The Central Coast Regional District (CCRD) relied on an aging Drupal website that was becoming difficult to maintain and update which was creating growing risks for content accuracy, usability, and long-term support.
The Central Coast Regional District (CCRD) has been providing essential services to residents of the region since 1968. The CCRD consists of five rural electoral areas, each represented by a single board member. The organization is unique as it is the only district in BC without any incorporated municipalities within its boundaries.
One Journey Ends, Another Begins
As an existing Caorda client, the CCRD engaged our team to review their website platform, where we identified that their Drupal installation was approaching end-of-life and would soon no longer be supported. This presented an opportunity to the CCRD team to either rebuild the current site’s CMS with the latest version of Drupal or rebuild the site using WordPress. A key requirement in their review was the need to easily and efficiently update the website in-house without having to call a developer. Historically working with Drupal had presented many challenges to the CCRD team and with Caorda’s guidance, the decision was made to build the new website using WordPress to take advantage of its user-friendly back end and page builder templates.
Serving the Community
The CCRD website serves as a valuable repository of key information, services, emergency notices and more for the region. As a result, the website had grown considerably over the years and was in dire need of a new content strategy. Our team held regular meetings with the CCRD team to develop a new plan for the website’s navigation, layout and content. A content audit was performed to shed light on the total number of pages on the site, which was also used to identify opportunities to trim and consolidate the site’s navigation and pages.
Through a true team effort between Caorda and the CCRD team, the overall number of navigation options was reduced by over 40%, and the overall number of pages on the site by well over 30%. This was achieved through a combination of consolidation of similar pages, and through the trimming of redundant, outdated and low-value pages. Once the plan was in place, our content team then migrated a healthy number of older historical posts, and then manually built the majority of the pages on the site.
The new site now has 3 main tabs and is considerably more streamlined and user friendly, making it much easier for the community to find important information.
Capturing the Spirit of the CCRD
While the website’s primary function is to display information, we identified an opportunity to improve the overall look and feel of the website. Custom designs were created to improve clarity, visual hierarchy, and community engagement. Our design team then introduced pictures that showcased the stunning beauty of the region. This helped give the website a “spirit” that residents and visitors could connect with and feel proud of. The homepage was completely redesigned and now includes key focus areas of the organization like a new Events section, new map, popular links and upcoming events. Vital to the safety and wellbeing of all residents of the CCRD, a newsletter sign-up form was added to the homepage along with a collapsible alert bar above the header which will, when needed, display critical emergency alerts and notices.
Connecting the Dots
With so much of the site’s architecture and many of the pages altered and/or removed, our digital marketing team meticulously crafted a transition plan that ensured all removed and consolidated pages were redirected to high value pages on the new site. The URL structure was also updated to follow best practices bringing much needed consistency and organization to the site. Our post-launch reviews ensured the plan was successfully executed and directing traffic as planned.
The Result
To complete the project, the site’s developer led a WordPress training session for the CCRD team to help them make changes to the site’s content and pictures. Should the team need help with ad hoc change requests, Caorda’s Support team will be available for ongoing support. The result is a modern, easy-to-manage municipal website that better serves residents while giving CCRD staff full confidence in maintaining their content independently
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