The situation

A £2M business being judged by a website that looked like 2011

Our client — a UK facilities management company with 34 staff and approximately £2M in annual contracts — had not updated their website since 2016. The site was non-responsive (broken on mobile), used Flash-era design conventions, and had no clear call to action beyond a generic 'Contact us' link in the footer. They were generating leads almost entirely through referrals and trade event attendance.

The commercial director had identified a growing trend: prospective clients in their target segment (NHS trusts, local councils, and housing associations) were checking company websites as part of procurement due diligence. Increasingly, the old website was losing them credibility before a conversation had even started. Two lost tenders had been traced back to prospects citing concerns about the company's 'professionalism and scale'.

Core challenges

Four distinct problems compounding each other

Non-responsive and visually outdated
The site displayed as a fixed 960px-wide layout on all devices. On mobile — which accounted for 41% of their traffic — it was essentially unusable. Content was cut off and CTAs were invisible.
72% bounce rate
Nearly three quarters of visitors left without viewing a second page. Heatmaps showed most users scrolled 20% down the homepage before leaving — the content wasn't giving them a reason to stay.
No clear service hierarchy or CTA
The site listed 14 services in a flat, undifferentiated list. There was no logical journey from landing to inquiry. 'Contact us' appeared once, in the footer, in light grey text.
Zero trust signals
No case studies, no client logos, no certifications displayed, no team page, no testimonials. For a company working with public sector clients who require rigorous vetting, the absence of credibility indicators was commercially damaging.
Our approach

A structured 6-phase SEO programme

We built a phased plan that addressed technical foundations first, then content, then authority — in that order. Skipping the technical audit would have wasted the content investment.

1
Conversion audit and user research
Installed Hotjar on the existing site for a 4-week data collection period. Analysed heatmaps, scroll maps, and session recordings. Interviewed 6 procurement managers in their target sector about what they look for on supplier websites. This research shaped every design decision.
Hotjar heatmapsSession recordings6 stakeholder interviewsCompetitor analysis
2
Information architecture and wireframes
Restructured site navigation from 14 flat pages to a logical service hierarchy with three primary categories. Designed the lead journey: landing → service understanding → social proof → inquiry. Wireframes reviewed and approved before any visual design.
IA restructureLead journey mappingWireframes in FigmaClient review & approval
3
Visual design and brand refresh
Retained core brand colours but modernised typography, spacing, and imagery. Introduced a consistent component library (cards, CTAs, testimonial blocks, stat callouts). Every page template was designed mobile-first. Client approved in two revision rounds.
Mobile-first designComponent libraryBrand modernisationTwo revision rounds
4
Development in WordPress
Built on WordPress with a custom block theme — no page builder plugins that would slow the site down. Responsive across all breakpoints tested. Contact forms with lead routing to the correct department based on service type. Live chat integration.
Custom block themeNo page buildersLead routing formsLive chat integration
5
Trust signal and content layer
Wrote new content for all pages — service pages with clear scope descriptions, a 'Why us' section with verifiable credentials (ISO certifications, client count, years established), a team page with photos and bios, and 6 client case study summaries.
New page copyISO credentials displayedTeam page with photos6 case study summaries
6
Speed optimisation and launch
Achieved 78 mobile PageSpeed before launch through image compression, CDN setup, and critical CSS. 301 redirects from old URLs. GA4 and Google Tag Manager configured with event tracking on all CTAs.
78 mobile PageSpeedCDN setupGA4 configurationCTA event tracking
Month by month

How progress unfolded

Weeks 1–2 — May
Research and architecture
Hotjar data analysed, stakeholder interviews completed, IA and wireframes produced and approved.
Weeks 3–4
Visual design
Full design system and all page templates in Figma. Client approved with minor revisions in week 4.
Weeks 5–6
Development
WordPress build completed. Forms, live chat, and analytics configured. Content written and loaded.
Week 7
QA and content review
Cross-device QA, link checking, form testing, and client content review. Speed optimisation pass.
Week 8 — July
Launch
Site went live. Redirects in place. Within 2 weeks, bounce rate dropped from 72% to 44%. By 30 days post-launch, leads were up 140%. By 60 days, +210%.
Results: before vs. after

The numbers speak clearly

Before (May 2024)
Bounce rate72%
Average session duration1 min 02 sec
Monthly inbound leadsBaseline
Mobile usabilityBroken (fixed layout)
Pages per session1.4
Mobile PageSpeed22
Trust signals on site0
After — 60 days post-launch
Bounce rate39%
Average session duration3 min 46 sec
Monthly inbound leads+210%
Mobile usabilityFully responsive
Pages per session3.8
Mobile PageSpeed78
Trust signals on siteISO certs, logos, testimonials, team
−33%
Bounce rate reduction within 60 days of launch
+210%
Increase in inbound leads
3m 46s
Average session duration (was 1m 02s)
The commercial director reported that three tender processes that had previously been lost at the website review stage were won in the 90 days following launch — she attributed this directly to the redesign
A procurement manager from an NHS trust, during a reference call, specifically mentioned the team page and ISO certifications as factors in their supplier selection
The site's referral-to-digital lead ratio flipped: referrals now account for 48% of leads (down from ~85%), indicating the site is generating credible first impressions independently
Session duration increasing from 62 seconds to 226 seconds indicates visitors are now reading service descriptions and case studies — the content is doing sales work it never did before
"

Two procurement managers had told us our website looked unprofessional and we'd lost tenders because of it. That's the kind of feedback that makes you act fast. Within two months of the new site going live, we won three new contracts — one of which the procurement lead told us they'd almost ruled us out before picking up the phone. The site is now doing actual sales work for us.

KW
★★★★★
Karen Walsh
Commercial Director, Facilities Management Company — United Kingdom (name withheld by request)