Case Study: Conway's Africa — From a Dated Startup Site to a Story-Driven Safari Brand
When Andrew and Micah Conway came to me, they were two years into running Conway's Africa, a private, bespoke safari company they'd built from the ground up in Kenya. Their business had grown well past where it started. Their website hadn't.
The Client
Conway's Africa is run by brothers Andrew and Micah Conway, Americans born and raised in Kenya, who founded the company to offer safaris as personal as the country they grew up in. They're not a travel agency booking pre-packaged tours. They personally guide every trip, start to finish, and their pricing reflects that level of service, averaging around $2,000 a day per guest.
The Challenge
Their original website was built when they first started the business, and by the time we connected, it simply hadn't kept pace with who they'd become. It looked amateurish, which is a real problem when you're running a premium, luxury safari operation. A visitor landing on that site had no way of understanding the level of experience, care, and story behind the brand. As Andrew put it, they'd struggled to find anyone who truly understood their vision and level of professionalism, until we started working together.
The Process
From our very first call through our strategy session, one thing kept coming up: they wanted their story told properly. Specifically, the story of two Americans raised in Kenya, who turned a childhood spent in the bush into a business built on personal, insider access most travelers could never get on their own.
Once we had that story anchored, we focused the site around three things their future clients actually needed to see:
The types of safaris available — since no two trips with them look the same
What accommodations and stays would actually look like — the camps, the lodges, the level of comfort
The range of activities travelers could experience — beyond just game drives
With my background in marketing, translating that brand and story into an actual website structure was the core of the work. I also wrote most of the site's content myself, which meant the story wasn't just designed well, it was told well.
The Result
The finished site went live in four weeks, and the project came in at $5,000. But the more important part wasn't the timeline or the investment. It was what the site needed to actually do.
Conway's Africa already had a strong Instagram following, and given how visual their business is, that made sense. But a big following doesn't automatically convert into bookings. Most of their new business comes through referrals, people who've already heard about Conway's Africa from someone they trust. What they needed was a place online where those referred travelers could get a real sense of what a trip with Andrew and Micah would actually look like, before ever picking up the phone. The site became exactly that: a way for someone to explore the kinds of safaris, stays, and experiences on offer, and arrive at that first call already envisioning their own trip.
In Their Words
“We had been searching for someone to help us redesign our safari company website but struggled to find anyone who truly understood our vision and level of professionalism. When we finally connected with Shawn, we were immediately impressed by his quick response time, excellent communication, and how well he captured our vision. From our very first call, we knew Shawn was the right person for the job. With his background in marketing, he knew exactly how to translate our brand and message into a beautifully designed and effective website. From his first draft, we made very few changes—he captured our vision perfectly. Shawn also helped write most of the website content, which was a huge bonus for us. Throughout the entire process, Shawn was communicative, reliable, responsive, and incredibly easy to work with. His pricing was also very fair, and we truly feel we received excellent value for what we paid. We are very happy with what Shawn has created for us and would highly recommend him to anyone looking to improve their website and media presence.”
— Andrew C., Conway's Africa
Why This Project Worked
This project is a good example of what tends to happen when a business has genuinely outgrown the website it started with. Conway's Africa didn't need more pages or flashier design. They needed their actual story, the one that made them different from every other safari company, translated clearly enough that a referred traveler could feel it before ever getting on a call. That's the part of this work that goes beyond design: understanding what a business is really selling, and making sure the website says it plainly.
Related Reading
Website Essentials for Travel Businesses | What to Expect When Hiring a Freelance Web Designer
About Me
I'm Shawn, a Brand Strategist and Squarespace Web Designer based in New York, with over 20 years of experience in marketing, sales, and design. I work with travel businesses and other premium, story-driven brands to build websites that translate what makes them different into something a visitor can feel before they ever reach out. If your business has grown past the website that got you started, and you're ready for a site that tells your story, let's get on a call.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
This project went from kickoff to launch in four weeks, which is a fairly typical timeline for a site of this scope, covering strategy, design, copywriting, and revisions.
-
This project was a $5,000 investment, which reflects the level of strategy and custom copywriting involved, not just design and layout.
-
Yes. For this project, I wrote most of the site's content myself, working closely with Andrew and Micah to make sure it reflected their story and voice accurately.
-
A following is valuable for discovery, but it isn't a substitute for a website. Referred travelers still need somewhere to actually picture the experience before reaching out, which is exactly the gap this project was built to close.
