Ignite Sport UK has been inspiring people with sport and activities since 1999. Offering training and sporting services to individuals, schools and the sports industry, they work with people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities — from weekly clubs for gifted kids to courses for beginner adults.
Operating in their region for such a long time meant Ignite Sport had no trouble with reputation, but they wanted to grow, and their website wasn’t generating the results they needed. Thankfully, Ignite Sport knew Cherwell College and Cherwell College knew exactly who could get them their results.
In August of 2020, Cherwell connected Ignite Sport UK to the team at Urban Element, and we set about understanding their goals and determining what would need to be done to get there.
Their goals were simple. Ignite wanted to grow. They wanted their website to act as a funnel for leads, generating enquiries that would help them meet their commercial growth targets. But the challenges were many.
Their domain authority was low, there were major technical issues with the site that needed to be addressed, and the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns meant holiday camps and services to schools had to be cancelled.
MissionOptimise Ignite Sport UK for search marketing while being flexible and adaptable during a period of uncertainty for their business.
We wanted to increase bookings on all three of Ignite’s core services, amounting to between 5 and 10 enquiries per month. At the same time, we wanted to increase their national brand awareness, appealing to customers outside of Oxfordshire, where they already have an enviable reputation.
To boost their brand nationwide, we wanted to increase visits by 25%, increase their average time on page by 25%, and decrease the bounce rate by 25%.
Finally, we needed to gain valuable, authoritative backlinks. We hoped to do this by link building with online publications and organisations that may add Ignite Sport UK to local or national directories.
To hit our goals, we took a three-stage approach, starting with setting SMART goals, keyword research, and implementing a new SEO site map. With this, we developed a 12-month digital marketing plan that was presented and approved, allowing us to progress to implementation.
We completed technical SEO, organic social media, and link building activities to get us the exposure and enquiries required to reach our goals.
Despite the disruption that COVID-19 lockdowns have had on the business, Ignite Sport UK has seen an increase in enquiries and online activity.
Through our link building activities, we secured Ignite Sport a link with Active Oxfordshire, a site with good domain authority and high levels of relevant traffic. Google visibility has improved by 7% in three months. The average keyword ranking for targeted terms has improved 14 places, and 27 keywords have improved in ranking, four of which are in the top 5, and two more now in the top 10.
As for website activity, sessions on the site between December 2020 to March 2021 have increased by 64% compared to the same period the year before. Users on the site for December 2020 to March 2021 have increased by 70% compared to the same period the year before. And page views on the site for December 2020 to March 2021 have increased by 39% compared to the same period the year before.
