Maconachy Stradley Insurance
An agency that looks like the people who answer the phone
Maconachy Stradley is an independent insurance agency in North Canton, Ohio, that insures homes, cars, and businesses, and covers businesses across the country. In 2015, a new partner, Drew Maconachy, wanted a website that would stand beside the biggest agencies in the area and show the people behind the policies. I designed and built it that summer, and the agency still runs on it today.
The homepage leads with how the agency works, in five steps.
The same build, with the agency's own posts added over the years
- Client
- Maconachy Stradley Insurance
- Where
- North Canton, Ohio
- Launched
- 2015
- What I did
- Website design and copy with SEO built in, staff pages, and training so the agency could update the site itself
Every year in one file
The moments that mattered, one year at a time.
Drew joined as a partner in 2015 and sent his brief that April. The site went live that October. Since then the agency has added to it, and turned down offers to replace it.
The insurance agency
A small agency with the reach of a big one.
Maconachy Stradley is an independent insurance agency in North Canton, Ohio. Being independent, it can shop a client's insurance across many companies instead of selling one company's policies. It insures homes, cars, and lives, and its biggest strength is business insurance and risk management, which means helping a business find its risks and reduce them before something goes wrong.
The agency sells on service. Its partners pride themselves on being the most responsive and available insurance team a client can find, and on knowing the new products before the market does. Most of its clients are business owners and senior managers, people who read a policy closely and expect an agent who can explain it.
The website project
A new partner, a fresh start, and a high bar.
In early 2015, Drew Maconachy became a partner in the agency, and he wanted a new website to go with it. He found me through a website I had built for another insurance agency. "I like your prior work," he wrote.
His questionnaire, that April, set a high bar. "I would like the site to be better than the other large agencies in the area," he wrote, naming the two biggest. He was planning an email campaign to bring people to the site, and he wanted them to stay and discover the services that set the agency apart.
Most of all, he wanted people to meet the staff. "I would like pictures of our staff to make people who stop by feel comfortable that they will be talking to kind, smart, trustworthy people if they pick up the phone." The words he chose for the site were cutting edge, familiar, trustworthy, competent, warm, and ambitious. He asked for Michigan State green, a scrolling page of testimonials, and a way to download each agent's contact card. And he planned to keep the site up himself, once I showed him how.
- 1better than the big agencies in the area
- 2show the staff, kind + smart
- 3keep it up in-house
The six words he picked for the site
The web design work
Professional and personal, on every page.
Show how the agency works.
Insurance can look the same from one agency to the next. Maconachy Stradley's difference is the way it works, so the homepage shows it. A wheel lays out the agency's process in five steps. Review the current plan, identify the weak spots, educate the client on the options, put the new plan in place, and monitor it as things change. Beside the wheel, three short promises cover risk management, responsive service, and thought leadership.
- 1review your plan
- 2find the weak spots
- 3educate + empower
- 4manage the new plan
- 5monitor it
Put the people up front.
Drew wanted visitors to know who would answer the phone, so the people are everywhere. The about page introduces the partners with photos and real biographies, and photos of real people run through the site. The goal, from the start, was to show both professionalism and personality, as experts who also care about their clients as people.
A page for each kind of insurance
Clients come looking for one kind of coverage, so each one has a page of its own, including business insurance, professional liability, home, auto, life, umbrella, and the smaller policies. Each page explains what the coverage protects and how the agency approaches it, in plain words. The business insurance page carries a map of the states where the agency insures businesses, which tells an out-of-state company right away that it's in the right place.
Built for the agency to run
Drew planned to update the site in-house, so I built it to be edited without help and taught him how. The agency has added its own news and newsletter posts over the years. The logo's green carries through the site, with slate blue for the page headers and orange for the quote button.
Want your site to sound like your people?
Tell me about your agencyResults
A site other agents noticed.
The clearest result came from outside the agency. In 2017, an insurance agent I had never met wrote to me after seeing the Maconachy Stradley site, to ask for a website like it. And Drew put his own verdict in writing six months after launch, in the testimonial below.
The site has also lasted. It still runs on the build I launched in 2015, and the agency still uses it to explain its services to clients across the country.
“Hello, I have seen some of your work specifically the work u did for http://maconachystradley.com/. I was wondering how much it cost to design a similar website.”
“I wanted to know if we could use the maconachy website u designed as a model.”
Asked to replace it, the agency said no.
“We have been approached by several people to redo our website. Im not interested in doing it.”
Drew Maconachy, in an email, May 2020
Want a site that holds up beside the big agencies?
Start a project"I am confident that I got a better product and better service by using Josh."
"Becoming a partner in my business, I knew that we needed to update our website. I completed an extensive search of local website designers and decided that Josh was the best fit.
He never missed a deadline, and incorporated everything that I wanted into the website.
It has been six months since its completion, and he continues to support me with updates that need to be made and answers all of my questions promptly.
I would have spent considerably more money going with a large advertising firm, but I am confident that I got a better product and better service by using Josh. I strongly recommend Josh to anyone in need of an upgraded website."
The business today
The same site, years on.
The agency has grown well beyond North Canton. It now insures businesses from coast to coast, and its site tells them they can work with an Ohio agency that feels like it's down the street. The pages, the people, and the process wheel still do the work they were built for in 2015.
This project shows what a small business website built carefully can do over years. It can stand beside much bigger competitors and keep explaining the business long after launch.
Interested in a Home and Auto quote? Have 3 minutes? Please click here for up to 13 quotes!
Staff pages
The partners, with their own photos and real biographies on the about page.
Training
Lessons for the agency on posting its own news and newsletters, in 2017 and 2020.
Looking back
Drew found me through a website I'd built for another local insurance agency. He liked it and wanted something just as good for his own.
Maconachy Stradley is a small agency up against much bigger ones, and what it offers is what the big firms struggle to match. That means deep expertise, personal service, and an understanding of each client's business. Drew and Rob's own names are on the business, and we wanted the website to show what that means. So the site leads with their expertise, especially in business insurance, and shows how they work with their clients.
I connected with that right away, because it's my story too. I'm one person up against big design agencies, and my edge is the same as theirs. You work directly with the person who knows your business and does the work.
Questions about this project
Still have a question?
Ask me directlyHow can a small agency's website compete with the big ones?
By being clearer and more personal. A big agency's site often shows a logo and a list of products. Maconachy Stradley's shows how the agency works, who the people are, and what each kind of coverage protects. A visitor learns more about the agency in a minute than they would from a brochure.
Should my website show my staff?
If your clients choose you for your people, yes. Drew's first request was photos of the staff, so a visitor would know they'd be talking to kind, smart people. Real photos and short biographies do more for trust than any stock image.
Can I update the website myself?
Yes. The site is built so you can edit pages, add posts, and swap photos without touching code, and I show you how. Maconachy Stradley has added its own posts for years. If you'd rather hand changes to me, send me a request.
Do you build websites for insurance agencies?
Yes. Insurance clients want to know who they'll be dealing with and whether the agency understands their situation, so the site leads with the people and the process, and gives each line of coverage its own page.
How long does a website like this last?
A well-built site lasts years. This one has run since 2015 on the same build. The design still looks current, and the pages still say what the agency does. What keeps a site working that long is a clean build and care along the way.
Can you do this for a business like mine?
Yes, especially if your clients choose you for your service and your people. The work starts with who your clients are, what they need to know before they call, and what sets you apart. We settle what yours needs on a short call, and you always know what comes next.
More work
Love and Beauty Maui
A wedding hair and makeup studio on Maui, and what a new website did for its inquiries.
Read the case study
Slater & Zurz LLP
A personal injury firm's main website, rebuilt in 2017 after three years of search and upkeep work across the firm's twelve sites.
See the project
Medrock Pharmacy
A pharmacy's logo and website, built to grow from one location to three.
Read the case study
Tell me what sets your business apart.
Send a few lines about your business, who your clients are, and the competitors you want to stand beside. Your request comes straight to me, and I’ll reply to set up a short call. Start with the form.