Project Overview
Over the past few years, more and more people are ditching the indoors for some nature therapy, and it’s pretty awesome. Fresh-faced hiking enthusiasts are popping up left and right, adding some serious spice to the outdoor scene. With this boom, there’s a real hunger for even more diverse digital chatter and content.
The big idea was to carve out a space where we whip up content that’s both inspiring and informative about local hiking destinations, camping food recipes, and outdoor gear reviews. This means we need a killer content strategy and a solid grasp of who we’re talking to – our awesome audience.
The goal of the website is to craft an inspiring brand image for outdoor enthusiasts and churn out content that resonates with the target audience. The long-term aim is to solidify a spot among hiking enthusiasts. Target audience consists of adults living in major cities in Finland and are passionate about the outdoors. Millennials are the biggest target group.
Think
Research and Strategy
Research was conducted using Google, monitoring discussions on hiking-related websites and social media, and engaging in conversations with hiking enthusiasts.
Based on this, three user personas were created: the novice hiker, the hiking enthusiast interested in new destinations and tips, and the experienced hiker intrigued by challenging oneself and pushing personal limits.
A user persona is a representative individual from the target audience with specific needs and criteria for visiting the site. User personas are a crucial part of brand development, as the brand evolves based on the characteristics of its users.
The target audience is cultivated through long-term content marketing. Content marketing is a strategy that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.
The content strategy outlines brand and content goals, defines the intended audience, how the content helps them, the topics covered, formats, channels, publication frequency, and advertising.
User needs at different stages of the digital journey were mapped using the REAN model (Reach, Engage, Activate, Nurture). In the REAN model, content is grouped based on visitor needs, allowing for the creation of less but more meaningful content.
Build
Web design and development
Wireframes, also known as ‘low-fidelity mockups,’ were created for the pages, outlining the elements, sections, and functionalities. Wireframes do not yet include images, colors, or copy; instead, they are stripped-down frameworks for websites, providing the foundation for a good user experience. The design process utilized the browser-based Figma program.
In the layout planning of the website, the brand’s typography, colors, visual elements, and image style were defined. The purpose of visual design is to support and clarify communication through colors, composition, fonts, photos, and other graphics. It enhances the user experience of the website and guides user actions in the desired way.
The website was built using WordPress and the Elementor page builder. Approximately one-third of all websites are made with WordPress, making it the world’s most widely used web platform. The visual appearance and functionalities of WordPress sites can be customized almost limitlessly. Elementor speeds up the building and updating of pages, as its usage doesn’t necessarily require coding, and changes are instantly visible.
Grow
Continuous development
The aim is to consistently enhance the user experience. The website needs to be easy to navigate, fast, and structurally and visually clear. Continuous development of the website involves content production along with regular search engine optimization.
Some content is already discoverable on the front page of Google with its keywords. Still, there is room for improvement in increasing the visibility and awareness of the site and brand. In the future, enhancing the brand image of the site can be achieved through strategies such as link-building.
Links can be earned by creating outstanding content that is shared online, contributing guest posts to other sites, and being active on social media channels. These activities not only contribute to building links but also foster a positive brand image and strengthen the overall online presence.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization aims to enhance the effort put into creating content and its discoverability. Contents and keywords form the basis of search engine optimization, and regular exploration of relevant search terms is conducted to produce content.
Technical search engine optimization aims to improve the site’s user experience and make it attractive to search engines. A well-structured site map and appropriate header tags are helpful for readers and aid search engines in understanding the site’s content.
Improving the site’s loading speed is a crucial part of technical search engine optimization. The WP-Rocket plugin was introduced to compress and optimize the site’s code, files, and database. The Shortpixel plugin was used for image optimization and compression. With these tools, the speed of the content-heavy site was brought to an admirable level.
Website traffic and content are measured using installed analytics tools. These tools help determine which content is most engaging, how visitors arrive at the site, and how much time they spend with the content. The accumulated data is also utilized in planning new content and further developing existing content and the entire site.
