Client Details

The Big Issue Foundation is a part of The Big Issue Group. The Foundation connects Big Issue vendors to the vital support and specialist services that enable them to rebuild their lives and determine their own pathways to a better future.

The Big Issue Foundation was set up in 1995 in response to the success of The Big Issue which was set up in 1991 by John Bird and Gordon Roddick.

The Big Issue Foundation is a fundraising charity that enables Service Brokerage teams to improve the lives of Big Issue vendors.

The Big Issue Foundation approached us to build a new website as their previous site was not fully responsive and could not be easily managed by their staff.

The Challenge

There were a lot of stakeholders to consider in the project. The website also needed to have a very clear user journey geared towards the fundraising channels. As an existing website that drives income for the Foundation, it was essential that the launch of the new website was seamless with no downtime and that the launch was well managed and communicated to all stakeholders.

Our Solution

We worked with the Foundation to establish the user journey by drilling into analytics. We also explored what the Foundation team would need in order to manage the site efficiently and therefore, what would need to be built into the content management system (CMS). This included, for example, the ability to create new appeals and create homepage takeovers.

How we Added Value

A complete audit of the existing site identified a clear need to rethink the URL structures and other important SEO elements. Content had been added to the site sporadically over the past few years resulting in duplicate content, missing titles and meta content and a range of URL structures, All of this was damaging their SEO rankings. This then informed the redesign and build of the new website. We suggested improvements to existing responsive designs to strengthen how people engage with such websites. This was all done within existing group guidelines so that all of the websites remain consistent.

The Results

The Big Issue Foundation site is now a fully responsive, income-generating, self-managed site that is structured for growth.

In the first few months of launch, conversions from mobile and device traffic has grown significantly, The team can now be more responsive by adding new content to the site and managing new opportunities as well as undertaking essential updates on the site.

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