website banner with title and illustration of people meeting

Laura Karanja is a plant breeder and virologist. She had two free practical guides on her website: one on growing bananas and one on sweet potatoes. Both have invaluable information from 30 years of experience working with smallholder farmers.
Those who knew about them could search and download them directly from the site. The problem was the farmers who didn’t already know Laura. They couldn’t find her site. A couple who found her site later complained that navigating was confusing. They didn’t know what to do next.
So I took a look.
Two problems stood out. One was technical. It was preventing the site from being indexed. The other was structural and navigation. For a first-time visitor, finding information was confusing. The diagnosis showed that neither required rebuilding the site. Both were fixable.

Problem 1: The site was invisible to Google

The first thing I checked was whether the site was indexed. A noindex meta tag was still enabled in the WordPress configuration. The setting is switched on during a site build. It stops Google from crawling unfinished pages.
The problem was that it wasn’t switched off. Google continued to ignore the entire website even after it went live.
The site still worked. Anyone with a direct link could visit it. But it was invisible to anyone searching without a link.

Problem 2: First-time visitors weren’t being guided

With the technical issue resolved, I turned to the homepage’s navigation. Here’s what a first-time visitor encountered.
The main button didn’t work. The “Get the Guides” button in the hero section had a broken anchor link. Clicking it did nothing. Unfortunately, the download section was at the very bottom of the page. It was reachable only by scrolling down.
There was no clear path on the landing page to access the guides, unless Laura guided you.
Most visitors wouldn’t spend time trying to figure out where the downloads were. They’d leave and not come back.
The page also didn’t tell visitors what was inside the guides. It confirmed that two guides existed. It didn’t show what they contained. A farmer growing bananas had no way to know whether the guide covered disease management. Also, someone growing sweet potatoes couldn’t tell whether it included variety recommendations.
The homepage assumed that first-time visitors already had some knowledge. They didn’t. And that uncertainty was enough for them to abandon the page. The visitors who had already spoken with Laura used the page as a simple download point. Only working for one group of visitors.
A homepage has to work for both. Even for those visitors who don’t know anything about the website.
Finally, the download process itself created friction. Requesting a guide required a name and email address. Most of Laura’s audience communicated with her through WhatsApp. So email became a roadblock to downloading the guides. They would contact her directly to request she send the guides to their WhatsApp.
Nullifying the need for the website.

Laura's website old homepage
Laura's homepage old cta email
Screenshots for old homepage for laurakaranja.co.ke

What changed

The work addressed both problems. It made the site discoverable and improved the homepage’s navigation.
I started by removing the noindex setting. Then, verified the site in Google Search Console and submitted the sitemap. Now Google could discover all its pages.
I rewrote the hero section. It now gave a single clear promise: ‘Better yields start with the right knowledge’. The subheadline introduced the guides while establishing Laura’s credentials. Now visitors know within seconds whether the page is for them. And take action by clicking the button that’ll take them to the download section.
I added images of both guide covers on the side of the hero header. It does two things: adds more visuals to the homepage and gives more information about the guides. It’s not text alone. The visitors have to do less guesswork.
An added new section shows what’s inside each guide. It includes recommended varieties, plant setup, disease management, post-harvest handling, and expected yields. It also highlights expected yields for each crop per acre. These numbers help visualise the type of information expected in the guides.
Laura’s biography and the organisation logos are below the guide content. The qualifications now reinforce the information in the guides. This makes it easier for the visitor to trust the information in the guides. The structure now follows that order.
Finally, I replaced the email form. I first replaced the email form with two WhatsApp buttons, one for each guide. Clicking either would send a request message to Laura asking for a copy of the guide.
Though it worked, it ended up being too complicated. It created friction.
The farmers wanted to click and download. Not having to go through another step to get their download.
I replaced the buttons with the guide covers. Clicking on the covers would download the guide of their choice. There’s still a way to contact Laura. We agreed to put the WhatsApp button below the covers. It would be for anyone who needed more information or help with the guides.

screenshot of indexed homepage for laurakaranja
Screenshot of Indexed Homepage. Source: Google Search Console
Screenshot of guides section for Laura's homepage
Screenshot of about section for Laura's homepage
Screenshot of footer section for Laura's homepage
Screenshot of header section for Laura's homepage
Sections for New Homepage. Source: laurakaranja

The takeaway

Laura’s site had two problems, neither of which was obvious from the outside. Although the details are specific to her, the problems can be universal in any website. Before committing to a full redesign, ask yourself:

– Can people find it?
– Can they understand what you offer?
– Can they see why it’s relevant to them?
– Do they know what to do next?

The answers may reveal the problem is not your expertise. But something else. As Laura discovered, she didn’t need a new ‘look’ for her site. Just a little tweak to her homepage and technical backend. Now she can communicate its value to people who had never met her.

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Esther Wonge

Copywriter & Web Designer · Beginners Copy

I write and design one-page websites for consultants, service businesses and firms through a focused, copy-first process.

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