In May 2021, AL-KO Vehicle Technology Australia finally launched its brand-new website. The culmination of 18-months’ hard work and effort paid off in a visually stunning, technologically advanced, and easy to use platform that positioned AL-KO as the Australian leader in Caravan & Trailer components.
Faith has been working with AL-KO for close to ten years, meaning that we have an incredibly deep relationship. Faith has been around for product innovations, industry changes and everything in between. But only recently have we sought to deepen our relationship, managing digital development requirements and email marketing capabilities in addition to creative development and branding and strategy.
AL-KO originally started work on their website in mid-2019 with a previous digital agency but struggled to achieve the momentum required to finish the project. The original development had been plagued with inconsistent design choices, poor CMS decisions, and site architecture and information hierarchy that were not favourable to a positive outcome. Faith was brought on board in mid-2020 to help pilot the project to the finish line.
While we maintained a fair amount of work that had been done up to that point, our ultimate responsibility was to streamline the process utilising a WordPress platform build without a major redesign of the website, but ultimately trying to provide the best website for customers and AL-KO staff alike.
The development of the website was relatively straightforward, but one of the larger challenges was the transition of information architecture from the previous AL-KO site to the new platform. The previous AL-KO site had passed its use-by-date, with information not organised in the best possible manner, presenting a rabbit warren of pages, products and news articles that was near-impossible to navigate. We worked closely with AL-KO to combine and recontextualise information to make as much sense as it could. Breaking down key products by their usage, clearly delineating product downloads (like brochures and PDFs) and setting out a clear and consistent dealer look-up function were critical priorities.
Ultimately, we were able to launch the website to great acclaim. The design language was bold and distinctive; very Australian but still respectful of the European heritage that AL-KO presents. The site structure is clean and easy-to-use, and while web traffic initially dipped due to the adjustments in page content, it’s recovered strongly over the last several months.
Of course, all of this is just the first step in a long journey aimed at improving the site over several rounds of revision, with new products being launched, additionally brands being integrated and of course, continual SEO review and improvement.
For more information about how Faith can help you with your website, reach out to us today!