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Transforming a yachting job platform into a scalable global solution

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Background

This project focused on Yotspot, a leading job board serving the global yachting industry, helping employers find crew and professionals discover exciting roles at sea. What began in 2010 as a feature-rich, niche platform has grown into one of the most complex and powerful websites managed by Bronco. With features including job listings, training directories, career guidance, and crew matching, Yotspot has evolved into a platform relied upon by a wide international user base.

Objective

Having worked with the client since their inception in 2010, our relationship has evolved through multiple development phases. Most recently, their goal was twofold: to modernise key areas of the platform—with a focus on areas such as the homepage redesign—and to complement their paid activity with a more sustainable approach to organic growth. These priorities reflected both immediate user needs and long-term business strategy.

Solution

Delivering on the project objectives required a broad, carefully phased strategy. From restructuring technical foundations to modernising the brand’s user-facing experience, every solution was aimed at enhancing usability, performance, and long-term scalability.

A platform built for growth

Bronco first launched the platform in 2010, followed by a complete redesign in 2016. With its complexity and feature depth, even small changes often had significant implications. We divided the site into core templates (e.g. homepage, application, profile) to create modular, scalable elements and streamline functionality across every section.

Designing for speed and accessibility

Serving users globally, often on limited or unstable connections, meant speed and performance were non-negotiable. We stripped back decorative imagery, prioritised essential content, and adopted a lightweight, minimal aesthetic for account and application pages. Lazy loading, AJAX content delivery, and a custom select box replacement ensured a smooth, intuitive experience – even in challenging environments. The site architecture and content delivery were fine-tuned to maximise speed and usability across devices.

Homepage redesign with purpose

In 2021, we refreshed the homepage to better convert new users. The previous design lacked persuasive content and emotional appeal. We introduced messaging such as “Not just jobs, Adventures” to better connect with crew, while presenting hard metrics to attract employers. The redesign balanced luxury brand expectations with performance demands by maintaining visual cohesion across the site, adding strategic whitespace, font weights, and a curated colour palette. Third-party scripts and widgets were deferred or loaded conditionally to enhance performance.

Driving sustainable growth with SEO

With the site technically optimised, we developed a focused SEO strategy to reduce reliance on PPC and strengthen organic and direct traffic. Efforts included content improvements, better keyword targeting, structural changes, and trust-building on-page elements. The campaign focused on improving visibility, attracting users organically, and fostering repeat visits. By refining the structure, enhancing content depth, and elevating on-page experience, the platform laid the groundwork for long-term search performance and stronger brand awareness. These improvements made the site more discoverable and engaging for its core audience without relying heavily on paid channels.

Outcome

The platform now stands as a robust, scalable solution serving a diverse global audience. Following the homepage redesign and the rollout of a focused SEO strategy, it achieved remarkable progress in both performance and user engagement. Organic search traffic increased by 92.4%, while direct traffic rose by over 311%. Total users surged by 114.54%, reflecting the platform’s growing reputation and visibility within its niche.

Importantly, meaningful user interactions rose by 249.46%, a testament to improved UX and content relevance. Technically, the homepage now loads at just 350kb (excluding third-party assets), leading to significantly better performance scores across Google’s field and lab data. Enhanced mobile usability ensures that users accessing the site on limited bandwidth can navigate and engage with confidence.

These results reflect a move toward long-term sustainability, increased user engagement, and a more balanced traffic strategy.


By addressing the unique needs of its international audience and focusing on speed, usability, and scalable growth, Bronco delivered a platform that positions this business as a market leader in the global yachting industry.

“Delivering on the project objectives required a broad, carefully phased strategy. From restructuring technical foundations to modernising the brand’s user-facing experience, every solution was aimed at enhancing usability, performance, and long-term scalability. We now have over 140,000 registered members and are used by some of the largest yachts in the world. There is nothing this team can’t do. If you can think it, Bronco can build it!”

Steve Crawford Yotspot