case study - academy marquees
website overhaul
It's a common situation – you are running a successful and busy business and yet need to look to the future to expand. The website has been there since 1997 but gathering dust as day-to-day operations are more relevant.
the problem
Ed Buchanan, director of Academy Marquees Ltd
realised that the original website was not just failing to get them new customers but was acting as negative publicity for the business.
In particular some problems were noticed after a review with declension:
- low quality graphics
- confusing navigation
- bloated and outdated code
- and a lack of a consistent and stylised design
declension.net to the rescue
A phone call to declension and some ideas and estimates were exchanged by email. Over the coming months designs were passed to and from, and ideas and scope grew. It was clear that Ed had a lot of creative talent himself as well as vision for the company. Integrating this into Nick's designs took a little longer but definitely paid off in the end. Colour schemes came and went, photos were retouched and perfected and soon a prototype was in place.
what to say?
The text for the site was a separate issue, and is often overlooked. Having an outsider, rather than someone involved in the business 24/7, we created and edited a version of the text tailored to the benefits and value they could bring potential new clients, which also now sounds more professional as a result.
the outcome
The new site went live in March, and following a few emails to existing clients, the response was very positive! People were impressed with the stylish new look and the amazing photos which brought the marquees to life, something that Ed had quoted as a requirement from the outset.
the future..
Mr Buchanan is expanding operations as we speak with clients around London, Surrey and the whole of the South East. His enthusiasm for technology has resulted in further work with declension setting up the office with wireless networking & firewalls along with a selection of the best in open-source software. There is even talk of online back-office management so he can integrate clients, invoices, quotes and payments into one web-powered system with Acrobat (PDF) file support. Watch this space!