Website design and build increases traffic 80% in the first two months
Barfoot & Thompson’s previous website was managed and hosted externally at a significant annual cost. It was custom built several years ago and did not meet the current needs of the business regarding ease of content management and integration with other business information systems. The website also had a cumbersome user experience, was lacking in modern website functionality and was difficult to optimise for search engines.
Barfoot & Thompson defined their requirements and information architecture and commissioned Datacom to re-design and re-develop the website. Datacom also assisted with a search and select for the right Microsoft based Web Content Management System. Sitecore was the chosen product having particular strengths in its separation of functionality from presentation (allowing the easy re-purposing of content for multiple channels) and in its compliance with web standards.
The re-design and development project was run to an ‘Agile’ like methodology, with the Barfoot & Thompson project owner working on the Datacom website team to deliver the solution, to a tight schedule and to budget. Features include; an easy to use web content management system for administration by non technical staff, a featured property viewer, a fast and reliable search with multiple search options, links and integration to other valuable property buyer information as well as saved searches and email alert options. The site has been designed to support a high level of Search Engine Optimisation, crucial to ensuring Barfoot & Thompson’s offices, agents and listed properties are found by Google and other search engines. Further enhancements are already in progress and scheduled for delivery throughout 2009.
The revamped Barfoot & Thompson website was launched in November 2008 and with no special promotion unique visitors increased by around 80% in the first two months. The content management and ownership of the site now resides with marketing and annual costs have been reduced significantly.