Better Tools seeks to disrupt the current hand tool market by capturing consumer loyalty and market share and driving sales for their retail partners.  Founded in 2004, they produce the legendary Grip-Tite line of sockets and wrenches, along with Hippo Tool Storage Solutions.

Their Website Goals

The goals for the new Better Tools site were clearly defined. The company had recently re-branded and wanted to present a strong brand identity and have a simple site, that prioritized their visitor’s needs and would allow them the ability to add additional lines in the future, without having to undergo another redesign.

The Project

A Simple and Visual Web Design

To achieve the goals of our client, we knew we needed to create a simple and engaging website. We also wanted to make it easy to navigate and visual in nature.  We started by redesigning the company logo to create strong branding that Better Tools wanted.  In addition to their new logo, we also crafted a gist statement that summed up the company as a whole and promised to resonate with their customers. The final step was to build a website that could be expanded in the future to include new product lines as needed.

https://youtu.be/WfeuWF-BOAM

1. New Logo Design Defines the Brand

The hex nut shape used for their logo image defines Better Tools’ applications and identity. This strong and precise branding sets the tone for the overall web design. Bold colors further strengthen the visual impact of the new logo.

2. Gist Statement Sums Up Their Mission

The Gist Statement is the first thing that web visitors see when they land on the site and it sums up who the company is and their mission.

3. Visual Web Design Engages Visitors

Rather than use a slider at the top of the landing page, we chose to make the slides static. This way the important points were not lost during the animation. Each slide, or section, highlights the features and benefits of the item displayed. The bold colors and distinctive images draw the eye even though the presentation looks clean and simple.

4. Content that Addresses Customer Priorities

The final and arguably most important element of this web design project was the content. Great care was taken to outline the benefits of the products based on what the customers care about and to present them in the order of priority. This way the company can show that they understand the needs of their retailers and that they work hard to meet those needs.

Quotable Insights

“To deliver the most impact, we need to make the page interesting to the visitor and prioritize what they care about the most.”

If you would like to learn more about the Better Tools web design or how you can have a website that helps achieve your company’s goals contact Effect Web Agency for a free consultation.

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Client Success Stories: UX Design for E-Commerce

Increases Customer Retention & Engagement

When it comes to e-commerce, you must understand that selling goods is just one of the many goals of the website. What stakeholders really want is to have the user buy again and again. User retention makes real growth possible and positive user experience is a key to retention.

UX Design for E-Commerce first focuses on helping the user find the products or services they need. The second most important thing is the usability of the website. Is the customer journey clear and easy? Accessibility is also important, as is desirability. Does the site look good and provide an enjoyable experience?

E-Commerce Website + Mobile App

In August 2018, Stone Horses Inc. announced the launch of its new app for horse-collecting enthusiasts. With the launch of this app, customers gained mobile access to sales information, new releases, and live events. This was a first-time app launch from Stone Horses with a goal of supporting customer interest in the brand.

Prior to launching the app, Stone Horses also underwent an extensive website revision. This revision focused on allowing a better display of the Stone Horses products and an intuitive user experience.

“One of the critical components to good website design starts by listening. We listened to how the team at Stone Horses wanted to engage with customers, and that impacted the finished design. Although a small company, Stone Horses has a global reach, so our design team at Effect understood that the design of the new website needed to achieve world-class quality for the Stone Horses product. Whether people come to Stone Horses events or interact with them on the app Effect designed, every customer needs to know that Stone Horses value them – and we hope the new Stone Horses website and app make them feel right at home.”

Client Success Stories: Local Optimization

Increases Web Traffic

A few years ago Plain City, OH-based Nofziger Doors wanted to use online marketing to reach a broader urban community in Dublin, OH with their garage door sales and services. They came to Effect to with these goals in mind.

We advised them to refresh their website and add local optimization, which was particularly relevant for their goals.

“After local optimization… we are earning new customers every week.”

The first step for their local optimization meant adding local listings to about 16 main search engines. These included Google, Bing, and Yahoo. We then added their company to approximately 150 relevant directory listings and online phone books to improve online visibility and domain authority.

The second step was to optimize their website with keywords and content for their target service area.

“In a highly competitive urban environment, hovering near the top of search results for your trade makes the difference between being a slow, stagnant business and having a busy phone line!  After optimization of our website, a search in our area works out very well for us and we are earning new customers every week.”

Local SEO Strategies

If you have a brick and mortar location, then local optimization is a very effective strategy for you to consider. Local optimization also works well to define service areas within a region. In most local optimizations, it requires a one-time effort. A single investment can deliver big results.

Website Redesign

Small Changes = Big Rewards

Steve Kasten is a dog trainer in Elkhart, Indiana.  His website was getting traffic but he wasn’t seeing the conversions he wanted. So Steve came to Effect and asked for a website assessment in order to find out what was needed to reach his goals.

Effect’s principles for web success are the same for both large and small businesses and B2C or B2B. The process begins by defining goals.

We learned about Steve’s goals for gaining web leads, and assessed his website in that light, reviewing the critical factors that impact results.  With this assessment, we identified a number of adjustments that would make a significant difference for the conversion of Steve’s visitors into web leads (in this case, giving Steve a call or submitting an inquiry through his web form).

Client Success Stories: SEO & CRO

Search engine optimization (SEO) increases visibility in the SERP and conversion rate optimization (CRO) increases the number of people who click-through to the site. Once there, CRO is designed to move visitors further along in their buyer journey.

For the Kasten website, we combined SEO and CRO strategies to increase visibility and convince people to call for services.

• Keyword research and implementation. By his titles and headings with targeted keywords, his Google ranking improved and he reached the right people, at the right time, with the right message.
• Steve’s ultimate goal was to get a prospect to call.  So we added his phone number to the SEO titles for most of his web pages so the phone number actually showed right there in the Google results.
• Putting his call to action (which also clarified expectations for the potential customer) into the sidebar on every page put the next step of the buyer journey clearly where every visitor could see it.
• We setup Local Listings for Kasten Dog Training.  This ensured that local customers could find him when they were looking for precisely what he offers.
• By creating new landing pages for his Google Ads, we were able to send people to landing pages  relevant to each ad rather than sending people to the general homepage, where they might get lost in details other than what drew them to follow the ad in the first place.
• Adding more images throughout the site helped people visualize the solution that Steve’s services would bring to them.

These suggestions are great examples of the simple go-to solutions we implement for many of our clients with wonderful results. Sometimes it is relatively small tweaks that make a world of difference.

Boy, did it work! Effect customized a plan and clearly guided me through the process. We’ve had more web leads in 6 months than the entire previous 3 years!”

E-Commerce Integration

Save Time and Money

Simply put, eCommerce integration coordinates a company’s website with the back-end accounting and inventory (ERP) system. This enables the flow of information between the two systems so that data only needs to be entered once.

Several years ago, Chaneco, a leading orthopedic footwear company in the UK, had found that their growth potential had hit limits without an effective eCommerce site. When they opened a whole new department of orthotic products, they knew they needed a  website with a  catalog of product information that could facilitate sales of their new products.

UX Design & ERP Integration

Effect partnered with Chaneco to develop an eCommerce site that would make the ordering experience very simple. Because most of Chaneco’s products are made to order, customers could easily choose from a number of custom options. Effect also developed the eCommerce site to integrate with Chaneco’s internal inventory system, thus streamlining the ordering process all the way to the manufacturing process.

Working with Effect, you will experience a different type of web agency partnership. You will find us easy to work with, results-driven, and focused on wielding the right tools to build your business.  We are the highest-rated web design and web marketing company in northern Indiana and one of the few web design companies that offer a full package of services tailored to your needs.  Contact us if you would like to create online strategies for business growth that align with your goals.

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With the launch of this app, customers can have mobile access to sales information, new releases, and live events. This is a first-time app launch from Stone Horses with a goal of supporting customer interest in the brand.

Prior to launching the app, Stone Horses also underwent an extensive website revision. This revision focused on allowing a better display of the Stone Horses products and an intuitive user experience. A local website developer, Effect Web Agency designed and supported both digital projects.

“One of the critical components to good website design starts by listening. We listened to how the team at Stone Horses wanted to engage with customers, and that impacted the finished design,” notes Effect president, Steve Schmidt. “Although a small company, Stone Horses has a global reach, so our design team at Effect understood that the design of the new website needed to achieve world-class quality for the Stone Horses product. Whether people come to Stone Horses events or interact with them on the app Effect designed, every customer needs to know that Stone Horses value them – and we hope the new Stone Horses website and app make them feel right at home.”

About Stone Horses

For two generations, Stone Horses has proudly produced their products in the USA. Stone Horses has headquarters in Shipshewana, Indiana, in the heart of the Midwest, where craftsmanship remains an art form. They hand-craft each horse using a resin foundation that allows artisans to carefully mold, shape or carve intricate horse body details. Afterward, they take the sculptures through a proprietary finishing process. This craftsmanship and finish detail are what make Stone Horses highly sought after by collectors from all over the world who seek the highest quality model horse sculptures. You can find more information at StoneHorses.com.

About Effect Web Agency

Effect is an Indiana- based website development firm specializing in effective design, audience attraction and site conversion. Effect Web Agency has designed sites both large and small for more than 15 years. Effect’s team takes pride in the trust customers place in them to help make SEO-focused, user-friendly websites. This is evidenced by their the high percentage of customer referrals. More information can be found at EffectWebAgency.com.

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How to Build a Better Homepage

We live in a world inundated with visual noise. Ads, media, images, text… it’s everywhere. When you reduce the distractions on a homepage, people respond. The first thing on your homepage should be your “gist statement.” Clearly state who you are and what you can do for them.

1. The way your homepage design looks and feels should match you and your offering.

This is the first judgment they will make. If the homepage design feels right, you are good here. But if, for example, you say you are a cutting edge technology company, but your website looks like it’s from the 80s, then you lose the potential customer. Likewise, if you say you are all about customer service, but it’s hard to find your phone number then that will just not make sense to the visitor and they are gone.

2. You need a concise message to tell them what you do.

Can a visitor easily size up your scope of products and services?
Do you have too much stuff begging them for their attention?

Having a concise message is a factor you control. The best advice is to keep it simple. If you can only get someone to remember three points about your business, what would they be? Anything more is usually perceived as clutter, ignored, or forgotten.

Your customers appreciate it when you keep it simple. It allows them to accomplish their mission: size up and make a decision. Give them the crucial information needed for the type of decision they are making at the moment and no more. In the case of a visitor landing on a homepage, let them size you up quickly with your clear ‘about text’, give them your few and clear differences, and guide them to the next steps.

3. Your difference must be clear.

First, you must be confident that the differences you communicate are actually what they care about. If you’re not, one of the best ways to find out is by asking your best customers “Why do you work with us?”. Does their answer line up with your messaging? Once you settle that, only try to communicate your top two or three differences.

How different are you really? Would you say “We sell heating and cooling products and services”? While that categorize you in the realm of being a possible provider, that statement offers no reason for the visitor to choose you over anyone else. If your main difference is quick service, a better way of saying it might be, “The only heating and cooling company with next day service in the tri-state area.” That will give your visitors the information they need to decide whether or not they will invest more time on your website.

The Ultimate Goal Is Online Lead Generation

Since the majority of people enter a website via the homepage, you need to have clearly defined user paths to move them from the homepage, through the site, and ultimately to where you want them to make a conversion. That could be a sale or more likely, a request for follow-up.

A great example of this can be found on a site designed by Effect. This company specializes in handcrafted Amish furniture and operates in Northern Indiana.

To formulate a strategy for their new site we first looked at the site of one of their older brands. We noticed was that the homepage was content-heavy and there was no clear funnel or path for visitors. The ultimate goal was, of course, a sale, but the primary purpose of any site is online lead generation.

First, we helped the client define the top three main goals for the new site.

• Drive more foot traffic to their brick and mortar store.
• Have people browse their online catalog and submit a request for a quote.
• Capture prospective customers’ information in the email newsletter sign up form.

Please note that none of their goals for the website included taking sales ON THE WEBSITE. Two of the three were solely for the purpose of online lead generation.

Conversion-Focused Homepage Design

We first utilized their beautiful photos to create an engaging slideshow on the homepage to confirm to visitors that they were in the right place for quality, hand-crafted Amish furniture. We then set up three doors or entry points into the site that would guide the visitors to the next step in their journey.

The three entry points on the homepage graphically represented the client’s goals. A navigation menu was intentionally left off the design to better funnel the users to the three goals. We also set up a tracking code on the three goal-areas to measure valuable information about the visitors and their behavior on the site.

The result was an easy-to-navigate, beautiful site that was able to meet the client’s goals and needs. With web analytics, we were able to see that the site had a low bounce rate. This confirmed that the path to the next step was clear.

Effect Web Agency builds websites that not only look good but are tools for growth. If you are looking for a better performing website or a strategic web strategy, call Effect. We have offices in Indiana and Kansas. Effect Web Agency serves local, regional, national, and international businesses from small businesses to large corporations.

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A good example of this is the website we have redesigned for Weaver Furniture Sales.

Put Yourself in Your Client’s Shoes

Imagine that you are walking into a real furniture store; chances are, you do not know exactly what you want. You are browsing, attempting to gain a general idea of what you like best and on what to spend your money. The store’s employees do not rush you; they are there to help you make the right decision.

Our approach to the Weaver Furniture Sales website is similar. The company’s key marketing point is that they have a lot of furniture, and it is all customizable. Therefore, we presented this concept in a no-pressure way.

How did we achieve this?

After making the website more customer-friendly (easier access, shortcuts, etc.), we made it so that customers can get the “browse” effect without feeling the pressure to put things in their cart.

If they are interested in a type of wood or style, they can mark it without making the declaration that, “Yes, this is definitely exactly what I want.” They can also contact customer service representatives with questions such as, “Do you have so-and-so style of wood?”

Typically, the customer has an interest in several styles and wants to explore their options.

Allowing consumers to shop like this allows for:

• A no-pressure experience
• Easy organization
• A better customer service experience

That last bullet is key. Everything on the website is database-driven, so customer service representatives can go back and refer to the customer’s “favorites” and then contact them with information, suggestions, estimates, etc. This provides a better and more helpful experience for everyone.

At Effect, our main goal is to see business owners succeed using a variety of creative and effective methods. By communicating their key marketing point, we helped Weaver Furniture Sales do just that.

About Effect Web Agency

We are an Indiana-based website development firm specializing in effective design, audience attraction, and site conversion, Effect Web Agency has been trusted to design sites both large and small for more than 15 years. Effect’s team takes pride in the trust customers place in them to help make more profitable websites.

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