utilize Write internally but we are not working on that platform with them.

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

The wide reaching and dedicated skill base within the team (for example, on the paid media Fernando specializes on Google and Logan on Social). The team are highly knowledgeable and they are very willing to share their knowledge and teach us as we move through this journey with them.

They are a really amenable and responsive team and we all very much enjoy working with them.

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

Personally, I would prefer a different project management tool or way to present the project plan. I find emails cumbersome to track all actions and being more visual, I enjoy working on tools such as Basecamp but even Excel to chart where we are would be helpful. But it's a small issue!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of sales and marketing at Bramble Berry. We provide supplies, recipes, and content for making bath and body products. Originally, we started with soaps but have since expanded into other areas. I’m in charge of all our sales, product development, R&D, and marketing; that includes visual merchandising on the site.

What challenge were you trying to address with Razor Rank?

We had a former agency that was hired to create paid ads, handle SEO, and manage our Google Shopping. At that same time, we were going through a new site launch and ERP system — a lot was going on in one year. That agency worked with us during the transition to set up and minimize our SEO losses so we could recoup as fast as possible.

We were not pleased with the all-in-one agency results, so we searched out an SEO specific partner. In essence, we wanted to resolve our SEO issues, and we wanted to do it fast.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Razor Rank handles our end-to-end SEO services. They’ve done product page markups, category page markups, and red cards for specific products. Their team does backlink recapturing, and they’re continuously solving formatting descriptions. We establish goals by month, and they do every possible thing related to touching upon and fixing our SEO.

What is the team composition?

Tyler (Director of SEO) is our main point of contact. We correspond on a day-to-day basis, and he coordinates everything for us.

How did you come to work with Razor Rank?

We were given a list of recommended SEO firms and they were on it. It came down to Razor Rank and another company. The other firm was local and we liked them and their approach. However, they didn’t have the depth of experience with Salesforce that we needed — but Razor Rank did. On top of that, we selected Razor Rank for their SEO knowledge capability and how they approached the working relationship with our team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $50,000– $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in May 2019 and is ongoing. Our goal is to get into a cruise control mode where we can handle the bulk of our SEO efforts in-house. Then Razor Rank will do more of a monitoring role and provide quarterly analyses. We aren’t there yet.

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

We’re seeing improvements in our organic traffic, conversion rate in Google Shopping, and search engine rankings. The progress has been significant. Now, we’re really hitting a stride because there’s a lag in SEO. Changes Razor Rank make can take 1–6 months to show effects. We’re starting to see that positive return come in.

As far as our working relationship goes, Razor Rank has been fantastic. We only have one IT person in-house and didn’t have the proper capacity for the development work they were identifying. Razor Rank did a vetting and interviewing process to hire a contractor who they were comfortable with and we could pay hourly. The contractor handles everything we can’t get to. Razor Rank has stepped up to the plate in order to deliver whatever we need.

How did Razor Rank perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is great, and they meet deadlines. The only thing that holds them back is us. We correspond through email and phone calls as well as hold meetings every other week; they are usually longer meetings but we hold quick ones as needed for specific issues. Their team uses Wrike as their project management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Razor Rank is really collaborative. We’re a small, scrappy firm where everyone does everything and steps up. Razor Rank has worked really well in collaboration with us and how we operate, which is really important. They’ve taken the time to fully understand our very complicated business model and make accurate recommendations the first time around. We’re not going back and redoing things at any capacity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re doing everything they possibly can. I wish we had more manpower on our side to expedite the process. A lot of times, they can’t go to their next step until we’ve done our part and that slows them down. That’s the only frustration, and it’s an internal one.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s the same as working with anyone. You need to take the time and effort upfront to explain all the nitty-gritty details of your business. This includes its intricacies and weirdness because everyone’s got something that’s wacky about their business. Razor Rank can’t provide the best output and success if you don’t provide that foundational knowledge at the start.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of marketing for Coronet. We’re a cybersecurity services provider for small businesses in North America. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Razor Rank?

Our website was failing to convert users and ranked poorly with regard to SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired them to handle a website refresh and SEO program. That involved both web design and page development. They handled everything from backend SEO coding to redesigning the wireframes and overall look and feel. The program was broken into three phases: an audit and assessment, a quick wins website clean up, and the optimization for the rest of the content on the website and refreshing site templates to ensure that they’re aligned with our brand

What is the team composition?

I worked with a relationship manager, an art designer, the head of content, and an SEO lead. 

How did you come to work with Razor Rank?

I’ve worked with them over the years and have always been satisfied with their work. After they and a few other companies came back to me, they offered the lowest bid for the most thorough program. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’re spending $15,000 each month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in November 2019, and the project is set to be complete in June 2020.

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

In one quarter, we increased qualified leads by over 500%, decreased bounce rate by 35%, and increased total visitors by 50%. Their design team is second to none. They’re super innovative and able to work quickly. In terms of their skills, their team is comparable to some of the big design houses. They’ve provided us with consistent visual styles and innovative web design.  

How did Razor Rank perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve never missed a deadline, which is remarkable and unusual in the marketing world. They were exceptionally responsive, taking calls both early and late to accommodate our needs. I consider them an extension of my team. They weren’t just order-takers, they were partners that could advise of strategy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their price point is half as much as marquee players, and the quality is just as good, if not better. I’d work with them again in a heartbeat. Early in our work with them, they put together a triage effort that allowed them to put together landing pages and promotion items in just three business days. That was widely impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they do amazing work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a solid understanding of your customers and success to date. That way, you can get the most out of their audit process.

Please describe your company and your position there.

As the SVP of Marketing and eCommerce for Propper.com, I am responsible for digital revenue captured in all channels / marketplaces. We are a brand / manufacturer and retailer of tactical apparel and gear.

For what projects/services did your company hire Razor Rank?

Our organic channel had been running relatively flat for a few years and we were looking to make some significant changes to our technology stack, including our core commerce platform. The complexity of re-platforming combined with the lack of internal resources and aggressive targets made this partner selection crucial. We needed to upgrade our platform and grow the channel while we had zero SEO expertise on staff.

What were your goals for this project?

We were targeting double digit growth for numerous metrics year over year and we needed to do this while changing most of the underlying technology, not just the eCommerce platform.

How did you select this vendor?

We went into an RFP process with 4 top tier agencies. We ranked the agencies based on their ability to not just point out and report, but to execute and act as an extension of our resources - a true partnership, not a vendor. The steering committee selected Razor Rank and we haven't looked back since. We would make the same selection today and have zero concerns about the relationship or the cost of the partnership. Razor Rank is already ROI positive inside the first 6 months.

Describe the project in detail.

During onboarding Razor Rank was able to help us build the short and long term roadmaps for our aggressive targets and they have acted as if they have a vested interest every step of the way. We were making every change you could possibly throw at them - technology, content, personnel - you name it. They didn't blink through numerous iterations and the evolution of the plan, they have been receptive and driving results.

What was the team composition?

We engaged with top level executives as well as the day to day team we would be working with throughout the scope and build of each plan. The team and talent remained the highest caliber we could have possibly expected and that still holds true.

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

We are a privately held company, so I will only say this. Razor Rank is absolutely crushing it for us and they have become our most valued partner.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was clearly defined and communicated from the start. Project management is completely on Razor Rank and we work on data driven / opportunity driven prioritization together. They completely integrate with numerous teams from our side and everyone has had a positive experience.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Results driven partnerships are hard to come across in this space. I can comfortably say that Razor Rank is one of the best partners I've been lucky enough to work with. They aren't an SEO reporting tool, which is really what you get most frequently in this space.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only thing I would do differently in retrospect... make the selection faster and not waste time in an RFP with inferior competition.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital marketing for a full-service personal injury law firm. We do everything including personal injury, workers’ compensation, social security, disability, product liability, dangerous drugs, and other related cases. In my role, I handle all of our online marketing, including SEO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Razor Rank?

We produce a lot of in-house content and were looking for a partner who could help us optimize that content for search engines. Essentially, we wanted to grow in our organic search rankings. Specifically, we were looking for an experienced SEO firm that had a reputation and experience in the legal market.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Razor Rank handles our SEO services. Upon engagement, we had many consultations that helped them conduct keyword research. After their team completed a whole audit of our website, we went through the recommendations and strategies they thought would be effective for us. It was a very comprehensive process.

What is the team composition?

We only work with Ralph (Senior SEO Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Razor Rank?

Our managing partner met one of Razor Rank’s executives at a conference. At that point, we had been looking for an SEO agency but were also considering doing all of the work in-house; we were on the fence. Razor Rank presented at the conference, and afterward, we set up a call with them. After some consultation, we realized they really knew what they were talking about so we went forward.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in May 2019.

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

Our organic search traffic has doubled year-over-year and some months we do even better than that. Razor Rank has dramatically increased our rankings on Google. We have over 100 targeted terms that we’re now ranking number one for. Previously, we only had a fraction of that.

Razor Rank has been an excellent partner, in fact, they’ve been the best. I have high expectations and an agency background myself so I mean it when I say they’ve been, without a doubt, the best partner that I’ve ever come across.

How did Razor Rank perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve consistently overperformed as far as meeting — and even exceeding — expectations go. Their team delivers on time, if not before, and communication is good. What’s more, they’re very proactive in bringing recommendations before we have to ask for them. Razor Rank is a rarity in their industry.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of responsiveness and their proactive recommendations are the most impressive. Ralph has a level of expertise and experience that’s very rare within the industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t really have any complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I advise potential customers to trust Razor Rank. They know what they’re talking about, and you’ll be in good hands.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing director for Associa and I handle SEO, SEM, online reputation, and social media.

What challenge were you trying to address with Razor Rank?

We ventured out to get a team on board to take on some of those aspects of my role. They were definitely needed for our PPC campaigns and managing our reputation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle our social media and Facebook Ads in particular. They also did SEO for three of our websites, involving a lot of market and keyword research and citation work. For reputation management and social media, we had a point of contact that handled everything. They kept me in the loop with frequent reporting. For PPC, they also helped with market research, which took a lot off our plate.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was Jason (President, Razor Rank), but we also worked with Joe (Chief Knowledge Officer, Razor Rank) and Andrew (Chief Business Officer, Razor Rank). I went through them for whatever I needed. There were also points of contact for SEO, reputation management, and PPC as well.

How did you come to work with Razor Rank?

They were a vendor before I was hired, but they were hired because they have the skill-set and knowledge to handle all our digital efforts, coupled with reporting and monthly calls. They can prove their results. Our leadership was very happy with the initial results and so desired to keep them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2016. It’s a permanent relationship because we’ve worked with them for so long. We’re both based in Dallas; we’ve been to each other’s offices.

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

We really cared about SEO goal completions, and that was driving for submissions. And the same thing with PPC. Every month, Razor Rank managed to increase well over 10-20% in impressions and goal completions. We wanted a 10% increase from the previous year, and they worked very hard to give us that. They care about numbers, but they’re also logical and reasonable. They look at the history of campaigns and strive to improve on those numbers.

How did Razor Rank perform from a project management standpoint?

I don’t recall a time they’ve missed a deadline. We speak over emails primarily, but we also do phone calls. Jason calls instantly. They’re almost like family.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What really works for us is that they treat the customers and the attention to detail they provide. We always know, even if we have an issue with our campaign, that they’ll take care of it. We don’t have to worry about campaigns starting late. We really feel that they’re there for us. They’re just a phone call or an email away.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, I didn’t know much about PPC when I started, and the educational aspect could have been better. I had four different channels to manage so it was a lot on me. They fixed it as soon as I told them, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to have them explain the value of their recommendations. That’s what I had to learn how to ask them so I could understand better.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Boathouse Sports is a manufacturer of retail and custom elite sporting apparel and outerwear. I oversee our online business.

For what projects/services did your company hire Razor Rank?

Search Engine Optimization and content creation.

What were your goals for this project?

Increase qualified organic traffic to our website through keyword optimization.

How did you select this vendor?

Razor Rank provided us with a very in depth look at how we could improve our website and handed over a playbook of how to fix everything. They then told us we could do it ourselves or hire them to do it. I was very impressed with that approach! They shared with us the proprietary reports they build to visually track keyword improvements. These 2 factors were the biggest reasons for selecting them as a vendor. In a space that is overcrowded with snake oil salesmen, they are a welcome breath of fresh air bringing knowledge, experience, and transparency.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

- Provide content driven to boost targeted keywords - Track and report on Keyword Rankings and Site Traffic - Provide an in-depth analysis of site coding to optimize for search engines - Report on and fix site errors

What was the team composition?

We deal primarily with Tyler Rinker and he deals with the rest of the Razor Rank Team to get the job done. On our end, it is one programmer, our Marketing Director and myself.

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

In our first year organic traffic was up 38%. We saw significant gains in Keyword Ranking overall. Sales were up significantly in 2020 (until Covid-19 hit the U.S.)

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless. They have all the project management tools and processes in place to help your team be as successful as possible.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They had a 12 month plan starting on day one. They completely stuck to the plan while being versatile enough to help us with other initiatives when they would arise. They executed upon every item they said they would, when they said they would do it. Their follow-through is a testament to their excellent process and project management.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are always areas for improvement, but none spring to mind. We have been extremely happy with Razor Rank's performance and would recommend them to any company looking for knowledge, expertise, and most importantly INTEGRITY from a Search Engine Optimization partner.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the SEO supervisor for a large athletic inspired shoe and apparel company. We have locations around the world, as well as a strong eCommerce presence.

For what projects/services did your company hire Razor Rank?

We initially hired Razor Rank to assist in a site migration, but it evolved into a full SEO agency partnership.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted additional technical SEO expertise for consulting on projects, as well as third party validation for our internal SEO initiatives.

How did you select this vendor?

They came highly recommended from our director, who had worked with Razor Rank before.

Describe the project in detail.

We meet with Razor Rank weekly to discuss ongoing SEO initiatives, industry news, and various technical SEO projects assigned to the Razor Rank team. The Razor Rank team works on supplemental SEO projects as an extension of our internal SEO team.

What was the team composition?

The team has changed a bit, but now we work regularly with 3 members of the Razor Rank team, with as needed support from additional members.

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

We have completed many successful projects over the last couple years, including large redirect mapping projects, sitemap creation, and multiple high quality SEO 101 presentations.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our teams maintain a strong line of communication, which has made workflow very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The amount of attention we've received from our Razor Rank team, as well as the level of detail in their work has been very impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to mind currently. Throughout the relationship, whenever we have any issues, Razor Rank has been great at adjusting to meet our needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a cosmetics and skincare company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Razor Rank?

We needed help with SEO and search rankings. We wanted an increase in visitors to our page and monthly revenue.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially started out with SEO, and now they also manage Google AdWords as well. They regularly provide analytics for with Google Studio, with keyword research.

What is the team composition?

We have two contacts for SEO, and one for Adwords.

How did you come to work with Razor Rank?

We contacted another company and their monthly fee was too high. They recommended Razor Rank since we’re smaller.

How much have you invested with them?    

We’ve invested approximately $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

When we started with them, our website was making $4,000 per month in sales. Now we’re at $20,000.

How did Razor Rank perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Wrike for project management and email for communication. If we have any questions, they always get back to us and address it. After every call, they do a summary of what we talked about, including action items. Everything is very well documented.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like that they have reports and ways of tracking things, rather than general overviews.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had about three reps now, but it would’ve been nice if it were just one. Each one has changed direction as well, so it would’ve been nice if they were more consistent from the beginning. The latest one has been better than the other ones, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to give them time. They do the work trying to find the right keywords, and they do a pretty good job.