website design, search engine marketing & social media for cobra ribs

As the UK's leading manufacturer of rigid inflatable boats (RIBs), Cobra RIBs needed an online presence that reflected their status in the marketplace. They asked b4b to design a custom website and manage their ongoing marketing and promotion, with a heavy emphasis on their heritage together with their thirst for adventure.

Like with any custom website project, we kicked things off by meeting with the Cobra team to understand their vision. Here are some of the key aspects we decided on:

• Cobra boasts a stunning range of watercrafts, so it was clear that high-impact visuals were the way to go. We opted for a website with full-screen graphics to showcase their boats in the best light possible.
• The user journey on the site needed to be simple yet intuitive, taking the visitor straight to their destination without getting distracted by unnecessary clutter.
• Since lead generation was a top priority for Cobra, we made sure the call to action was impossible to miss. A sticky navbar at the top of the page allows visitors to inquire about a boat quickly and easily.

A big part of the website is showcasing Cobra's impressive offerings. We dedicated separate sections to each of their three model ranges, as well as their pre-owned RIB selection. Each model page displays the different sizes available, and visitors can hover over specific areas of the boat for a detailed explanation and highlighted features.

Later on, we built a new landing page with a streamlined navigation system. This allowed us to tailor content specifically for leisure boat and yacht tender customers, giving each group a more relevant experience.

The final website gives equal weight to the key aspects of the Cobra experience -- design, performance, technology, and customisation -- all beautifully presented alongside stunning full-screen images.

A big part of the website was showcasing Cobra’s three different model ranges, as well as their used selection of RIBs. Each model is housed in its own section of the website with the visitor being able to view the different sizes available and hover over functionality enables areas of the craft to be highlighted and explained in more detail. Important aspects of the Cobra experience – design, performance, technology and personalisation – are all given equal attention on the site with accompanying full-screen imagery.

Before the new website launched, our SEO team carried out keyword research to understand what people were searching for and how well Cobra was performing. We noticed that, despite a heritage of over 25 years and a well-respected name in the industry, Cobra's online presence wasn't ranking even on the second page of Google for search terms potential RIB buyers were using.

We knew a lot still needed to be done, so we optimised the website to make it more appealing to search engines through a combination of different SEO strategies. This included:

• Writing blog posts to attract potential customers.
• Building backlinks to boost the website's credibility.
• Tackling technical SEO to ensure everything ran smoothly under the hood (including keeping meta descriptions up to date).
• Constantly improving the user experience based on what we learned from Google Analytics.

Within just three months, we saw fantastic results. A quarter of our target keywords landed in the top five spots, and many others climbed dramatically in the rankings -- some jumping from the depths of page five to the top of page two! It wasn't long before organic traffic made up nearly half of all visitors to the Cobra RIBs website.

We also played a key role in generating positive press coverage for Cobra RIBs' latest innovations: the Navis luxury RIB range, and the Terramar, their first amphibious RIB range.

Cobra's SEO was still getting off the ground when we launched their new website and their old site hadn't been optimised, so they weren't ranking well in search engines. To get them some quick leads, we suggested running a limited-run PPC campaign.

Our PPC experts researched keywords and bids, then launched the campaign right when the website went live. We made sure the landing pages were eye-catching, engaging, and had clear calls to action. Enquiries for new and used RIBs were key to Cobra's future expansion plans, and our PPC campaign quickly generated the fast traffic and leads they were looking for.

Sun-drenched visuals of Cobra RIBs hitting the waves is exactly the kind of content that gets shared on social media, so that's what our social media team brings to the table.

We've identified different customer profiles for Cobra, so we can target them with specific messaging on Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram. This makes sure we reach people who are most likely to be interested.

The results speak for themselves: in just two months, our social media campaign drove over 1,000 website visits from social channels. That's a 1500% increase compared to the two months before when Cobra managed their social media in-house!