Fully-responsive website for thriving local sports club
the client
Worcester Rowing Club is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the UK, having been rowing and competing locally, nationally and internationally since 1874.
The Club has over 300 members. As well as competitive squads, the Club also has a strong recreational rowing section for those using rowing for fun and fitness.
The Challenge
Paul Holmes, the Club’s Chairman, and Carole Manning, the Communications Officer, approached bluebox for a new website after realising their current site was no longer fit for purpose.
In addition, Paul was conscious that the old site did not render well on mobile & tablet devices. He was worried this, along with the other issues with the site, was putting off potential members.
As Paul himself recalls;
The old site was really showing its age and wasn’t very easy to update. The site also lacked an event calendar, a major flaw given that we are very active on this front.
the solution
After an initial meeting between us, Paul and Carole, we decided to build the Club’s site using the WordPress Platform.
We chose WordPress for three main reasons.
- We wanted to provide a website which is easy for Club members to update. WordPress provided this thanks to its intuitive Content Management System (CMS)
- The Club wanted a new site quickly. Using WordPress enabled us to develop quickly.
- The Rowing Club had a modest budget. WordPress was an obvious choice because it gives you a lot of ‘bang for your buck’.
Over the course of the Site’s development, we worked with members of the Committee and the Club’s wider membership to ensure we delivered a website that reflected the Club’s ethos.
The key deliverables are:
- A new clear design which looks good on all devices, including mobiles.
- A new events calendar
- A streamlined navigation (we reduced the main navigation from 14 items to 7)
- More prominence given to the key ‘Join’ Call to Action
the results
We are delighted that the website has been very warmly received by the Club’s members. The ease of adding and changing content on the site has also been appreciated by members of the Committee.
Paul Holmes says of the new site;
We're all very happy with the look and feel of the new site. Not only does it show the club in a more professional light, we have total control over managing the content, which is so important to us. We can now be fully reactive to changes and keep the site updated internally.
