Executive summary
In July, lionskarate.com was a WordPress 4.9 site set up in January 2018 and never restructured. Its home page was a blog feed 13 pages deep, its menu had five items, and every action a parent might take (sign up, pay tuition, enter a tournament, register for camp, order gear) left the site for a RegFox form. The content export taken before the rebuild holds 71 pages, 24 of them empty, and 92 RegFox links.
Today lionskarate.com is a Node.js application running on the school's own hosting. It has a seven-group menu (Train, Compete, Advance, Events, Fundraisers, Shop, About), 22 pages, and one "Register & Pay" flow that handles tuition, new-student sign-up, belt and weapons tests, tournament entries, Karate Camp, banquets, and fundraiser sponsorships through Stripe Checkout. A pro shop with 30 products (10 apparel, 20 gear) ships through ShipStation or offers free pickup at the North Webster dojo. Orders, registrations, prices, and stock are managed from an admin area on the school's own domain, which also takes class attendance and sends automated text and email reminders to parents, with HubSpot tracking on every page.
The change is larger than a redesign. The school went from renting its forms and payment flow from a third party, with no record on its own site, to owning the whole path from a parent's first visit to a paid registration or a shipped order.
Why Steve hired Archway. Steve runs three businesses, and they were running him ragged. In each one he was the only person: the one who answered the phone, quoted the job, did the work, chased the payment, and posted on Facebook. Three sets of inquiries, three sets of forms, three sets of customers, all routed through one phone. He hired Archway for two reasons. First, to make all three simpler to run, so the sites take the calls, the forms, the payments, and the records off his plate and he can do a better job on every front instead of a rushed job on each. Second, to turn the three websites into growth engines: sites that bring in customers he never has to find, convert them without a phone call, and recruit the people who will do the work once he is not the only one doing it. For Lions Karate that means a site that enrolls students in three towns without Steve on the phone, and an admin that lets instructors and staff run registrations, attendance, and reminders so a fourth location or a new instructor does not depend on him.
The July baseline
Two records describe the old site: the Internet Archive capture of April 21, 2026 (the closest to July; the site did not change structurally between them) and the full WordPress content export taken September 10, 2026, before the rebuild.
Platform. WordPress 4.9.26 with the stock Twenty Seventeen theme, the same version and theme as Steve's other two sites. The tagline "Much MORE than kicking and punching" and the footer "Proudly powered by WordPress." URLs were WordPress defaults (/?page_id=119, /?p=1652).
Home page. A chronological blog feed: "FREE Tournament," "Karate Camp 2026," "Summer Smash Tournament," "Point Standings 2026," "Martial Arts Mania," each a sentence or two plus a RegFox link, with pagination to page 13. There was no description of the school, its styles, its locations, or its prices above the fold.
Menu. Five items: Class Schedule & Costs, 2026 Lions Karate Tournaments, Calendar, Test Requirements, About our Black Belts. Everything else (camp, banquets, golf outing, point standings, locations, the founder's biography) was reachable only through blog posts or by guessing.
Content inventory (from the export).
| Item | Count |
|---|---|
| Pages | 71, of which 24 had no content and 1 was the WordPress "Sample Page" |
| Posts | 68, from January 2018 to August 14, 2026 |
| Media files | 675 (657 JPEGs, including the 2024 season photos) |
| Outbound RegFox links in page and post content | 92 |
| Stripe or on-site payment references | 0 |
| Forms on the site | 0 |
Most of the 71 pages were belt-requirement stubs created in 2018 ("Aiki Orange Belt Requirements," "Red Tip Belt Requirements") that were never filled in. Tournament results were pasted as text blocks per year.
Money and registration. Every paid action was a RegFox link: tuition specials, summer programs, Karate Camp, tournaments ("pre-register to save $10"), the golf outing, and even The Arcade Rental's bookings. Steve paid RegFox's per-transaction fees, registrations lived in RegFox's dashboard, and the site itself kept no record of who signed up for what. There was no store; gear was sold in person.
Search and tracking. No meta description, no structured data, no analytics, no HubSpot. The site title was the tagline, not the service or the towns.
The site held eight years of the school's history, which is why the rebuild had to carry its photos and videos forward. But a parent trying to enroll a child in Columbia City had to read a blog to find out how.
The site today
The live site (reviewed October 8, 2026) is a red-and-white design built around the school's own photography. The page title is "Karate Classes in North Webster, Columbia City & Fort Wayne | Lions Karate" and the meta description names all three styles, all three towns, and the free first class. A top bar lists the locations, the styles, the call/text number, the email, and "First class FREE."
Navigation (7 groups, 22 pages).
| Group | Pages |
|---|---|
| Train | Classes & Schedules, Locations, Free Class / Sign Up, Register & Pay, Summer & Intro Programs, Our Three Styles |
| Compete | 2026 Tournaments, Rules & Divisions, Point Circuit Standings, Tournament Entry Form |
| Advance | Taekwondo Belt Tests, Aiki Jutsu Ranks, Kobudo Weapons Tests, Register & Pay for a Test, Practice Videos |
| Events | Karate Camp, Holiday Banquet, Formal Awards Banquet, 2026 Calendar, Announcements |
| Fundraisers | Annual Golf Outing, Sponsorships, Kick-A-Thon, Sponsor / Team Sign-Up |
| Shop | Apparel, Weapons, Sparring Pads, Supporters & Mouth Guards |
| About | Black Belts, Mr. Hanford, Contact |
Home page. A rotating hero (the Lions Karate Circuit 2026 with "Fun. Friendly. Fair."; Karate Camp; the banquets; the pro shop), then "What we teach" (Taekwondo, Kobudo Weapons, Aiki Jutsu), the free first class and free uniform offer with age groups from Little Lions (3–5) to adults and homeschool, the 2026 season calendar, camp/banquet/fundraiser cards, an embedded YouTube technique playlist, the black belts, and a "Ready to start?" call to action. Sixteen of the school's own photos appear on the home page alone; 91 images were carried over from the old media library.
Registration and payment. One Register & Pay page lists every purchasable item under seven headings: tuition, new students, tests, tournaments, camp, banquets, fundraisers. Each goes to Stripe Checkout on the school's own Stripe account. The Karate Camp page (July 18–23, 2027, 12 guest instructors) and the tournament pages carry their own registration buttons. All RegFox links were removed.
Pro shop. Two store areas, Apparel (tees, hoodies, uniforms, hats) and Gear (weapons, sparring pads, supporters, mouth guards), with 30 products, a slide-out cart, and Stripe checkout. Shipping choices are mail (through ShipStation) or free pickup at the North Webster dojo.
Admin. An admin area on the school's own domain lets Steve see orders and registrations, push mailed orders to ShipStation and sync tracking, edit prices and stock, and import any payment Stripe recorded that the site missed. A Stripe webhook saves every completed payment to the site's own order log.
Class attendance and reminders. Instructors mark attendance for each class from the admin area, so every student has an attendance record on the school's own system. Automated text and email reminders go to parents before class and for upcoming tests, tournaments, and events. The old site had no student records at all; attendance was a paper sheet and reminders were a Facebook post.
Platform. A Node.js web application on the school's own cPanel hosting, with the old WordPress PHP files moved out of the web root. HubSpot tracking is on every page.
July vs. today
| July 2026 (pre-rebuild) | Today (October 8, 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | WordPress 4.9 (2018), stock Twenty Seventeen theme, PHP | Node.js web application on the school's own hosting |
| Home page | Blog feed, 13 pages of posts | Designed landing page: programs, free-class offer, season calendar, camp, banquets, shop |
| Menu | 5 items | 7 groups, 22 pages |
| Pages | 71 (24 empty, 1 sample page) | 22, all live |
| Page title | "Lions Karate – Much MORE than kicking and punching" | "Karate Classes in North Webster, Columbia City & Fort Wayne | Lions Karate" |
| Meta description | None | Names 3 styles, 3 towns, free first class |
| Sign-up / tuition | RegFox links in blog posts | On-site sign-up form and Register & Pay with Stripe |
| Belt and weapons tests | Requirement stubs, mostly empty; no registration | Test pages with registration and payment |
| Tournaments | Blog post per event with a RegFox link | Tournaments section: schedule, rules & divisions, standings, entry form with payment |
| Karate Camp | A blog post | Dedicated camp page with registration |
| Banquets, fundraisers | Blog posts | Own sections (holiday banquet, awards banquet, golf outing, kick-a-thon, sponsorships) |
| Store | None | 30-product pro shop in two areas, cart, Stripe checkout |
| Shipping | None | ShipStation for mailed orders, or free dojo pickup |
| Payment processor | RegFox (third-party forms, per-transaction fees) | Stripe on the school's own account |
| Outbound registration links | 92 RegFox links | 0 |
| Record of orders and registrations | In RegFox's dashboard only | On-site order log plus admin area |
| Admin | WordPress dashboard (content only) | Orders, registrations, ShipStation, prices, stock, Stripe import |
| Attendance and reminders | None (paper sheet; Facebook posts) | Attendance taken in admin per class; automated text and email reminders to parents |
| Photos | 675 media files, used in posts | 91 carried over and placed on the right pages |
| Video | Uploaded files | Embedded YouTube technique playlist |
| Analytics / CRM | None | HubSpot tracking on every page |
| Mobile | Theme default | Responsive layout, hamburger menu, click-to-call and text |
Where the money flows now
The biggest change is invisible on the screen: who handles a payment and where the record ends up.
Before. A parent clicked a RegFox link in a blog post, left lionskarate.com, filled in RegFox's form, and paid through RegFox. RegFox kept its fee, held the registration list, and paid the school out. Steve checked RegFox for who had signed up. The website knew nothing. Gear was cash or check at the dojo.
After. The parent stays on lionskarate.com, picks the item on Register & Pay or in the shop, and pays through Stripe Checkout on the school's own account. Stripe's webhook writes the order to the site's log. Steve opens the admin to see registrations and orders in one list; a mailed store order is pushed to ShipStation for a label, and tracking syncs back. If a payment ever misses the log, the admin can import it from Stripe.
Three consequences follow. Fees go to Stripe at its published card rate instead of a form-builder's registration fee on top. The school owns its customer and order history on its own domain. And every registration is a HubSpot-tracked visit, so the school can see which pages (camp, tournaments, the free-class offer) actually produce paid sign-ups.
Why it matters
Enrollment. A parent searching "karate classes Columbia City" or "kids martial arts North Webster" now lands on a page that says what the school teaches, where, for what ages, and that the first class and uniform are free, with a sign-up button. In July that search had nothing to find, and a visitor who arrived anyway had to read a blog to learn there were classes at all.
Revenue per family. Belt tests, weapons tests, tournaments, camp, banquets, and gear were each a separate RegFox link or an in-person transaction. They now sit on one Register & Pay page and in one shop, so a family paying tuition sees the camp and the sparring pads on the same visit. The pro shop also turns gear from a dojo-counter sale into something a family in Fort Wayne can order on a Tuesday night.
The point circuit and tournaments. The circuit is the school's biggest outreach to other schools (three home events, 75 divisions, free membership). It now has a section with rules, standings, and an entry form, instead of a text block of last year's results and a RegFox link.
Fundraising. The golf outing, kick-a-thon, and sponsorships have their own section with a sponsor/team sign-up form. Sponsors can be sent one link instead of a blog post.
Retention. Students who stop coming rarely announce it; they drift. Attendance taken in the admin shows who has missed two weeks, and automated reminders before class, tests, and tournaments keep families on schedule without Steve texting each one by hand. The old site had no student records and no way to reach a family except a blog post or a Facebook post.
Hiring and taking the ceiling off growth. A martial arts school grows by adding classes, locations, and instructors, and each of those used to add work only Steve could do: collect the money, keep the roster, remind the families, restock the gear. With registration, payment, attendance, reminders, and the store all running from one admin on the school's domain, an instructor or staff member at Columbia City or Fort Wayne can run their location's enrollment and attendance without routing every family through Steve. That is what makes it possible to hire an instructor for a new location, or promote a black belt into one, without the school's growth being capped by the founder's week. The old site, with every registration in RegFox and every roster on paper, made Steve the bottleneck on all three locations.
Steve's time. Registrations, orders, shipping labels, prices, and stock are managed from one admin screen on the school's domain. No WordPress updates, no plugin maintenance, no RegFox dashboard, no hand-written gear orders.
Owning the asset. Eight years of photos, bios, and history were carried over, but now on a platform the school controls, with its customer records on its own domain and its payments in its own Stripe account.
What to measure next
The site has been live since September 22, 2026. The first full season of data runs through the Tournament of Champions on November 7.
- Free-class sign-ups and new-student registrations per month, by location.
- Paid registrations through Stripe by category (tuition, tests, tournaments, camp, banquets, fundraisers), compared with last year's RegFox totals.
- Store orders and average order value; mail vs. pickup split.
- HubSpot: which pages precede a registration, and how many visitors come from Google for the three town names.
- Google Search Console impressions for "karate" and "taekwondo" plus each town.
Sources
- lionskarate.com, archived April 21, 2026 (Internet Archive) — the pre-rebuild home page; and its Join our classes page.
- WordPress content export of lionskarate.com taken September 10, 2026 (71 pages, 68 posts, 675 media files), reviewed October 8, 2026.
- lionskarate.com, live home page, reviewed October 8, 2026, including its page list, meta tags, and tracking scripts.
- Archway Internet Marketing build files for Lions Karate, reviewed October 8, 2026.
