Their old WordPress site had loads of plugins from different sources, which turned out to be the cause of this. The worst was causing over 7mb of unnecessary javascript code to download every time something changed in the dashboard. Making the site run faster was high on our priorities list after seeing that!
One of the challenges with this site was the sheer number of things going on with it. Over 1000 blog posts, more than 360 products and that’s not even counting the existing magazine subscribers and PDF files!
Getting Started
To get the Bustle and Sew eCommerce website design project off the ground, with the help of the owners, we designed a map of the site which included all the pages and their structure. Following this, we worked on some wireframe layouts so we were all in agreement of where the content should be placed.
We then designed photoshop visuals to finalise some of the smaller design details such as colour palettes and which fonts to use.
When we were all happy with the proposed website redesign, we moved on to the coding phase of the project.
This involved us developing a new, bespoke WordPress theme that built in a lot of the needed functionality. Doing this minimises the chance of any conflicting plugins on the Bustle & Sew WordPress website in the future.
As the website needed an eCommerce element, we did keep the WooCommerce plugin. No need to reinvent the wheel by creating our own eCommerce system when WooCommerce does everything they want.
The home page has lot of elements, so the challenge was finding a suitable layout and hierarchy for them all.
A full width image slider starts off proceedings and allows the owners to highlight anything they like.
Unsurprisingly for an eCommerce website, the home page has an area for showcasing the featured products too.
Bustle & Sew also make frequent posts on their blog, so it seemed appropriate to feature the latest stories. They use Instagram in much the same way, so we pull in their last four photos as well.
The product pages feature a clear “Add to cart” button as well as an option for customers to use PayPal to checkout. We also included an image gallery for each product so customers can view high quality photos of the hand made items.
If you like this WordPress eCommerce website and you have a business that could benefit from a better online presence, give us a call on 01761 690019. If you would prefer you can use our contact form instead.
