Some possibilities of modular design
This post is long overdue as I've been meaning to write it for ages! When I took on the task of rebuilding our company microsites, over two years ago, it was an easy decision to turn to Wordpress as the CMS. In particular I am a big fan of the Elegant Themes template Divi. This takes all of the complication out of a website build in that it is so malleable. So what is it about the way it uses 'modules' which made it really appeal to me as an innovative way to build and maintain our microsites?

As we all know content management systems allow website owners to manage content, sometimes tens of thousands of pages, via easy-to-use interfaces. This is primarily done by using reusable 'templates'. On average around 10 different templates for each website. However, these templates are just that - formulated structures that are ultimately not very flexible.

Divi has a massive selection of potential modules
In essence, Web content management systems don’t control content at all. They simply control webpages. It would make more sense to call them template management systems or page management as that's where the majority of the control exists.

Content can be a blog post, a collection of data in tabular format, a video, a graphic, or a list of items. It can be almost anything, yet existing CMS platforms are focused on making the content creator live within the mould of the system that has been created.

Templates are a prime example of that. They are rigid in behavior, making editing pages which need to do specific things difficult. It’s hard to move parts of a template around. If you do, it usually makes more sense to create an entirely new template. It’s also difficult to control what content populates a piece of a template, in a dynamic way. And because templates are so inflexible, the content stops being content. 

Traffic routes for modular buildings can prove a challenge!
So it's time to take back control and to move to a modular system! This was first introduced to me a few years ago via Divi and the concept is something which has been used for years in all types of manufacturing. For example, at Kier we have embraced modular building where 4,000-square foot houses are built elsewhere and bought in on trucks. Pretty much all manufacturing is based on this theory of reusable parts.

How does this theory benefit web design? By changing our perspective from the design and management of templates, to instead the design and management of pieces of content or design. I've heard them referred to as widgets, modules or building blocks and they can just slot together in countless different ways.

To build in WordPress using the Divi theme we now simply create a new page, select the column layout and then the types of content which appear in order. For example, we may want an image above some text or something more bespoke like a filterable portfolio or contact form. We can then edit them on the fly right from the page editor. If you want to reorder the modules just reposition them up or down on the page or move the columns. It’s easy.

To take this to the next level, true modular web design starts at the design stage if the CMS is flexible enough to handle it. During this process a developer cannot create modules based on a template as they do not understand what a marketer does and doesn’t need to accomplish. This needs to be a collaboration from the beginning.

I am a massive advocate of all websites being built this way. Templates are bloated, antiquated concepts. They have a large amount of dependencies between themselves. Modules are flexible and adaptable. An entire webpage should be a set of modules from top navigation down to the footer navigation. This massively aids iterative design as a methodology of constant improvement. It also makes the job of the web editor very easy.

Modular designs are cheaper and quicker to develop too. Even if you only have 5 modules built a new site can be launched with hundreds of page possibilities. Launching the site as a minimum viable product still means it can have a measure of uniqueness that a template driven site can’t achieve.

This is a massive topic and one I no doubt will revisit as we move into the redesign of our new company website. The future and possibilities of  modular web design are very exciting and extend far beyond our use of themes in our microsite provision. By building this methodology in from an early stage it solves many problems without being too complex a concept or too complicated to manage.
We won! On our third attempt at bringing home the coveted Construction Marketing Award we collected it in true style at the biggest ceremony yet. In all honesty if we didn't win for our 'Shaping Your World' campaign then we never would have won!

Being awarded the 'Best Contractor Marketing Campaign' is testament to almost a year's worth of work. We have lived and breathed this for so long (with all of the various complexities) that now seeing how well received it has been, in the business and beyond, is amazing. I've already had over 100 likes and comments on my LinkedIn post announcing our win - and we're still only at the beginning of something we intend to keep growing. Delivering something of this scale required work from all disciplines - marketing, PR and internal communications so we can all be equally proud of this achievement.

The judges comments on the campaign were:

"A great project, focused on a really urgent challenge for the industry. Initial response looks very encouraging. Creative and innovative, a great campaign, well executed".

That's why we got to take home the trophy and giant foam hand...

As the six of us made our way up to London for the ceremony spirits were high. After finally settling on our outfits (I had a tough decision to make between black tie and black BOW tie - it's not easy being a man) we headed to the Radisson Blu in Portman Square.

Kerry Godliman
Comedian Kerry Godliman compered the evening where we were one of the only contractors in attendance. This didn't matter though - we were shortlisted in the 'Contractor' category after all! It can be a lot of work writing these awards submissions but the value of them cannot be underestimated. For one it's a celebration of the team's hard work in getting us there so it was up to us to enjoy it! It also helps spread the reach of our campaign further and, as I've already seen on LinkedIn, works as an impetus to get some genuine employee advocacy on social media.

Personally, I found the process of writing the submission was a lot of work but allowed me to distill down the main elements - thus helping me to concisely sell it in to clients and colleagues. Compiling all of the analytics meant I could also use these for reporting internally. With so many metrics the important part is focusing on which best prove success and teach us the lessons of how to enhance it yet further. 

Shaping Your World hits the big screen
Whilst I have continued to win personal awards (mainly for this blog!) I am very pleased to finally have one for the work delivered by the team. I feel that with this award I have now fully transitioned to the B2B private sector. At times this has been pretty challenging as getting to grips with a business this size is no mean feat! However, without excellent knowledge of the business no marketer can get anywhere close to succeeding. The changing nature of all business means that this is an never ending job but it definitely stops boredom setting in.

This also helps enthuse and excite about the scale of what is being done. By caring and admiring the work delivered it's a much easier job to sell it - and we are all salespeople whether we like it or not. 

There is no wind-down for Christmas for our team as we host our annual client drinks at the Imperial War Museum back in London tonight. Kier deliver all of the facilities management to the IWM so it's a very apt venue. My role has mainly been around the creative elements of the invitations and how we continue to promote 'Shaping Your World' to all audiences. With an award in my pocket and a giant foam hand this will be much easier than it would have been this time last week!
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