Spot Color Marketing

Spot Color is Amazing!~ We contracted them to design a web site to improve the image of our company to a more modern, user friendly website. We wanted to not only upgrade our website, but add enhanced features allowing our clients to purchase product while on our website. Not only were they able to accomplish this, they did it in ONLY 60 DAYS! This was amazing as we had to get our distribution product on the web to be able to have a competitive advantage for this specific product.
The website created by Spot Color created an experience an ease of use for not only new clients, but our existing clients as well. They were always available for phone calls and followed up when they promised they would.
If you ever need a company to assist with web development, marketing ideas or just general collateral, you should use this company. They do amazing work, product on time and maintain a high standard for quality.
Joe Wirth
Director of Operations
Excalibur Engineering

We’ve worked with the team at Spot now for over 4 years and I have been nothing but happy with the work they’ve provided for us. We’ve used them for all sorts of print, promotional and packaging collateral and I always find myself pleased with the finished piece. We are using them for digital now as well and while the project is still in the works, all indications point to a result that will meet or exceed our needs. I strongly recommend their services for any client looking for a quality marketing partner.

I have never regretted a business decision as much as this one. And it has been a
costly mistake.
UPDATE 8÷4÷2014: Wow is my reaction to this customer blaming diatribe written in response here. That was really a reach. I have been in business for a long time and never had an experience like this. I do not leave bad reviews ever but made an exception in this case because it was just such an unprofessional experience for having spent $ 5000. This is all «my opinion» of course. I went out of my way to resolve the issue with them in a professional manner and practiced patience beyond what was deserved. They refused to take responsibility for mistakes and miscommunication they made that took my site offline for 6 months that originated from a faulty credit card checkout plug in they installed and incorrectly instructing me on updating plug ins after I called with concern on doing it myself. Now just imagine realizing that you now have multiple major errors originating from their instruction and their attempts to correct the credit card plug in. It is clear that the problem is so far out of control now that you need to reinstate the original back up files because to fix all these problems will now possibly cost $ 1000’s. No biggie just re instate the back up files. To my astonishing surprise Nicole informed me that they did not have the original back ups to my fairly new site. Nicole told me to go to the original site developer who no longer worked for her and ask him if he had the files. Really? (insert cuss words here) Most frustrating is that I asked repeatedly how to get the files and never got an answer and did not know how Wordpress backup files exactly worked and expected they kept those since I was their on going client and they never produced them. What web company does not keep a backup of the original web site files for new customers? I paid $ 5000 for a E commerce site created from a Wordpress template. I tried to meet them halfway and absorb much of the cost of the issues even though I felt they were completely in the wrong. They left me hanging for many many months claiming that they were fixing the errors only to find out they were not even working on it. They refused to complete the work when I finally had enough and lost my patience with the ongoing and very frustrating miscommunication. But of course this is all my fault because I was «NOT A GOOD FIT»? This was not a date. It is a business arrangement and you failed as a business owner from my point of view. Maybe you’re not a good fit. I worked with the web design team and had no issues and a pleasant relationship with them. The company employee turnover and new employees turned little issues into bigger ones due to mismanagement and miscommunication. Worse yet you were cc’d on all the emails and this miscommunication should have been clear yet you never stepped in to resolve the issues as a owner until it was too late and even then you finally invite me to a meeting only to take no responsibility for your mistakes, blame me and have a ‘project manager’ sit there and say multiple outright false statements. Then I was forced to prove those false statements by producing emails and you were just like oh yea there seems to have been some miscommunication. I asked multiple times to have a meeting to resolve the ever growing miscommunication early on. I gave ample opportunity to meet me half way monetarily and resolve it. When a company has the ability to affect someones livelihood they should be judged more on how they handle problems then the number of satisfied customers.
The credit card processing plug in still has ongoing issues even after paying the same developer who no longer works for them to try to correct it. So basically I am looking at either dumping a $ 5000 dollar site or dumping more $ 1000’s into something that has never worked correctly. Just who’s fault and responsibility is it if the credit card plug in you installed does not properly function? I would have been better off doing a Wordpress template on my own for a few hundred dollars.
I was sold a lemon in my opinion. My site repeatedly fails to meet standards of quality and performance regarding the credit card processing plug in which is the most critical function of an E Commerce web site. And you refused to stand by your work.

If you are looking for something extraordinary, I wouldn’t recommend Spot Color for website development or graphic design services. I don’t feel Nicole is overseeing the quality of design work offered by her contractors/​employees. Nicole assigned a young, inexperienced graphic designer to work on my website design. I kept an open mind, but the graphic designer lacked the confidence and experience to intuitively read a client brand and interpret it in visual form. I didn’t pay for a jr. designer — I spent thousands on my site. I invited them to show me ideas I hadn’t considered, to come up with something innovative and memorable. I recall Nicole saying they were excited to work on my site because it was more creative than most of their projects. However, I think my project was outside of their comfortable box. The comps they provided were ideas I had offered to them as inspiration. I found myself designing the site myself, from the color, spacing, backgrounds, and icons. It was very time consuming and took me away from my core business. On a positive note, the developer I worked with at Spot Color (an independent contractor) was excellent. He left shortly after my project. It was insulting when Spot Color used my website in their newsletter and on their site showing *their* design work.
I wouldn’t have posted a review if the above experience was the whole story. I was happy when the site was finished. It was a step up from my previous website. But there is more to the story. After the site launch my SEO (organic) rankings plummeted. I should be specific. I could see half of my traffic drop the week after the website launch. Month after month my site traffic never recovered, month after month for a full year the traffic was less traffic by thousands. I had been on page one of Google for many search terms for almost 8 years prior to the new site launch. I have been a blogger for years with tons of content on my site. I knew a little about meta tags and back links. When I called Nicole directly about the issue shortly after the new site launch, she was non committal and not engaged. At first she suggested that new sites drop in rankings at launch. On a second call I was told Google probably changed their algorithm at the exact same time we launched. I called her and her staff about this issue a couple more times in the first 6 months. I spent my own personal time checking site redirects (old URLS not redirected to the new site), code that could be penalizing me, and so on. I did find a few errors and had Spot Color immediately make changes. Nicole was nice, but offered no help or insight. I was left with this being my problem. This significant change in traffic has translated to thousands of dollars in lost revenue and profit — from previous years of web clientele who were able to find me.
I found out Google ranks websites poorly, even penalizes them for slow page load times. I looked into the web gallery on my front page and found it was taking 8 seconds to load — 3 seconds or less is optimal. I contacted Nicole again, and told her I was sure I found our problem. Without assigning blame, I asked her to take photos off of the web gallery to speed up the load time. (She actually asked me in that call to send her links to articles online that said load time was something google rated.) She didn’t call me back, she forwarded later in the day emails from SEO people she consulted with (that day) regarding my problem. Both of them noted the site load time *could* be a problem, but they suggested more SEO work (I would need to pay for) to solve my problem. I finally told her my patience was being challenged and I expected her to change the web gallery to a faster load time asap. After several emails, she said I would need to pay for this change to the web gallery.
Spot Color should have this basic knowledge even if they aren’t a SEO company. Nicole took no responsibility as a business owner for not knowing googles preferences for site loads. In our last email exchange, she pointed to our design agreement saying she never told me she was an SEO company. I paid a web developer less than one hour to make this gallery change. If you are looking for an expert in marketing, creative and web site development — this is an average option. If you need to keep web traffic coming to your site, go elsewhere. UPDATE ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₅: The owner’s comments below have changed twice, I guess so it sounds better? Simply — Nicole won’t take responsibility for her companies poor performance. Please note I have had 4 clients of Spot Color email or call me from this site who have had similar issues — one of them also had significant shopping cart issues like the review listed below. They thought their problems were isolated. If you don’t trust this review look at my website and those that posted positive reviews. They aren’t the same creative body of work.

I first met Nicole, owner of Spot Color Studio through a mutual business connection. She is the real deal: a true professional, hugely nice, and very poised and knowledgable. I subsequently used Spot Color Studio to design a Web site for me. Because I was on a budget I asked them to design just the main pages, and provide me with the files and images, and I’d fill in the content and build and launch the site myself. They said, «No problem.» And when I received the design, it was breathtakingly beautiful. I had a vision, and their team made it come true beyond my dreams. Nice work, Spot Color! Two thumbs up!

«If you’re looking for a creative design firm to help build your company starting with a logo, business cards and a website, Spot Color Studio is spot on for the job. Nicole and her team are talented, creative and fun. Spot Color has a handle on the internet using it as a tool to help you improve communication, find new customers and increase your revenue.»