DSA Building Performance Ltd.

Summary
Dave Stitt, founder of DSA Building Performance Ltd., had found himself in a sort of dilemma: The existing company website did no longer represent his offers and activities and he had no real idea how to go on from there. But Dave wanted the website to be part of his marketing concept as well as a platform for his online activities. The release of his latest book “Deep and Deliberate Delegation” finally was the reason to address the topic.

Background information

Dave Stitt and I got into a conversation during Seth Godin’s Marketing Seminar. Dave is the founder of DSA Building Performance Ltd. He is located in Northern England and has been working as a coach with construction industry executives and teams in over 20 years.

The problem

Dave Stitt had put a lot of work into developing his programs and other offers for his clientele. The publication of his newest book was coming up soon. But the website for DSA Building Performance Ltd. had grown old and did not showcase all the new programs and changes the team had undergone. It felt like a dead end, the website had become a nuisance.

Dave was unsure how to continue from that point, and he did not want to invest a lot of time into the website project without having a clear plan.

Goals

The main goal was to get a new website live before the book would actually be published, which left us about six weeks at that point.

The new website needed to be a platform for DSA Building Performance Ltd. that allowed to showcase both the programs and coaching products as well as Dave’s publications. It should be flexible and easy to work with, in order to easily integrate future changes, new programs and other projects.

Dave had been writing a lot of blog posts over the years and had worked hard to gain a substantial email list for his newsletter. His posts certainly had to find their place in the new website again and needed to be accessible. The email addresses should become the base for a more modern newsletter marketing.

Process

Our most urgent task was to develop an attractive solution for the website as fast as possible. There was the old website that, in theory, could have been the base for the new one. Unfortunately there had been new content added while the old stuff had not been removed. It was hard to distinguish what was relevant and what could be discarded.

Therefore we decided to start with a new, clean WordPress install. This also made it a lot easier to take a step back and really start anew. The content we did want to preserve – all the posts and some media – could easily be exported and imported into the new install.

We also decided that we would work in two steps: Get a first version with all the essential content live within four weeks – ready for Christmas – and work on the rest in the beginning of the new year, with a bit more time on our hands.

We met for a kick-off call via Skype and discussed which content we really needed for the first version and what could wait until January.

With these informations, we developed the first prototype, already in WordPress and fully functional. Dave Stitt had access to the prototype and was able to give feedback promptly and to add missing information.

We scheduled a Skype call about once a week in order to keep track of everything and plan the next steps. Due to this close collaboration we knew very well what’s essential for our client and were able to focus on these points. Four weeks after our first Skype call the first version of the website went live, right on time for Christmas.

In the beginning of the new year, we finished some of the not-so-obvious tasks. We also set up a MailChimp account, imported Dave’s email lists and implemented MailChimp on the website. We developed templates for automated newsletters and got everything GDPR-ready.

Conclusion

We always say that the real work with a website only starts when the site goes live. The website we developed for Dave Stitt is a good example for this.

While I am writing this, the website has been live for a little over 1,5 years. Dave has been busy developing his programs, following new ideas, making new connections. The website does not need to be remodeled to feature all the new things. We develop new elements, add, change or remove others. At the same time we make sure that it keeps it’s clear structure, to keep it easy to navigate for visitors.

In order to make it really easy for Dave to change and add content himself, we implemented the page builder plugin BeaverBuilder. It supports frontend editing and is very intuitive to use. Even for clients who only change things occasionally it’s pretty pain-free to work with.

Regular service and maintenance also make sure that WordPress keeps up-to-date and the website is able to grow and flourish with DSA Building Performance for many years to come.

Client feedback

When we first met my workload was down and I felt ashamed to refer people to my old out of date website. Since the launch of my ‘new’ website over a year and a half ago my business has steadily grown stronger and stronger and I feel proud to refer people to it.
It now articulates exactly what my services are and has lots of customer recommendations running through it. My website is one of the key ingredients behind my business growth. And you and Kirsten have handled the whole website creation so it has been easy for me and I am delighted with the result and the impact it is making on my business. Big thanks!

Dave Stitt, Founder of DSA Building Performance Ltd.
Please also check out his LinkedIn recommendation