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Company: Industrial Technology Systems Ltd (ITS)
Project: New Website - www.its-ltd.co.uk
Dates: Sep 2007 to Nov 2007
How did the project start?
The original website was out of date, difficult to navigate, complex to manage and our search engine rankings in Google were in decline. The original website was also built using frames, which are detrimental to search engine optimisation. As a result we decided to invest in a new modern website. We felt strongly that we were not maximising our business potential because of the poor quality of the old website.
What options did you consider?
We initially discounted the possibility of refreshing the existing site with a re-design and felt the best approach was to make a complete change and start again. We produced a detailed specification and contacted a number of local suppliers to quote for the work and the contract was awarded to Visualsoft, a knowledgeable and highly professional supplier. We requested quotations for an html site and a content management system. Due to the complexity of our site, the quantity of specialist content material and the need to update the website quickly, it was decided that a content management system would be the most effective option.
What help and expertise did you receive?
We received help from a Business Link advisor during the supplier selection process. The advisor suggested a number of website design companies to approach, and several meetings were organised to evaluate the proposals and to talk to the short-listed suppliers. We selected Visualsoft because of the strength of their designs, their understanding of our business objectives, and the support of an excellent after-launch Search Engine Optimisation package. Visualsoft’s team was very helpful in offering recommendations about how we could make improvements to the site and what approach to take to maximise search engine appeal.
Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?
The main challenge that we encountered was the complexity of our business, both in the textual content of the site, and in helping Visualsoft gain an understanding of our company’s work so that they could project this through their designs. We specialise in seven service areas and deal with customers in a diverse range of industries. We have partnerships with over 15 suppliers and offer over 40 different training courses. We needed access to all of these areas from the home page, yet avoiding clutter and achieving a site that was easy to navigate and use. We also required Visualsoft to follow existing marketing literature branding, by using a corporate shade of blue and by following identified colours and ‘symbols’ for each of the business areas. We wanted to achieve consistency across our marketing materials – printed and online. Visual appeal of the site was very important to us, and we wanted to make individual pages more interesting by selecting specific images and illustrations. Sourcing illustrations was timely but has subsequently been time well spent because of the impact the pages now have. Lessons learned were that sometimes we needed a hands-off approach to let the designers design!
What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?
The website went live at the end of November 2007. Since then we have seen a dramatic improvement in our search engine positions for many keywords. Within the first two months of the launch, the number of visitors to our site has increased; we are confident that this will lead to increases in enquiries and orders. We have received many messages of congratulations from customers, employees, and suppliers. Because the content management system allows our marketing department immediate access to the material on the site, we can quickly update and adjust the website material, ensuring it is always relevant and up-to-date. The new facility to download company brochures allows potential customers to easily and quickly access literature, and removes the time delay in staff having to post material to them after a phone call or email. We continue to develop ways of capitalising on the promotional value of the website, for instance including customer feedback on our training courses into the training section. We are able to provide a much-improved page about our customers and suppliers, and an up to date news section. The new training calendar facility allows visitors to see the spread of our courses, both geographic and calendar. We constantly looked at the site from the visitors’ point of view, ensuring there were not too many click-throughs required to get to the information, which can be irritating and lose custom.
What are your plans for the future?
We plan to continue improving the performance of the site by adding new features, case studies and news releases.
We are determined to continue improving our performance in Google using search engine optimisation tools, understanding our visitors’ patterns and encouraging them to stay on our site longer.
We have promoted the new website using an email campaign and have requested customer feedback and suggestions that would enhance its performance and make their working life easier.
We feel confident in using the website as a marketing tool because we are proud of how it looks and how easy it is to use.
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