How Layne Beachley's Awake Academy turned a brochure site into a 5.3X student-growth engine
Whitehat Agency didn't just polish my brand — they powered a full digital swell. In 90 days we saw 5.3X ROI, close to 400 fresh students and page-one rankings everywhere. Their crew rode every wave with expertise and heart, turning my vision into a thriving global academy.
Layne BeachleyFounder, Awake Academy
A world champion's vision, stuck on a brochure site.
Seven-time world surfing champion Layne Beachley wanted to turn her life lessons into a global online learning movement. The audience was there. The website wasn't carrying it.
Visitors bounced off the homepage because there was no 'try before you buy' moment. Fragmented content and a dated tech stack throttled organic growth — only a handful of brand-only terms were ranking. And paid spend was running with limited conversion tracking, so ROI was nearly impossible to prove or improve.
A full digital rebuild engineered for course enrolments.
We took on the full programme — brand evolution, custom mobile-first build, content production, SEO and paid media — and pointed every workstream at one outcome: paid student enrolments.
The site was rebuilt with a learning-management layer baked in. The brand was elevated to match Layne's 'Own Your Truth' philosophy. And the funnel was instrumented end to end, so every ad dollar could be traced through to a real registration.
Full-stack relaunch + brand evolution
Mobile-first WordPress-meets-headless build with a custom learning-management layer. A fresh logo, palette and motion system brought Layne's 'Own Your Truth' philosophy to life.
Content engineered for course sales
Scripted, shot and edited 40+ micro-learning videos and interactive workbooks, plus a gamification system rewarding module completions with 'Wave Points'.
Precision SEO sprint
A 12-week roadmap of course schema, entity-based internal linking, Core Web Vitals optimisation and authority-building backlinks across wellness and sports media.
ROAS-driven paid media
Segmented Google Ads and Meta funnels with behaviour-based remarketing, feeding cost-per-registration data back into GA4 for weekly bid automation.
From inspiration to a measurable, paying audience.
The first quarter delivered 5.3× on paid media — without lifting ad spend — and added close to 400 new student registrations to the academy. Site traffic grew 37% year on year on the back of evergreen course content.
Inside 90 days the academy was ranking 50 keywords on page one of Google, cementing Awake Academy as a credible thought leader in mindset and resilience training. The platform now scales globally without the brand bottleneck the brochure site created.
The numbers that powered the swell.
A world champion's brand, a brochure site and an ambitious global e-learning vision. Here's what a full rebuild plus integrated SEO and paid media delivered in the first quarter.
Words from the people paying us.
“Whitehat Agency has done a remarkable job with the Wiise project. The quality of work is unmatched. The team there is highly creative and results focused. They helped us deliver the Wiise website in record time and worked really well with our internal team. Then once the website was live, they helped with the digital marketing launch campaign with exceptional results. Thank you.”
“Whitehat treats my business like it’s their own. They really valued our company’s values.”
“Whitehat didn’t just send more traffic — they sent qualified doctors ready to insure. 300+ fresh leads and an 18% jump in completed quotes.”
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