FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Some common questions asked by referrals and prospects.

Do you conduct business outside of the United States?

No, we only work on projects within the United States.

Do you offer discounts for non-profit organizations?

Yes, we offer generous discounts to 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) organizations. Contact us so we can evaluate your needs.

What forms of payment do you accept?

Our company accepts major credit cards, company checks, checks written through established bill-pay services for businesses, and corporate ACH.

Can you explain your onboarding process?

To become a client, we need to speak first and determine if (a) your project fits our guidelines and (b) if our two companies are a good fit for a long-term collaborative relationship. If a proposal is required first, we’ll complete that, which acts as a guide for the contract with an embedded Scope of Work. If both parties can agree on those steps, we’ll incorporate the details of our engagement with you into the final contract and send it over for signatures. Once that’s accomplished, we’ll set you up on our systems and commence work.

How do you track projects and budgets?

We have proprietary, self-hosted Agile project management tools for tracking projects, tasks, and budgets. Due to this investment in our infrastructure, we can provide timely project reports and have complete control over daily communications with other team members and clients. Nothing goes unnoticed.

Are there project types you won't engage in?

We won’t work with persons, projects, or organizations that are unethical, directly political, egregiously controversial, promote hate or violence, sites that are pornographic, sites that contain advertisements and clickbait, personal websites or personal/individual projects, or those operating illegally. Our focus is on solving business problems with the strategic use of technology.

What is your company's philosophy?

The agency is directly managed in Oregon by the owner (Derek), a project manager and PHP programmer. Being prior military with a range of corporate experience, we strive to be an honest, transparent, and dependable solutions partner. We believe in open-source and the client’s ability to own the final product. We also believe that clients should have complete control and access to their infrastructure. Overall, our culture promotes client responsibility and growth by making data-driven decisions.

What do sites, software, and web applications cost?

That depends on what you’re looking to do. When you ask a company how much something will be without talking about the details, it’s the same as asking a building contractor to quote a home construction without blueprints. We’ve worked on projects ranging from $5,000 (small work or changes) to $175,000 (large commercial projects) in size, so it all comes down to your specific needs.

Can you augment our internal staff?

Absolutely, but we’re not taking the place of your employees. We’re a small group of professionals working together for your benefit and strictly follow U.S. laws regarding client-contractor relationships. While we make ourselves as available as possible to all of our clients in a fair and orderly fashion by helping them accomplish projects, we can’t act as your employees. Our role is to maintain a collaborative relationship with you as skilled external professionals.

How does your billing work?

We use a time and materials model and charge only for work performed. Established clients under contract are billed monthly on ‘Net 30’ terms, while new clients may be subject to project down-payments or ‘Upon Receipt’ terms for the first 90 days. We never charge flat rates or monthly service fees for ambiguous work performed. Clients will always receive a detailed billing statement with 100% transparency.

Do you provide free quotes or proposals for projects?

We used to when we first started, but we don’t do that anymore. There were too many requests by those not serious about services, just kicking tires, and it was eating into reserved time for clients. We only do this now for referral, government contracting, partnership, and non-profit opportunities. It takes time to review needs and come up with an estimate, so we’ll invoice you for the administrative time required and then formulate a solution based on your problem and timeline.

What type of government contracts do you work on?

We are registered with the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID) and are certified as an Emerging Small Business (ESB) and Service-Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (SDVBE) as listed under Directory of Certified Firms.  We are capable of handling up to medium-sized website, web application, marketing, and design work for local, county, and state agencies here in Oregon only.  We have the resources and expertise to work on public projects between $10,000 and $250,000 at this time, depending on scope and timeline.  Per OAS Rule 125-246-0314 (Disabled Veterans Preference), we can be directly awarded smaller projects under $50,000 in size without public bid, to include items such as focused design and website maintenance.  Due to our certifications, we can also partner with in-state prime firms as a qualified subcontracting agency to complete smaller portions of larger tasks.  Those firms gain the advantage of our certification under the same umbrella.

What WordPress page builders do you specialize in?

While we can conduct maintenance on existing WordPress websites using a variety of builders such as Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Avada, and others, we only build new sites using coded PHP solutions to avoid being limited on what we can do for you.

Can you work on non-WordPress projects?

Anything in the realm of PHP and .NET is possible, such as Laravel and ASP.NET. We’ve also helped with CodeIgniter, Symfony, unstructured PHP, and semi-structured with object-oriented programming. Refer to our capability statement for more information.

Do you work on other types of platforms?

We’ve had numerous requests for assistance with proprietary systems such as Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace, all of which we can work with, but clients don’t understand how limiting and difficult it can be. While we can help you on those platforms, we advocate for open-source solutions for your benefit.

Do you only build websites?

Far from it! We have full design services to support good website user experiences and provide project consulting from a holistic standpoint; we are a digital solutions partner, not a freelancer or a “quick build for cheap” agency. We’re committed to solving problems by strategically implementing technology, whether a website, web application, or custom piece of software.

We like what you offer, but what if our technology stack isn't one you specialize in?

We have great relationships with specific sourcing pools in Oregon and offshore, so if we need to recruit someone specifically for your project and add them to our team as a leased employee or white label contractor, we can discuss that. We’ve done this for larger companies before, and we ask for (on average) 45 – 60 days minimum to recruit the right senior candidate that will fit our culture. All such hires have a 90-day probationary period on our side.

What does your development style look like?

We are purists and minimalists. Our team believes that sites and applications should be custom coded with only the resources required for the project. Due to this, our builds tend to be highly structured and use a minimal number of plugins and libraries, with most features programmed by us internally.

How long does the development process task?

A large part of development processes can include discovery, the scope of work, finalizing contracts and expectations, moving into concepts and designs, and finally, development, quality assurance, and deployment. As professionals, we will strive to get this done right the first time by following our standard practices. The development process can take anywhere from a few weeks for small tasks, to a few months for medium-sized tasks, to over a year for large software projects.  In the end, it all depends on your needs.

Does having a coded site mean that we can't make content changes?

No! It all depends on your business and operational needs, along with who would be managing the daily site administration on your end. Some larger clients prefer to have our agency make content changes (it can be faster and less stressful), while many request us to build the cost of a custom interface for self-service into the final project budget. We’ll work with you to determine your needs and propose a solution that fits your organization’s culture and budget.

Do you host websites?

No, but we use trusted hosting providers and can assist you in acquiring a hosting account based on your specific needs and budget. Then, we can help you manage that account. We don’t believe it’s the job of development firms to host sites for clients. It’s a significant conflict of interest.

What does your design process look like?

It depends on the project, but we tend to discuss your needs first and foremost. This planning typically takes a few weeks, and then we confirm what you’re looking for, then start the wireframe process. After wireframes are done (to solidify the concept), we move into full mockups. Once mockups are approved, we will begin building your deliverable.

What factors do you take into consideration when creating designs?

A lot goes into design planning when attempting to solve business problems. We often want to install behavioral scripts on your site or web app and monitor user behavioral patterns to determine what’s happening so we can try to best formulate a solution. We’ll also look at your Google Analytics and Console accounts to spot trends. With this data, we can devise a plan based on best practices for User Experience (UX) and a good User Interface (UI) design to help alleviate your conversion problems.

Is there any way to measure the success of a site design?

Yes. We use behavioral analytic tools to review user sessions on the website or web application and then make modifications based on those experiences. In some problematic or extreme cases, we can conduct A/B testing to determine the efficacy of a funnel, page, or system and then suggest revisions based on best practices.

Can we have a simple site built without the expense of design?

That’s impossible as a design is still required to build the site to standards, no matter how simple. Developers are not designers, and designs serve as a blueprint for the developers, therefore they are critical to delivering a successful product.

Can you build out designs from another firm?

It’s not out of the question, but we’ll need to discuss it beforehand as we don’t design based on looks alone, we design based on operational needs and keep a solutions-focused approach.  Oftentimes clients want to cut corners by having just a “web designer” provide a good-looking template that doesn’t represent the client’s brand well, nor does it present solutions to conversion problems.  We may want to update those designs and tweak the funneling and page flow to satisfy best practices, otherwise we can’t build something that we don’t feel will perform.

Do you offer marketing services on top of your regular services?

We offer marketing as a service to help with social media platform management, search engine optimization, site optimization, and pay-per-click advertising to meet goals. We can also craft custom content based on data points and related SEO metrics to increase your presence for organic and paid search. Marketing tasks are billed hourly, just like our design and development services.

Can you provide an example of how you can assist with technical marketing?

For instance, we can set up and organize your Google Analytics and AdWords accounts to ensure the data syncs properly for Data Studio reports. Additionally, we can create and manage ad campaigns in a logical sequence, categorically, so you can turn them on and off as necessary. See our marketing services page for more information.

Can you provide help with behavioral analytics?

We love to dive deep into why there are inactions or incomplete conversions on pages. To assist in this effort, we install user tracking tools that monitor interactivity with the page and user interface elements to understand better how the site or app is used. That information, combined with standard analytics and an assessment of your user experiences, help us recommend a better course of action.

Testimonials

Their design work is first-rate, and their communication skills are excellent. The fact that they’re a small agency enables us to talk directly to their principal — I’ve never felt like I’m passed off to a junior partner or someone who doesn’t grasp our project objectives. I can’t speak highly enough of our work with them — I’m thrilled.

-Mike Erdmann, CEO

IronGlove is great at explaining processes to people who aren’t tech-savvy. On top of that, they’re good at staying organized and keeping everything on track. Their resources are also friendly as they keep the project moving.

-Rachel Kimball, Marketing Manager

Their communication and attention to detail were exceptionally strong. Every fine detail was taken care of in a timely manner. We were never waiting for anything. They went above and beyond by including UX functions that we didn’t ask for but will greatly improve the quality of the site. The overall functionality and speed of the website are strong as well.

-Kelly Miskovski, Director of Outreach

If you’re looking for a team with top-notch reliability and communication skills, then go for IronGlove.

-Ravi Moudgil, IT Manager

When we hired IronGlove Studio, we saw double-digit growths in our businesses thanks to their help in implementing our initiatives. Our company recorded an increase in sales during that time. The team was great in terms of project management. Everything was rock solid in communication, budgeting, beating deadlines, and delivering the tasks.

-Joel Bornzin, E-Commerce & Marketing Manager

Ready to discuss your project?

Whether you’re looking for end-to-end development or need a trusted partner to take things across the finish line, we’re here to help.