Coalition Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a company that sells security cameras and systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

We needed a partner to manage our SEO and improve our organic ranking.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalition Technologies’ SEO work involves numerous tasks. They write copy for our website and enhance some of the content that I’ve written to make it more search engine friendly. They add image names, fill out keywords, and put tags on the site. We’ve even worked on a blog, and they’ve also done some on-site optimization to make the conversions stronger.

What is the team composition?

I work with a team of five people.

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

I searched for SEO companies online and contacted the top results since I wanted someone who could make their own site rank at the top. I looked at Coalition Technologies’ site and saw they were a great company, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $5,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in December 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We went from virtually no organic traffic to about 15%–20% of our traffic now being organic. They took my existing message and communicated it even better to customers.

How did Coalition Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Basecamp to manage our tasks and another tool to store and edit content. I’m able to easily see what they’ve worked on and add edits to anything they’ve written. They also provide monthly reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've been in business for over 10 years, and Coalition Technologies is the first company that’s accomplished real progress according to the timelines they stated. They show what they’ve done and the results that it’s gotten, which I appreciate. The entire team is intelligent, experienced, and communicative, and they have a professional workflow. Not only are they transparent, but they’re present. They listen to what we need and care about finding the right solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t see any way they could improve. I'm getting a big return on my investment.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The longer you’re with them, the more consistent results you’ll see. SEO takes a while to work, but Coalition Technologies knows how to get you there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager at Natori, a women’s fashion designer and manufacturer. We are known for lingerie and sleepwear but have entered several other verticals, such as home décor. I’m on the e-commerce team and oversee site management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

We recently underwent a site refresh, and we engaged Coalition Technologies to provide SEO. We wanted to boost rankings of our best-selling product pages.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalition Technologies provides onsite optimization, including page speed and script management.

When our regular development team has a full queue, Coalition Technologies helps with various development tasks. For instance, they’ve helped us implement new tools.  

What is the team composition?

My team works with an account manager. We also work with an assistant account manager, who manages calls, scheduling, documentation, etc. Sometimes, developers and other specialized members of their team join our calls.

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

My company’s e-commerce director reached out to them. I’m not sure exactly how she found them, but I’d assume through our ERP solution, BigCommerce. We wanted a vendor with experience in Stencil Themes and Oracle Bronto.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in June 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since our engagement with Coalition Technologies began, we’ve seen year-over-year growth in our userbase (34%) and revenue from organic research (49%).

How did Coalition Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been attentive and quick to troubleshoot. We always have an assigned account manager, and we’ve worked with a few throughout our two-year engagement. Now, we only talk on the phone about six times per year because we’ve had no issues with account management and they’re responsive over email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Beyond their good results and high professionalism, Coalition Technologies is amicable and pleasant to work with. They feel like they’re part of our team. When you’re working with a vendor daily, it’s important that their team members are genuine. They frequently make suggestions that are outside of the project scope but are incredibly helpful. It’s reassuring to know that they check on the site and have a vested interest in it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director of marketing for an e-commerce site.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

We wanted to try to increase our organic traffic to offset our reliance on PPC.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did all our metadata titles and full SEO for our website and the blog. Their services are limited to writing blog posts and doing onsite SEO as we’ve engaged another vendor to execute paid search.

What is the team composition?

We work with Charline (Digital Producer Team Lead, Coalition Technologies), Rebecca (Director of Marketing, Coalition Technologies), and Levi (Remote Marketing Digital Producer, Coalition Technologies).

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

I found them organically on Google while searching for SEO vendors. I figured if I can find them, they’d do a good job. I looked at the background of the company and decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2018 and the partnership ended in May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We didn’t have a lot of organic growth and had expected better month-over-month numbers, especially with the amount of money we paid. Our business challenges made it nearly impossible because our margins are so tight. We weren’t happy with the quality of their writing for the blog at first, but now we are satisfied. They were receptive to our feedback and improved.

How did Coalition Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Whenever I had a problem, they jumped on it immediately. The team always asked about how they were doing. But despite the responsive service, we still didn’t get to where we needed to be as a company. Nonetheless, they were extremely helpful and they all chip in to make sure their clients are happy. We communicated via email and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very responsive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything for them to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Atlanta Light Bulbs is a lighting solution supplier in the B2B marketplace. Our corporate office and distribution center are in Atlanta, but we sell all over the country and the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

We’d moved our website from a simple shopping cart to the BigCommerce platform. Since we don’t have an in-house web team, we wanted someone to perform regular maintenance and check for errors. We also really needed support with SEO services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we first started working with Coalition, they did a lot of interviews with our team in order to understand our business. They really helped us drill down to what kind of markets we were targeting and where we saw our business going. They use that information to inform the SEO strategy. They keep up with all the changes that need to be made to optimize the site and to keep up with what Google rolls out.

They lead the content strategy for the site, and write our blog posts. They’ve done a lot of research on what terms customers use in search. They identify words we need to incorporate into our product descriptions and our blog. They also redid the whole front end of our site. Then they redesigned all of our product pages, our category pages, and our product listings search results. They perform quality checks, such as which of our approximately 9000 inventory images need to be redone.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact, but they’ll often have a second person sit in on our calls in order to train them to eventually take over our account.

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

Our general manager found them through an online search. We'd previously used a couple of local companies, but decided we needed to widen our search. We felt that Coalition really understood our business and could deliver more than just cookie cutter services.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent between $60,000–$100,000. We spend more in the years there's a large project compared to when they’re just performing ongoing maintenance.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around 2015 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their SEO work is directly responsible for our revenue growth. It’s hard to gauge exact numbers because not all customers complete the transaction online, but our site visits are up tremendously. Business has grown substantially because of their efforts.

How did Coalition Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They've done an excellent job with everything that we ask them to do. We've had a few different account managers over the years, but everyone at Coalition knows our account really well. We have bi-weekly calls where they update on everything they’re doing. They also produce a bi-weekly written summary of their work, and we have quarterly strategy planning meetings. They're always on top of their game.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They put a lot of thought into the SEO strategies, and that knowledge is something we can't replicate. They're also really transparent. I've used other companies that claim everything's proprietary, but Coalition gives us access to everything. They're very reliable. They used to ask me every time they wanted to do something. At this point, I’ve told them to go ahead and make any changes to the site they think it needs. I trust them completely, which is really nice. I haven't been able to do that with other firms.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The timeline on some of the development projects took longer than they anticipated. I understand that can sometimes happen, but there were long periods of time without any communication. There’s room to improve their process of letting us know what’s going on and an updated delivery date.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of West End Motorsports. We’re an e-commerce retailer of custom motorcycle accessories for Harley-Davidsons and other V-twin cruisers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

We changed our website’s platform and experienced major issues. People couldn’t fully access the website due to the poor-quality code developed by our previous partners. We initially brought in Coalition to resolve the site’s outstanding issues.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the time, we had nearly 25,000 products on the site all organized into categories and sub-categories. After the platform transition, we discovered that our products didn’t redirect to any categories. As a result, our already diminished search results were left directing customers to invalid pages. Coalition helped us identify the issue and eventually resolve it.

More recently, they manage our SEO and PPC campaigns. We previously ran our PPC campaigns but struggled with the changes to ad words and increased complexities. After bringing Coalition in, we’re seeing the increase in online traction we always looked for in other companies.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 team members from Coalition.

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

They were referred to us by the platform we switched too. I called them and immediately spoke to their CEO. We had a nearly two-hour conversation where I went over the extent of my issues and we worked through it. I got to talk to someone competent in the field and not just be passed between sales representatives. This made it clear they were a different kind of company than we’ve worked with in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000 and $50,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There’s an obvious advantage to having one company handle both our SEO and PPC. Coalition isn’t cheap, but they’re worth the money. We didn’t see results immediately, but after 3–5 months, I started to be very excited and satisfied with the outcomes. The SEO work is gaining enough momentum to make us less dependent on PPC in the future. We expect SEO revenue to match or eclipse PPC revenue in the next year. Currently, business is the best it has been in a very long time. Their work’s facilitated a return of our initial investment with them.

How did Coalition Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage everything excellently. They have a team of people and respond immediately when I send an email. Whatever task I bring forward gets delegated appropriately.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve previously lost faith in SEO and PPC after working with so many underperforming companies, but Coalition delivered on what they promised. I appreciate their promptness, thoroughness and how effective they are at doing their job. I can close the day here and know that they’re helping us move in the right direction. Working with them has totally changed the trajectory of this company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t love how segmented their team is with so many remote workers. However, I haven’t experienced that negatively impact performance.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder and president of Pinklily.com, a leading online women's clothing retailer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Coalition Technologies ?

We needed assistance with website design, development, and advertising. We were not satisfied with our previous designer/developer, so we wanted to work with a new company.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to have a beautiful new website, complete with all the necessary apps. We also needed a team of experienced professionals to manage our Google AdWords account.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We requested recommendations from our website provider, BigCommerce. They gave us a list of their premier partners, and Coalition Technologies was one of them.

Describe the project in detail.

We were switching from a different website platform over to BigCommerce, so we needed a new look. We also needed a complete migration of all our data, products, customer lists, and email contacts over to the new system. In the end, we agreed to their managed marketing plan, which includes all design, development, reporting, and marketing for a set cost each month.

What was the team composition?

We communicated with the entire team, from the president, to the developers, to a reporting analyst.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been on the same managed marketing plan for over two full years now, and Coalition handles any type of request that we throw at them. They are currently in the middle of another website redesign since the current site is over two years old.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We use Basecamp, and communication is always extremely efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They had a long list of satisfied customers that we could reference. They also delivered and met our goals each time we had a new project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company was a web-to-print company. I was the Chief Executive Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

We needed to improve our website's ranking.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the past, we worked with Coalition on optimizing our site's backend for Google SEO [search engine optimization]. Part of this work included content development. Coalition directed our strategy, while also handling backend IT. We complemented the strategic work with our own IT and SEO team.

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

We interviewed a number of firms, looking for a company with a solid IT expertise. Coalition stood out in this regard by having a team which was on the leading edge of SEO, and also being able to provide backend resources for optimizing technical aspects of our website.

How much have you invested with Coalition Technologies?

I don't have this information.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Coalition in 2011. I sold the company in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our SEO rankings and traffic improved, so we felt that Coalition's goals were met. Because I sold the company, I'm not allowed to provide specific metrics, but we made progress every year, with the help of Coalition.

What did you find most impressive about Coalition Technologies?

I found Coalition to be a good fit for us because of the technical research done by their principal. He had the necessary expertise in order to understand how our rankings could be improved, combining the technical backend with frontend initiatives. Coalition was a strong partner to work with because of this.

Are there any areas Coalition Technologies could improve?

We relied on Coalition's principal to act as a project lead. The results were pretty good, but our client interface with him dropped back a couple of notches when he wasn't dealing directly with our team. It wasn't terrible, but it was an area for improvement.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Coalition Technologies?

My advice would be that clients should spend time and build clear requirements, with realistic timeframes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide disaster restoration work after fires and floods. We work mostly through insurance contracts. I was the owner and founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

We wanted to bring more work through the door, and help people find us online. Branding is also something which can always be improved.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalition Technologies created a website for our company, enabling our company to show up after Google searching for "fire damage" or "water damage". Coalition also managed our pay-per-click campaign, and provided SEO [search engine optimization] for our website.

Over the years, we've added and removed various business services, and have also changed our coverage areas. Coalition helped us keep this information up-to-date.

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

We received a referral from a friend who knew Coalition's principal. We had used a couple of companies previously, and weren't happy with the results. When I met Coalition's team, we hit it off, and I liked what they had to say. We developed a good working relationship after that.

How much have you invested with Coalition Technologies?

We initially spent around $1,500 per month for pay-per-click and SEO. At the end of our relationship, we came to spend around $5,000 per month on Coalition's services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Coalition for close to 10 years. I have sold my business 8-9 months ago. The new owners continued to work with Coalition for a while, but I don't think they have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Work was coming in as a result of our efforts. During any downtimes, we pushed our ad budget towards areas for which Coalition Technologies wanted to get more leads. Our company averaged 1 million dollars per year, and I was comfortable with that result, compared to our size. The work done by Coalition probably accounted for 25% of my business.

During our collaboration with Coalition, I lost an important insurance contract, which accounted for a third of my business. At the time, Coalition's work was responsible for maybe 10-15% of my business. Through focusing more on website content and online exposure, we were able to grow that percentage. Coalition also gave me a lot of advice on how to use Yelp and other online services.

I had used a few people prior to them. Coalition revamped our website, giving it a much more professional look. Anytime I saw something that I liked on a competitor's website, Coalition made the changes.

What did you find most impressive about Coalition Technologies?

I'm not always the easiest person to work with, and the previous company I used didn't have very good customer service when it came to making changes or fixing problems. Coalition was always there for me, calling me afterhours and on weekends. They were very supportive, and I've appreciated that level of service.

Are there any areas Coalition Technologies could improve?

There isn't anything off-hand. I'm not very tech-savvy in terms of online work, so I trusted Coalition to do handle it.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Coalition Technologies?

If the client is just entering the internet game, they need to know that it takes time to build a following. I found that Google is constantly changing parameters, so people need to be patient and do their homework. I trusted Coalition to have the best approach.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a boutique consulting firm, advising companies with anywhere between 5 to 50 million dollars in sales. I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Coalition Technologies?

I share leads with Coalition. They have done work for 2 or 3 of our clients, offering anything from web design, to SEO [search engine optimization], and SEM.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Coalition Technologies has worked with my clients, offering pay-per-click, lead generation, and website development as primary services.

How did you come to work with Coalition Technologies?

I've been collaborating with Coalition since the company only had an 8-person team. I was starting up a mobile data services firm, and received a referral for Coalition.

How much have you invested with Coalition Technologies?

The minimum threshold for Coalition's services is $800 per month, not including the actual spend. Bigger accounts with more complex activities can go all the way up to $4,000 per month. Web development is done as bi-projects. They can be as small as $10,000, or as large as $100,000 for complex e-commerce websites. The total cost over all my clients throughout the years is in the 6-figure range.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in 2010. I don't have any engagements with Coalition at the moment, but they're at the top of my list for SEO, SEM, and web development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Coalition initially managed a pay-per-click campaign for my own startup, and did a fantastic job in understanding a relatively new space. We were selling data-only services direct-to-consumer. Our clients bought a mobile hotspot and paid along the way. There was no contract or monthly fee involved. It was an interesting and educational effort to create advertisements and lead generation for this field. Coalition Technologies increased our daily traffic from almost zero to 400-500 visits per day. Conversions increased dramatically as well.

I was also the interim Chief Operating Officer for a large health and fitness company. When I got there, I found that all ad campaigns were unattended and out of control. That company was spending somewhere in the ballpark of $40,000 per month on pay-per-click. In addition to this, that company was launching 5 new web platforms using an agency which I had no idea about. I brought Coalition in to do 2 things: have a peer review of the new sites, making sure that the code was up to standard on current best practices, and ultimately, provide support for the development team in terms of coding and project management. Coalition also took over pay-per-click management. Within 30 days, they reduced the expenditure in half, and doubled the traffic. The results were dramatic. The campaigns were running at a loss for 6-9 months, so that was low-hanging fruit for Coalition, but they still moved very quickly. Coalition also worked with the client on the social media side of the activities, helping with full-blown ad campaigns and SEO.

How did Coalition Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Whenever Coalition told me that something was going to be completed by a certain time frame, it was. This is somewhat unique, taking into account the multitude of development companies which struggle to stay on track.

What did you find most impressive about Coalition Technologies?

I started working with Coalition when they were a small shop. I know that Coalition is in the 50+ employees range at the moment. Despite this, they seem to be able to hire competent people, both on the technical side, and in terms of account management. As service-oriented companies start to grow, their principals will get farther and farther away from the work product. In Coalition's case, they've done a good job of transitioning this into talented staff.

Are there any areas Coalition Technologies could improve?

Coalition knows its core business. Every now and again, they will start to venture into other activities, like public relations. That was probably out of their league, and was mostly an attempt of expanding the service offering to customers. Aiming to be more of a one-stop-shop can potentially dilute their core strengths.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Coalition Technologies?

Many companies in the SEO and SEM space charge based on a percentage of the spend. I advise my clients not to do this, and instead set a monthly budget. Coalition has been flexible in adjusting their packages to this model. Clients should also be upfront about their own customers and products, making sure that Coalition is fully-informed about the business. If this isn't done right, then the client has lost.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of RandHTrading LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Online E-Commerce shop

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Coalition Technologies to accomplish?

• Increase Web Traffic and Sales

SOLUTION

How did you find Coalition Technologies?

Online Search

Why did you select Coalition Technologies over others?

High ratings

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

Project included Ad development and Marketing, Increase in Web Traffic for sales

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Even though we haven’t worked with Coalition Technologies as a client yet, I was impressed by the time they spent reviewing our website and online presence. As a small business owner, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed trying to understand website traffic, advertising, and SEO, but they broke everything down in a way that actually made sense. I would absolutely recommend speaking with them if you’re looking to increase website traffic and strengthen your online presence.

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

They communicated effictively and always in a timely manner. 

What was your primary form of communication with Coalition Technologies?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were willing to work with us and stay within our budget

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

Honestly, they've met our expectations and so they couldn't do anything differently at least for us.