Case study · Suncoast Watersports
A walk-up business that now sells online
Suncoast has been on St. Pete Beach since 1978, and most sales came from people walking up. We first built their site in 2021. Geoff says online sales grew 4x after that, from about 10% of sales to 30 to 40%. This year we rebuilt it.
- Where
- St. Pete Beach, FL
- What they run
- Parasailing, dolphin and sunset cruises, rentals
- Old site
- Custom site, dated 2014
- Online sales
- 4x after our first site, per Geoff
Before and after
Before
- Old site:Trips named late
- Old site:Two calendars
After
- New site:SEO headline
- New site:4x online sales
“Once they completed the website overhaul, we saw a large increase in traffic that amounted to a increase in web driven sales.”
Geoff ClickCo-owner, Suncoast Watersports, St. Pete BeachWhat was wrong with the old site
This is the site Suncoast had before we ever worked with them. The trouble came after a guest tapped Book.
- Old site:
Two calendars to book
Book led to a page with two buttons. Parasailing and boat rides opened one booking system. Dolphin tours opened another. A guest had to work out which was theirs.
- Old site:
What they do came late
The page's first big heading said In Business Since 1978. The line that names the town and the trips sat far down the page.
- Old site:
Trips shared pages
Three cruises sat on one page. Parasailing shared a page with WaveRunners and the banana boat. To learn about one trip, a guest had to read past the others.
- Old site:
Prices were hard to find
The cruise page listed three trips and no price. The parasailing and WaveRunner page had none written out either. The home page gave one: flights from $50.
- Old site:
Two, three or six spots?
The home page said two locations. The rentals page said three. The footer said six. A guest had to work out where to go.
Fewer stops between a guest and a booking
Set against the site they started with, here's what a guest gets today.
Old site:Two buttons and two calendars
New site:A Book now button on every trip
It opens that trip's own calendar, so no one has to guess. On a phone, Book now and Call stay at the bottom of the screen.
Old site:Three cruises on one page, no prices
New site:A page per trip, with price, length and start time
A family can see the cost and pick a day without calling first.
Old site:Two, three or six locations
New site:Each trip says where to meet
A guest can see which hotel beach or dock to go to before they book.
Old site:The trips named far down the page
New site:Parasailing and boat tours, in the first line
A guest who came from a search knows right away they're in the right place.
Old site:No star rating on the home page
New site:4.9 on Google and 4.9 on Tripadvisor, up top
That's 2,082 reviews on Google and 1,553 on Tripadvisor. A new guest can see how many came before them.
What Google sees now
The big change is under the home page. Every trip now has its own page for Google to read.
Now
funstpete.com
Suncoast Watersports | Parasailing and boat tours on St. Pete Beach
Parasailing, WaveRunner and paddleboard rentals, banana boat rides and Sand Dollar Island dolphin and sunset cruises on St. Pete Beach, Florida, since 1978.
A page for each trip
Parasailing, the banana boat, each cruise and private charters have their own pages. Each page title names the trip and St. Pete Beach, the way a guest would search.
Trip details Google can read
Each trip page carries its details in code made for Google, called trip schema. The old site had none.
One main heading
The old home page had five main headings, and one of them was Book Now. The new one has one, and it says what they do and where.
Old links still work
The dolphin tour's last page got 102 clicks from Google in October alone. Every trip address from that site now forwards to its new page, so those links don't go dead.
Guest questions on one page
Eleven questions guests ask sit on one page. They're marked so Google can tell each question from its answer.
The PageSpeed scores
This is Google's test of the new site, out of 100, on a phone with a slow signal. The main picture shows in 1.0 seconds.
The site today
On a phone
Speed
Easy to use
Best practices
SEO
Main picture shows in 1.0 s
On a computer
Speed
Easy to use
Best practices
SEO
Main picture shows in 0.4 s
Scores from Google’s PageSpeed Insights, home page. They move a few points from run to run.
What we did on top
Live the day he said yes
We built the new site first and showed it to him. He said yes, and it went live that same day.
Things he sold that the site never showed
Beach cabanas and gift cards were for sale in his booking system, but not on his last site. Now both are.
Times and prices checked at the source
We didn't copy them from the old site. We checked them against his live calendar on launch day.
His tools stayed
He already used Podium for chat, and his own ad and traffic tracking. We kept all three, so nothing he had set up got lost.
His other web addresses
Seven other web addresses he owns still lead to the site.
“I attribute over $100,000 in online sales growth the first year we had our new website.”
Geoff ClickCo-owner, Suncoast Watersports, St. Pete Beach“They are easy to work with and very responsive.”
Geoff ClickCo-owner, Suncoast Watersports, St. Pete Beach“I recommend working with them if you think your website isn’t doing as well as you would like.”
Geoff ClickCo-owner, Suncoast Watersports, St. Pete BeachMore sites we’ve launched
Want to schedule a time to talk?
Book a 20-minute call with Nick. He’ll answer your questions, show you sites we’ve built for other charters, and tell you straight if it’s a fit.
- Month to month
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- Live in 7 to 10 business days
- You keep your website if you leave
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“I spoke with Nick personally. He’s prompt about getting back to me.”