Ziksana
A fun, engaging, and professional website to reflect a company striving to activate the world of work through play.
Introduction
Ziksana Consulting is a collective of creative consultants with a unique approach to professional development. Laughter, playfulness, and fun are the foundation of everything Ziksana does. The company leverages the Science of Play to teach its clients skills applicable to the workplace and hosts out-of-the-box development programs.
An impactful online presence reflective of the brand was needed to establish Ziksana as a top consulting company in San Diego and the United States. Ziksana hired De Novo Digital to provide its web design & development and SEO expertise to update and improve Ziksana’s existing website.
Appearance
Challenge
A brand identity built on playfulness and fun can be challenging to convey to a professional work audience. Ziksana had existing branding that was fun and colorful, like these superheroes, but there was concern that it would look like a site for kids or a school. A balance between professionalism and playfulness had to be achieved.
Solution
A Ziksana twist on traditional consulting websites. Colorful graphics were used to capture the playful nature of the brand, while photos from past workshops conveyed who the website’s services were for. De Novo Digital anchored the brighter colors with navy blue to communicate grounding, trust, and reliability. To avoid sensory overload, colors were used carefully and assigned meanings, such as green for the Empower program and orange for the Spark program. Curvy, circular shapes repeat throughout the site as a subconscious signal of Ziksana's core values of community, collaboration, and positivity.
Impact
Ziksana’s brand is recognizable, visually appealing, and reflective of the company. Website visitors understand Ziksana is an unconventional yet effective business management consultant.
User experience
Challenge
Ziksana's programs are uniquely named, so users were struggling to understand what the programs were about. "PlayTank," "PlayBreak," and "HorsePlay" were new terms to users, and even the "Empower" and "Spark" programs provided little context. The site's pages were difficult to navigate, resulting in short site visits and few leads.
Solution
Individual program pages and content were added to give users context and a better understanding of Ziksana's programs. Each program was organized by category in the search bar (i.e., Team programs, Executive programs, and Manager programs) and given a 1-2 sentence blurb at the top of its page to summarize the service. Pages follow the same organizational structure, from package details and objectives to individual workshop details. Finally, CTAs were incorporated organically on each program page to increase lead capture.
Impact
The site is clean and easy to navigate. URL structures are set up correctly, and the website looks professional and trustworthy. Users are spending longer on the site, and lead capture has increased.
Engagement
Challenge
Blogs are a great way to share a company's expertise and boost engagement, but Ziksana's blog was gaining little traction. The content was short and unorganized, and SEO best practices were not being used to improve its ranking in organic search.
Solution
Moving forward, blog topics would be relevant and intentional, with an average of 750 words, and related to a Ziksana program or workshop. Internal links would connect blogs with each other and to pillar pages, while keyword research would help further improve search rankings. Existing blogs would be rewritten, and every page would have a CTA at the bottom.
Impact
Ziksana’s blog is uniform, consistent, and valuable to prospective clients. The pages support the expertise, authority, and trustworthiness of the brand in the eyes of search engines and are used for outreach on various marketing platforms.
