Hunter Wharf and Barge

Hunter Wharf & Barge: Sailing to Success with a New Digital Presence

Hunter Wharf & Barge, a trusted marine contracting company based in Lake Macquarie, NSW, has over 25 years of experience delivering high-quality, environmentally conscious marine construction throughout Australia. Serving both domestic and commercial clients, their work includes heritage wharf restorations, floating pontoons, marine piling and drilling, dredging, barge transport, and more.

Despite a strong reputation for professionalism and technical expertise, Hunter Wharf & Barge’s digital presence hadn’t kept up with the quality of their real-world operations. Their website was dated, lacked visibility in search engines, and failed to convey the scope and quality of services the business delivered daily.

To address this, they engaged Mulwaree Online to design and implement a full-scale digital transformation—one that would strengthen their online visibility, modernise their brand, and provide a reliable platform for lead generation, client engagement, and business growth.

The Challenge: Professional Business, Underwhelming Digital Presence

Hunter Wharf & Barge’s core issue wasn’t capability—it was visibility.

Despite delivering complex, multi-stakeholder projects for clients like councils, port authorities, and private developers, their website was generating very little traffic. Their services were buried on Google. Potential clients looking for marine drilling, heritage wharf restoration, or barge-hire operators in New South Wales were landing on competitor sites or generic directories instead.

The business needed a digital presence that reflected its industry experience, demonstrated capability, and created a clear and professional entry point for clients seeking specialised marine solutions.

Their digital goals were simple but essential:

• Create a modern website that clearly communicates services and expertise
• Improve search engine rankings for key terms
• Build trust with prospective clients and partners through case studies and project showcases
• Drive inquiries and quote requests through a simplified contact process
• Enable the business to grow beyond word-of-mouth and long-standing partnerships

Mulwaree Online’s Strategy: Elevate, Optimise, Showcase

To meet these goals, Mulwaree Online developed and implemented a full-service digital upgrade comprising:

1. A professionally redesigned website
2. Local and industry-targeted SEO
3. A blogging and case study framework
4. Project showcasing through images and social integration
5. Performance optimisation across devices

1. A Professional Website Redesign

The website was completely rebuilt using a modern, mobile-responsive design. Key changes included:

• A structured navigation menu with clearly defined services, project highlights, company information, and contact options
• Clean layout and branding to reflect industry professionalism and reliability
• Use of high-resolution photography to showcase barges, marine equipment, and in-progress construction work
• Strategic call-to-action placements throughout each page to increase user engagement
• A dedicated “News & Projects” section to host case studies, updates, and future blogging content
• Quick-loading pages, security enhancements, and accessible design

The site now serves as a credible and authoritative resource for government buyers, developers, marine engineers, and environmental planners seeking a proven marine contractor in New South Wales.

2. Local SEO and Keyword Optimisation

To ensure Hunter Wharf & Barge would be found by clients actively searching for their services, Mulwaree Online conducted in-depth keyword research and SEO implementation.

Pages were written and structured to target search phrases such as:

• “Marine drilling NSW”
• “Heritage wharf restoration contractor”
• “Barge transport Lake Macquarie”
• “Floating pontoon builder”
• “Marine construction divers Australia”

Title tags, meta descriptions, image alt-text, internal linking, and schema markup were all optimised to enhance Google’s indexing of the site. Geo-targeting ensured the site appeared in local and state-based search results, even for users unfamiliar with the business.

The SEO strategy focused on relevance and commercial intent—bringing in visitors who were likely to convert into enquiries or quote requests.

3. Content and Blogging Strategy

Mulwaree Online introduced a structured content plan to support the website’s long-term growth. This included:

• A blog to publish expert insights on marine construction methods, compliance standards, and regional permitting
• Case study write-ups detailing projects completed for clients like Lake Macquarie City Council, Transport for NSW, and the Honeysuckle Development Corporation
• Articles explaining specific services such as coffer dam installation, floating ramps, and dredging
• Guides aimed at property owners and developers on what to consider before starting a marine project

This content helped improve organic search rankings, provided valuable information to clients, and built trust by demonstrating the company’s technical knowledge and industry experience.

4. Project Showcasing and Social Proof

A key part of Hunter Wharf & Barge’s marketing strength comes from the impressive work they’ve done over two decades. Yet previously, there was no visual storytelling on their website.

Mulwaree Online addressed this by:

• Creating a “Projects” gallery to display recent and in-progress works
• Embedding the company’s active Instagram feed directly on the site to provide real-time social proof
• Adding client logos, where approved, to highlight partnerships and industry trust
• Including a “Partners” section to acknowledge key collaborators and suppliers

This approach allowed the business to display credibility without relying on large blocks of text. Photos of barge-mounted excavators, underwater divers, concrete ramps, and coastal remediation now speak louder than words.

5. Technical Performance and User Experience

Behind the scenes, Mulwaree Online ensured the new website was built for performance, including:

• Mobile responsiveness and compatibility across all modern devices
• Fast load times using image optimisation and efficient coding practices
• Secure HTTPS encryption and anti-spam contact forms
• Accessibility features including proper contrast, heading structure, and text scaling
• Analytics integration for tracking visitor behaviour and measuring future marketing efforts

By building a stable and secure platform, the business gained a future-proof digital asset that can scale with them over time.

The Results: Visibility, Enquiries, and Authority

Within just three months of launch:

• The business began appearing on page one of Google for multiple high-value keywords
• Organic search traffic increased significantly, with new users spending more time on site
• The “Contact” and “Projects” pages became top destinations for inbound traffic
• Enquiries began coming from broader regional councils and private clients outside their previous networks
• The site started attracting media coverage and backlink opportunities from industry news outlets

Most importantly, the new digital presence gave the team a renewed sense of momentum and professionalism. They no longer needed to rely solely on repeat work—they were generating qualified leads from search, proving that even specialised marine contractors can compete online.

Project Summary

Client: Hunter Wharf & Barge
Industry: Marine Contracting & Construction
Location: Lake Macquarie, NSW
Experience: Over 25 years
Project Scope: Website rebuild, SEO strategy, content marketing, performance optimisation
Goals: Improve search visibility, attract new clients, support contract bids, and modernise brand
Outcomes: Page 1 rankings, more web enquiries, improved client confidence, long-term growth strategy in place

What the Client Says

“We’ve always taken pride in the work we do out on the water. Now, with the help of Mulwaree Online, we’ve got a website that shows it. It’s clean, professional, and finally reflects what we’re capable of. We’ve already seen new enquiries come through from people who found us online—something that never happened before.”

Why This Matters

In today’s world, even high-trust industries like marine construction can’t afford to ignore digital. Your clients are searching for you—sometimes months before they make contact. If your website doesn’t reflect your capability, you’re losing business before you even know it.

The Hunter Wharf & Barge transformation shows how a focused digital strategy—anchored in real-world work and backed by clean design, relevant content, and technical SEO—can produce tangible results in a specialised industry.

Could Your Business Be Next?

If your company offers exceptional service but struggles to get found online, Mulwaree Online can help. Whether you work in construction, education, tourism, manufacturing, or a niche field like marine contracting, we build websites that work, backed by strategies that grow.

No fluff. No bloated packages. Just results.