43.90% Organic Traffic Increase for Commonwealth School Equipment

David and Christen Hawkins have been running Commonwealth School Equipment for many years. They provide top-of-the-line furniture and equipment for schools and universities across Virginia, ensuring students across the state have the proper tools for their education.

Despite their passion for education, there was something holding them back: their outdated website.

The design was behind the times, with clunky navigation and low-quality pictures of their work. If this was a class project, it would’ve gotten a D.

The site didn’t fit into the Hawkins’ idea of a modern website that would appeal to their audience of architects and school designers. After seeing our work with another client, David decided Emerge would be the design firm to help them realize their dream website redesign.

Planning the Curriculum

Our initial brand discovery meeting helped to put us all on the same page. David wanted the website to express the team’s experience. They needed a homepage that showed off high-quality images of their work and the trusted partners they work with.

The site also needed to speak the language of CSE’s audience: school designers and architects. It needed to be contemporary, respectable, and customer friendly. It was important to mix the design with the content to clearly show the team’s customer service skills and years of experience.

Acing the Test

Our designer was inspired by websites for architects and designers across the world. Taking a cue from their designs, CSE’s homepage features a large hero image along with plenty of high-quality images that are easy to see and examine.

The content includes a clear list of CSE’s partners and an explanation of their expertise. The text is minimal but effective. It never distracts from the images of their work, while still explaining who CSE is and what makes them stand out.

The site shows rather than tells. The Hawkins’ work speaks for itself at every opportunity.

Head of the Class

It seems this effort has paid off.

Since the launch of Commonwealth School Equipment’s new site, they’ve seen continued traffic growth. Over the course of 2020, their organic search traffic has increased by 43.90% 

They’ve also seen steadily increasing impressions in many targeted keywords, like “school equipment,” “Elementary school furniture” and “school equipment suppliers.”

As of 01/25/21, they appear on page 1 for local search queries in Richmond, Midlothian, Chesterfield and Henrico involving “school equipment” “elementary school furniture” and “school furniture supplier.” The website update has helped them to rank in the top 5 results for their target locations, helping local schools find the equipment they need.

“I can’t say enough about our experience in working with this company!
After interviewing several companies about re-designing our website, we settled on Emerge…due in part to their creative vision and also their desire to involve us in the process and empower us to take control of our website content through teaching us the basics of how to use our system. They listened to our concerns and helped us bring to life what we were envisioning. If you are considering a website re-design or are looking for a brand new site, I highly recommend you meet with this firm to see if they are the right fit for you like they were for us.”

-David Hawkins

Graduating With Flying Colors

By working closely together, the Hawkins and Emerge were able to design the perfect website for the modern era. With extensive research and effective cooperation, the current CSE website accomplishes every goal it was set out to achieve.

If you want to be easier to find on Google, look no further than Emerge! We specialize in web design and SEO for small businesses and start-ups in Richmond, Chesterfield, Midlothian, and surrounding areas. 

Contact us to schedule a free consultation! We offer affordable website design services for small businesses looking to get ahead of their competition.