My first themed build with BigWing, this project was a priority for the client mostly due to performance and maintenance problems with their older GoDaddy-built website. Page load times were well over 8 seconds, especially on the homepage, and there were numerous design elements that could make content unreadable at times (whether squished down on mobile or with text floating over a busy background image that created contrast issues).
View Their Old Website
In addition to fixing several problems they also wanted their photo gallery to look more polished as it was previously just a long feed of mixed images of various sizes and orientations. Our content team was empowered to work over their page copy as we saw fit to streamline as well, but there was one feature from their previous website that they wanted to keep and enhance: a custom home build calculator and lead capture form.
Their existing build calculator was just a “numbers sandbox” where you could choose from various options and see how it affected the costs, but that was the extent of its functionality. They weren’t able to track how people were using it, what data they tried, or convert any of them into leads. They received verbal feedback about the feature, but couldn’t accurately measure how much it benefitted them. So, we took the calculator and expanded it into a lead capture “ice breaker” to encourage visitors to begin asking questions and share their budgets and ideas. We also implemented Google Analytics tracking throughout this and the rest of the site and set it up as a monitored conversion funnel to finally be able to measure its statistics and effectiveness. Nearly all Calls-To-Action on the site would then mention this tool to help “close the deal” and earn them new business.
Though the rest of the build was fairly straightforward involving using a clean and easy-to-tweak theme, a Gutenberg block ecosystem to make content edits a cinch, and making sure the client’s photos of their work were presented in a way that did them justice, we also took the time to make some other improvements along the way. Their brand’s gold color didn’t stand up to WCAG 2.0 color contrast recommendations, so we coordinated with them on a color scheme that was still brand-authentic but slightly browner and darker to make for better visibility and accessibility. Testimonials had previously been done by receiving client emails (or physical letters that were then scanned) and adding them into a long page. Now, they became a custom post type with a form on the site that could be used to share a testimonial (pending moderation by the business owner’s admin account).
All without any custom development or plugins we were able to increase their Pingdom speed test results by two letter grades. BigWing’s ad team also loved sending clicks to a speedier website that was now more streamlined to catch visitors and convert them into business.
