Project overview
LuckyTurn Media combined the three websites of two prominent accountancy firms, Macintyre Hudson and Moore & Smalley, into a single new and cohesive platform. The website, reimagined as a catalyst for the firm’s ambitious growth plans, is an important, strategic project for all concerned, with a corresponding budget.
The new website accurately reflects the firms’ recent changes and growth, along with their merging under the BTI (Baker Tilly International) brand. By conveying a modern and dynamic image, the new mid-tier firm can now be seen as a bona fide choice for clients considering a Top 4 accountancy firm. Through design, content and technology, we demonstrate that MHA has the right people to start a long-lasting business relationship with.
www.mha.co.uk
Project objectives
- Brand interpretation and implementation—ensuring the brand’s message and identity are interpreted and implemented effectively throughout the new website
- One unifying website instead of three—with a cohesive message and streamlined user experience
- Migrate from the previous platforms—the previous websites’ content, data and functionality must all be represented and work on the new website
- Technical SEO—ensuring search traffic does not suffer as a result of the migration, and provide the basis for continued growth
- Appeal to larger clients—through a polished visual design and in-depth content from MHA’s experienced team
- Lead gen for smaller clients—through approachable and easily accessible content and contact form
Design and UX
The Challenge/Goal identification
Our challenge was to implement a new brand language based on the new identity developed by BTI. The website’s new messaging was to communicate and position MHA as a challenger brand that commands attention. All this was to be implemented on a new CMS (content management system) with significantly richer capabilities for content creation and future growth.
Research and persona building
LuckyTurn Media’s UX-focused design process researched users and built client personas. Researching user needs, preferences and behaviours shows how they will use the website and also shapes its structure.
Brand interpretation and design
MHA’s brand guidelines were developed in-house at BTI. We undertook online brand interpretation and then further adapted our work to fit the specific needs of the MHA website.
Content and content strategy
We worked with MHA to create and curate content to reflect a supremely ambitious and driven organisation. As a thought leader in the industry, MHA is a firm to forge a business relationship with. Our content strategy focuses on delivering valuable information, includes blogs, insights and careers, and has been structured for the user and SEO.
Development phase
During the development phase, we focused on delivering a robust and high-performing website through:
- A powerful platform for impressive growth—enabling MHA to expand its reach and influence
- A rich content experience—implementing a user-friendly CMS with a seamless and intuitive interface
- Integration with third-party systems—to increase efficiency and streamline workflows
- Granular permissions—enabling different user roles to have appropriate access rights and privileges
LuckyTurn Media worked closely with MHA’s in-house IT specialists to ensure the website integrates with the merged firm’s IT corporate infrastructure.
Content & SEO migration
We developed custom methods to migrate content from three websites based on two platforms (two WordPress sites and one Expression Engine), with distinct approaches to handling content types and taxonomies. SEO migration included keyword mapping, category mapping and redirects.
Technical implementation
The LuckyTurn Media development team dedicated itself to delivering a modern, secure and robust online solution that would meet the demands of a large and still expanding organisation. The completed website leverages fault-tolerant, load-balanced architecture that can cope with real-time peaks in traffic. It passed vulnerability testing, demonstrating its reliability and resilience against potential threats.
Outcome
MHA bought into our vision for their new website. We applied a philosophy and design approach that emphasises the user and UX and harnesses modern, yet proven technologies. We delivered a complex, strategic web presence for an organisation experiencing fundamental changes, working at a high level within the client’s organisation.
The end product is one that everyone involved in is very happy with.
What's next
The new MHA website can deliver on all the firm’s likely requirements. Soon, we will further enhance its authoring capabilities as MHA’s content team grows into the new platform. And at the same time, we will integrate a third-party system to manage the site’s careers section.
As MHA’s business expands, the website will expand, too. Our team will continue to collaborate with MHA and BTI to develop and implement transformative new features and functionality to align with the firm’s strategic goals.
Food and Travel Magazine
- Migrate a large amount of global content to new system
- Develop flexible content modelling to work with sales requirements
- Create functionality for their annual awards nominations and voting system
- Set up multi-site content management to bring independent international sites under one roof
World of Cruising
- Developing a market-leading cruise break search engine
- Implementing powerful filtering options to help build user journeys
- Adding Commerce to handle magazine subscriptions in the short term and more products in the long term
- Securely preparing for future growth
