Client: Stairworks Inc.
Ongoing Marketing Strategy: Website Redesign With SEO Content
Industry: Commercial Stair Builder, Residential Stair Builder
Goals: Stairworks wanted a more modern website that matched their brand as well as the products delivered.
Seeing Real Growth & Results
Within the first week, Stairworks had 4 quality leads. Over the next 18 months, the site generated 259 organic leads, with 134 directly from Google. Rankings improved within the first month, and today they rank for 332 keywords, including 22 in the top 3.
260
Organic Leads Driven
June 2024-Jan 2026
Organic Leads Provide
Consistency Each Month
Over 35 Leads
Driven In One Month
Before Working With Wes Web
Stairworks Inc. had a good reputation offline before they started working with Wes Web, but their website didn't show how good their work was or help them develop. They didn't have much of a digital presence, and when they did, it was mostly hidden in search results.
General Online Presence Overview
Stairworks didn't show up very often online. They mostly showed up for searches for their business name and a few other related terms. There were barely any searches for stairs in their service area.
Monthly Organic Traffic
The amount of organic traffic was very low and not steady. The website worked more like a digital placeholder than a way to get more visitors.
Monthly Organic Leads
The website didn't get many leads that could be measured. Most of their business came from referrals, word of mouth, or individuals seeing their vans. They didn't have a good means to keep track of Internet queries.
Small Amount Of Content
The original website just had a few basic pages with little or no content and very little information about services, processes, or expertise.
Domain Authority
2 (Using Moz's Domain Analysis)
After Ongoing SEO Optimization
After the website was redesigned, the Stairworks site became a real marketing tool. It showed off their skills, helped with sales, and kept bringing in high-quality leads without any ongoing SEO work.
General Online Presence Overview
Stairworks now ranks for hundreds of stair-related keywords, including local service searches like "stair contractor near me." Their website also shows up in current SERP features and AI overviews, which helps people see and trust the brand more.
Monthly Organic Traffic
After debut, organic traffic steadily rose and stayed steady over time. The site still gets new visitors more than a year after it went live, all without any additional tweaking.
Monthly Organic Leads
The website started bringing in leads right away, with several good queries in the first week. Since it started, Stairworks has gotten hundreds of organic leads, a lot of which came from Google search.
Large Amount Of Content
The new website grew to include dozens of well-organized pages about services, types of stairs, balusters, repairs, locations, and a visual portfolio. This made the site a full resource for potential clients.
Domain Authority
9 (Using Moz's Domain Analysis)
Stairworks Lead Data
Important Note: All spam was removed and these charts only display quality leads.
The Strategy: Web Design Built With SEO From Day One
This project was not ongoing SEO. It was a planned website design with all the basics of SEO built in. We approached this project with 3 foundational steps.
1. Full Website Rebuild & Content Expansion
There were simply a few small pages on the old site. The new site was developed from the bottom up with a clear structure, purposeful content, and strong links between pages.
The new site architecture had:
- Pages for each of Stairworks' main services
- Pages just for homeowners, contractors, and builders
- Different forms of stair installation (custom, circular, straight)
- Subpages with more information about balusters and railings
- Service pages that focus on repairs
- Gallery and portfolio made for telling stories with pictures
- Pages about where to go in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
- Structure of a blog for long-term growth
Every existing page was:
- Completely rewritten
- Expanded significantly
- Organized with the right headings (H1–H3)
- Made to be easy to use and clear
"A website can really be a great tool when it's properly optimized for SEO, even if ongoing SEO isn't part of the initial package you're looking for."
-Wesley Gehman, Founder of Wes Web
2. Design That Builds Trust & Converts
Design was not treated as decoration. It was treated as a conversion tool.
Key elements included:
- Clean call-to-action (CTAs) above the fold
- Putting the phone number in a prominent area
- Quote request forms
- Visual structure that makes sense to users
- Images and portfolio galleries to interact with
- Small animations that support the notion of building stairs
- Updated branding and logo for consistency
The website was so well-done that Stairworks felt comfortable sharing it right away.
They appreciated the design, were glad to send visitors to the site, and said it made their brand seem more real.
3. Foundational SEO Embedded Into the Build
Even though this was a web design assignment, SEO basics were fully included.
The build included:
- Service and location sites that are in line with keywords
- A clean arrangement for internal links
- Optimized meta descriptions and titles
- Alt text and image optimization
- Optimization for local SEO
- Optimization of their Google Business Profile
- LocalBusiness schema
There were no backlinks made, no blogging every month, and no more additional work on SEO afterwards.
Everything was accomplished through doing the website correctly from the start.
Get To Know Wes
Meet Wes, the founder of Wes Web. Wes is passionate about marketing strategy and communicating marketing in a way that anyone can understand. Ranking online is competitive and it can only be achieved through hard work, and a strategy built on experience and data.
Work Hard. Market Well.
The Results
The makeover of Stairworks' website had effects right away and for a long time. The new website got a lot of high-quality leads in the first week after it went up, which the old site had never done. Over time, the site kept bringing in new visitors without any ongoing SEO or content marketing activity. In fact, the number of leads grew so much that the business didn't need to actively look for more marketing.
Some important results include:
- 4 quality leads in the first week after the launch
- 259 leads via organic search since the debut (June 2024–January 2026)
- Hundreds of extra leads from referrals and brands that come from better exposure
- Lead volume strong enough that ongoing SEO was intentionally paused
The website redesign changed Stairworks from relying only on word-of-mouth to having a reliable way to get leads.
Rankings and Visibility
Before the redesign, Stairworks didn't show up in many searches and only ranked for branded terms. After it went live, the site started to rank for a lot of stair-related keywords, even those that were quite specific to the area. These rankings came up rapidly and have stayed the same even though they haven't been optimized again.
Changes that made things easier to see included:
- Growth from ~179 total ranking keywords to 332 total keywords
- 22 keywords in the top three spots
- 34 keywords are in 4th to 10th places
- High-intent phrases like "stair contractor near me" to achieve better rank
- Appearance in AI overviews and better features in SERPs
These improvements occurred from basic SEO that was embedded into the design of the website, not from monthly SEO operations.
Why This Worked
The website was built correctly from the start, which is why this project worked.
The goal was to make a well-structured, content-rich website that clearly explained what Stairworks does, who they serve, and how good their work is, rather than relying on constant optimization or aggressive SEO strategies.
The redesign included powerful visual narrative, obvious service differentiation, easy-to-use navigation, and basic SEO best practices like correct site structure, internal linking, improved metadata, and local optimization.
In a business with few internet competitors, performing the basics properly was enough to give you a big edge and keep getting leads.
Who This Applies To
This case study is especially useful for specialty trades, custom contractors, and service-based firms that depend on recommendations and relationships yet have a website that is old or not working well. If your firm is well-known in the real world but not very well-known online, a well-designed website can get you big results without having to spend money on advertising all the time.
Stairworks' results illustrate that in the proper market, spending money on a high-quality website with built-in SEO can be enough to help your business expand, create trust, and get more leads than you can handle.
Get A Proposal!
Key Takeaways for Business Owners Seeking Website Redesign with the Best ROI
A website redesign is not just about looking better.
It's important to build it with:
- Proper structure
- Content that is meant to be
- Basics of SEO
- Design that focuses on conversions
Then, your website becomes a growth engine, even without ongoing SEO services.
Ready to Build a Website That Actually Works?
If you are a contractor, builder, or specialty trade and your website does not represent the quality of your work or generate real leads, we should talk.
Contact Wes Web to talk about a website overhaul that will do more than merely exist.
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