Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce
Serving the local business community for over 100 years
Client Objectives
Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber had outgrown its previous website. It approached Dark Cherry Creative with a focused brief: a fresh, user-friendly design across devices, a strong emphasis on membership content and benefits, a goal to increase signups, better traffic to its membership directory, and more efficient backend systems.
- User friendly, responsive design for all audiences.
- Boost membership signups and promote member benefits.
- Drive engagement with a revamped membership directory.
- Streamline admin operations and reduce manual tasks.
Website Design
The design for the site needed to be very standardised for a huge variety of different content, types and authors. The existing design allowed for different layouts depending on the taste of the collaborator which had led to an inconsistent website and unclear branding. Our goal was to unify the design of the content across the board, while introducing a new navigation language that included themed areas and more logical categorisation.
The main objective of our redesign was to make content easier to find for visitors, and develop a new membership directory feature that would add value for membership while also decreasing admin time for the team.
The Solution
- Powerful Editorial Experience
We audited the heavyweight site content and rebuilt it using Gutenberg blocks. This separation of content from design empowers Chamber staff to produce consistently branded pages—without developer help. - Bespoke Membership Directory
We created a brand-new directory from scratch. It enables members to showcase services, display recent work, share testimonials, and host media—all tailored to membership level and reviews. Frontend and backend tools were simplified to eliminate copy-and-paste workflows. - Integrated News & Events
Members can now directly submit posts and events via their portal. Submissions enter a review queue, where admins can publish polished, formatted content—replacing the old manual processes. - Highlighting Membership Benefits
We redesigned the membership area to present benefits by tier, making value propositions transparent and compelling. The flexible block system keeps the layout consistent and on-brand.
Membership Directory
The membership and business directory feature was a custom designed and developed application, especially for this project. It allows seamless integration with the directory members and membership features, and gives members access to a variety of membership-only tools. Members can submit their own promotions, news updates and media, while also maintaining a profile page which showcases work they've done with fellow members.
This gives added value to membership and in a key way we managed to increase engagement with the online portal.
Maintainability
Behind the scenes the directory handles user interactions and submissions in a low-maintenance fashion. Despite having a plethora of additional collaboration features, the new directory takes a fraction of the administration time of the old site while being a great tool for members to promote their business.
The key to this was eliminating duplication of tasks, monotonous copy/paste culture and ensuring submission of information was in a directly usable format / automatically reprocessed where appropriate. This all happens behind the scenes and is the result of an in-depth analysis of workflows.
The Results
With the new platform life, Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber continues to add content and build community. Future phases will focus on deeper engagement features and leveraging the platform for greater member value.
Testimonial
We wish to express our sincere appreciation for the exceptional services provided by Dark Cherry Creative. At Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber, we recently engaged with Dark Cherry for our website needs, and we are delighted to share our positive experience.
Throughout our collaboration, Dark Cherry demonstrated a remarkable level of professionalism and expertise. Their unwavering support was evident from the outset, as they promptly addressed any queries or concerns we had, ensuring a seamless and stress-free process.
Additionally, we were highly impressed by Dark Cherry's project management capabilities. They meticulously coordinated each phase of the project, keeping us informed of progress and timelines along the way. Their attention to detail and proactive approach were instrumental in the successful development and launch of our website.
The final product delivered by Dark Cherry exceeded our expectations. Not only is the website visually appealing and user-friendly, but it also effectively reflects our brand identity and messaging. We are confident that it will serve as a valuable asset in enhancing our online presence.
It has been a pleasure partnering with them, and we look forward to future collaborations.
