The Food Consultants Group is a professional membership organization that connects those in the food business with a variety of food industry experts worldwide. From retail to manufacturing to marketing, if you’re in the business of food, this group is an invaluable asset.
Founded in 1988, it slowly built its directory using a skills matrix Excel file that was manually tabulated and sent to its members. It was great having an online presence as early as 1999, but the group quickly outgrew a basic static site and needed updated functionality.
The first redesign focused on the member directory and content optimization for keywords and site hierarchy. However, it was difficult to search the site and you had to dig through case studies and match it to a consultant on a separate page. But the real decision to update the site most recently was the fact that it was losing some of the effectiveness of the SEO that was built over time because the site was not responsive across multiple devices and especially not mobile friendly.
The current redesign focused on responsive coding and included a rebuilt search function from the ground up, so that potential clients could quickly locate a consultant or team of consultants.
Members are also able to sign up for events, access a private member section, as well as pay for their membership online via an e-commerce shopping cart. We built the new site using a content management system, so the client could update new site content themselves without having to call tech support every time there was a minor change.
In addition to the visual facelift that turned an otherwise unresponsive and uninspired business directory into an optimized, clean and modern experience, the improvement in digital ranking has been impressive even in the first month of the new launch.
All categories in Google Analytics, from Organic Visits (up 34%), to Average Session Duration (up 30%) have improved since the site launched.
To learn more about how The Graphic Element can help grow your business grow online, send us an email or call us anytime. We’re happy to help!
