A start up business looking to drive enquiries
Gerard Doherty is the owner of Stormie.ie, an exceptional carpenter with a lifetime of experience in the trade. Gerry reached out to West Coast Web with objectives for the website such as driving new business, showcasing previous projects and providing potential clients with more info on the Stormie design.
Having worked as a roofer during the early years of his career, Gerry began moving into garden buildings in recent years. Given the harsh winds and driving rain on the west coast of Ireland, he saw and opportunity for reinforced polytunnel designs. Stormie tunnels are a polytunnel and greenhouse hybrid using polycarbonate sheet.
A look at the finished website
The approach taken
During our initial conversation we discussed the key elements needed on the new website along with other important factors. These included:
- Generating online enquiries
- Highlighting previous projects
- Providing detailed information on the Stormie design
Generating online enquiries
The most important goal for Stormie.ie was to deliver a steady stream of enquiries through to Gerard’s email. In reality, not all customers want to fill in a form to make an enquiry. For that reason, Oisín suggested making Gerard’s number available at all times.
This was achieved by designing a top bar sitting over the primary navigation. This allows a user to easily call to ask questions or make an order. On mobile, one tap will instantly bring the number on their phone to make the action even easier.
West Coast Web also offers search engine optimisation as part of the website design. As a result of this work, Gerard is now receiving a steady stream of leads over the phone and via email from Google searches.
Highlighting previous projects
Storm-proof polytunnels are a relatively new concept, for that reason photos from previous projects played a very important role in the website’s design. A gallery was also built so users can quickly scan through examples and see just how effective they are at growing bounties of vegetables.
Plans are in place to add case study pages, similar to the one you’re reading now to the website so visitors can get even more info on each project.
Providing information on the Stormie design
As mentioned above, Stormie’s are a pretty new product to the Irish market. To reduce the amount of questions regarding the design, construction and price, a “What Is a Stormie?” page was included on the site.
An interactive, Frequently Asked Questions, page was also designed and built for the website. This gives website visitors the opportunity to find answers before sending through an email or picking up the phone. According to Gerard, visitors are much closer to making a purchase when they do make an enquiry.
What was achieved
Stormie.ie now features on the first page of Google in Ireland for search terms related to storm-proof polytunnels. According to Google Analytics data, visitors are also spending time on pages offering additional information before calling or sending through an enquiry form.
Extras
We provide a number of services for our clients on every project free of charge. Stormie.ie was no different. As part of the project we also:
- added “on-page” search engine optimisation to improve visibility in Google searches
- tuned the website for faster loading speeds
- setup Google Analytics
Project duration
Gerard wanted a new logo designed for this project and had no photos of his previous work. Christy, our Graphic Designer, worked with Gerard on his ideal logo. He designed three different options and colour schemes for Gerard to choose from.
Oisín accompanied Gerard to a number of previous project locations to take pictures. Once the logos and branding was ready, the website was completed in one week. The entire project took a total of two weeks to complete including logo design, photography and web design.
