Client Spotlight: Cello Bello

Client Spotlight: Cello Bello

One of the greatest perks of being part of a web development firm is working on a seemingly endless variety of fascinating projects with people from all walks of life. Every once in a while, however, our team gets to work on a project that serves as a major guidepost or touchstone for a particular human endeavor. These are those rare “go to” websites that catalog a knowledge, define an excellence, or even push an envelope. They are visited almost daily by their users and are heavily relied upon as a critical resource. Cellobello.com is just such a website.

Originally started in 2009 as an online repository for articles, lessons, classes, and interviews with accomplished cellists from the solo, chamber music, orchestral, and teaching professions, CelloBello has grown into a vibrant, global community where information on educational opportunities, jobs, and competitions are shared among cellists around the world. Livestreams and interactive chats bring the website into real time, giving users the opportunity to connect, network, and collaborate. And while there is a robust following on social media, the activity there only serves as an entry point to the immense value the website offers.

But CelloBello didn’t get to this stage accidentally. Like all successful web institutions, there were a lot of challenges along the way that required some careful planning, thoughtful implementation, and a good dose of robust web technology. A major turning point was in 2016 when, faced with an aging, non mobile-friendly website, a badly disconnected social media footprint, and a lack of meaningful analytics reporting, the administrators of CelloBello knew it was time for a complete revamp.

When Blink;Tech was called in to evaluate the situation, we saw the tremendous untapped potential for user functionalities and community growth on the website. This was primarily evident through the heavy traffic to the many CelloBello videos on YouTube. One of the first orders of business would be to direct more of the video traffic through the website, for better organization, a much better user experience, and clearer navigation of both the YouTube videos and the website’s vast sea of resources.

Another major issue that needed to be addressed was the website technology being used. Responsive web design (RWD) was a must to better serve the rapidly growing audience of mobile users. A user-friendly backend interface was also necessary to best serve the organizations growing staff of admins. They not only needed to be able to add and edit content, but also easily take care of administrative tasks like administering user roles and search engine optimization (SEO). The platform would also need to be easily scalable as new functionalities and interfaces could possibly be added in the near future. And all of this needed to be handled within the careful budgeting of a growing nonprofit.

In the end, WordPress was the obvious choice to serve the organization’s needs, and thanks to Blink;Tech’s robust hosting environment, the speed and security of the CelloBello WP environment would be up-to-par with the quality and scale this project demanded. Livestream and chat functionality were added to grow the website’s value and appeal to the enthusiastic YouTube audience, and a clearer path for donations was created.

Finally, Blink;Tech created customized reporting of the organization’s web traffic that utilized data visualization to make pertinent web analytics easier to understand and more meaningful to marketing and content creation. This reporting would also guide decision making in regards to future functionalities and even opportunities for growth of the organization in the offline world.

Not long after the new website went live, traffic to the site surged as cellists worldwide were more easily able to find, access, and navigate the extensive resources CelloBello had to offer. Users were coming from social platforms to the website and staying there, overjoyed with the user-friendly, community feel the new cellobello.com website offered. Because the CelloBello administrators could more easily edit and update the website, fresh and appealing content captivated new users and made them into returning users. The revamped CelloBello.com was a hit.

From the beginning, CelloBello set out to cultivate, educate, and invigorate cellists of all levels, regardless of age, location, or economic situation. The internet is unbeatable way to serve these lofty goals, but a robust, healthy, and safe web presence on that level requires a tremendous amount of communication, planning, and technical expertise to ensure that every user has the level of experience on the site that not only brings him or her back, but ensures that the spirit, purpose, and value of CelloBello to the worldwide cello community is undeniable. Blink;Tech is honored to have been part of that process.