The journey

We’re proud to have worked with Rise Network since their name change from Hills Community Support Group in 2012. The organisation has evolved and grown extensively in this period – taking some pretty challenging changes in their stride.

The original website we designed and built was always created as a stage 1 and was not responsive by choice. Rise Network wanted to spend the rest of the allocated budget on staff training and support on how to engage with their clients using the website, Twitter and Facebook – something which was a big success and continues to pay off.

In the first 6 months of the original site, the traffic increased 400% and the site worked really well to explain how people could access services and enabled people to get in touch with the right people. The website earned its keep.

The changing landscape

Over time, as program funding changed and their services broadened, both our team and Rise Network could see the site needed to change in structure and design to enable the content to go deeper. We recognised this early and plan ahead. This is only because we made the time to meet every 4-5 weeks to review the analytics, conversions and content in a WIP (work in progress) meeting from the day the initial site launched.

planning for change

We held content audit meetings with Rise staff and then proposed a new site map and structure. This was put to the board and the staff and then approved to be designed and built.

designing and building a new website

Over the next 3 months, designs were put together and content was collated by our team and the Rise marketing crew.

The following 3 months, saw the site being built and then filled with content section-by-section, with special attention being paid to the new engagement section, ‘How Can I Help‘ where stories showcase the benefits for businesses and individuals to volunteer time or donate funds.

The result has been a huge success and the site has grew in ranking and prominence from the day it was re-launched last month.

The key features are:

  • the simple and easy to use navigation, no matter what device you are using
  • the clean and simple landing pages for the divisions – making it easy to get to deep content
  • the new ‘How Can I Help‘ section complete with;
  • the new events section
  • a fresh new blog
  • a dedicated NDIS section, to help people navigate the new funding scheme which includes an evolving NDIS eligibility form.

what’s next? the beginning of a new chapter

Rise Network has and continues to understand how important it is to invest in the digital positioning of their brand and we thank them for continuing to work actively with us as a cohesive team.

Today we are celebrating the new site with launchcake, drinks and nibbles – but that’s not the end of the project. It’s the beginning of a new chapter. Next week we plan the next stage for Rise’s digital journey.

Want to hear what Rise have to say about their website? Read their website launch blog.

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