How we increased organic website traffic by 53%

Skills & Learning wanted to attract new users interested in their course offering, but didn’t have the website or the marketing strategy in place to achieve this. Enter Cognique.
1.Challenge
An inaccessible and difficult to navigate website held Skills & Learning back from enticing new visitors.
Based in Dorset, Skills & Learning have been improving the lives of adults and young people through learning for over 25 years. They were ready to evolve; they hoped a new website would improve their service offering and attract new business from people interested in adult education. But their old website was holding them back.
Skills & Learning’s pain points
- Key information on their old website was difficult to find.
- The old website didn’t meet WCAG standards for accessibility.
- The old website looked outdated, with stock images and a lack of people-led content about their success stories.
- The old website didn’t perform well on mobile devices – and a lot of new business was likely to come in through mobile users.
- Their old website wasn’t integrated with their Learning Management System (LMS).
- Their current marketing was failing to bring in new business.
2.Approach
Working with Skills & Learning’s business goals in mind, we designed a website built to achieve them.
From internal research documenting the issues of the old website, we knew it was vital to improve the navigation of the new website, and make it fully accessible. We also needed to integrate the website with their LMS, saving them time and improving the user experience for their audience.
A key ambition of Skills & Learning was to expand their user base and reach new learners. Alongside the new website launch, we devised a marketing strategy designed to attract new users to their new and improved website from the minute it went live.
Website research
- User interviews & surveys
- Analysis of real user journeys through the website
- Industry and competitor research
- Website page structure and navigation analysis
SEO research
- Technical SEO audit
- Keyword research
- Keyword gap analysis
- Competitor analysis
3.Results
An increase in website traffic and keyword rankings shows the power of a website and marketing strategy working hand in hand.
With a huge volume of course information to impart, the new website is neat and clutter-free, designed with clear pages, straightforward visual signposting, and logically displayed information.
We also seamlessly integrated their course management software, WebEnrol, a third party system that houses details on hundreds of courses. The new website is slick to navigate and offers an enjoyable user experience. Stock images have been replaced with new photography and video showreels, plus positive client case studies add a personal touch.
The new website made an immediate impression with a Facebook ad campaign to boost interest in a Skills & Learning Open Day, generating over 195,000 impressions. Our SEO management delivered an increase in website traffic and engagement with Skills & Learning’s content.
SEO campaign results
- +53% organic website traffic
- +52% new website users
- +78% overall website traffic
- +139% ranking keywords
