Case studies: Real life WordPress migrations

Walton’s Grizzly Lodge, a historic summer camp nestled in Northern California, faced a significant challenge as their website’s underlying technology, Drupal 7, neared its end of life. Recognizing the need for a sustainable and secure digital presence, the decision was made to migrate their website to WordPress. This migration was not just a technical update; it was an opportunity to fully revitalize the camp’s online image.

• Ensure technical sustainability: By moving from Drupal 7 to WordPress, the camp aimed to modernize its website, enhancing both security and functionality.
• Elevate online presence: The redesign focused on more accurately portraying the vibrant camp experience through enhanced visual and interactive elements.
• Improve user experience and accessibility: Simplifying navigation and content accessibility was crucial, ensuring that families could easily interact with the camp’s offerings online.

• Technical transition: The migration process was meticulously planned to ensure cost-effectiveness and minimize disruptions for users. This strategic transition not only addressed the immediate needs but leveraged WordPress’s flexible and user-friendly platform to rebuild the website with improved design and functionality.
• Revitalizing online image: The new website design vividly captures the essence of Walton’s Grizzly Lodge, featuring high-quality images and videos that invite users into the world of camp adventures. The redesign aimed to make the online experience as inviting and engaging as the real-life camp.
• Responsive design implementation: A key aspect of the redesign was ensuring the website was fully responsive, providing an optimal viewing experience across all devices, whether accessed via desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

The migration and redesign of Walton’s Grizzly Lodge’s website not only prepared the organization for the future by moving away from an outdated CMS but also transformed their digital footprint into a more engaging, accessible, and visually appealing platform. This case showcases how technical necessity paired with a visionary redesign can significantly enhance an organization’s online presence.

The North Tahoe Public Utility District (NTPUD) embarked on a significant website redesign and migration project to enhance the accessibility and functionality of their online presence. This project was particularly crucial as it involved consolidating their recreational and parks department offerings into the main website, ensuring a seamless user experience across all district services.

• Enhance user experience: Focus on improving the website’s navigation and accessibility, making it easier for the public to find and use services.
• Consolidate online services: Integrate the separate recreation and parks website into the main NTPUD site, providing a unified experience for users.
• Reflect community growth: Update the website’s content and design to mirror the expansion of district services and community engagement.

• User-centric design approach: The redesign prioritized user experience, drawing on insights from the previous website to optimize accessibility and usability.
• Integration of services: Smooth integration with third-party tools for program registration was a critical component, ensuring that community members could easily register for and access district programs.
• Collaborative development: Thanks to close collaboration with design partners and district representatives, the project successfully captured the essence and needs of the NTPUD community.

The revamped NTPUD website now offers a more integrated, user-friendly platform that reflects the district’s commitment to serving and growing with its community. This case study exemplifies how thoughtful web design and development can transform a public utility’s digital interface, making it more accessible and efficient for its users.

“Utilizing WordPress, Alpen Lily has helped bring our small public utility district into the modern web era and made our critical content and important resources available to our customers in an easy-to-use website that works great on your smartphone and is fully accessible,” Broglio said.

The Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe (HSTT) has been a long-term client of Alpen Lily Web Studio, collaborating on website projects for more 15 years. This enduring partnership has witnessed multiple digital transformations, with the latest project involving a migration from Drupal to WordPress, emphasizing ease of use and training for the HSTT team.

• Transition to a user-friendly platform: Migrate HSTT’s website to WordPress to enhance ease of management and training for the team.
• Maintain long-term digital strategy: Continue supporting HSTT’s growth and evolution through effective digital solutions.

• Training and support: Provided comprehensive training to HSTT staff on the new WordPress system to ensure smooth operation and content management.
• Preservation of design and functionality: While transitioning to a more user-friendly CMS, the core design elements and functionality that HSTT had used successfully over the years were maintained.

This migration has set the stage for HSTT to continue expanding its online presence effectively. The shift to WordPress allows for easier content updates and better management, ensuring that the website remains a vital tool in HSTT’s mission to serve their community. View details in our portfolio.

BADRAP, an organization dedicated to advocating for and rescuing dogs, faced the need to transition their content-rich Drupal website to WordPress. The organization loved their existing website design, which effectively communicated their mission and engaged their community. Therefore, the migration strategy focused on retaining the original design while enhancing functionality and user experience, particularly for mobile users.

• Preserve existing design: As the organization was satisfied with their current website’s aesthetic, the goal was to replicate the design in WordPress without loss of detail.
• Migrate extensive content: The website contained a substantial amount of critical content, including detailed profiles of dogs and resources for people, which needed to be transferred accurately to the new platform.
• Enhance mobile experience: Given the traffic from mobile devices for many of the site’s users, improving the mobile responsiveness of the website was a crucial aspect of the migration.
• Maintain SEO ranking: It was imperative to migrate all SEO data effectively to ensure that the new site maintained its search engine rankings and visibility.

• Design replication: The team employed WordPress’s flexible theming system to recreate the existing design, ensuring that the look and feel of the site remained unchanged while benefiting from WordPress’s robust framework.
• Content transfer: Special attention was given to migrating the extensive content library, ensuring all data was transferred accurately and remained easy to manage.
• Mobile optimization: The new site was optimized for mobile devices, improving speed and responsiveness, which enhanced the user experience for mobile visitors.
• SEO preservation: By carefully migrating all existing SEO metadata and employing WordPress’s superior SEO tools, the site’s search engine positioning was preserved and even enhanced.

The migration to WordPress was highly successful, resulting in a website that retained the beloved design of the original while significantly enhancing functionality and user experience. Mobile users now enjoy a smoother and faster experience, and the organization has maintained its strong search engine presence, ensuring that BADRAP continues to reach a wide audience with its message and resources.

This case study exemplifies how strategic migration and careful planning can preserve the best aspects of a legacy site while capitalizing on the advancements of a new platform, addressing both technical needs and user expectations.

Fuhrman Leamy Land Group, a landscape architecture and land development services company, required an update to their digital platform due to the impending end of support for Drupal 7. With a focus on preserving the original design, which resonated well with their clientele, the migration to WordPress was aimed at maintaining the aesthetic while introducing user experience improvements.

• Retain original design: The firm was committed to keeping the visual design of their site intact, recognizing its effectiveness in their branding and client communication.
• Improve user experience: While the design remained the same, the migration presented an opportunity to enhance the site’s usability and functionality with some changes to the look and feel.
• Cost-effective solution: Operating within a budget, the project needed to maximize value without compromising on essential features and performance.
• Seamless transition: Ensuring a smooth migration without downtime or loss of content was crucial to maintaining the firm’s professional image.

• Design replication in WordPress: Utilizing WordPress’s customizable themes, the original design was replicated to match the old site’s look and feel, ensuring brand consistency.
• User experience improvements: Minor tweaks were made, notably on the site’s Home page, to enhance navigation and interactivity, improving overall site accessibility and user engagement.
• Budget management: The project was strategically planned to adhere to the project’s budget, prioritizing essential migrations and optimizations without unnecessary expenditures.
• Efficient content migration: Special attention was given to transferring all existing content reliably to the new system, ensuring data integrity and continuity.

The migration to WordPress successfully met the dual objectives of cost-efficiency and improved user experience. Fuhrman Leamy Land Group’s website retained its original design, which continued to serve the firm’s branding needs effectively. The enhancements in user experience not only made the site more engaging but also more intuitive for users to navigate.

This case study demonstrates Alpen Lily Web Studio’s capability to manage efficient and budget-friendly migrations without sacrificing quality and performance, ensuring that even smaller sites can benefit from the latest web technologies and CMS capabilities.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the necessity for robust, user-friendly, and sustainable content management systems becomes ever more critical. The migration from Drupal to WordPress, as illustrated through our diverse case studies, not only ensures technical sustainability but significantly enhances online engagement and operational efficiency.