Process equipment manufacturer The Witte Co., Washington, New Jersey, was among the first in its industry to launch a website. Like many manufacturers, the company developed a site that was about as attractive as technology would allow. Today, some might consider it an online version of its print brochure. While the site had remained largely the same for several years, the company had been growing – fueled by a series of engineering advances that had garnered ample media coverage and a slate of happy customers. While the company was earning praise for its 21st century equipment, its website began to look more and more out of date. In fact, with the recent advances in website design and programming technology and the documented preference among its customers for the Internet in researching equipment purchases, the Witte website was not taking full advantage of its site as a marketing tool. There is no way to know how many prospects were brought to the site by the company’s marketing program only to leave without further contact.
In developing the new site, epr went back to square one, working with The Witte Co. to reevaluate its Web strategy on the premise that the first impression of a company often comes from its website, which has become a litmus test for whether or not to contact the company or click over to a competitor.
To provide this attractive, effective first impression, epr incorporated informative content in an attractive design setting the company’s stainless steel machinery within a cool, blue and gray color scheme that accented the process red logo. To enable prospects to quickly find what they want, epr devised a dual entry system into the site. Prospects could click on the desired machine from the left side navigation or they could choose by their own industry or end products from choices in a pulldown menu. A plastics processor, for example, might click on “classifier” from the left hand navigation or on “Plastics” from the pulldown menu on the right. Either page would provide useful information and demonstrate that Witte has a proven track record in the plastics industry. Further, these application-specific pages, once indexed by the search engines, permit the site to be found in application-specific Web searches while also permitting the use of online keyword advertising based on application-specific keywords.
Web copy was structured not to educate the world about the esoteric wonders of fluid bed drying, but to establish credibility, position the company as expert engineers and help promote contact by phone or email. Since the site’s re-launch, the company has captured hundreds of sales leads and, today, enjoys a backlog of orders extending for months. According to an Ambler, PA-based manufacturer’s rep for Witte, “the website is the best of any principle I’ve seen.” See the site here on the Internet Wayback Machine. This Website redesign has since been redesigned. See the new Website redesign live here.
