The new Threesides website: a case study in website redevelopment

When it comes to developing a new website, there’s a lot of moving parts – we often talk about this fact when starting a new website project with our clients. In late June 2024 we launched our own new Threesides website, and we’ll take a closer look at the processes involved in this article. Here I’ll share what we looked at and how we approached it – and you might like to consider the same when it comes to building your new site too.

Just because we’re the experts, doesn’t mean that we don’t encounter the same delays or changes in decisions during the build.  We found we had two main hurdles to cross – timelines for content writing and development taking longer than anticipated,, and ensuring that everything works across devices.

Why redevelop the website?

We’ve had a few websites over the years (check them out on the WayBack Machine here). But why redevelop the site now?

We identified that our brand and target audience had grown over time, and our existing website didn’t reflect this. We wanted to reflect a simpler application of our brand colours, reduce the complexity of where content sits, and put more emphasis on our services.

As the Digital Team Lead and developer responsible for the project, I was tasked with developing a website that looked good, met business objectives, and drove results.

Understanding the goals and objectives

The goal of your website project shouldn’t be just because “it looks old”, or “it’s out of date”. Your goals should align with your business goals – getting more engagement, leading to more sales or enquiries.

When we first started scoping our website redevelopment project – our goal was to improve our search positioning for our services. Over time we noticed that we weren’t ranking often for services content, instead, our blogs, help articles and media releases were the primary source of our organic traffic.

We also knew that the volume of content on our site had grown over time, and that some service pages had three levels of hierarchy. This made it difficult to find relevant information or keep things current. Our secondary goal was to reduce this depth and reconsider the layout of these pages.

Research and planning

Before diving into the design and development process, we researched to understand what others were doing in this space. This included competitive analysis, developing mockups and an audit of our current website.

We found that websites were providing more comparisons between their service offerings and explained how their services formed part of the overarching marketing strategy for their clients. Sites were focusing less of providing a “newsfeed” of updates.

Design and development

The new website design was inspired by larger consultancies and some of the big agencies, featuring a cleaner, more modern aesthetic. We also ensured that the features we had designed for desktop also continued to work across all devices.

In terms of content, we shifted away from “help and how-to” articles and focused on creating keyword-optimised content that articulated Threesides’ value proposition to our ideal clients.

Results and impact

Pleasingly we have already seen some significant improvements across key data that we use to assess the performance of our site. These improvements can be attributed to the combination of a visually appealing design, SEO-optimised content, and a user-friendly experience.

Key takeaways

The redevelopment of the Threesides website offers valuable insights if you’re considering a similar project. Here are some key takeaways:

1. Invest in SEO: Optimising your website for search engines can significantly improve your visibility and attract qualified leads.
2. Create high-quality content: Content that is informative, engaging, and relevant to your target audience is crucial for building trust and credibility.
3. Continuously monitor and optimise: Regularly monitor your website’s performance and make necessary adjustments to ensure it remains effective. We’ve continued to refine and adjust the page layouts and content since launch – and will continue to do so.

By following these guidelines, you can successfully redevelop your website websites and achieve your digital marketing goals. If you’re considering a website project, get in touch with Threesides.