Website Redesign with Umbraco CMS Brings Enhanced Online Experience For Customers, Improved SEO, and Flexible Content Management

First Bank and Trust Company LogoHeadquartered in southwest Virginia, First Bank and Trust Company has been providing individuals and businesses with a comprehensive suite of financial tools, services, and solutions since 1980. They continue to serve the mid-Atlantic as a growing community bank committed to exceptional customer service, which is reflected in their company motto, "The Bank That Puts You First."

Challenge

First Bank and Trust Company partnered with Marathon in 2023 to redesign their outdated website. The bank’s existing website faced several challenges that were impairing performance and frustrating site visitors. Content lacked alignment with current SEO best practices, resulting in suboptimal search engine visibility and limited organic traffic. The website's navigation structure was convoluted, complicating customer journeys across various lines of business and product offerings. Additionally, the visual design appeared antiquated, failing to convey a modern and professional image reflective of the bank's brand identity.

Project

The primary goals for this website redesign project were to develop content that was written for customers but also followed current SEO best practices; create an easy-to-navigate content hierarchy supporting diverse customer journeys; design a fresh, modern look and feel consistent with the brand; and develop a user-friendly content management system (CMS) for flexible site management and future scalability.

Solution

Marathon’s UX team began by conducting a thorough exploration of user journeys and key goals, identifying crucial conversion points to optimize the website’s effectiveness in engaging and converting visitors. Findings from the research informed a reorganization of the site’s information architecture, ensuring an intuitive navigation that simplified findability and facilitated smoother interactions across First Bank’s multiple lines of business and product offerings.

The design team then created wireframes to define visual hierarchy for content and components, followed by high-fidelity mockups for a polished look and feel. The visual designs played a key role in conveying a modern aesthetic that seamlessly aligned with First Bank's brand and professional image, providing the final touch to an enhanced user experience.

Marathon’s Umbraco-certified developers built First Bank's new website in the Umbraco 13 CMS. To ensure consistency among the various types of custom-designed content modules, our team utilized a centralized grid system built on Umbraco’s block grid property editor to allow content editors to drag and drop different elements anywhere within a page and select from a variety of different color themes. This solution provided First Bank with ultimate flexibility when building out and editing content pages on their website. In addition to the grid system, our team implemented several back-office customizations such as block list and grid previews and a Font Awesome icon picker component, improving the overall content editing experience for site administrators.

In addressing First Bank’s SEO and content development needs, our focus was aimed at enhancing the website’s visibility and relevance in organic search engine results. Leveraging extensive keyword research and analysis, Marathon’s SEO team identified strategic opportunities to optimize content and improve organic search performance by implementing SEO best practices throughout the website’s content while effectively communicating the bank’s value proposition. By prioritizing technical SEO principles and creating compelling content, Marathon successfully positioned First Bank’s website for increased visibility, traffic, and conversions.

Features

  • Modern look and feel aligned with brand
  • Elevated overall user experience
  • ADA compliance
  • Intuitive website navigation
  • Responsive financial calculator tools
  • Enhanced location finder and map
  • Technical SEO
  • Updated content for clarity and accuracy
  • Custom content management components for easy back-office administration and flexible page creation