// web case study

// the problem

Christmas markets have always been popular in the UK and Europe but there was limited information about them online. ChristmasMarkets.com wanted to launch a web directory to act as a central source of information for market-goers and establish themselves as an authority on the subject. They offer market organisers the choice of a free listing or a paid ‘main market’ entry, as well as advertising opportunities to relevant sponsors.

// the solution

Fathom designed a whole new website and back-end database with advanced monitoring capability. The site includes revenue generating affiliate links to a number of partners. It has evolved since its introduction in 2006 and was re-launched in 2008.

// the results

Our search engine success means the website is ranked number 1 for Christmas Market searches on Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN. The PR support we’ve provided has resulted in coverage in the Daily Mail, BBC, Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph and The Times. At peak times, there are over 85,000 unique visitors and 300,000 page views per month.

Users leave the website feeling they have easily found the information they wanted. Market organisers get increased exposure, with some pages attracting up to 8,000 visits in the 3 months prior to Christmas. Advertisers benefit from timely and targetted exposure to market-goers.

ChristmasMarkets.com can track visitor journeys through the site, and see how many people click each link. This invaluable data enables the sales team to renew advertising slots and up-sell from free listings to paid entries.

// christmas markets

Website Case Study

WEBSITE:
www.christmasmarkets.com

PROJECT:
website update

INDUSTRY SECTOR:
leisure / holiday / directory

TIMESCALE:
6 weeks

TECHNOLOGY:
ASP.NET with AJAX, SOA enabled, SEO friendly, XHTML, CSS, Spry, SQL. Built on Fathom database API.

CLIENT COMMENT:

“Fathom are competent designers and developers (which is an unusual mix) who know what they’re doing and deliver on schedule. There are always teething problems with any new website, but they address them and sort them out quickly – which is not my experience with other web designers. With Fathom, we get irrefutable evidence how our website works, which directly helps us to refine and generate more revenue.”