Lancaster Central Market Website Design
Full website design to create a website that beautifully represents the historic and vibrant treasure that is Lancaster Central Market
Lancaster Central Market is a local and national treasure. It is the country’s oldest continuously running farmer’s market and it continues to have an incredibly active community and weekly visitors on Market days. Their new website needed to be something that portrayed the active landmark it was, be able to share all of the wonderful programs, standholders, and events as well as give homage to its meaningful history. It needed to be relevant for regular Market visitors as well as tourists wanting to visit Market for the first time. Honored to accept the challenge, I was able to build a website that does all of the above and most importantly is flexible to adapt to Market as Market continues to grow!
Lancaster Central Market has been a beloved place in my own life. Growing up in Lancaster, PA, I frequented Market weekly and shopped it often even as a young adult. It’s a space I’d always bring out-of-town guests and I would speak of its being treasure often. With that background, you can understand I was thrilled, honored, and a great selection to help build Lancaster Central Market’s new improved, and highly functional website! Read on for how this one was built and what makes it exceptional in today’s online landscape.
The Lancaster Central Market Website Set Up
Before we began the new website, I was onboarded as a marketing consultant for a year to help Market improve their brand strength, consistency, voice, and selection of where and how they would use their marketing dollars. It was a great contract that lasted them through fundraising campaigns, events, and their hiring of a full-time marketing employee. During that engagement and nearing its end, I began the process of building their new website. By that time I had a full grip on their brand and the messaging that best suits them as an organization to speak to and engage regular visitors as well as new and out-of-town visitors.
They already were engaged with my preferred host who I recommend to all clients because they have a real person to answer all issues and reinstate websites from very regular backups whenever issues arise. They also set up a construction site so we can work while the current site is running with no down time.
The Lancaster Central Market Website Design Process
This was a redesign – although the new website was built completely from scratch. Their old website was locked into a 10-year-old or so theme that was using custom fields and very outdated ways of updating information. It was locked into a style with no ability to change things. So for this new website, I had a clean install of WordPress and my preferred theme which can grow as Market grows. It’s dynamic, I can build nearly anything a client wants and it can update with WordPress so the site is secure and much less likely to break due to outdated code.
Website Copy that is Built to Engage
With the new fresh slate mentioned above for Market’s website, I got to work building a website that was Storybranded to engage visitors and lead to them connect with Market. I also build each and every website and page with the leading SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices so they are more likely to rank higher in search engines like Google. I also connected their new website to the latest Google Analytics so they can track whatever they would like to. Along with that, they have a privacy policy as all websites need to do so.
I also utilized all of their old website content and updated it to be better engaging, SEO friendly, and most of all dynamic and user friendly so everyone who visits can find what they are looking for. The menu structure is built with the same principles – SEO, user-friendly, and dynamic.
Their old website had a very text-heavy and bland look to their standholder directory. This one has a vibrant page where all standholders are grouped by what they sell and includes a cheery photo of each – really showing the special offerings Market holds each day it’s open!
What is beneficial about inviting me to build your site is that an organization not only gets expert professional design and the latest in website trends, but they get optimized text copy and layout that is proven to engage users. I am well versed in Storybrand and build all of my websites to their proven guidelines that help users engage with a website in the desired way of the owner.
Built to Grow
Lancaster Central Market is a very historic building dating back to 1730 – but the Market as it is today, is vibrant, growing, and has big plans to continue to do so. So it was vital to build a website that not only highlights how unique and acitve they are today, but can grow with them as they grow!
This new website is endlessly editable. They can add pages, and elements, and do whatever they need and want to adapt their website to promote the current and future happenings. I build them pages for every current event they hold and provided many pages that can be duplicated and used to create future programs and events.
Having a website that can grow with the passions and work of your organization is a HUGE asset!
Mobile & Tablet Optimized
Before launch, I comb through each and every page and element to make them all mobile-friendly – customizing everything until it looks exceptional on mobile devices. Most visitors visit on their phone – so having a mobile-friendly website is key in this season so every visitor can engage, connect, and scroll easily when they come to centralmarketlancaster.com.
Visit the New Lancaster Central Market Website
Visit the new Lancaster Central Website to see it in action!
Enjoy the gentle animations, the functional menus and most of all enjoy finding out about the standholders, events and all that makes Market the special national and local treasure that it is!
If you’re not familiar with Lancaster Central Market, I hope this introduction leads to plan a trip and enjoy the Market in person!
Wish You Had a Website that Served Your Work Well?
If you ever find your organization with a website that feels dated and doesn’t represent the quality or level of expertise you bring to the world, or a website that doesn’t function as highly as you would like it to serve your audiences – It’s never too soon to have a website that helps your work and business grow, expand, and serve more people.
Reach out today to talk through how a website design can help your business flourish today and into the future!
Thanks for stopping by!
– Rachel
Past Web Project Highlights
Website Design
You can elevate the success of your work through a modern, functional, and expertly designed website.
Whether you’re a small business looking to grow your presence, a nonprofit looking to increase awareness and donations or a solopreneur looking to build a business from the ground up, a strong website with effective design and search engine optimization is key and I’m here for you. Through talking over your desired hopes for your organization’s future, I can work with you to create a website that supports the work you do and helps further your goals for the work that you do in the world.
