Global Golf Post, the first designed for digital weekly golf news publication in the world, is delivered as a weekly digital edition using the well-regarded Texterity platform. Global Golf Post (GGP) wanted to extend the publication’s content into a search-engine friendly platform with the hope of exposing the content to organic Web search traffic. Working closely with the teams at GGP and Texterity, WebSolvers released a portal with said specifications.
Like many good ideas, our client’s started with a simple sketch of the vision and direction:
Initial Conceptual Sketch
Using the client’s sketch, WebSolvers led a wireframing process with the client to lay out the key elements of the home page such as feature sections, story headlines and sponsor ad blocks. A simple blueprint emerged:
Global Golf Post Portal Wireframe
Once the team was comfortable with the wireframes, the process moved into the Design & User Experience realm where WebSolvers developed and refined an attractive, engaging system for the content. Special emphasis was placed on enticing users to both (a) enter contests and (b) subscribe to the publication.
Global Golf Post Home Page Concept
The concept for the home page was then extended to the individual story pages. Under the assumption that most long-tail organic searches would bring users directly to story pages (instead of the home page itself), we focused on keeping the sub-pages simple and uncluttered: the layout focuses attention on the objective of generating contest entries and subscriptions:
Global Golf Post Sub-Page Concept
Since Global Golf Post generates a wealth of content on a weekly basis, the process for updating the content was heavily contemplated. After much client exploration, WebSolvers installed a simple content management tool to facilitate the fast and easy process of future story publication. Stories can easily be cut and pasted into the interface; because of proper planning, the content is inserted into the appropriate locations within the portal. An example of the client interface is below:
Global Golf Post Portal - Administrative Interface
WebSolvers also installed simple social-sharing devices to allow users to easily share the content they like on Twitter and Facebook, among others:
Simple Icons Facilitate Social Sharing
Perhaps the most important outcome was the satisfaction of our client, Jim Nugent, Publisher of Global Golf Post: “Kudos to team WebSolvers…for a job very well done getting our portal launched. Thanks for all you did to make this happen.”
The portal is available for browsing at www.globalgolfpost.com. Please visit and don’t forget to subscribe!