Project Overview
Swiss Welding LLC is a premier metal fabrication and welding company based in the USA, specialising in custom railings, structural steel, and industrial fabrication projects. After years of running a dated WordPress site that failed to reflect the quality and precision of their craftsmanship, they partnered with Blend Designs for a complete digital transformation.
The result: a stunning new website built on Next.js 14 with a bold industrial design language that finally does justice to their exceptional metalwork — while dramatically improving performance, local SEO, and lead generation.
The Challenge
Swiss Welding's existing WordPress website had several critical problems holding the business back:
- Outdated design: The old site looked generic and didn't reflect the premium quality of their fabrication work — potential clients weren't impressed on first visit
- Slow performance: Page load times averaging 5–7 seconds on mobile, causing visitors to bounce before seeing the portfolio
- Poor Core Web Vitals: Failing LCP and CLS scores — directly suppressing their Google rankings for local fabrication keywords
- No portfolio showcase: High-resolution project images loaded slowly and weren't presented in a way that built trust with commercial clients
- Weak local SEO: The site structure wasn't optimised for location-based searches, missing opportunities from nearby businesses seeking fabrication services
- Low conversion rate: The "Get a Quote" journey was buried and friction-heavy, losing leads at the last step
- Plugin bloat: Constant WordPress plugin updates, compatibility issues, and security vulnerabilities consuming maintenance time
Our Solution: WordPress → Next.js Redesign
We rebuilt the entire platform from the ground up using Next.js 14's App Router, pairing it with a bold new visual identity that embodies Swiss Welding's industrial craftsmanship.
Technology Stack
- Framework: Next.js 14 with App Router and React Server Components
- Language: TypeScript for type safety and maintainable code
- Styling: Tailwind CSS with a custom industrial design system
- Database: Supabase (PostgreSQL) replacing WordPress's MySQL
- CMS: Custom headless admin panel replacing wp-admin
- Hosting: Vercel Edge Network for global CDN delivery
- Images: Next.js Image Optimisation with WebP/AVIF conversion
- Forms: Custom quote request system with email notifications via Resend
The New Design
The redesign centred on three pillars: Visual Impact, Speed, and Conversion.
- Industrial aesthetic: A bold, dark-toned design language using steel textures, strong typography, and high-contrast layouts that communicate strength and precision
- Hero portfolio showcase: Full-bleed, high-resolution project photography that loads instantly via Next.js Image optimisation and progressive loading
- Visual project gallery: Filterable portfolio grid allowing commercial clients to quickly find relevant fabrication examples by category (railings, structural, custom metalwork)
- Mobile-first responsive layout: Fully optimised for tradespeople and project managers browsing on-site from mobile devices
- Trust signals: Certifications, safety compliance badges, and client testimonials integrated throughout the conversion funnel
Key Features Delivered
- Conversion-centric quote flow: Strategically placed "Get a Quote" CTAs with a streamlined multi-step form that captures project details upfront, delivering qualified leads directly to the business owner
- Local SEO architecture: Site structure built from the ground up for location-based fabrication keywords, with structured data (LocalBusiness, Service schema) on every page
- Static generation with ISR: Portfolio pages are statically generated and revalidated on update, delivering CDN-speed page loads with dynamic content freshness
- Optimised image pipeline: All project photography converted to WebP/AVIF with responsive srcsets — high-res images load in under 500ms
- Service pages: Dedicated pages for each fabrication service (custom railings, structural steel, industrial fabrication) targeting specific search queries
- Sitemap & robots.txt: Dynamically generated XML sitemap ensuring complete Google indexation
- Dark/Light mode: System-aware theme with smooth transitions, catering to both office and on-site environments
Migration Process
The migration was executed carefully to ensure zero content loss and no disruption to existing SEO equity:
- Content audit: Full inventory of all WordPress pages, portfolio items, and media assets
- Data migration: All existing content migrated to Supabase, preserving slugs and metadata
- URL preservation: All existing WordPress URLs maintained via Next.js routing — no 404s, no lost rankings
- Image optimisation: All media assets re-processed through Next.js Image pipeline with WebP conversion
- Redirect mapping: Comprehensive redirect rules for any URL structure changes
- Parallel staging: New site staged and reviewed before DNS cutover
- Seamless launch: Zero-downtime DNS switch with instant rollback capability
Results
The new platform delivered measurable improvements across every key metric:
- 🚀 Page load time: Reduced from 5.4s to 0.8s (85% improvement)
- 📊 Core Web Vitals: All metrics now in the "Good" range (green across the board)
- 🔍 Local search visibility: +280% increase in Google impressions for fabrication keywords
- 📱 Mobile bounce rate: Reduced by 48%
- 📋 Quote requests: Increased by 320% through the new conversion-optimised flow
- 🔒 Security incidents: Zero since launch (vs. regular WordPress plugin vulnerabilities)
- 💰 Hosting costs: Reduced by 55% compared to managed WordPress hosting
Why Next.js Over WordPress?
For a trade and industrial business, Next.js provides fundamental advantages that WordPress can't match:
- Performance by default: Static generation means pages load from CDN edge nodes instantly — critical for mobile users on-site
- SEO control: Full control over metadata, structured data, and rendering strategy — no plugin conflicts or limitations
- Portfolio showcase: Next.js Image handles high-resolution fabrication photography natively with zero configuration
- No plugin hell: Every feature is purpose-built — no bloat, no compatibility issues, no monthly security patches
- Future-proof: Built on a modern stack that scales with the business, not locked into an ageing CMS
