Spinning a cycling brand
for the web
You’ve heard the phrase “once you learn how to ride a bike, you’ll never forget”.
And its true, but it’s not just the physical act of pedaling and balancing that that stick in your mind. Most of us recall the freedom of cruising around the neighborhood with friends, the gleam off of a brightly colored frame, or the smile when our own kids wobble down the sidewalk without training wheels.
Local bike shops are an extension of those memories and feelings. Walk into one and you’ll find not only two-wheeled wonders, but an inviting atmosphere full of knowledgable staff who eat, sleep and breathe cycling.
So how do you take all the wonderment of cycling combined with the heart of of a bike shop and translate it into a website?
That’s exactly the challenge that we faced with ProCycling, a Colorado Springs bike shop that needed to translate it’s brand to the web. Walk into ProCycling’s store and once you’re able to shake off the kid-in-a-candy-store gaze, you’ll be welcomed to a world that will leave you itching to get on a bike and outside.
Located in the aptly named Roundhouse (which at one time housed gold-bearing trains from Cripple Creek), ProCycling wanted to showcase its new location and its products online. In addition, they wanted to be able to keep the site fresh by having the ability to add new products and events on-the-fly. Reaching beyond the outline of the project, we felt it was important to not only create a site that was functionally sound, but one that captured the spirit of the store and it’s staff. The result is procyclingwarehouse.com. A custom site that strives to become a virtual extension of the brick-and-mortar shop.
The design
We created a clean, streamlined look for ProCycling that allows the images to take center stage. The simplified layout and limited color palette gives the site a high-end, professional feel while conversational text, vivid photography and clear navigation make the site approachable. Little details like the chain-link separators in the footer and the tire track through the mud on the homepage keep things interesting and add a sense of personality. The entire website is built in a modular fashion so that updates and additions to the site can be easily integrated.
Photography
Since extending the spirit of the new shop was so important, professionally photographed images were used throughout the site. The photographer was able to capture the beauty, detail and scale of the building, bikes and accessories in unique ways. It is crucial to highlight the importance of these images – the feel of the site would have been completely different without the photographer’s artistic vision. Check out the tops of each page or the gallery to see some of the breathtaking shots.
Content management
As stated before, ProCycling wanted the ability to make updates and additions to the site in-house, saving both time and money in the long-run. However, the ability to make changes is nothing without a system that’s easy to use and understand. For a site this size, Wordpress, a free open-source blogging and content management system was the perfect fit. Not only does the platform allow for easy updates (check out the Bike Fitting section that was added by the client), it also takes advantage of web technologies that make the site more functional.
For instance, we were able to use the blogging functions in Wordpress as a fast way for staff to use for the What’s New section. When someone adds a product, Wordpress places the newest items first with the current date. Product categories and tags can be added for sorting and the three newest products automatically show up on the homepage.
The future
ProCycling is a dynamic shop that has a lot of plans for the future. The web is by it’s very nature dynamic, allowing the site to grow and transform along with the company. Planned updates to the site include video testimonials, an e-newsletter and a live-inventory listing. With a solid foundation in place, these things can be added as needed with minimal investment.
We enjoyed working with ProCycling and helping them tread a new path, making their online experience as enjoyable as the one you get walking through their doors.
Are you working to make your site an extension of your brand? Tell us how you’re doing it in the comments.
