How we built JoineryWorkshop.com
 Old JoineryWorkshop.com website |
 New JoineryWorkshop.com website |
The joineryworkshop.com approached Sqwibble.com with a request to bring their websites right up to date. Previously, they’d used some sort of website builder software to make the website themselves and found that they were having minimal success with attracting new customers to their website. We’d been given the brief that it needed to be both Search Engine Optimized, accessible to visitors and easy to use. “It would also be nice if we could update the website easier as it’s something we’ve not been able to do before now”. So we came up with a proposal for how we thought the joineryworkshop.com should be built, with both on-page SEO best practices in mind and a well optimized look and feel for both Search Engines and Visitors.
It was a no brainer for us, that WordPress be our tool of choice. The guys at joineryworkshop.com had never heard of it, but once we explained the merits of using this Content Management System, they were quickly won over. They were a little apprehensive about how they’d get on with using WordPress, but we were more than ready to help them with getting upto speed with it.
Web Design / Content Management System
A Content Management System or CMS, is an online software that enables people to post content to websites with little or no requirement for any technical ability. It is also ideal for anyone who wants to be able to update their websites on a frequent basis without the need to alter the code the website has been written in.
Which CMS was used?
WordPress – This enabled joineryworkshop.com to be able to add not only pages, but also blog posts, photos and their Twitter feed their website with great ease. We could have built them a HTML (static) website with no additional functionality. But with WordPress, it is easy to add additional plugins and functionality to an already great product and to enhance what’s on offer.
Is the Theme a Custom Theme?
We find that within the WordPress community, there are so many good theme developers, so why re-invent the wheel? We didn’t use a Free theme – some (not all) are not coded very well. So we took an existing Premium WordPress Theme and made the necessary changes to it to optimize it for SEO. The standard theme works well, but we made improvements none the less. The client was very happy with the website having chosen the minimalist look of the theme. We stripped back all the clutter in the original theme and customized it to the clients specifications.
What Plugins were used?
All the plugins we used on the website were in our small arsenal we use on all of our websites, plus a couple of additional plugins we had a chance to test on the website before going live. The plugins we used were for SEO, Images, Google Analytics and Spam Prevention. We only add plugins which we feel are needed if we cannot hard code the plugins into the website.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the name given to the practice of building websites with the correct markup required by Search Engines. This can be in the form of; Title Tags, Meta Descriptions and correct use of Heading Tags. There are many other factors which go into SEO, both on-page (on the website) and off-page (Link Building, Microsites, Social Media)
What did we do to the Theme?
We removed some of the code from the theme that was not necessary and hard coded any parts of the website into the theme that we could. This has the benefit of speeding up the website as PHP (the programming language that WordPress and the Theme are built on) require the web server to constantly check the files and database before responding to any requests from the outside World, such as you visiting the website. Instead, by coding in parts of the website that would always be the same and unlikely need updating for some time to come. Fractions of a second can be shaved off the time it takes to load each page. All in all, each minor change when added together can mean the website loads a couple of seconds faster meaning improved Visitor satisfaction for those with slower connection speeds.
There are other parts of the theme and content that we’ve worked on too, but far too much to go into right here.
Off-Page SEO – Link Building, Article Writing and Microsites
We were also asked to conduct Off-Page SEO in the form of Link Building and Microsites. The Microsites took the form of Article Writing which was posted to external websites such as Squidoo, Hubpages and Blogger. We also suggested that buying “Keyword Rich” domains to create Microsites, optimized for specific products would help both promote the Products and Services on offer as well as create a rich source of Links from websites that were niche specific.
If after reading what we have done for JoineryWorkshop.com, you think we could help you or your businesses website. We’d be more than happy to discuss what we can do, from Link Building, Web Design, SEO to Copywriting as well as many other services and requirements we can cater for. Contact us today!
