The Metal Drum Company

The Challenge

The Metal Drum Company, a family-run business steeped in history since the 1950s, faced a significant digital hurdle. Their existing website was not being indexed by Google, rendering it virtually invisible in the digital landscape. Even “site:” searches, designed to display all indexed pages from a specific website, yielded no results. This lack of visibility vastly limited the company’s ability to reach potential customers online.

In addition, the website was neither responsive nor mobile-friendly; a critical factor in today’s mobile-first web. With users accessing the internet via mobile devices far outnumbering other methods, the company was potentially missing out on a substantial portion of traffic due to poor usability.

Our Approach

Though visibility in Google was a primary concern, we determined that addressing the website’s mobile-friendliness was equally important. We decided that rebuilding the website onto a modern codebase would be the ideal first step. Combined with a change of hosting provider, we could eliminate several potential causes for the website’s visibility issues in one fell swoop, fast-tracking any recovery.

In rebuilding the website, our primary objective was to retain as much of the existing design as possible. We saw no need for a vast overhaul of the design. We could take the current design, and with some minor changes, rebuild it using modern coding standards, ensuring the new website would be responsive and mobile-friendly, catering to a broader audience and improving the user experience.

Design changes were kept to a minimum, only implemented where necessary to enhance usability and site speed. One such change was the removal of the homepage carousel banner of products. While visually appealing, carousel banners can slow down site speed and often go unnoticed by visitors. In its place, a static banner was introduced, accompanied by a grid of products below. This change provided a more user-friendly layout, allowing visitors to quickly view a range of products without unnecessary scrolling or waiting.

The new website was built with a focus on clean, efficient code to improve site speed and responsiveness. The design changes were implemented thoughtfully, with a keen eye on usability and the overall user experience.

The Outcome

The new website for The Metal Drum Company represents a significant step forward in their digital presence. With a modern, responsive design, the website is now poised to reach a wider audience and provide a better user experience. The changes implemented have also optimised the site for reindexing by Google, potentially improving its visibility in search results.