Overview

Photography Business Institute (PBI) is a coaching program for portrait photography business owners, focused on helping studios price, package, and market profitably. The engagement centered on a full rebrand and domain migration from Joy of Marketing to Photography Business Institute, a new Figma-driven design system, and a custom WordPress build. We migrated years of content, executed Google’s Change of Address, and put SEO-ready architecture in place with high-contrast, accessible UI and prominent CTAs for programs, events, blog, and podcast.

Client quick facts

  • Client: Photography Business Institute — Coaching for portrait photography businesses
  • Platform / Stack: WordPress (custom theme), Figma (design system), SEO-ready templates
  • Services Delivered: Brand & design system (Figma), custom WordPress development, IA & UX, content migration, redirect mapping, Google Change of Address, on-page & technical SEO, schema implementation, blog & podcast hubs

Client Goals & Pain Points

Context

The brand was widely associated with its founder (Joy of Marketing) and needed to expand appeal and discoverability as a program-centric institute. The legacy site structure and domain risked losing hard-won organic value during the transition.

Goals

  • Rebrand from Joy of Marketing to Photography Business Institute with a scalable design system
  • Replatform to WordPress and migrate legacy content without losing SEO equity
  • Shift positioning from founder-centric to program-centric messaging
  • Improve accessibility (contrast, type scale) and surface clear, large CTAs
  • Elevate and organize blog, podcast, resources, and events for SEO

Pain Points

  • Domain and identity change with risk to rankings and backlinks
  • Fragmented content and thin architecture for long-tail discovery
  • Lower accessibility (contrast/type) and unclear next steps to programs
  • No consolidated schema or internal linking strategy

Success Criteria

  • Seamless redirect coverage and Change of Address completion
  • Fast, stable performance on core templates (achieved ~2.3s desktop)
  • Clear information scent from blog/podcast/resources to program actions
  • SEO-ready structure and schema across key content types

Approach & Strategy

Discovery & UX

  • Content inventory and migration map from Joy of Marketing → PBI
  • IA designed around Programs, Blog, Podcast, Resources, Events, and About
  • Journeys defined for “learn → evaluate → join/speak to advisor”

Design System (Figma)

  • New identity, typography, color tokens, and component library emphasizing high contrast and readability
  • Page-level templates and reusable patterns for hero, proof, FAQs, and CTAs
  • Founder → Institute reframing baked into headlines, modules, and navigation

Development (WordPress)

  • Custom theme with structured post types/taxonomies for Programs, Blog, Podcast, Resources, and Events
  • Migration pipelines and 301 redirect map to preserve legacy URLs and signals
  • Executed Google Search Console Change of Address, updated sitemaps/robots, and verified coverage
  • Block patterns to keep publishing consistent without dev dependency

SEO Foundation

  • On-page optimization (titles, metas, H1/H2/H3), canonical strategy, internal linking
  • Schema across templates: Organization, WebSite, BreadcrumbList, Article (blog), PodcastSeries/PodcastEpisode, FAQPage
  • Image optimization, minified assets, caching, and deferred non-critical scripts

Lead Capture & CTAs

  • Prominent, persistent Join/Apply and Speak with an Advisor CTAs across program and content templates
  • End-of-article and sidebar CTAs on blog and podcast pages to move readers into the funnel

Key Features (Technology & UX)

  • Rebrand & Domain Migration — End-to-end identity shift with redirects and Change of Address to protect rankings
  • Program-Centric Architecture — Clear program pages with supporting proof, FAQs, and next steps
  • Education Hubs — Organized Blog and Podcast for topical authority and discovery
  • Accessible, High-Contrast UI — Larger base type, clear hierarchy, and readable components
  • SEO-Ready Templates — Semantic structure and schema embedded across content types

Performance & SEO Highlights

  • Load time (desktop): ~2.3s fully loaded after image optimization, efficient assets, and caching
  • Markup & Structure: Single H1 per template, logical headings, descriptive alt text
  • Indexability: Legacy content migrated; redirects in place; Change of Address processed
  • Schema Coverage: Organization, WebSite, BreadcrumbList, Article, PodcastSeries/PodcastEpisode, FAQPage

Results

  • Brand successfully transitioned from Joy of Marketing to Photography Business Institute without losing organic equity
  • ~2.3s desktop load, improving user experience and crawl efficiency
  • Program-first messaging and prominent CTAs improved clarity of next steps
  • Blog and podcast hubs established for ongoing SEO growth and community engagement