The Eastport Yacht Center is a full-service marina located in Annapolis, Maryland offering boat maintenance, storage, rentals, and slips with amenities.

research + content development + website design + logo refresh

Understanding Their Needs and Proposing a Solution

Eastport Yacht Center had a one-page website with basic information and a phone number. It’s the way websites used to be designed! But given the number of services EYC offers and the lack of content on the website, it was time to talk about how marketing and local search has changed in the past ten years.

While doing business almost exclusively over the phone is high-touch and personal, it’s difficult to manage. Given EYC’s small team and their limited capacity, this was a focus. Additionally, they worried about the people who looked at their website but didn’t call — because they didn’t find the information they were looking for. With Kimberly’s help, Evoke identified key goals and objectives for the project:

• Design a clean and simple site with plenty of white/blank space

• Draft easy-to-read copy with terminology specific to the boating audience

• Highlight services, with particular attention to certain features

• Answer typical and frequent questions on the website for a better customer experience

Competitor Research, Content Creation, and Site Design

Market and competitor research was key to this project. There are many marinas in Annapolis and we needed to understand their services, positioning, and customers to highlight what set Eastport Yacht Center apart. One of the first things we noticed was that most marinas similar to Eastport Yacht Center didn’t include pricing on their sites. Due to the many variables impacting cost, it can be difficult to calculate, but we saw it as an opportunity for EYC to stand out from its competitors and to double down on its honest and transparent way of doing business.

After continued research and two productive working meetings with Kimberly, Evoke drafted a content outline and developed the website’s navigation. We also circled back to our earlier research, reviewing websites of marinas throughout the US with Kimberly to see what appealed to her and, more importantly, what didn’t in terms of design.

While we finalized the website copy with Kimberly, we also turned our attention to the site’s design. EYC already had a logo and brand colors, which we used as our starting point. We selected a Squarespace template and updated the design to match the branding, adding a third accent color to its template for the new site. Lastly, we recommended that Eastport Yacht Center update its logo to include its company name.

Website Launch & Early Successes

After launch, EYC reported that the number of phone calls they receive has decreased and the addition of pricing has been a big hit. Also, the website is now on the first page of Google search results for key search terms, helping prospective customers and boosting the marina’s visibility.

Website: Eastport Yacht Center