Bicycle Universe is an international cycling affiliate website founded in 2002. It was acquired from its previous owner in June 2017 when my involvement with the site started.
Objectives
Results
Convert HTML site to WordPress
Bicycle Universe started out as an HTML site. When it was acquired in June 2017, the new owner chose to move it to WordPress.
The migration from HTML to WordPress was completed using the Schema theme with customizations.
HTML Version
WordPress Version
Migrate .info to .com
In December 2018, the decision was taken to migrate Bicycle Universe from its .info domain to its .com domain and rebrand with the Foodica theme.
Every effort was made to ensure a smooth transition. The site was first migrated to the .com domain, where development was completed. Once the new design and setup was approved, we proceeded with the migration of traffic to the domains.
We commenced with a site-wide redirect from .info to .com, since the URL structure remained the same. Thereafter, we used the Google Change of Address Tool as well as the Bing Site Move Tool to notify the biggest search engines about the migration.
Due to the simultaneous change of the theme, traffic only normalized after about 6 weeks. It has since increased exponentially.
Migrate from WP Engine to WPX Hosting
Due to increased traffic and the resulting rising costs, the decision was made in June 2019 to migrate Bicycle Universe from WP Engine (limited by visits and bandwidth per month) to WPX Hosting (limited by higher bandwidth per month) at a comparable price point.
The migration was completed without incident or downtime.
Child Theme Customization
Bicycle Universe uses several sections of customized code throughout the site. Most notable are subscription boxes in site content on single posts. These integrate with ConvertKit for marketing automation.
On-Site SEO
While Bicycle Universe originally used Yoast SEO, it has moved to Rank Math SEO, which has many features in its free version that other plugins have in premium versions.
SEO is continuously attended to as new articles are published, with regular reviews throughout each year.
Site Security
While WPX Hosting already implements its own robust security across its servers, Bicycle Universe also implements custom Cloudflare rules as well as the WordFence plugin for increased on-site security.
Site Speed Optimization
Foodica is a speed optimized theme that works well with Jetpack’s Site Accelerator to automatically optimize and deliver images on the site.
Besides WPX Hosting’s own speed optimizations, we also implemented WP Rocket to cache resources and optimize delivery.
Other resources are served over Cloudflare’s CDN, with small speed improvements through some changed settings.
Google Search Console and Google Analytics
Bicycle Universe uses both GSC and GA to monitor traffic and improve performance. This is a continuous process which has resulted in a deep understanding of strategies that work to drive traffic to the site.
Continued Support
Since June 2017, my relationship with Bicycle Universe continues. A thorough knowledge of the content and aims of the site gives me a unique ability to assist in many ways that are not possible with once-off projects.
