The Art of Outgrowing A Website Gracefully: A Case Study

Every business has its own unique set of marketing challenges to solve as it grows. For Henry and Leroy Stoltzfus, the owners of Pennsylvania-based Stable Hollow Construction, it was their website. It had begun to feel like an old pair of sneakers that were a size too small. The site was functional in some mediums, but it was outdated, and it simply didn’t fit them well anymore.

home page on stablehollowconstruction.com

As they had grown, Stable Hollow’s company focus had shifted toward restoration work, while the existing website continued to promote all types of construction. Not only that, but in the years since their first website was built, the internet had grown up, and as it did, it had become a world increasingly dominated by mobile users. Henry and Leroy found that their website didn’t work well on a smartphone or tablet. Thirdly, as Rosewood Marketing began to coach Stable Hollow on how to market online, Henry and Adrian (Rosewood online marketer) agreed that the website needed to build visitors’ trust in Stable Hollow Construction and convert more of them into customers. To build trust and inspire visitors, one prescription was to feature many large, beautiful pictures of past projects. Multiple contact forms and phone numbers on each page make it easy for visitors to contact Stable Hollow Construction.

before and after of the Stable Hollow Construction website

Adrian and Matt, one of our graphic designers, brainstormed and sketched ideas for the new pages, considering the goals which had originated from the marketing consulting meetings with Henry. From these sketches, Adrian drafted a spreadsheet showing how the written content would be moved to reorganized pages on the new website, preserving the SEO (search engine optimization) traction accrued by the old website.

brainstorming sketches for the new website pages

After getting Henry’s approval, Matt went to work creating a responsive design that would portray both the vision and brand of Stable Hollow Construction. The website structure was thoughtfully wireframed, then carefully designed to communicate the key marketing messaging of the company. Matt’s goal was to maintain the essential atmosphere that users were used to on the old site with an updated look that was attractive and easy to navigate. Each page gives site visitors opportunities to convert into leads.

The new Stable Hollow Construction site is responsive.

Stable Hollow’s new website shown in responsive design

As a side note, “responsive” is a term in the website world that means a site that is built to work well on both desktop and mobile devices. Websites that are not responsive are considered outdated and ineffective. In fact, when a mobile device user is searching on Google, responsive websites will be ranked higher than non-responsive websites, all other factors being equal.

As we moved into the content development stage, Lyndon, our photographer, visited over a dozen of Stable Hollow’s recent job sites. He focused on bringing their workmanship to life in photographs by capturing interesting details at unique angles. In addition to shooting from the ground, he created some great aerial shots showcasing Stable Hollow’s outstanding projects from overhead. With design and professional photography complete, the project was ready to move into the website development phase.

Adrian, Rosewood’s developer for this project, chose Drupal 8 as the platform for the new website. Unlike other solutions that impose various limitations, Drupal 8 gives complete flexibility to both the designer and developer. This is particularly important when a business already has an established branding style guide and needs advanced features, such as multiple user contact opportunities, interactive galleries, and animation. Since Drupal is open source software, Stable Hollow Construction is not locked into the features of a closed proprietary platform if they want to add functionality in the future. A custom site means that Rosewood did not need to fit Stable Hollow into predefined templates. Each feature was designed into the site for a reason.

Adrian began configuring the page structure and coding the custom theme to transform Matt’s design into a website. Careful thought was given to features that made the site searchable on the internet. For example, the Rosewood team optimized and improved descriptions and other text from Stable Hollow’s existing website to increase readability and boost search engine optimization on the new site. Photos were optimized for fastest load speeds at the required quality.

As the project neared the finish line, Stable Hollow was invited to review a partially functional site for final proofing. Henry was given his own editorial site login so that he can add and edit the gallery pages himself.

Now, to finalize and launch! The web team finished populating the site with text copy and images, made the final tweaks and pointed the company’s domain name to the new site. Blastoff! A fresh, sleek Stable Hollow website was live for the world to discover!

top of home page

Since the site has been completed, the owners have enjoyed the simplicity of the controlled client access portal we created which enables them to add their own photography to the website as new jobs get completed. With over 40% of visitors to Stable Hollow Construction’s website using mobile and tablet devices, our client is assured that they have made a wise investment.

A new, completely custom website solution showcases the quality workmanship and vision Stable Hollow Construction offers to every one of their customers. It is powerful and efficient. It is scalable, as well, to meet future website development needs as the business continues to grow. And it is meeting the internet browsing preferences of their customers and prospects.

Does your website reflect well on your vision of your business? Is it up-to-date and usable for mobile devices, the fastest growing internet browsing medium and primary choice for the majority of today’s consumers? Give us a call or email today to schedule a consultation or to discover solutions to the unique marketing challenges of your business.

About the Author: Adrian Nolt is the Operations Manager. Contact Adrian at adrian@rosewood.us.com.