Sykes Dream Cottages Case Study
Assertive worked with Dream Cottages to deliver a new, high-performance website and SEO strategy combined with user experience optimisation and conversion rate optimisation.
Sykes Dream Cottages
Assertive worked with Dream Cottages to deliver a new, high-performance website and SEO strategy combined with user experience optimisation and conversion rate optimisation.
Increase in Organic Traffic (6 months)
Increase in Organic Traffic (18 months)
Reduction in Bounce Rate
Services Performed
- Website Development
- SEO Strategy
- Content Production
- UX Optimization
110%
Increase in Organic Traffic (6 months)
221%
Increase in Organic Traffic (18 months)
41%
Reduction in Bounce Rate
Services Performed
About Sykes Dream Cottages
Dream Cottages are Dorset's largest holiday cottage agency with over 300 properties. Dream Cottages were independent up until their recent acquisition by Sykes Cottages. Established over 30 years ago, Dream Cottages have an extensive array of properties across Dorset from Weymouth to Lyme Regis.
Dream Cottages approached Assertive in 2014 looking for a new SEO agency to deliver an SEO strategy. After subsequent website auditing, it was clear that Dream Cottages needed a new website.
The Challenge
The challenge for Assertive was to deliver a new website and SEO strategy for Dream Cottages. Upon the initial website audit, it was clear that there were significant issues with the website relating to poor mobile user experience, poor page-level engagement, clunky menu and more.
It was essential for the website to rank and for end-users on the website to find it easy to find properties, book and pay online.
The challenge was to deliver a completely new website on a budget that was manageable for the client.
The Goals
- Improve Organic Rankings for Relative Keywords (Local and Non-Local Commercial Terms)
- Increase Website Engagement
- Increase Website Conversion Rate
- Reduce POGOing (returning to Google)
- Increase Volume of 1st to Last Interaction
- Move Client away from Bespoke CMS to Industry Standard CMS
- Integrate New Booking Functionality
- Increase Brand Awareness
The Strategy
The strategy for Dream Cottages was to use existing user performance/user behaviour data along with click & heat mapping to produce a new, user-friendly, mobile-first design that kept simplicity at heart.
Our strategy was to deploy a new website that was faster, lighter, easier to use with far better mobile accessibility. We also incorporated easy access to content with site layering & enhanced internal linking coupled with intuitive navigation for both desktop and mobile devices.
Assertive combined comprehensive user behaviour data, heat mapping & click data to formulate wireframes & design concepts that took into consideration what people liked and what made the website easier to navigate / properties easier to book.
Once the new website had been designed, built, tested and deployed, we worked on a link building and ongoing user experience strategy. Over time, leveraging Google optimise, we were able to improve landing page performance, increase CTR and reduce bounce rate.
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