Background
As one of our key clients, over the years, we have supported the Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) with their branding, advertising, copywriting, social media management, blog content, and media coverage. Our PR and communications work aims to strengthen their voice within the industry, raising awareness of their vital role in racking safety and warehouse storage systems across the UK.
In 2024, we boosted their LinkedIn follower growth by an impressive 50% and increased their monthly average engagement by 20%, showing the real impact of our strategy. We know the value of their mission inside out, and everything we do is about helping them deliver a strong, consistent message that pushes their influence and reach.
So, when the conversation turned to refreshing their website, it made perfect sense for us to take it on. We already understood their audience, goals, and voice, and it felt like a natural next step. From day one, we had a clear vision of what needed to be done.
Target Audience
The new website was designed first and foremost with warehouse owners and managers in mind. As those responsible for the safety of their warehouse and racking, it was essential that they could easily find clear guidance that would help them meet their responsibilities and legal obligations.
While warehouse owners were the primary audience target, we had to be mindful that other SEMA audience profiles would also need information from the site. As its first aim, the website leaned heavily into providing information for warehouse owners, such as a beginner’s guide to racking, storage equipment regulations, finding a supplier, or training courses. Whatever the need, the site had to cover it all and act as a reliable hub for warehouse racking solutions. However, the site also needed to speak to other audience profiles; racking suppliers looking to join SEMA as a member or inspectors and installers looking for training.
Client Challenge
First of all, the old website simply wasn’t speaking to SEMA’s main audience – warehouse owners and managers. Instead, it leaned heavily toward recruiting new members and still didn’t quite hit the mark there either.
On top of that, information was scattered across the site, making navigation confusing and difficult. Important guidance was buried under layers of menus and outdated pages. The overall look and feel was also very dated, and the branding lacked clarity.
In short, SEMA needed more than a cosmetic refresh. They needed a complete rethink of the site’s structure, design, navigation, and messaging, something that would guide every visitor straight to the information, training, or services they needed while reinforcing SEMA’s credibility as the UK authority on racking safety.
Agency Solution
We knew this was going to be a big task; the structure of SEMA can be confusing to the outside, with a lot of information and topics to cover. But we didn’t hesitate to strip everything down and start from scratch. In fact, starting fresh turned out to be the easiest option, as it allowed us to break everything into clear categories and sections, making the content as simple and easy to understand as possible.
A big part of the solution was creating a consistent branding strategy. We established clear colours, graphics, and fonts so that the website felt cohesive and professional from top to bottom.
We then went through every page, reviewing all the copy. Each piece was pulled into its own document so we could decide what to keep, what to update, and ensure every word reflected SEMA’s key messages. We also used tools like SE Ranking to choose strong SEO keywords, keeping content relevant and easy to find on Google.
To organise everything, we created a full mind map that detailed where information should live, what menu items were needed, and which buttons or calls-to-action would work best. Sure, there was a bit of back-and-forth before we settled on the final structure, but it was worth it.
To prioritise pages, we dug into the old website’s analytics and reports to discover where users were going and then form decisions on what someone wanted from the site.
Finally, we designed the pages in-house and partnered with an IT team to manage the backend setup.
The Results
The results were positive almost immediately. When we attended the SEMA Conference later in the year, we compared figures from August to October 2023 to the same period in 2024 and saw remarkable improvements:
- How to Set up a Warehouse: Page views up 263%, Average Engagement Rate up 25%
- Find a SEMA Approved Racking Inspector Course: Page views up 435%, Average Engagement Rate up 65%
- SEIRS Training FAQ: Page views up 369%, Average Engagement Rate up 4%
In October 2024, the site achieved its highest monthly performance of the year for new users and engaged sessions:
- Users up 24%
- New Users up 25%
- Organic search traffic up 25%
- Direct traffic up 64%
- Referral traffic up 28%
- Page views up 7%
- Clicks up 100%
- Files downloaded up 5%
A big part of this success was the site structure. For example, the homepage now kicks off with a bold banner and intro that instantly tells people what SEMA’s about, with clear buttons taking them to the pages they’re most likely after.
Then just below that, we added a brand-new “How Can We Help” section that breaks down everything SEMA covers. Each area has its own graphic and a handy dropdown that explains the service and links straight to the right page.
Those sections are echoed in the navigation bar too:
- SEMA Services: For newcomers wanting to learn about storage equipment, from warehouse setup to inspections.
- SEMA Suppliers: For those looking for a SEMA Approved Member or interested in becoming a member themselves.
- SEMA Training: For installers, inspectors, or companies seeking staff training, covering all courses in full detail.
- Storage Equipment Installations: A full guide on installations and SEIRS installers.
- Storage Equipment Inspections: Dedicated to inspections, providing a complete guide to SARI inspections.
- SEMA Support: Tools, publications, brochures, technical bulletins, newsletters, FAQs, and racking regulations.
We continue to monitor the performance of the website, adding fresh content, reviewing analytics, finding new keywords, and making continuous improvements to keep everything running smoothly.
