Historic site gets modern redesign
Historic Fairhill is a cemetery in Philadelphia that has ties dating back to 1703, the Underground Railroad, and more. Unfortunately, their website was equally dated, with no clear strategy, hard to use navigation, and unfocused content.
Today we are pleased to announce the re-launch of their website, www.historicfairhill.org, which boasts a host of modern conveniences to help drive traffic to this historic venue.
Responsive Web Design helps with local searches
As a local destination, it was imperative to have a mobile-optimized option for the design, one that could adapt to local tourists searching for the cemetery from their smartphones. We used a responsive WordPress theme called Green Earth.
For the desktop user, the website is rich in visual impact and highlights the grounds beautifully. For the mobile user, we made sure key location information such as the address, phone, and a Visit button were available in the footer of every page.
Focused Content Strategy
Unfortunately, the prior site was built before WordPress had custom menus, so we had a lot of duplication. Recent changes in Google's ranking algorithm are now cracking down on duplicate content, so it was important to streamline the content on the site, not only for visitors navigating the site, but also for search indexing. This problem has been solved now, thanks to the custom menu feature.
Finally, we made sure to include calls to action for donations and newsletter signups on nearly every page, to make it clear that a goal of the site is to get newsletter signups. And on the donation page, we used the theme's pricing table to create a donation option that showed visitors what their money was going toward.
Check out more Before & After projects
About the Author - Stephan Hovnanian owns Shovi Websites, a company that manages websites and email marketing campaigns for small businesses & non-profits. Connect with Stephan on Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn.
