7 regions, 7 websites
Made in used to rely on 7 different WordPress websites with separate databases. As a result, they were often faced with technical and business-related hurdles. It was time-consuming to manually manage the different websites simultaneously, which slowed down the growth of the platform. Moreover, organic exchange of content – a redirect to a related article from another region, for example – proved to be difficult.
To optimise their business models and grow as a platform, Made in asked us to bring their content together in a unified story without losing its regional flavour.
All content on 1 platform
To fulfil the needs of Made in, we set a clear goal: a platform with all-inclusive content that allows the user to indicate their own preferences. By doing this, we ensured that the website would be clear and personalised, so Made in would become the number one reference for regional news on Flemish SMEs.
For Made in’s journalists, we prioritised usability and implemented specific tools to facilitate their business models. Right now, they can operate within one account while collecting consumer data. Using that information, we enable Made in to present their users with personalised content and relevant on-site ads.
From principles to concepts
What was our way of working? During the conceptualisation phase, we kept a few key principles in mind:
Moving away from the individual websites;
Support their wish to become ‘the leading regional news outlet’;
Stimulate connection between readers and between different pieces of content.
With those fundamental principles, we set out to work on conceptual ideas. The result? A beautiful website where every user can satisfy their curiosity and fully enjoy a taste of regional SME news.
Multi-regional information architecture
Made in offers news from seven Flemish regions: Antwerp, Kempen, Limburg, Mechelen, East Flanders, West Flanders and Flemish Brabant. On the new website, users don’t need to limit themselves to one of those regions, but can select the one(s) they are interested in. Users can choose to read news articles from all regions, or only those from Antwerp, or news articles from three different regions.
That way, Made in can bundle all news articles on a WordPress platform. A personalised reading experience is paramount: users can choose their own region, but can also easily switch to other regions.
All-encompassing content
To bring the content together, we provided a ‘global guide’ on their website. This guide contains all content, across regions and topics. The guide allows users to easily browse through SMEs, people, industries and municipalities. Moreover, you can find all start-ups and bankruptcies listed there.
As a user, you can also use the guide to open an organisation's company page. For each company, we set up a separate page where the user gets an overview of the published news articles and the people working for that company. We also integrated a follow button. This allows a user to follow different companies and always stay up-to-date with the latest news of their favourite SMEs.
Moreover, we encourage visitors to keep reading by recommending related content. For example, readers can navigate to a sector, company, person or municipality mentioned in the article they were reading. We also add recommendations, including related articles from the same region and popular articles from other regions.
Finally, we also worked with a search bar with which the user can search all types of content (such as news articles, companies and people). Thus, searches are never region-specific.
Personalised news
To make the user's reading experience as pleasant as possible, we are betting on personalised content. Users can indicate where their interests lie by following topics, but also regions and companies. Moreover, they can also indicate how often they want to receive the newsletter and what they prefer to read in it.
By putting extra effort into data collection and progressive profiling, Made in is able to gradually recommend specific content to users, and personalise morning updates for each user.
Numbers
7 regions, 1 website
Nice to read
Our collaboration resulted in a successful website for Made in. Right now, they work with one platform, on which users can find all regional news articles. Users can decide themselves which regions they are interested in, giving them a nice portion of relevant news with their morning cups of coffee. In short, everyone receives their own local overview.
And easy to use
The journalists benefit from the new platform, too. They can easily set up new articles as WordPress is very user-friendly. Moreover, WordPress’ Gutenberg Editor allows them to add extra categories and metadata and upgrade the design of the article without having to tackle complex coding.
Furthermore, we used Selligent to send out automatic newsletters – with content from the website. The Made in journalists do have access to these newsletters through WordPress. Additionally, we integrated the tools of Ads & Data for optimal advertising.
Last but not least, we took Made in’s future plans into account. When transferring their news articles, we included correct redirects from the old URL (including domain name) to the new general URL. This way, we bring all old content together on one domain and facilitate the growth of organic traffic.
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