Ralph James

The Scenario

In early 2024, Ralph James, a UK-based real estate agency, approached about updating their website. They were not looking for an overhaul. They wanted to refresh the design of some pages and fix some performance issues to help their SEO.

We dubbed the project "Project 10" after repeatedly saying there was 10% more to squeeze out of the website.

The Relationship

One of my clients, Paul Cooney, partnered with Ralph James in late 2024. Following our successful collaboration on his website, he was keen to work with me again on the Ralph James website.

Paul's recommendation opened the door for me. Before we could begin, I needed to convince the Marketing Director and CEO. A couple of meetings and one proposal later, we all aligned on the project goals and were excited to start.

The Struggle

Along with Paul's introduction to Ralph James, they were restructuring the marketing team at the same time. That meant the people involved in the project changed during the project. Clear communication was needed to remain consistent with the project goals.

Another potential issue was the time difference. Ralph James is a UK-based company. I am an Australia-based Freelancer. The 11-hour time difference meant mail responses could take up to a day to receive. That meant the feedback from our meetings had to be clear, with little left to the imagination.

The Results

Despite our struggles, the project was on time and to spec.

We transformed the Home page, creating a brighter and more modern feel. We reduced the number of properties on the home page, making the page load much quicker. We also added the ability for users to filter the properties according to their local branch, adding an extra win for user experience.

On the individual property pages, we rebuilt the whole template. The old template felt cluttered with too much information competing for the user's attention.

The new version has more white space and a more structured hierarchy. The most important information is now at the top of the page, and the more in-depth descriptions are below the fold. This structure makes the important information clear and findable whilst the whole page becomes less cluttered and overwhelming.

Overall, we were all happy with the updated version of the Ralph James website. It had a fresh, modern feel and massively improved performance.