GW Plastics Website Development and Design
A Website Redesign for a Global Audience
The GW Plasitcs website redesign was developed for a global company specializing in high end plastic and silicone molding for healthcare, automotive and consumer/industrial industries. The business is expanding into Mexico, China and throughout the United States. They wanted a modern, clean design that better represented the company and its core values.
The Web Development Process
GW Plastics’ previous website had old content and photos, and was developed on outdated technologies, so wasn’t well-received by visitors, and was ranking poorly in search engines on mobile devices and in desktop organic searches.
The “Discovery” process was required to flush out specifically what the client hoped to accomplish with the new website. A meeting with the client was arranged, and weekly conference calls provided updates and open communication throughout the process.
It was determined that they wanted a fresh, new look, mobile-friendly format, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) considerations, new photography, functionality that would allow new updates and a blog, video feeds, integration with Sales Force, and most importantly – an intuitive and easy-to-use content management system that would allow them to make their own updates in the future.
After the scope of the website redesign project was determined, a cost estimate was provided with a detailed itemized list of requirements and timeline expectations.
UX/UI Design
The User Experience was a top consideration. The old site was not only outdated, but also difficult to navigate and find information. To help the client understand the process, a comprehensive sitemap solution was developed to organize the navigation in an intuitive and user-friendly format.
An evaluation of their existing analytics and website traffic determined what pages were not being visited, and the pages that could be eliminated or combined with others to make the website site much easier to navigate and find any page within one click.
Website Branding and Design
After the logo and branding specifications were developed, measures were taken to ensure a consistent look and functionality across all pages and sections of the website, and all other marketing communications. A photography shoot was arranged for new photography in their upgraded facilities to highlight their capabilities, and to include their workforce in the new website.
SEO Strategy
Although the corporate headquarters are located in Bethel, Vermont – GW Plastics’ new facilities opening in Mexico and China highlighted the importance of a well-planned SEO strategy to ensure search engine rankings were considered in other parts of the world as well. Keyword search terms were evaluated and incorporated into the content of specific pages to raise their search engine rankings. Specific, trackable landing pages were created to funnel and track the success of their marketing efforts. Lastly, a prominent call-to-action located “above the fold” was implemented on all pages to help raise the conversion rates of the visitors on the website.
Content Management System
The website was built with WordPress – a popular and easy-to-use CMS (Content Management System) to ensure a responsive web design that would allow the client to maintain and edit in the future.
The final project included a clean, modern, mobile-friendly website design, integration of a news feed, a portfolio and case studies section, a job posting feature where resume’s and applications could be submitted online, and contact forms available on every page that are stored in the website’s database for future marketing communications.