RC Watercraft is a hobby website dedicated to building radio controlled boats and other watercraft. The website features a range of build guides for various boats and watercraft, along with hints and tips. The website was launched on the 20th September 2019.
The Brief
RC Watercraft were looking for a website to showcase their collection of radio controlled boats as well as offer build logs for many different boats and watercraft. RC Watercraft also wanted to provide How To guides giving details of common problems and obstacles when building radio controlled boats, and giving guidance and advice on overcoming them.
The primary target audience for the new website were to be those looking at getting into building their own radio controlled watercraft, as well as those who may be already building their own watercraft and were looking for help and advice.
What We Did
Initially we looked at how potential visitors would interact with the website and what they would be looking for, and expecting to do on the website. From this information we developed some Use Cases and using those and the requirements that had we gathered from RC Watercraft, we were able to create a design specification. From this we determined the layout of the website and ensured that the most important information was the most prominent.
The main aim of the website was to share build logs with visitors, so we created a slideshow of three build logs, with links to the build logs themselves, on the homepage. We followed this with a brief section that gave information and a little background, on RC Watercraft.
Result
The finished website was created in HTML5 and CSS3, and built using Bootstrap. The website runs on the WordPress platform. This enabled RC Watercraft to manage the website themselves and add new content, such as new build logs, and even other pages, as required.
This website was one of our Bronze Website Packages, and included a year of website hosting, on our Business Hosting Package.
You can view the finished website by clicking the link below:
SEO and Optimisation
Once the website was complete we checked the site’s position in the search engines, and then again recently, to check how the website has progressed in the rankings since it was launched. Initially it wasn’t appearing in the search results, so the more recent results are shown below.
Results
| Search Term | Google Position | Bing Position |
|---|---|---|
| RC Watercraft | 33 | 1 |
| Radio Controlled Watercraft | 4 | N/A |
| Clyde Puffer RC Build | 5 | 2 |
| Port of Rotterdam Hoverboat Build | 1 | 1 |
| Huntsman RC Build | 2 | 1 |
| Evolution Tug Boat | 1 | 1 |
It isn’t a great result, at least in Google, for the site name, but it’s not a company name or brand per se, it’s really just a title that gives an idea of what the site is about. The priority for the site arethe build logs, and the site does very well at that. It often comes first or second in the search results for the build logs, at least for the boats we have tested.
So overall this is a very good result where the main purpose of the website, to provide help, advice and build logs to fellow hobbyists or those thinking of building their own watercraft, has been well met. The build log articles rank well in all search engines and generate traffic and interest. There have also been many comments from visitors asking about the builds, which is always a good sign.
In addition, the client has expanded and updated the site over the years, adding new pages to the site and even offering boats for sale. They have also added more build logs and information about what they are building and how it is going. All of this helps enormously with search rankings as the site is seen as more relevant.