SEO, UX Redesign, And 26% Faster Website For Security Systems’ Business Expansion
I used to think designing websites was a 2000s project. But, I designed 3 websites recently. I was surprised that building websites is so common, crucial, and time-consuming in 2024. Paul Graham said,
"Overall the Web is pretty sloppy, but an online store can't afford to be."
You need a good website when you are selling goods or services. I worked with a B2B client to target a 9x increase in monthly organic traffic. I redesigned their website, moved to a new web platform, and optimized on-page SEO. I’ll share my journey and learnings.
I spent 2 hours 20 minutes writing this post.
I originally published this post on www.sparkcreativetechnologies.com on Mar 08, 2024.
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Project Background And Challenge
The client manufactures B2B security systems. For example, they manufacture RFID readers and electronic cabinets to secure items. The company has sold products for 25 years. Most of their customers are government organizations including heavy industries and petroleum companies. They also have for-profit customers, such as the Marriott chain of hotels, GE, Ford, and Honeywell.
They had spent the upfront time and cost to develop products that meet the needs of B2G and (for-profit) B2B customers. The client had a portfolio of 40+ proven products. They wanted to sell their existing products to for-profit companies to grow in the B2B market, which is 6.2 times bigger than the B2G market.
But, they knew they needed a different approach to grow in the B2B market vs the B2G market. In 2022 and 2023, I worked with them to identify ways to increase their for-profit customer base.
Research To Identify Growth Barriers
Most customers found them through:
referrals from another customer,
a partner/vendor, or
online searches.
We didn't have a process to get referrals. We did not have a process to find new partners. But, we had a website that showed up via online search.
For-profit companies were more likely to choose us based on our website, compared to government buyers. So, we wanted to make our website easier to find. This would lead to more leads or inquiries, leading to more sales.
To get more people to our website, we had 2 options:
Content marketing for organic traffic
Digital ads for inorganic traffic
We chose organic growth because we wanted to get traffic that cost less in the long term.
My research on how customers find our website showed we had 3 ways to get organic traffic:
Blog content
Case studies or customer stories
Customer testimonials
Our website had some big challenges:
It did not have a CMS (Content Management System). This meant we needed to know PHP, HTML, and CSS to add anything new.
It was slower than most websites, ranking in the 46th percentile for speed.
Users could not easily discover us via Google search. For example, our webpage titles were “1.php” and “2.php”.
It used an old platform. We wanted to add case studies, testimonials, or blogs. These are essential for attracting more visitors, but we couldn't easily put them on our site.
We did not have dedicated website developers in our team.
So, we decided to redesign the website and switch to a new platform. We aimed for these four goals:
Faster page loading,
A modern design,
Easy to add blogs, case studies, and testimonials, and
Implementing on-page technical SEO changes.
30-40% of the company's revenue came from one product, the key management system. So, we decided to focus on this product in our project.
Research To Redesign Website
I researched these topics:
Website platform, e.g. Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, and more.
Peer and competitor websites for design ideas.
SEO keyword analysis for on-page SEO
Choosing the right agency to build our website.
I looked at 44 websites in our industry for design inspiration. I checked their:
SEO performance,
Style, and
Content
I analyzed SEO keywords. I aimed to find non-branded keywords with high volume or high conversion in our industry. I used:
Ahrefs and
Google Trends
My research showed customers buy from us because:
They know the founder,
Appreciate our 25-year history, and
Trust referrals from our customers
So, I highlighted the founder, our company history, and customer stories in our new home page design.
Results: Redesigned Website
I hired a web development agency to create the new website and its features in WordPress with Elementor. I followed best practices and used insights from our customers to improve the website:
We chose a modern design, similar to the top websites in our industry.
We optimized our website for mobile devices.
We kept the most important info at the top and used a carousel to provide extra information.
We showed the benefits of our products, not just their features.
We used photos of our product in use, rather than stock photos.
We featured a select few private customers, rather than listing every customer we have.
On the product page, I updated the (copy) text and organized the information better. I talked to our experts to fully understand what our products do. Then, I matched what I learned about our products with what our customers need. This helped me improve the product catalog.
We achieved these goals by rewriting the content:
Highlighted benefits, not features.
Spoke about jobs-to-be-done by the customer.
Made it easier to skim or speed read, by removing hidden information or info behind tabs.
Made it easier to read headings without details by grouping information and adding pictures and icons.
Results: Faster Website
82% of consumers say slow page speeds influence their purchasing decisions, as per Website Builder Expert. We cut down the page load time by 3 seconds. This could increase conversions by 33%, as per research by Envisage Digital. Our next challenge is to reduce our image sizes while retaining quality to speed up our website even more.
Estimating Impact
Our closest rival had 9 times our organic traffic. I predicted that through content marketing, we could achieve a similar traffic - 9 times growth in our organic traffic. With our redesigned website, we now easily add case studies, testimonials, and blogs. This would spark the future growth of the client.
Website Revamp Thoughts
To start your digital marketing, review: do you have a suitable web platform?
To move your focus to a new vertical, check: how do those customers search for solutions to their problems?
Once you have a better understanding of the customer needs and technical feasibility, build your go-to-market strategy.
What have you seen work well in having a digital presence and website design?
I originally published this post on www.sparkcreativetechnologies.com on Mar 08, 2024.
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