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FUEL Recognized At AMA NOVA Awards

The 20th Annual American Marketing Association (AMA) Iowa NOVA Awards were held May 6th at Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs baseball team.

FUEL client ALMACO took home 2nd Place in the Website category at the show.

From AMA, this category, “recognizes innovative use of the web, including website development and design, app development, landing pages, killer SEO, etc. — from strategy to execution.”

“We found the ideal partner in FUEL,” says Lisa Dirksen, Marketing Manager at ALMACO. “They brought a spirit of collaboration and became a seamless extension of our team to bring our new website to life. For us, it’s more than just a website—it’s a platform that supports every department in our company, reflects the heart of who we are, and builds on our leadership in the seed research equipment industry. We couldn’t be happier, and to be recognized by AMA for our website this year—well, that’s the perfect cherry on top.”

  • FUEL and ALMACO team at AMA Nova Awards

    As the world-wide leader in custom seed research equipment, ALMACO designs, engineers and manufactures planting systems, harvesting systems, seed processing systems, and plot management technologies for the seed research industry. Its customers include seed development companies and land grant universities from around the world.

    Despite its leadership position in the industry, ALMACO desired to bring their web experience into alignment with who they are as an innovative company.

    “ALMACO’s global rivals like Wintersteiger, Kincaid and Haldrup often had stronger digital presences, making it harder for ALMACO to stand out,” said FUEL Co-Founder John Moes. “This site not only levels the playing field but gives the advantage to ALMACO. With clear, accessible design and robust SEO, the new site showcases their innovation and reliability, positioning them as a top choice for seed research solutions worldwide both during good times and bad, too.”

    FUEL Design Director John Allen expanded:

    “As innovative leaders in a specialized market, ALMACO’s original website didn’t fully capture their forward-thinking vision,” he said. “Through the Discovery phase of the project, we learned that the website faced challenges with technical performance, SEO, and accessibility, which limited its ability to reflect the brand’s strength and build a strong market presence. To address these challenges, we prioritized a comprehensive website redesign. Overall, the site aimed to showcase products, highlight company culture, and reinforce ALMACO’s leadership in seed research equipment.”

    • ALMACO home page before and after

      How did one project change the perspective?

      FUEL helped the company transform its existing site by placing an emphasis on organic traffic in search and establishing the company’s credibility in the space for prospective customers. In addition, the site also helped solidify the company as a go-to employer of choice in the area.

      “Now, ALMACO’s site stands out for its purposeful information design,” said Moes. “Their product line—complex, technical, with countless configurations—is now distilled into clear, human-friendly language. We layered the technical data so visitors can customize their experience, whether they’re researchers needing specs or seed companies seeking solutions. It’s a seamless blend of depth and accessibility.”

      All told, it was FUEL’s largest site build to-date and required some extra care to ensure the build went smoothly.

      “This required a lot of organization and communication between the client and FUEL to collect and implement the assets,” said FUEL Designer Alex Schmidt. “To help manage this, we used a phased approach. The initial site mapping/architecture played a crucial role in the web development. Initially, we found the original website was unnecessarily large. This made user navigation a challenging, so we collaborated closely with ALMACO to simplify the user experience.”

      “It was important for us to bring consistency across design for all of the products,” she said. “Internally, we helped them refine their product nomenclature and catalog categories/hierarchy. This ensured they were up to date with industry standards. Additionally, we developed unique value props for each of the products, highlighting their benefits, which helped with SEO.”

          Site architecture and sound writing is one thing. Aesthetics are another, and the project did present the opportunity to streamline ALMACO’s presentation in the market.

          “While the scope did not include a rebrand, we did refine the logo and continue to evolve ALMACO’s brand expression,” said Allen. “This build out of supporting elements ensured a cohesive and consistent visual look and feel throughout the website.”

          The results to date for the efforts? Per ALMACO, the new website has:
          • Increased SEO performance by 294%
          • Boosted weekly lead generation by 480%

          “U.S.-based Agriculture, Agribusiness Manufacturing and related businesses have all been softening over the past two years,” said Moes. “To help a company from the middle of Iowa to not only navigate these slow times, but also retool for when the Ag world gets its feet under it again, is a double win earned through a single project from my perspective.”

          “This new site has already been demonstrated to be improving their condition even during sluggish times in the farming world,” he continued. “Once things pick up again and other companies and research organizations start spending money again, ALMACO will be ready.”

          To see the site firsthand, visit https://www.almaco.com/
          Or learn more about the AMA Iowa NOVA Awards here: https://amai.memberclicks.net/nova-awards #ProjectAwards

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