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September 6, 2024Transforming the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce Website for Improved Usability and Agency Visibility
The Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce's Wix website had issues with confusing navigation, broken links, and low user engagement. Tasked with rebuilding the site, I created a unified, user-friendly platform that combined four distinct agencies, giving each equal exposure. The redesign improved user satisfaction, increased traffic, and made it easier for community members to find information, resulting in a more effective and engaging site.
Case Study: Rebuilding the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce Website
Overview
The Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce faced several challenges with its existing website, which was hosted on Wix. The site was plagued with confusing navigation, a high bounce rate, low traffic, and significant user dissatisfaction. Visitors reported frequent difficulties in finding information, encountering broken links, and a generally poor user experience. The chamber also had four distinct agencies, each with its own logo, branding, and navigation structure, which further contributed to the lack of cohesion.
Challenges:
- Confusing Navigation: Users struggled to find relevant information due to inconsistent and unclear navigation paths.
- High Bounce Rate: Visitors were leaving the site quickly, indicating low engagement and frustration with the site's usability.
- Low Traffic: The site was not attracting sufficient visitors, limiting its effectiveness as a resource for the community and local businesses.
- User Dissatisfaction: Surveys and feedback pointed to a high level of frustration with the user experience.
- Wix Limitations:The platform was difficult to scale and expand, preventing the Chamber from fully utilizing digital tools.
- Multiple Agencies: The Chamber's website needed to house four different agencies, each with its own brand identity. This added complexity and confusion, as users were often directed to separate areas with their own unique navigations.
Approach
To address these issues, I undertook a comprehensive site redesign focused on the following goals:
Unified Navigation: I streamlined the site’s navigation by combining the four agencies under one cohesive framework. This allowed users to navigate between agencies easily, with no one agency appearing more prominent than the others.
User-Friendly Design: The site was rebuilt with a focus on user experience, ensuring that community members could quickly find the resources they needed. This included eliminating broken links, improving information architecture, and making key features and pages more accessible.
Content Optimization: I reorganized the site content, ensuring that each agency’s information was clear and concise. The redesign aimed to give equal exposure to all agencies while maintaining the overall Chamber identity.
SEO and Traffic Improvement: Alongside the structural improvements, I worked on improving the Chamber's search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to attract more traffic and reduce the bounce rate.
Results
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Increased User Engagement: By creating a unified navigation system and improving the overall user experience, users could more easily find the information they needed, leading to higher satisfaction rates.
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Balanced Agency Exposure: All four agencies received equal visibility on the site, eliminating any perception of hierarchy and ensuring that each agency’s resources were accessible.
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Improved Traffic and Notification: The revamped site saw a significant increase in traffic and community engagement. Users were more likely to stay on the site and interact with its content, leading to more exposure for each agency and the Chamber as a whole.
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Reduced Bounce Rate: With the new navigation and better user experience, the bounce rate decreased, as visitors were no longer frustrated by broken links or confusing pathways.
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Scalable Platform: By moving away from Wix, the Chamber now has a site that can grow with them and incorporate new features as needed.
Conclusion
The Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce website redesign project transformed a confusing and underperforming site into a user-friendly, engaging platform that serves both the Chamber and the community effectively. Through a focus on unified design, content optimization, and better navigation, the new site now provides a seamless experience that increases engagement and ensures that all four agencies under the Chamber's umbrella receive the visibility they deserve.
Van Dijk Consultants did a wonderful job on the Chamber of Commerce website. Cindee was very knowledgeable and the site is just what we wanted.