Group Break Checklist is a platform that allows sport card collectors to browse through a list of baseball, football, and other cards and find new items for their collections. The website is fully integrated with eBay and makes it easy to access cheat sheets, card trading stats, and other relevant information.
Issues to tackle
When Group Break Checklist reached out to Zazmic, the company already had a running website. However, after running an assessment, we noticed the following issues that reduced conversion rates:
- Cumbersome website maintenance. Updating website content, changing images on a slider, and adding new blocks was too complicated and didn’t allow the company to update the website whenever needed.
- Low website speed and responsivity. Website visitors were discouraged from filling contact forms or taking a wine compatibility test because pages were too slow to load. As a result, Group Break Checklist had a 76% bounce rate.
- Low conversion rates. The old version of the website was falling short of ways to capture user data and convert a first-time visitor to a lead. There were no pop-ups, subscription plugins, or means to share the website via social media. As a result, business owners couldn’t make the most out of their traffic.
- Poor mobile user retention. Group Break Checklist didn’t have a mobile-friendly website – as a result the company didn’t have much to offer smartphone users. Since the company’s target audience was 18-45 years old, mobile experiences were essential to this segment. Missing out on smartphone visitors reduced conversions and customer satisfaction.
- Insufficient security effort. The company wanted to create a GDPR-compliant website, avoiding risks of data breaches and ensuring no one can hack into the system. The existing website didn’t have a secure firewall or data access management framework.
How the Team Optimized the Website
As we examined the website, the need for design and development optimization became apparent. Other than that, Group Break Checklist didn’t have a sustainable content nor social media marketing strategy.
Here’s how our team helped the website attract more visitors and acquire more regular clients:
Design
Choosing a responsive theme
Based on the results of comprehensive competitor research, as well as on the client’s requirements, we came up with a strategy of the site’s redesign, which included building a custom WordPress theme from scratch.
All the features that were previously implemented as plugins are now built into the functionality of the new theme. Styles were converted to CSS styles using Less.js, a JavaScript tool that extends CSS with dynamic behavior such as variables, mixins, operations, and functions.
Improving user experience
Apart from the significant performance boost, this change has also resulted in much improved UX. Although the old version has largely inspired the brand-new website concept, we managed to tailor it to the standards of responsive, lightweight design, while staying consistent with the specific nature of the project.
Up to date styles, layouts, color palette, and fonts all help give the WordPress-powered site a new fresh look.
Development
Rebuilding checklist pages
Checklist pages have been rebuilt to display data in the left and right blocks of the page dynamically, depending on the selected filtering. There is a PDF file on every page that contains all the information about teams and players.
We collect this information using data parsing and display it on the page in response to a user’s actions.
Social media integration
The Blog section is integrated with the GBC’s Twitter news feed displaying the latest posts in real-time right on the website page.
Loading speed and performance
Creating a separate database of eBay items and designing a custom theme specifically for the GBC site helped speed up the website and considerably improved its performance even without external optimization plugins.
Website analytics
Setting up Google Analytics
To help business owners gather more data about their users, we installed Google Analytics pixels on the website and customized the account. Now, marketing and SEO managers could monitor the number of daily visitors, track their behavior, and capture essential marketing metrics – bounce rates, average session time, and more.
Monitoring subscription and bounce rate
Our team started monitoring user interactions with the website. After detecting a high on-site bounce rate, we optimized the website’s performance. We created a content marketing strategy to write page descriptions that would resonate with users on a deeper level.
Other than that, we are continually tracking subscription rates and ensure at the pace specified in the company’s business plan.
SEM and Content Strategy
Creating a content strategy
Our team researched the market and found out which topics interested card collectors the most. We created a versatile editorial calendar, with card stack reviews, checklists, and cheat sheets. Visitors were reacting to the content positively – the number of page visits grew along with the average session time.
Joining an affiliate program
To help GBC generate revenue from their posts, we suggested joining the ShareASale program. Being able to publish and profit from affiliate offers helped the company maximize the revenue from the website. Other than that, we sold ad space on the site to generate additional revenue streams.
SEO
Google Search Console monitoring
Zazmic search engine optimization specialists monitor the website’s ranking constantly. We check Google Search Console reports regularly to detect issues that might affect the search engine visibility of Group Break Checklist.
SEO Content Optimization
To increase the SEO value and visibility of each page, we added meta-tags to it. Other than that, SEO specialists ensured that all content is structured using the H1-H6 hierarchy. ‘Title’, ‘description’, and ‘keywords’ fields were filled based on thorough semantic core research.
Fixing technical SEO errors
Our SEO team removed duplicate pages, optimized robot.txt, and sitemap.xml. Improving the website’s usability and performance helped improve search engine rankings as well.
Social media management
Creating a content strategy
An experienced team of social media managers ran an assessment of the company’s corporate social media pages and created a list of improvements. We strengthened the company’s visual branding by creating a custom page cover and thumbnail. Other than that, we created and implemented an editorial calendar for most popular social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.
Running social media campaigns
Zazmic marketers ran a series of successful social media campaigns that encouraged target audiences to start trading card sets and collecting stacks. Other than that, we used UTM links to trace website traffic back to the social media channel from where a visitor came.
Results
- Website traffic increase – from used-to-be 8,000 monthly users to over 25,000 visitors
- Lower bounce rates – bounce rates dropped from 76% to 25%
- Higher conversion – the old Group Break Checklist website converted 5% of visitors into leads; the new one has a 15% conversion rate
- The number of filled contact forms grew to 1,500 – before the redesign, it used to be 500;
- Efficient workforce allocation – Group Break Checklist used to employ a 5-person team for content management. Now, two content administrators can update the website effortlessly.
- Return on investment – 230%
- Higher average session time – 3 minutes 30 seconds on the home page, 5 minutes 40 seconds on the quiz page (used to be 1 minute 20 seconds and 2 minutes 50 seconds respectively)
To make sure you are maximizing the potential of your website, reach out to Zazmic for a free website assessment.
We will analyze the functionality and performance of your online platform, pinpoint the most pressing errors, and offer ways to fix them. Contact us and make the most out of your online presence.
