CWC.
Web Development • October 2023 - February 2024
Overview
In 2023, Christian Worship Center, a local church, sought to revamp their website. Over the years, due to a lack of maintenance, it had become outdated and sluggish. Eager for rejuvenation, they reached out to me with an opportunity to redesign and develop it. Below, I'll share insights into how I was able to deliver an effective solution that fulfills their mission.
Product Adoption
This was actually my first experience working with WordPress, and it turns out that revamping an existing site where everything is super outdated, is not a task for the weak. Upon entering the WordPress dashboard, I was bombarded with notifications from every plugin, theme, and even WordPress itself, begging to be updated to their respective latest versions. Before actually updating anything though, I spent some time looking around and noticed that even the dashboard was extremely slow to respond to my requests. After some research, I learned that the server might be clogged up from the years of lack of maintenance so I entered cPanel and into the MySQL database to view the tables.
After some digging, I found a high number of overhead on a table that was likely causing sluggishness. After ensuring it'd be safe to do so, I cleared it out and then returned to the WordPress dashboard to begin the long process of stripping down the site, updating what I needed and removing anything that I didn't, giving myself a clean canvas to start implementing the new designs.
Optimization
Initial Page Load
Research by Google has found that 53% of mobile users will likely leave a site if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load. Cognizant of this statistic, I prioritized optimizing the speed of CWC's website, especially the initial page load. Employing various strategies including page caching, file minification, and optimization of image formats, I successfully reduced prior page load times by 70%!
SEO
But what good is a fast and good-looking website if no one knows about it? From the start of this project, I understood the importance of search engine optimization. It's essential for CWC to rank high in search results when people search for local churches in their area. Therefore, I dedicated significant time to researching and implementing relevant keywords that visitors might use when searching. I ensured these keywords were naturally integrated into page titles, headings, meta descriptions, and content to reinforce their relevance.
Thanks to my work, CWC's website now ranks higher in search results, leading to 185% more Google Search impressions and 95% more clicks!
Conclusion
Working on this project has been an invaluable learning experience, teaching me a great deal about collaborating with an organization and navigating new technologies. I invite you to visit cwclife.com and consider visiting them if you're seeking a new home church!
MIROA