Introduction:
In May 2023, City on the Hill Consultancy partnered with APLKids, a local provider of educational resources for children, to revamp and optimize their website. Our goal was to create a seamless and user-friendly online platform that not only reflected the company's values but also empowered the founder (a fellow solopreneur) to easily navigate and make updates as needed. This case study delves into the process, challenges faced, and the positive impact of our collaboration on APLKids' online presence.
Challenge:
APLKids approached City on the Hill Consultancy with concerns about their existing website, which was difficult to navigate, had long load times, lacked alt text, and showed up on page 2 of search results even with a very descriptive search. Despite all these issues, the biggest red flag we saw was that the founder did not make updates to the site since the web host's user interface was so bad. The worst part of all this is that the founder paid $2,000 for their original website!!
Solution:
Switching Web Hosts: Since the founder of APLKids is a powerful team of one, it is important that she can manage her own site without having to rely on a marketing agency forever. She built up an amazing company, and deserves authority over all business aspects that she wants control over. That being said, she was struggling with her original web host... and honestly so were we! Despite having an SEO expert on our team, this host was not intuitive at all. With that, we proposed a switch to a more modern, user-friendly one.
Image Audit: The original website had a load time of about 20 seconds, which can be detrimental to a company. The first glaring issue to us was the full-screen carousel. Under that carousel, there were 4 other large images. With the new website, we decided to be more minimalist with the aesthetic and smart about not overloading the site with extremely large images.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): We conducted an analysis of APLKids' target audience and competitive landscape to identify relevant keywords and optimize the website's content accordingly. By implementing SEO best practices, we aimed to improve the website's visibility in search engine results, attracting organic traffic and expanding the reach of APLKids' offerings.
Accessibility: Prior to our takeover, the APLKids website was missing alt text on images, which is an ADA requirement. With the new site, we made sure that all images contained alt text so those who are visually impaired can use screen readers that convey the images in detail.
Results:
When you search "Art Play Learn", the company's website comes up fourth on page one of Google.
Organic traffic from Google searches has increased 61.5% since our site redesign
Conclusion:
The collaboration between City on the Hill Consultancy and APLKids resulted in a transformative website redesign and optimization. By prioritizing user experience, empowering the founder with a user-friendly CMS, and implementing SEO best practices, we successfully elevated APLKids' online presence. The revamped website now serves as a dynamic platform, showcasing their educational resources and supporting their mission to empower parents, caregivers, and educators in nurturing young minds.
The best part? It cost under $250. With our $18/hr rate and 12hrs of work, the total came out to $216. Really!