Case Study: Two Keys for Websites that Wow
Meet the Client
Let me introduce you to Draggin main, a nonprofit organization in my home town that was formed in 2014 to celebrate the days when us kids would “drag main” while listening to music and eating at our favorite hangouts with our friends (and an occasional race on some back roads). I grew up with one of the original founders, Gene Porter, but didn’t know him very well until I started Genius Communication. He and his team hired me to build a new website for the 2022 Draggin Main event.
The backstory
Draggin main is a week-long event of events ranging from car shows to classic drive-in tours to stunt shows and dragsters. It’s capped off the last night, a Saturday, where everyone takes their old cars (or new cars and motorcycles) and drag Main bumper to bumper.
When Gene asked if I would do their website and social media, I jumped at the chance. I had wanted to help with Draggin Main years ago, but didn’t know what I could do. Branding is my wheelhouse plus I have my own hotrod. It’s a match made in hotrod heaven.
I didn’t realize that I was walking into a tense backstory (I still don’t know all of it and don’t want to) surrounding the event, its website, etc. Once I got wind that there was some tension there, especially with the former website designer, I immediately got the graphics from the old site, figured out where the domain was purchased from, and downloaded the entire website using GoFullPage, a handy dandy Google Chrome tool. This is a smart thing to do even if there’s not an issue with the old designer because you can reuse graphics and use the old site as a reference for what to include and even some of the text.
Even though I don’t view the original designer as competition (mainly because I’ve not been impressed with her websites or her lack of a pleasing personality), it soon became apparent that I was certainly viewed as competition! Why am I sharing all this when we’re talking about web design? Because you need to know that many business owners life by a lifeboat ethics mindset, which believes that you must have ALL of the business in a community. I don’t live that way. I know that there’s plenty of business for everyone, and we each attract our own tribe. If you run your business with the mindset of abundance, you won’t mind helping others (even what some might call your competition).
The other reason I’m telling you the backstory is that excellent service wins out 100% of the time. No client of mine is ever nor will ever be just another fee. I am personally involved in making them look as good and be as successful as possible! When you combine excellence with a pleasing personality, it’s pretty much impossible for to fail in your business. Research shows that people will do business with someone they like even if that person have an inferior product or service. Being pleasant goes a long way.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
As a website designer or brander, you must get past seeing your client as just another customer. Each client is unique with dreams and goals you can help them achieve. Just like in your business, a lot riding on their success. College funds for their kids. Retirement. An inheritance for their children and grandchildren. There’s always a why behind what they are doing. Any brander worth their weight will pick up on these things along with their unique personality and brand them.
With Draggin’ Main, it’s all about the “good ole days.” Playing outside with your friends. Riding bikes. Driving your first car (whether it was junk or souped up). It was a time when most of our money went into our stereo systems, cassette tapes (and some CDs), and our cars. Gas money was really important because no gas money meant you had to ride in your friend’s car. And Friday and Saturday nights was all about Draggin Main. I wanted to capture that experience through the feel of the site, the pictures, and the videos.
There’s also the “feel” of the car scene. Art work is exaggerated and colorful. Stereo systems are still important. Having fun is key but car people are also very serious about their cars. They invest a lot of money into them, too. Some of us have our original car. I still have my 1970 Chevelle that my dad bought me for graduation. What helped me on this website is that the artist, Micah with MicahDoodles.com pretty much set the theme and colors with his poster for this year. I decided to work with him closely to get as much of his talent in the site as possible. I wanted it to be that when anyone saw the poster, t-shirt, FB page, and website, they’d know instantly that it was Draggin Main before they even saw the name.
IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS
Next I wanted to create a sense of community because this is a community event. I drove down to Main Street and took a picture of the bricks that make up part of it because I wanted to use them on the website some how. I wasn’t happy with a stock photo of brick streets. It had to be our bricks. I also included past pictures not only of past Draggin Main events but also the drive-in restaurants we used to eat at as kids. I also included links to the map location of each restaurant because Google likes it when you link to other websites from yours.
I also grabbed some of the video of past Draggin Main cruises and events that had lots of people and hotrods to tell the story visually. If you look at the old site below, it read like a tome. No one reads that many words. And certainly not all together like that. Today, we have the attention span of a goldfish. No joke. The more you can do that visually the better.
I also wanted to feature the artist and make him part of the story. I did that by putting up all the old posters I could find on the site as well as some pictures of him and his time-lapsed drawings. This year, we also hired his son to draw some things for the site making it a family effort. That along with a link to MicahDoodles is on our site so people can check out more of his work and buy some of his merchandise.
ELEMENTS OF SURPRISE
Fun surprises can transform a normal website into a spectacular website. I always ask, “How can I wow? What can I do that is that small touch that will make people smile?” I do this by marinating. I literally do other things while I “lightly” think about my current project.
With this website, I didn’t want the usual, boring graphics for the events. I initially wanted the poster artwork isolated for the event graphics, but it wasn’t possible. I kept pondering what I could do when suddenly it hit me—create giphys from the videos of past Draggin Main events to use those as the event graphics. I created the giphys and inserted them into an old film frame from Canva to create the nostalgic feel and voila! I created something that is visually interesting and fun but doesn’t slow down the website from loading.
obsessed
I was obsessed with this site! And proud of what I had created. I wanted the team to be awed at their new site. I had my plan. I invited them all to my house so they could view the new site on the TV. But before I showed them the new site, I reminded them of what they had before by showing them the old website. I then unveiled the new and watched their reactions. I couldn’t have been more pleased.
Gene’s face flashed surprise and then delight. His smile told me all I needed to know. Everyone else was equally shocked and excited. One told me that it was the best website they’d ever had. My goal was complete! I want everyone who goes to Dragginmain.org to be wowed and know that this is a serious event. We didn’t just throw together a website. We thought of every detail that could capture an experience. Check it out.
