Barton Mawer Motorsport: migrating a four-year-old Joomla site to WordPress
Client location: Sydney Motorsport Park NSW
- Migrated from a four-year-old, unmanageable Joomla build to a modern, self-manageable WordPress site
- Fixed a site that didn’t work properly on mobile, at a time when 70%+ of website search happens on a phone
- Every image on the site renamed and optimised for search, several had been oversized and unnamed
- A new Google Business Profile set up from scratch, the business had none before
- Full Analytics and Search Console tracking switched on for the first time
- A genuine foundation Bart can now update himself, without needing a developer
Being a small business, I needed the investment made with a new website to be on the mark and value for money. The insight I have been given with the considerations needed in the build of a website has been informative and motivating to keep growing my business.
The feedback from clients has been only positive.”
Barton Mawer’s website had been built on Joomla and hadn’t been touched in nearly four years. It didn’t work well on modern phones, and Bart had no practical way to update it himself, the platform was outdated and the interface wasn’t intuitive. Rather than migrate the existing Joomla content directly, we started fresh with a new WordPress build designed for Bart to manage himself long-term.
What I found
- No usable analytics on the old site. An old Google Analytics code existed, but Bart no longer had access to the account, so there was no way to benchmark old performance against new
- A site that didn’t work properly on mobile, at a time when more than 70% of website search happens on a smartphone
- No Google Business Profile at all, one of the simplest, free ways to be found locally
- Thin, outdated content, some stories under 100 words, none of it optimised for search
- A brand story that undersold his history. Bart’s long career in motorsport wasn’t being presented in a way that felt current or easy to navigate
What were results from what I actually did
- Migrated the site from Joomla to a new WordPress build
- Redesigned it with a modern, self-manageable structure Bart could genuinely update himself
- Built proper site, page and heading structure to support future SEO
- Renamed and optimised every image on the site, several were oversized and unnamed, doing nothing for search
- Wrote new page content and structure to properly represent the business
- Set up Google Analytics, Search Console and a new Google Business Profile
- Set up a new LinkedIn profile and a proper branded email address
- Barton managed to appear on suitable organic search queries on the first page of Google and by the end of 2022 had received close to 1,820 visitors to his website despite the fact no additional content or information was added.
What Bart actually said
“The website looks amazing! You have done a brilliant job. Being a small business, I needed the investment made with a new website to be on the mark and value for money. The insight I have been given with the considerations needed in the build of a website has been informative and motivating to keep growing my business. The feedback from clients has been only positive.”
Barton Mawer, Director, Barton Mawer Motorsport
If your website is running on an old platform you can’t manage yourself, get in touch and I’ll help you get onto something you actually control. I build every website so the client can actually manage it themselves afterward, with the reporting tools switched on from day one. If you’re stuck on an old platform, see how I could help.
