Site Nine Studios

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Marketing Specialist of a credit union.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a credit union that serves members in Long Beach, Cerritos, Lakewood and surrounding communities. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Site Nine Studios to accomplish?

• Website Maintenance and Support

SOLUTION

How did you find Site Nine Studios?

• Online Search
• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Site Nine Studios over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Site Nine Studios were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Development tasks, bug fixes, updates, daily security, and tech support for our website. Also creation of a new staging website for us. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our website functioning smoothly and the same as with our previous vendor. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes, they delivered all items at a reasonable time. All requests were responded by email. 

What was your primary form of communication with Site Nine Studios?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I was most impressed with their expertise with WordPress. They have been able to complete all of our requests and provide great suggestions on how to accomplish certain projects. We like that they are located near us and are in the same time zone.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Site Nine Studios could have done differently?

Our only suggestoin would be to have an emergency contact phone number for urgent situations. Other than that, they have been good at getting back to us and handling emergency situations. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Manager of the company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a 3D & Large Format Solutions sales and service organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Site Nine Studios to accomplish?

• Website redesign
• Web development
• E-commerce store

SOLUTION

How did you find Site Nine Studios?

Clutch Site

Why did you select Site Nine Studios over others?

High ratings, Close to my geographic location, Pricing first our budget, Company values aligned

What was the size of Site Nine Studios’s team?

2-5 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with Site Nine Studios?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We tasked Site Nine Studios with developing a new UI/UX design for our existing website, which was built on an outdated CMS. Our main goals for the project were to decrease the page load time and create a responsive design across desktop, tablet, and mobile.

This project involved providing an initial design created in Adobe XD based on inspiration provided to SNS. To do this, a custom theme was created in Wordpress.

They also were in charge of web development, including website functionality, such as a quote request feature, and an e-commerce store and checkout process built on WooCommerce.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Bounce rates dropped from 90% to 70%
• Page load speeds graded at a B, increasing from an F grade

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

As a 1-man marketing team for our small business, the team at Site Nine Studios were an absolute pleasure to work with. David, Brittany, and team were very communicative about where we were throughout the project.

While we weren't able to meet our initial timeline for rollout, Site Nine was more than willing to meet on a weekly basis to ensure we remained on schedule for our revised rollout.

David and Co. stood behind the agreed upon deliverables and were more than ready to jump on any bugs that needed to be addressed along the way, especially post-launch.

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

In business, one of the things that always stands out to me is a company that consistently checks in to make sure their customer is happy. This is exactly the way that Site Nine Studios shows up in their work.

Not only that, but they were very knowledgable about what would and wouldn't work when it came to our ideas for web development. Having a partner to lean on like this is critical for a small business like ours where web design and development is not our area of expertise.

Are there any areas for improvement or something {provider_name} could have done differently?

Midway through development, we did hit a snag where communication dropped a little, leaving us blind to whether or not we would be able to meet our initially agreed upon launch date. One thing that would be great for future work would be to set realistic expectations based on where the project is on the timeline.

I don't fault SNS completely for this as our team also got distracted at a certain point with other projects of high importance, which took our eyes off the end date.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner and co-creative director at a graphic design studio. We focus on brand identification and packaging.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Site Nine Studios?

One of our clients asked us to create a website, but we didn't have any programmers in-house, so we contracted Site Nine Studios to help with the website’s digital design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were under a very tight timeline because we wanted to have the website ready for an upcoming trade show, so we asked Site Nine Studios to create a scrolling website with forms and animation. They helped us develop a WordPress site to align with one of the new brands we planned to launch at the trade show.  

After an initial Zoom call, we shared our design layouts with the Site Nine Studios team using Adobe XD and collaborated on animations. Then, they made recommendations for certain features, and we worked together to gather the requirements, which they relayed to their programmers. We went back and forth through a few iterations before they delivered the final website. 

Site Nine Studios delivered a one-page scrolling website that shares information about our products and insights about the brand. They also linked the site to e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and created a simple Shopify page. When the Amazon site launched, the Site Nine Studios team built an Amazon button into the website. 

Since launching, Site Nine Studios has also helped us update the site when needed. 

What is the team composition?

We worked mainly with David and Brittany (Project Manager). 

How did you come to work with Site Nine Studios?

I worked with David and the Site Nine team a few years ago and had a great experience. When this project arose, which required a tight turnaround time, I asked if they could help. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $5,000 in the partnership with Site Nine Studios.

What is the status of this engagement?

We reached out to Site Nine Studios in February 2022 and launched the website in March 2022. We only had three weeks to complete this project, and they delivered.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have metrics to share, but I know that our client is pleased with the site. Whenever we’ve asked Site Nine Studios to make revisions, they’ve been prompt to tackle our requests. For example, when our client launched on Amazon, they immediately added the Amazon button to the site, significantly benefiting our client. 

How did Site Nine Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Since we don’t have the programming staff to support web development services, we’ve leaned on Site Nine Studios, and they’ve followed through. We’ve established a strong process where we share designs, and they implement them while communicating effectively throughout.

They’ve been great partners; they delivered the project on time and within budget, which we appreciate. They’re very timely when answering our technical questions, even if they’re outside the scope; they make a conscious effort to ensure we’re taken care of. 

We used Asana to manage the project and email and Zoom meetings to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been most impressed with their speed. The team took our designs and delivered a final product within a matter of days, allowing us to launch on time. Their swift efforts have played a key role in making our clients happy.

Given that Site Nine Studios is an international company, we’ve been impressed with the level of responsiveness and communication. Even though we have a time difference, they’re the most responsive partners I’ve ever worked with. 

If we had to build another WordPress site, we’d engage Site Nine Studios in a heartbeat.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing they could improve on; I just wish they did Shopify sites because we need to use another partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As long as you’re prepared and have your designs ready to go, everything will go smoothly. The Site Nine Studios team will run with the project and keep you organized.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is a sprint-based design and consulting studio. We help small and mid-sized companies compete through sophisticated branding; engaging and clear storytelling; intuitive, results-oriented websites, apps and products; and high-impact marketing materials and experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Site Nine Studios, and what were your goals?

We have engaged Site Nine on several projects, both to serve as an technical advisor early on in our design process, as well as the development team to build and deploy those designs.

SOLUTION

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

Our core focus is user-centered research, strategy and design in the digital space, and we hold ourselves to high standards of collaboration and partnership with our clients. One of the toughest challenges has been to provide that same level of service and quality that we provide on the design and consulting side all the way through development. Site Nine filled that gap as a team of developers that values service quality and communication as much as we do.

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

-Responses to a brief we provide on the scope/goals of the project, along with design ideas and dev questions - Advises us on technical considerations to influence our designs before we finalize them - Builds the designs in a staging environment for Wordpress - Runs QA -Launches the project

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

We have engaged directly with 2 people at Site Nine: David, the founder and owner, and another developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Client was very pleased with the outcome. Too recent to have significant measurable results.

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

This was key for us. We have a very collaborative, proactive relationship with clients, and we need a development team who aligns with that approach. Site Nine communicates in a timely, professional manner so you're not left wondering what the developers are up to.

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

See above

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

Nothing is coming to mind at the moment

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of project management at Innerspin Marketing, a marketing and advertising agency. I oversee all client projects from start to finish. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Site Nine Studios?

We hired Site Nine Studios to develop a website that showcased our portfolio. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After my team provided the website design, Site Nine Studios developed the entire website from scratch in WordPress. Part of the development process was focused on ensuring the site was mobile- and desktop-friendly. Their team ensured that we could easily go into the backend to update and edit as we needed. Once the development was complete, Site Nine Studios ran a QA process to ensure it worked on Apple and Android products. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager and David (Owner and Project Manager). 

How did you come to work with Site Nine Studios?

I’m not entirely sure, but I believe our account director found Site Nine Studios on Clutch. Site Nine Studios’ pricing was very reasonable compared to other proposals we received. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $3,800–$4,000 with Site Nine Studios. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Site Nine Studios from September–November 2021.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had an excellent experience working with Site Nine Studios because they were nice, communication was clear, and they accommodated our requests. After development, we wanted to alter parts of the site but were having a hard time doing it in-house. So, we reached out to Site Nine Studios and they did it for us sans charge. They didn’t just go in and make the change; they showed us how we could make that change ourselves in the future. 

Site Nine Studios completely exceeded our expectations. We worked well together and we’ll probably reach out to them for future projects. 

How did Site Nine Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was good; we typically communicated with Site Nine Studios via email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with Site Nine Studios’ development turnaround time — they worked quickly to meet deadlines. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t have any problems working with Site Nine Studios. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise clients to provide their edits in several large rounds to ensure the timeline isn’t lengthened. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of B2C Product and Marketing at an electric vehicle infrastructure company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Site Nine Studios, and what were your goals?

We needed to create a company website from the ground up with new content and a custom theme. We needed the project to be accomplished quickly and with accuracy. Our team also needed to then be able to manage the site independently thereafter.

SOLUTION

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

I evaluated at least 30 other Wordpress agencies and found that SiteNineStudio's portfolio was the strongest. The visual design is executed with precision and it shows. Their quote was also very competitive.

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

We had a separate agency working on the content and visual design, so SiteNine was only responsible for the development work. We built our files in Figma and had a handoff meeting where we pointed out any necessary details and interactions.

We were building a custom Wordpress Theme. Any feedback after the initial look was recorded in BugHeard. The timeline quoted was 14-16 business days and it was accomplished during that time.

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

There were 2 people that worked with us directly: the CEO and project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our site looks and functions wonderfully. We don't find bugs and did not need much guidance on how to upkeep the site afterwards; it is all set up very intuitively. I was very pleased with the production turn around time and we saw our traffic more than double in the following months.

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

We corresponded only through email, there was no phone number available. I would say they were timely with their deliverables, but did not always check in as often as I would like.

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

SiteNineed delivered the project quickly and cost-effectively.

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

I wish communication could be a little more supported as far as expectations is concerned. I suspect that as their team grows that will continue to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a project manager at the American Automobile Association. We provide emergency roadside assistance, credit card services, insurance, and a couple of other things.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Site Nine Studios?

We had been working with another vendor to build our website, but it just wasn't feasible to continue working with them due to the cost. We were looking for a new developer to provide support so we hired Site Nine Studios.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Site Nine Studios has helped manage our multi-site platform on WordPress, creating a custom theme and a few special features for managing our reports and our audiences. They’ve picked up where our previous service provider left off, provided support, and fixed some backlog items and issues.

Our contract details that they are to provide ad hoc support for two of our websites and ongoing, year-long support for another. 

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with one person, Dave (Owner & Project Manager). 

How did you come to work with Site Nine Studios?

In our company, we usually have to do a bidding process for vendors, since the price is our foremost consideration. I looked online for different vendors and found Site Nine Studios, whose price was very reasonable and cost half of what we paid the previous vendor. We ended up working with them for that reason as well as for what we could get in terms of support.

Of all the other vendors, Site Nine Studios also offered the best proposal, which was to rebuild the site while working with what we already have. We found this to be the best course of action since switching platforms would affect the user experience of our clients.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $10,000 to have the website fixed, and our current contract is at $30,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Site Nine Studios for about a year now since March 2020. We still have contact with the team, and they are still working on our websites.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There haven’t been any problems with how our website is functioning, and all the backlog items from our previous vendor have been fixed. Site Nine Studios is very responsive and has provided great support. 

How did Site Nine Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Site Nine Studios is great at meeting deadlines. If a task will take longer to complete, the team will let me know. 

We use Asana and have weekly status update calls even when there is nothing in the backlog. We simply talk to ensure that there are no outstanding issues. In a few instances, they’ve also joined in on the call with my client to capture and resolve any problems that may have come up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've been impressed by their responsiveness and support. Whenever I have a message, put something in Asana, or just need something done right away, Dave is pretty quick to tend to it, which is one of the things that I like about working with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

This doesn't have anything to do with their work and I’ve mentioned this to the team before, but I think their server blocks emails coming from our end. This is the reason why I've stuck to Asana. 

Apart from that, I think they could do better in terms of estimating how many hours it takes to diagnose and fix issues. They could include this in the monthly report that they provide for us. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Definitely prepare a plan of what you want to do and in what timeline you want it accomplished. Right off the bat, you should know what you need help with, whether it's for an existing site, additional features, or bugs. Site Nine Studios conducts site evaluations, but it would still be very helpful to have that information beforehand.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Operations at Able&Co., a marketing and communications agency in Raleigh, NC.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Site Nine Studios, and what were your goals?

We hired SiteNine to take over the web development of our agency's new website. Sometimes your own website becomes the one you work on last but it was important to get it updated in a timely manner as we were coming out of 2020 with a new brand and updated services and wanted to be able to market that to our clients and prospects. Of course, we wanted our website to be fast and easy to navigate as well as responsive and most importantly, easy to maintain and update.

SOLUTION

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

We had a prior relationship with SiteNine because they quoted a few projects for us in the past and we had kept in touch ever since for possible future opportunities.

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

We had a kick-off meeting to go over the objectives for the website and at that time we had completed designs, graphics and content for the website. Site Nine took the designs and programmed the website using custom solutions versus plugins, which made our site fast and easy to maintain.

They provided us with a test link to review and we gave them a list of our edits - I think we had a couple of rounds of changes and they were quick to make the updates and let us know when the site was ready for our review each time.

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

We communicated regularly with the project manager who kept us up to date on the status of the project and answered any questions we had along the way.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching, we have noticed that our site loads very quickly and there's a great variety of motion throughout the site. We update our portfolio and blogs on a regular basis which is extremely easy to update and maintain.

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

We mostly communicated via email with our project manager but a couple of times we jumped on a zoom call to be able to share screens and ask questions.

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

They were very patient with the changes we requested as well as answering our questions. No question was a dumb question and everything they provided was very helpful.

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

Not an improvement but a learning experience was to understand that they work on mobile changes after all desktop changes have been made. Now we know to expect that in the process on future projects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Command Web Services. We build websites primarily for small businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Site Nine Studios?

We design everything in-house, but when we have an overflow, we subcontract some of that development work. That’s why we brought Site Nine Studios on.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Site Nine Studios mostly does WooCommerce development, but they occasionally do WordPress development, as well as API integrations and a little bit of Shopify work.

We fully flesh out the designs in Adobe SD, both desktop and mobile designs and sometimes tablet designs. We then set up a call for the design hand-off and give Site Nine Studios all of the raw assets for all of the pages of the websites.

We talk about the functionality that may not be immediately evident just from looking at the static comps. We hand it off to them, and they usually take about six weeks to put that together. Site Nine Studios puts together a staging site, and then we go through some QA together in terms of cross-browser and cross-device responsive compatibility.

Once we're ready to show the client, we give them the staging link. They provide any feedback and then we make changes to their domain. From there, Site Nine Studios offers about three months of support post-launch in case we catch any mistakes.

For one project, one of my clients didn't want the standard checkout page for WooCommerce because it's not a very good template. I asked the team if they had any clients for whom they had developed a more custom checkout flow, and they sent me one on a staging site. 

It was a beautiful, multi-stage checkout page with dropdown accordions. We used that as a guide and put together the design in two days, and Site Nine Studios had it developed in 10–12 days.

What is the team composition?

I primarily interact with David (Owner & Project Manager), but he has a team under him, including a few specialized developers for different tasks.

How did you come to work with Site Nine Studios?

Site Nine Studios cold emailed me, and I checked out their website. I saw some of the work they had done, including some for a reputable brand. I got on a call with David, and he quoted out a few jobs for me.

Their quotes and timelines were great. I’m a frontend developer myself, so I dissected some of Site Nine Studios’ websites, and they were all really strong. We first brought them on board for a smaller job, which went well.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent between $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We got our first proposal in June 2020, but we began working with them in September 2020. The engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their ability to custom develop what would be considered out-the-box solutions like WooCommerce sites is fantastic. It’s been a great experience. 

How did Site Nine Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Site Nine Studios has never been late. They stick to their word when it comes to the number of business days it’s going to take them to do something, and any time we want to get on a call to talk about something, they’re always open to that.

They give us staging sites where we can track the progress, so that we don’t have to get on lots of update calls. We can just visit the staging site and see what updates have been made. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their custom WordPress development is excellent. They do everything from scratch and do it quickly. They also do all of their own QA and mobile responsiveness before handing it off to us. That’s more than you can say about other development companies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. What we send them is what we’re going to get, so it’s our job to catch mistakes before we send them the designs. Their prices, speed, and quality are great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to design both your desktop and mobile views before handoff, otherwise, if you rely on them to make things responsive, you will open the door to having a lot of back and forth.

Site Nine Studios can't read your mind when it comes to design. No one can; even the best agencies can't. So be sure to define everything exactly, and design every view, even if they're minor views.