Working In Case Study

Links
Working In Global Site
Working In New Zealand
Working In Australia
Working In Canada

Project Included:
Website Design
Website Development
.NET Programming

Background

Working In Ltd has catered to skilled people wanting to move abroad since 1998. Originally focused on moving Brits and expat Kiwis to New Zealand, the company has experienced significant growth since its inception, and the Working In websites also attract migrants successfully to Australia and Canada.

The Working In websites have been designed to present core information about employment and immigration/visas for the three destination countries – New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Secondary information about how to migrate, including shipping, foreign exchange, lifestyle, where to live, education, business, health, tax and more, is also included, providing site visitors with a comprehensive guide to moving countries.

Traditionally, the Working In business has been a strategic collaboration between its online services and the running of large expos offering face-to-face contact with employers, immigration advisers, government representatives and services providers. Currently these are held in the UK and South Africa. Working In is a leader in this market.

Business Goals

Working In strives to be the first information point people use when they are looking to work and live overseas in New Zealand, Australia or Canada.

Working In’s long-term web goal is to take advantage of its leading position in the market and maintain websites that attract and engage skilled professionals, business people and students.

Our short-term objective was to build a new Working In suite of sites. The new sites needed to provide a scalable but sound platform that allowed for future growth as Working In’s needs develop.

Challenges

There were several issues with the former Working In sites.

The site navigation and content structure were confusing. With hundreds of pages of information on each Working In site it was difficult for users to easily find the information they needed.

The former site was similar to a static and stand-offish directory. It was not able to provide visitors with an engaging viewing experience.

The layout and content on employers’ and service providers’ pages needed to provoke more interest  for site visitors in order to interact with them by applying for jobs or requesting quotes and additional information.

Working In needed a better advertisers’ area on the new site to better sell their products.

The new sites needed an enticing design that created a feeling of guidance and support.  Working In aimed to provide visitors with an engaging experience and valuable expert advice from multiple service providers on areas specific to migrating and moving abroad.

One big concern that Working In had was that a change would impact their search engine rankings, as the business relies on organic rankings that they have built up over many years. One of the most important tasks in this site build was to ensure the new sites were properly and thoroughly optimised for search engines to minimise the risk of a decline in web traffic.

Solution

To make sure visitors find the information they need easily on the Working In sites, the navigation was improved significantly with a neat hierarchical structure and clear organization. The site information was reorganised in a way that was easy to follow and understand. The key sections of the site have been placed in a compelling and orderly manner. All the pages of the site collectively tie together with a cohesive flow. The prominent main navigation highlights key sections of the website and direct visitors to information they are seeking quickly and effectively. Global drop down menu links and facilitates ease of site navigation. Site search functionality and job search allow users to find information specific to their needs. The new ‘advertisers’ area on the site was designed to display all the company’s products in a more comprehensive and attractive way.

The visual design of the new site is fresh and enticing. The Working In logo is prominently positioned and ties into the background globe image that signifies the endless opportunities available to people who are seeking a better life by moving countries.

This powerful design gives a strong sense that these sites are world-class. The colors and typography enhances the site content and the images used are aesthetically attractive and emotionally appealing to the site visitors.

Powerful imagery has been used to sell the destination country. Interesting content placements on the home page encourage visitors to read key content such as latest news articles, most read articles, real life case studies, and top jobs advertisements – all new features on the new sites. Additional new features include a customised candidate log in section and a more prominent newsletter signup that aids growth in subscribers.

To generate well-informed visitors to Working In’ Opportunities and Health Jobs Around the World Expos, clear and prominent placements have been designed and created to encourage users to visit the expo websites.

To increase the visitors’ interaction with the migration service providers, new clear pathways on the service provider profiles were implemented enabling the visitors to request quotes from multiple suppliers at the same time. This results in increased lead generation for the clients and simplifies the visitors’ work when requesting quotes.

To enable clients to obtain additional leads, the new site design incorporates banner advertising placements, of multiple sizes and video placement on the homepage. Banners on the site are powered by Google Admanager code placements.

In order to maintain Working In’s strong search engine website rankings, much care was taken to redirect all old URLs to new clean URLs, as part of a much broader overall strategy. This was achieved by building a URL redirect tool that could be managed in the backend of the site by Working In staff. This, as well as other SEO initiatives, resulted in the new site retaining the excellent search ranking placements in Google that Working In had already established. The sites have been live since late November 2009, and Working In has experienced no significant negative traffic flows – instead experiencing slight traffic increases a few months after launch.

Results

The result is a fresh new suite of sites that appeal to skilled migrants, business people, students and their families, and attract them to Working In to apply for the jobs or services on the site and attend the Opportunities Expos. The new site functions efficiently, speedily and professionally, and delivers on its promise to help visitors find work and a new life abroad.

The site databases and auto-emailing function can be developed further in order to continually draw visitors to the site and give them information tailored to their needs.

The new site meets Working In’s current business objectives and provides a sound platform upon which the organisation can build and grow.

Please contact us now to discuss your website development requirements.