“Ancient Armouries” Medieval Website

First page on Google? No problem!

Ancient Armouries came to us with no web presence at all or any sort of logo for that matter, just one request: “We want a site that ranks first page for “Medieval Tent Hire.” Spoiler alert: We nailed it.

We had four weeks to deliver the site so the priority here was to simply produce something that would achieve their first page goal. No lengthy design process (we could revisit design later) this project would be all about presenting their content; providing the tools for them to easily edit and add new content as well as tools for us to search optimise it all.

For this project we would deliver an SEO-friendly WordPress site with a simple bespoke theme incorporating one of our speciality flexible content solutions. Page SEO would be implemented to rank for terms set out by the client. We would be handling domain registration (including acquisition of a domain held ransom by an opportunistic third-party), ongoing hosting and site maintenance.

Flexible Content

Although each page of the Ancient Armouries site varies in layout they are actually derived from a single page template; a flexible content template. We establish the types of content to be displayed and this becomes an selection of components:

  • Title/Heading
  • Content Area
  • Enquiry Button
  • Features (Linked to pages)
  • Features (Images)
  • Gallery

These flexible content components can be placed on a page in any order or configuration and can rearranged with a simple, “drag and drop.”

Ancient Armouries “Flexible Content”

We do all the front-end styling for each of these components and make them responsive so the client simply enters their content and we’ve made sure it looks good and works whatever device the site is viewed on.

This is content management as it should be; strictly just the management of content. No client should have to worry about spacing or alignment when adding or changing their content. If you’re in fear of breaking the design, as is the case with a lot of the “site builders” and “composers” out there you don’t do it and the site suffers as a result – but not here. We make content management super-easy and stress-free.

SEO Strategy

Ancient Armouries are genuinely experts in their field, having supplied numerous high-profile TV shows and films. They know their industry and have plenty to say about it so they’re just the type of site Google wants to serve its users. We don’t need to manipulate Google in order to rank well, we just need to present their content the way search engines want to see it.

We optimised the content we were provided to rank well for organic search (relevance to search terms) which together with the site being built with search-friendly markup (code), fully responsive, and by implementing various performance optimisation techniques it didn’t take long to achieve the coveted first page spot.

There’s potential to climb the ranks further with more comprehensive content and the client plans to use our tools to add this themselves in time.

Design

While the design was not a priority for this project it’s still important to present yourself well. We produced simple layout mock-ups which showed the various site-wide components and how flexible content items could be positioned within the basic page template to create variation. When that was signed off a simple rustic colour palette was chosen and we produced designs detailing the header, footer and flexible content components placed within a single page and populated with relevant placeholder content.

The designs were all signed off on the first pass with the only change being the main header image, which was to be customisable by the client within the WordPress dashboard anyway, along with all other site-wide company information.

Summary

With this first iteration of the Ancient Armouries site we have delivered exactly what the client wanted. The site ranks first page for the terms they requested and has a professional appearance appropriate to the services they offer.

This is just the first step and we’re looking forward to developing the site further in future. I’d particularly love to do a logo and identity project with them (there so much potential!!) and would lead nicely into some web design updates later on. Exciting stuff!

Ancient Armouries have been absolutely wonderful to work with and if you ever find yourself planning a Medieval themed event or shooting a Medieval film, definitely give them a call for all your historically accurate tents, banners, armour and weapons!

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