Case Study - From a Sluggish Teaser Site to a 10x Faster Launch for a New Church
Nations Church was launching in 2021 with a teaser website that loaded slowly. We migrated and optimized it, built four versions alongside their creative team, and launched the full site at their August 2021 event.
- Client
- Nations Church
- Year
- Service
- Web Development, CMS, SEO
The story at a glance
- 01 · The ProblemA new church launching in 2021, with a teaser site that loaded slowly.
- 02 · What They WantedBuild anticipation, then launch the full site at their event.
- 03 · What Was at StakeA slow first impression for a church nobody knew yet.
- 04 · The PathwayHost migration, performance work, four site versions and a launch-day release.
- 05 · The Result10x faster loads, a launch on schedule and ongoing growth.
01The Problem
A church launch on the calendar, and a website that dragged
One chance at a first impression.
Nations Church was preparing to launch in the third quarter of 2021. The plan was clear: launch a teaser website to announce the church, keep it updated as launch approached, then go live with the full site.
They needed a web developer and consulting to make it happen, and there was an immediate problem. The teaser website was sluggish. For a brand-new church introducing itself to a city, that was the wrong first impression.
02What They Wanted
Build anticipation, then launch on the big day
The team at Nations Church wanted the website to rise with the church itself, from first announcement to opening day.
Announce the launch
A fast, polished teaser site that tells people a new church is coming and invites them in.
Grow the site with the church
Release new versions as plans took shape, without disrupting what people could already see.
Go live at the event
Launch the full website during their launch event, on schedule.
03What Was at Stake
A new church gets one chance to introduce itself
For an established church, a slow website is an inconvenience. For a church that does not exist yet, the website is the church, as far as most people can tell.
A slow first impression
Visitors meeting a new church for the first time judge it by what they see. A site that drags tells them to look elsewhere.
A launch-day scramble
If the full site is not ready when the doors open, the momentum of the launch event has nowhere to go online.
Lost curiosity
People who look up a new church out of curiosity rarely try twice if the first visit is frustrating.
04The Pathway
Fix the speed, then build toward launch day
Ship in versions, launch on cue.
We worked alongside the Nations Church creative team, on a roadmap that ran from the teaser site to the launch.
- 01
Migrate hosts and optimize performance
We migrated the teaser site to a new host and optimized its performance so it loaded swiftly, with load speeds 10 times faster than before.
- 02
Release versions as the church took shape
Working with their creative team, we developed three to four versions of the website for incremental updates, while building the launch version out of public view.
The launch siteThe full site that went live at the launch event in August 2021. - 03
Launch at the event
We launched the full website in August 2021, during their launch event.
- 04
Stay on for the long run
Since launch we have provided maintenance and assistance, SEO work and marketing consulting, including publishing their sermons in blog form.
What we delivered
- Host Migration
- Performance Optimization
- WordPress CMS
- Multiple Website Versions
- Sermon Blogs
- SEO
- Marketing Consulting
05The Result
A fast site, a launch on schedule and a church that kept growing
10x
Faster load speeds after the rebuild
4
Versions of the website crafted on the road to launch
166
Reviews and counting with our consulting
The teaser site went from sluggish to 10 times faster, the full website launched on schedule at the August 2021 event, and the partnership continued well past launch day with SEO, sermon blogs and consulting.
I can't say enough about Michael and team. They know their stuff and have pushed our organization to a new level. Highly recommend.
Sound familiar?
Is your website making a slow first impression at the moment it matters most?
Nations Church only got one chance to introduce itself. If you are facing the same pressure and want a similar payoff, let's map your launch.
No pressure and no pitch deck. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.