Better Food Traders
Better Food Traders needed a website that could do more than explain what the organisation stands for. Following a light brand refresh, we redesigned the site to create a cleaner, clearer experience for both businesses and consumers, while building a dedicated members' area that gives traders practical tools, resources and ongoing support.
- Website design
Client Overview
Better Food Traders is a UK-wide network representing and promoting locally rooted food traders that put people and planet first. Its members include shops, bakeries, online sellers, food hubs, market stalls, veg box schemes and local producers working towards a fairer, more sustainable food system.
The organisation has several audiences to consider. Consumers need an easy way to understand what Better Food Traders represents and find businesses that share those values. Existing and prospective members need information, support and clear routes into the network. Better Food Traders also works across campaigns, research, policy and partnerships.
The website needed to bring all of that together without making the experience feel complicated.
The Challenge.
Better Food Traders had completed a light refresh of its brand and needed the website to follow suit.
The challenge wasn’t simply visual. The new site had to communicate the organisation’s purpose clearly while serving 2 distinct audiences.
For consumers, it needed to make the idea of buying better food easy to understand and give people clear routes towards finding Better Food Traders.
For businesses, the site needed to explain the benefits of becoming part of the network, support membership enquiries and provide existing members with a useful digital space of their own.
Behind the public website, Better Food Traders also needed a comprehensive members’ area where resources, training content, videos, events and membership administration could sit in one place.
Our Approach
We started by looking at the different reasons someone might arrive on the website and making those journeys easier to follow.
Rather than trying to tell every visitor everything at once, the structure gives consumers, prospective members and existing members clearer routes towards the information and actions that matter to them.
The refreshed brand provided the visual direction. Our job was to translate it into a digital experience that felt clean, approachable and straightforward while giving the Better Food Traders team enough flexibility behind the scenes to support a growing network.
A clean, clear website for 2 audiences
The public-facing website was redesigned around clarity. Better Food Traders has an important story to tell, but the subject of food systems, sustainability and ethical trading can quickly become complex. We used clear page structures, considered content hierarchy and simple calls to action to help visitors understand what the organisation does and decide where they want to go next.
Consumers can explore what Better Food Traders stands for and find ways to support more sustainable food businesses. Traders can understand the membership model, the standards behind the network and the practical support available to members. The live site now presents membership benefits including training, peer support, events, a resource library and marketing support.
A members' area that supports the network
A major part of the project sits behind the public website. We created a dedicated members’ section that gives Better Food Traders a central place to support its network throughout the year.
Members can access resources and videos, keep up with relevant events and manage their membership subscription. Bringing these functions together makes the website more than a communications platform. It becomes a practical part of the membership experience.
That was particularly important for an organisation built around sharing knowledge and bringing independent traders together. Better Food Traders already provides training, peer learning, business advice and opportunities for members to connect, so the digital experience needed to support that same sense of usefulness and community.
Strong SEO foundations from the start
We don’t manage Better Food Traders’ SEO, so this wasn’t an SEO project.
We did, however, build the website with strong SEO foundations so the organisation and its SEO team have a solid platform to work from. That meant considering page structure, content hierarchy, internal navigation and the technical foundations that make important information easier for search engines as well as people to understand.
It is an important distinction. Good website development shouldn’t make future search activity harder. The foundations should support it.
The result
Clearer journeys for every audience
A cleaner, more focused website makes it easier for consumers, prospective members and existing members to find the information and actions most relevant to them.
Strong foundations
The site was developed with clear structure, sensible content hierarchy and strong SEO foundations, giving Better Food Traders a platform that can support future content and digital activity.
A practical members’ area
Resources, videos, events and subscription management now sit within one dedicated member experience, giving Better Food Traders a more useful platform for supporting its network.
Client Testimonial
Karim and his team did an absolutely amazing job with the launch of our new website at Better Food Traders. Always helpful and going over and above to answer our questions and resolve problems quickly.
