Getting the best from the old site…

Seeing the high bounce rate, I advised Rob that he needed to remedy some of the major issues on his old site without delay. Not repairing these issues would mean  paying for traffic that would simply bounce.

Some of the issues I repaired included:

• Broken directory structure
• Not smartphone or tablet responsive
• Poor quality images
• Poorly written content
• Pixelated logo
• Multiple missing webfont styles
• Uninteresting site content
• Bland colour scheme
• Poor messaging
• Broken contact form
• Missing links
• Link to non-existent Facebook page
• Link to non-existent Google+ page
• Poor overall impression of the business
• General lack of branding
• Insecure site protocol (http rather than https)
• Incorrect description meta tags
• Non-descriptive site and page snippets
• Lack of image alt tags
• Non-descriptive page URLs
• Thin content
• Lack of diversified landing pages

The need to create his own brand

I felt Rob had a great business with modern buses but his website was communicating directly the opposite message. Rather than simply rehashing the site using the same images and content, I suggested to Rob that we come up with a new logo, colour scheme and tagline before building his new site . It would mean a mini re-branding of sorts.

In my discussions with Rob he mentioned that he would happily take visitors anywhere they wanted to go. Even offering them their own itinerary. To me, this was his unique selling proposition (USP) so we came up with the tagline “Your TOUR, your WAY!”

Some final touches before building a new site

By this stage it was also evident that Rob needed a little help with presenting the business offline and on other digital platforms too. His quoting template was a little lacklustre and he had no business cards or email signature to help him give a great impression to new and existing clients.

So at this point I created some business cards for him, a new professional quoting template and a small email signature. These little things are an effective way of creating a consistent message across all of your marketing efforts.

Finally, I recommended Roberto make the transition to an online invoicing/accounting package such as MYOB or Xero to help him keep track of his business. This is vitally important to do BEFORE you experience growth. If your marketing is successful and you experience sudden growth, you need to be ready for it!

You’ll notice at this stage we are getting our marketing ducks all lined up in a row up before we even think about creating his new site and sending traffic to it!

Now – let’s create that website!

I decided to run with a WordPress site for Rob due to its great SEO and editing advantages. It’s easy to install and there are plenty of plugins to help make a more interactive and engaging experience for visitors.

Rob’s original site was built with hard-to-edit static html pages and was very light on for content. The new site needed more “meat” and definitely a more professional look to match the excellent quality of service he was providing. Another reason why I ran with a WordPress site.

The new site which included front and back-end work (yes it was optimised for search) was completed in under 1 week and ready to go live as soon as Roberto was ready. The Adwords ads I had previously created for him were redirected to the landing page destinations on the new site and since then it’s been all systems go!

I think you’ll agree the new website supported by Rob’s new marketing material will convert many more visitors into customers than the original and will pay for itself in no time.