Case Study: Nauset Lantern Shop

Overview
Michael Joly, owner of the Nauset Lantern Shop, hadn't made a single online sale ever from his previous web sites over three years. He came to KISS, his third webmaster, wanting a new site designed and built for the online sale of his hand-made, high end copper, brass and pewter lanterns. The challenge was to design and develop a system that would allow for customization of lantern styles, including choices of glass, finish and caging. KISS met the challenge by designing a web site that presented his eighteenth century craft appropriately with twenty-first century technology.

Design
Using antique textures and sepia-tone photographs, a site was developed that highlighted the Early Colonial heritage of Michael's craft. Michael's lanterns are painstakingly hand-crafted, and the site was constructed to differentiate his product from those that are simply mass-produced replicas.

Content Development & Production
Like many of our clients have done, Michael had invested a great deal of time and care in creating the photographs and copy he had used in his previous web sites. KISS was able to save both time and his money by recycling those photographs, and a good portion of that text in the creation of his new site. Copy was added to create the SEO punch necessary for online success.

E-Commerce Functionality & Programming
The front end single page interface , a non-traditional shopping cart feature we developed specifically for Michael, allows not only for the customization of lantern features, but also for the visual display of them. A visitor never leaves that single page until the decision to buy is made, and then it's a simple check-out process thereafter.

Internet Marketing
KISS began the development of a marketing campaign with a Search Engine Rank Analysis Report for Michael. With that documentation in hand, a campaign was undertaken initially that involved paid inclusions and a cost-per-click campaign. An integral part of the strategy was search engine optimization site work that included the development of copy that was rich in keywords while still telling the Nauset Lantern Shop story well and clearly, as well as other appropriate SEO efforts.

Analytics and Consulting
KISS prepares and delivers to Michael a quarterly Executive Summary-style consulting report that presents site statistics, compiles cart sales activities, and breaks down the numbers to identify his average revenue per visitor, his return on marketing investment, average weekly sales volume and average order size. The quarterly report also presents action step recommendations for site improvements and adjustments based upon the site traffic statistical analysis, both in the short and long term. Our last report showed 46 top 10 rank positions on Google, Yahoo and MSN for 10 primary keywords.

Maintenance & Updates
The action step recommendations included in the quarterly consulting report are regularly put into effect with site adjustments to improve functionality, customer ease of shopping and the effectiveness of copy in providing a word diet rich in keywords.

Results
Michael identified a sales goal for the first year of online commerce, and KISS accepted his challenge. KISS was pleased to present him with first year-end consulting report identifying actual year sales that exceeded his goal by more than 65%. His sales continue to rise yearly.