Guitar Lessons in Sheffield is a comprehensively redeveloped and reimagined website for the highly experienced, Sheffield-based musician and guitar tutor Chris Murphy.
I was approached by long-time friend Chris Murphy about helping him redevelop his web presence. Chris had built his then current Website using the now largely defunct "MoonFruit" platform. The Site had actually served him well for a number of years, acting as a simple way of introducing new guitar playing students to him and his tuition services. The Site also acted as a gateway to external sites featuring his own recorded music (including the likes of Soundcloud, YouTube and more recently Spotify too).
Background & Brief
The Achilles Heel of Chris' self-made MoonFruit Site was that it was only partially mobile friendly. Originally launched before the explosion of smartphone ownership and usage, this didn't used to be an issue. However, with changes in Google policies and consumer habits over the years, having a "mobile friendly" website has of course since become an outright necessity - and unfortunately the old Website (which had previously ranked well on Google) started to slide down those all-important rankings. To compound matters, a lack of SSL security had also been having on adverse impact on Search Engine performance.
It was time for an all-new Website - and knowing of my own business and expertise, Chris got in touch to discuss my website redevelopment service.
The Development Process
Following a couple of useful meetings, I produced a proposal and quotation for the client, which he swiftly accepted - and the project was formally underway. Initial progress was slow (mostly due to existing work commitments and schedules for both myself and Chris himself). Then, circa. Spring 2020 plans went firmly off-track - with the arrival of your enemy and mine: Coronavirus...
For a relatively small website development project, the actual development period ended up being over a year - but naturally this was during unprecedented times and circumstances! Following my detailed guidelines, content was comprehensively compiled and supplied. Chris also wisely took this exercise as an ideal opportunity to rewrite certain areas of the Website - and also introduced some new content too. His ever-popular (and incredibly good value) "Taster Sessions" offer was to have a prominent placement, towards the base of all key pages. New, larger and superior quality photographs (supplied by the client) also helped to modernise and improve the overall look of the Site. On my recommendation, the Site also features a purposefully minimalist, stripped-down series of page titles (such as "Who?", "Where?" and so on). The implementation of this navigation method keeps the menus straightforward and particularly easy to navigate through (regardless of the type of device you are using).
I rounded things off with a new, improved enquiries form (including an option to opt-in to a future-planned newsletter).
The Finished Article
The completed Website went live on the internet in the late Spring of 2021, having been delayed by the on-going impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
