Early in the rebranding process, it was clear that pressrelations needed a new website. This was not so much about a new look and adaptation to the new corporate design, but more about being able to better address customer needs, and of course, improving the user experience. Additionally, pressrelations needed to better present its core values and services.
Even before deciding to do a complete rebranding, the website was a thorn in the side of many employees and customers. Some of the criticism we received was that the website was too confusing and too “heavy” – visitors could hardly find their way around and employees could not recognize our core values in it. The results from the analysis tools also indicated a rather moderate user experience.
PLANNING AND OBJECTIVES
The first thing to do right at the beginning of the planning process was to clarify fundamental questions:
In what time frame and with what means can we achieve the relaunch? For what do we need external partners and which partners will be involved? Who is a stakeholder outside the marketing team, and when and how must they be involved in the process?
Thanks to our clear vision for our rebranding and the results of our comprehensive analysis, it was now possible to quickly define specific requirements and guidelines for the creation of the website.
- Connecting to our target group
- Simple and effective user interface
- Make it easy to contact us
- Content automation & flexibility
- Better CMS integration
- Move to a new, top-level domain
- SEO standards compliance
- Stronger links to the blog and automated content transfer
VISUALIZATION
After it became clear what content should be included on the website and what the guidelines are, it was time to start working on the design. In numerous coordination loops, the basic structure and content elements were created, tested, further developed and finally implemented. Text, media files and other content were created, revised, tested for users and search engines, adapted and entered.
It became clear early on that, in addition to programming, design and content creation, a completely new visual concept for the website also had to be developed, since we didn’t have suitable images, and using Shutterstock was not an option. So we established a concept and held a photo shoot with numerous employees in our office in Düsseldorf.
VISIBILITY
Visibility in search engines was also a major topic. By moving to the top-level domain “.com” we were able to better present our internationality and leave some technical difficulties behind. Of course, there were some challenges. The loss of our website visibility was predictable.
First, a diversion structure was developed and implemented. Backlinks were partially transferred. Naturally, the keyword set as well as all meta information had to be critically checked and adapted. Due to the decoupling of the press portal, which is still located on the .de subdomain, the new homepage lost a lot of reach, but thanks to continuous SEO measures and updates such as BERT, it continues to grow strongly – a trend that will hopefully continue.
LAUNCH, FEEDBACK AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
After numerous tests and acceptance loops, the time had come: on 25.06. the website was launched. Positive feedback from both colleagues and customers was received relatively quickly, with the new look and structure, in particular, being praised. With the Big News of the following week “Linkfluence and pressrelations enter into a strategic partnership”, came the performance test and the big launch of the newly designed website.
After applying some minor improvements, the blog was migrated at the end of August and the Insights page, including filter functions, was integrated. But of course, the work on the website never ends: Content adjustments, technical updates and SEO measures are still the order of the day.
Conclusion: With good preparation and sound SEO knowledge, the potential of a relaunch can be fully exploited. The website performance figures also confirm the success of the relaunch: measured values such as length of stay, page impressions and conversions have improved significantly. There should always be enough time for initial internal planning and of course for implementation and improvement. Your website is worth that!
