Overview

Catalyst for Educational Change (CEC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving education through innovative programs and community collaboration. CEC had an outdated website that utilized outdated technology and lacked functionality to showcase their extensive case studies, projects, and blog content.

CEC partnered with our agency to migrate their website to a new WordPress platform that would allow for improved content mapping, flexible templates, and a modern design. The key goals included:

Migrate over 200 in-depth case studies and projects from old site to new WordPress site Create templates and taxonomy to organize and display the robust content Implement a design that matched CEC’s brand and enhanced the user experience Build in website content management tools for non-technical staff Ensure a seamless domain transition from the old website to the new one

Strategy

Our agency worked closely with CEC and the website design firm Limered to develop a comprehensive migration strategy and timeline. As the technical lead, we:

• Audited and cataloged the existing website content in spreadsheet format
• Created a staging environment to build the WordPress site and test the migration
• Set up a taxonomy system and content templates to organize case studies/projects based on focus area, location, dates, etc.
• Developed custom page templates to showcase CEC’s case studies and other content types
• Migrated all 200+ pieces of content to the new WordPress backend using import tools
• Implemented SEO best practices including 301 redirects, XML sitemaps, and metadata optimization
• Provided CEC editors training on using WordPress CMS to update and add content
• Carried out extensive testing and QC prior to official launch

Results

The collaborative website migration was completed on time within 2 weeks which included 4-hour virtual sessions over zoom over a period of 5 days. The successful launch of the new WordPress site enabled CEC to:

• Showcase their extensive catalog of case studies and projects in an accessible way
• Leverage WordPress backend for easier content updating
• Adopt a modern, mobile-responsive website design tied to their brand
• Enhance organic search visibility through SEO optimizations
• Gain website performance metrics and user analytics to inform future updates

The well-organized, user-friendly new website better conveys CEC’s expertise and impact as a leader in educational change. Ongoing optimization will further allow CEC to boost engagement and achieve its mission.