CUSTOMER STORY: Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens
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CUSTOMER STORY:
Redesign and SEO Help Website
Traffic and Engagement Increase
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden is the Carolinas' garden for all seasons, providing guests a chance to reconnect with
nature and create lifelong memories with friends and family. Located within 380 acres on the banks of Lake Wylie,
spectacular gardens, sparkling fountains, a conservatory dedicated to tropical plants and orchids, a visitor pavilion,
a garden store, and many nature trails await visitors.
The Garden was focused on SEO and hoped to increase website traffic by improving
search rankings and attracting not only more visitors but also new ones from search
engines. In addition to improving SEO, the organization wanted to give its current home page a stronger sense of hierarchy
to help visitors navigate through specific content areas of events and membership.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Although the organization's former website was functional, it lacked a clear focus and
hierarchy of information. The design was simplistic but visually overwhelming, which
led the staff members to feel like the brand was not well represented. By partnering with Blackbaud, Daniel Stowe Botanical
Garden hoped to focus on Garden visitors and members as its core online audiences, present information about current
events in an easy-to-find and comprehensive online format, and improve its brand perception.
REASON FOR PARTNERSHIP
In working with Blackbaud's strategic team, Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden
learned how to optimize its website and online presence to attract local searchers
in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. Using Blackbaud's SEO Scorecard, several easy fixes were identified to improve
the organization's search rankings and create long-term opportunities. Ultimately, with Blackbaud's recommendations
implemented, Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden saw website traffic rise. This increase helped to promote the organization's
mission of inspiring natural preservation while encouraging people to become partners with nature.
CAPABILITIES GAINED
After the redesign and SEO, website traffic and online engagement significantly
increased. Specific changes included:
• Monthly search engine traffic increased 94% (from 4,631 to 9,000)
• Average visitor time on the website increased 51% (from 1:55 to 2:53)
• Pages viewed per website visit increased 10% (from 3.16 to 3.47)
MISSION IMPACT
