The Brief
The Cube, a large entertainment complex in Birmingham City Centre, approached us to upgrade their existing website with an all-new design and SEO optimisation. Here’s the story of how we delivered an efficient site they love.
The Cube wanted a bold website redesign that enhanced the site with captivating visuals so they could beat the competition. They needed to show off their two newest services and direct traffic to them from the homepage. Pointing existing visitors at the pages a business most wants to sell is usually the first fix in our website redesign service.
As part of this, they wanted their Instagram feed and newsletter integrated into the page to show off their multimedia content.
The Challenges We Overcame
As with any project, there were hurdles along the way. Here are some of the challenges we faced and how we tackled them.
A crucial element of the brief was integrating The Cube’s Instagram feed on the pages. We created a gallery section that utilised and linked to their eight latest posts so site visitors could see their business’s social media.
Imagery
We knew that sourcing imagery would be the biggest challenge as it had to suit the new design and feel of the site. We had to match the luxury facilities with impressive photography, including images of the external building.
Firstly, the Instagram gallery allowed us to use images that The Cube were already proud of. They had already posted high-quality pictures, so using them again on the website made sense.
Then we used newly taken images and footage of the building and its facilities to give visitors a real insight into their offerings. These crisp images provide a professional aesthetic.
Finally, we needed some uniform images that were difficult to source. These included shots of particular car models for the parking page. To solve this issue, we used AI tools to generate images in the exact style we needed.
Migrating Blogs
The Cube’s original site had 276 blog posts that all needed to be migrated to the new site. However, we used a different, more professional web design platform, meaning that it was not just as simple as transferring the content. We had to resolve code issues to deliver an impressive-looking blog section.
Google Maps
The Cube is home to multiple businesses, each with its own Google Business Profile. To show their locations, we had to create custom Google Maps widgets for each establishment.
Creating Their New Site
To keep the project simple, we divided it into three stages: planning, development and launch. These broad stages were made up of individual tasks that we could track and update as we progressed.
Planning
The planning stage allowed us to lay the foundations for the redesign. During our initial meeting with the client, we learnt about their design preferences by showing them different websites and asking them to select elements they liked and disliked and explain why. Then, we could include their favourite features in our design.
At every step of the planning process, we had the user experience in mind. Keeping UX front and central meant it underpinned the design, helping us fulfil the client’s wish to promote their new services without forcing unnatural design features. Users would enjoy the site’s appearance whilst navigating it as we intended.
We also prepared all the content for the web pages at the preparation stage. Our writers composed fantastic SEO-optimised copy, and we liaised with The Cube to source the best imagery. That way, we could develop the page as quickly as possible.
Development
After comprehensively planning the design, we started to create it. We produced a range of first drafts with design variations based on the client’s preferences. Then, we sent it to them to pick and choose their favourite elements. With their feedback, we moulded the drafts together and refined the design until it perfectly matched their vision.
Throughout the development, we regularly updated the client about our process to give them an accurate timeline.
Launch
Migrating the site from the existing design to our creation was another substantial step. The redirect links were fundamental; every modified URL required a redirect so that users could navigate the website easily and Google could crawl the page for SEO. They were all created before the migration to make the page immediately operational.
Once we had pushed the site live, we tested the website again to identify any broken links or issues. There were none. Then, we set up Google Analytics 4 to track events and conversions on the site so that The Cube could monitor the success of their new design.
Here are some of the parts of the project we love:
Videos
Videos give users a more immersive experience of the website, engaging them and showing them what their experience will be like. We integrated video into page headers to instantly showcase The Cube. The car parking page header shows exactly how The Cube’s secure automatic parking system works.
Cubes
As part of the design, we used geometric shapes to highlight The Cube branding throughout the page. We used grid systems and cube icons as bullet points and design features.
The Results
After implementing our new design, the website’s performance skyrocketed. Here are just some of the advancements we delivered:
+671%
Average visit time
+348%
Average number of pages visited
+329%
Engagement rate
