By Hunter Lee Hughes
In building his business, Rope Ashworth of Tri-County Weed Control made public service a priority. Of his company’s mission, he says, “We are out to help everybody who uses the outdoors. Making a dollar is great and important, but we’re here to help out the public. Educate on how seeds can be moved around. Help local farmers calibrate their equipment. We are a public service company.”
Rope needed a website that didn’t just book new customers, but also reflected his business ideals. That’s just what he got when Nevada Central Media stepped in to design and implement a new website and online strategy. With a click of one rectangular green button on the revamped TricoWeedControl.com, customers are put in touch with Rope and his crew. But the site, like their business, does much more than just provide a way for consumers to schedule an appointment.
The website reflects Rope’s mission to educate the public about invasive species. On the site, you can find a county-by-county description of the weeds most likely to give you problems, complete with photographs and a detailed summary of each species. This section of the website also provides the basics in terms of a working definition of “noxious species” and some of the rules set down by the state of Nevada to control and eradicate them.
The tab directly next to ‘Invasive Species’ highlights equipment used by the company. Not only is there a listing of the vehicles and sprayers involved, but photographs of the horses used to transport the sprayers through difficult terrain. You’ll definitely see some cowboy hats and even some blue mist as the pesticide sprinkles from a truck onto land.
Also viewable on TricoWeedControl.com are the annual Season Reports that the company has been diligently recording for the last 14 years. A quick scroll of the reports demonstrates the growth of Rope’s company and provides reassurance to any new customers about their expertise in the field. For example, the latest report shows that, in 2017, the gross acreage infected and treated was nearly 360,000. To give context, that number was around 86,790 during the company’s first year of operation. As you can see, that’s a pretty extraordinary increase for a company that started with just two guys back in 2004.
Another point of pride for Rope regarding the site? His maps. The ‘Maps’ tab provides five of them, including a Duckwater Inventory from 2013, the Snake Valley Grant Build and a Steptoe Valley WMA completed just last year. Of the endeavor, Rope says, “Not a lot of people have the knowledge of how to build a map or have the means to build a map and that’s a key part of what we do. We build a map for every single job we go on, and I take pride in the maps we build.”
The site allows customers – past, present and future – to take a look at those maps…for free, part of a strategy of providing helpful resources to consumers with the faith and trust that some will eventually convert into paying clients. It’s the digital version of the time-tested axiom that, “a little kindness goes a long way.”
The next tab – ‘About’ – goes into detail about the three important aspects of the business – Education, Inventory and Treatment. It includes a listing of the full-time employees of the company and some pictures of the crew in action, teaching community members critical information about weed control on their land.
Finally, the last tab – ‘Contact’ – allows folks to get in touch with Rope and John. Here, you can see they prefer a traditional telephone call – or even a fax – to an email. But the page makes it easy for consumers to get in touch.
Overseeing the design and implementation of the site was Nevada Central Media, with owner Ben Rowley and lead graphic designer Ryan Banis on the case. It’s clear that NVC Media took time to consider Rope’s priorities and his preferred communication style with his client base. As as result, Rope gives high praise to the media company, saying, “Overall, the website’s great, I think. I like the design a lot. We went through a staff change and Ben was more than patient with us in terms of going through the changes. I’m grateful for his patience that way, especially. Once John and I sat down and got the pictures and information to him, Ben put it together in a timely fashion.”
In terms of the site’s eye-catching white, black and green, Banis says, “We chose a color scheme to compliment Tri-County’s unique logo and their equipment. I wanted to conjure the image of a Tri-County truck, like the one on the homepage, so visitors would feel familiar with the equipment throughout the website.”
The effect is subtle, but works. Once you’ve seen the website, its design will trigger recall for those who see one of the Trico Weed Control’s trucks on the road.
TricoWeedControl.com exemplifies several important principles of web design. The first of them is to make sure the site reflects the spirit of the company and the people behind it. By listening to Rope’s priorities and integrating them into the site, NVC Media succeeded in presenting a digital version of the company’s ideals. The second is to accept the current culture of the company and how it prefers to operate, while helping the client to adapt to changing times as much as possible. Finally, Ben and Rydan took the photos and educational materials provided by Rope and re-arranged them into a graphically appealing format that can be easily digested by folks who browse the site.
Good job all around, guys!
—
If you’d like to support Rope, John and Ben, please take a look at their sites and provide some feedback: TricoWeedControl.com and NVCMedia.com