DreamLakes
Visit Websitewww.dreamlakes.comDreamlakes is a complex of five fisheries in France, designed to cater for UK carp anglers looking for the ultimate fishing holiday. The lakes themselves are stocked with some of the largest carp around, and have been designed to cater for all abilities of angler.
Completion Date:
March 2015
Operates:
Europe
Client Feedback:
"The website they designed for us exceeded all our expectations and we’ve had nothing but positive feedback from our new and existing customers."
I’ve known Richard since the mid 80’s when we were both fishing at the North Lagoon over in Broxbourne, however we lost contact when I moved over to France to manage Dreamlakes. I know Richard went on to run The Carp Society, however I didn’t really know what he was doing now.
When we made the decision we needed a new website, a number of different contacts recommended giving Advanced Web Designs a call because ‘the guy who runs it is also a carp angler’. We felt it was a huge advantage to have the website rebuilt by someone who not only came recommended, but who is an angler themselves, as this means they would understand the target market as well as the jargon use in fishing.
When we found out that Advanced Web Designs was Richard’s company the decision to use them was made even easier as I’d always known Richard to be a hardworking and conscientious person.
The website they designed for us exceeded all our expectations and we’ve had nothing but positive feedback from our new and existing customers.
I have no problem recommending Richard and his company to anyone wanting a new website, I only wish we’d found them sooner!
Read in full
The Brief
For 15 years Dreamlakes have had a website, but their most recent design had not changed for over 6 years. At no time have they had a Content Management System allowing them to make updates themselves, and therefore were having to pay for any updates they required. As a business which would benefit from regular updates, this was both a restrictive and costly exercise.
We were therefore asked to produce a modern responsive website, specifically aimed at carp anglers looking for a French fishing holiday experience. As carp anglers ourselves, we know that fishing holidays in France has become hugely competitive market, as more and more fisheries are being opened up, and it was therefore important that the design stood out against the many other competitors.
How We Responded
Since the Advanced Web Designs was set up in 1999, we have been developing websites for business within the carp fishing industry. This is because prior to setting up the company, as well as being a keen carp angler himself, Director Richard Stangroom was the Commercial manager of The Carp Society.
Therefore businesses within the fishing industry find it easier to deal with a website design company that no only understands their business and target market, but also the jargon used by anglers.
It's our knowledge of the industry that ensured we already knew all about Dreamlakes, including the fact it is a well-established and well-managed fishery run by a well-known British angler.
We set about the project by deconstructing the existing website to ascertain which of the features were still relevant and required, and then working out how to within the new design whilst, improving and prioritising the navigation to make it easier for visitors to find their way around the website.
We then developed every area that was going to feature on the new site to be fully controlled via a bespoke and intuitive Content Management System, therefore ensuring the site could be updated immediately without incurring any additional costs to do so.
As carp anglers are mainly concerned about catching large, pretty fish, the home page of the website was designed to be very image heavy, with a combination of scene setting photos of the individual fisheries, together with randomly generated photos of the carp they would be fishing for.
This image lead design immediately captures the interested and attention of visitors to the website, and the simplified navigation then guides these potential customers around the site to the more mundane information pages, such as the rules, onsite facilities, and various packages available to anglers interested in booking a holiday to the fish at the complex.