Paul Breitkreuz teaches padel to beginners in Paphos, in German, English and Russian. His site ran on a site builder, and most visitors came by phone. We rebuilt it. This is what we changed, and why.
More movement. Faster all the same.
The racket swings, the level gauge counts along, the ball flies into the page. On a phone the main content still shows after 3.3 s instead of 10.4 s.
BeforeAfter
Drag to compare. Both pictures show the top of the home page on a desktop.
3.3 s instead of 10.4 s until the main content shows on a phone
290 KB instead of 1,653 KB for the home page on a phone
24 instead of 70 requests to servers while loading
1 page instead of 4 for the content to be spread over
Where it started
A decent site that made things hard for its visitors.
The old site was not bad. It had Paul's colours, good photos and real reviews. But it described where it should have convinced, and it spread its answers over four pages: home, questions, reviews, about me.
In our test, a visitor on a phone waited more than ten seconds for the most important picture. The prices sat in a list you had to unfold. Anyone who wanted to book had to work out what to write.
Then there was a blog of 13 articles, which is how the site gets found on Google. The rebuild was not allowed to harm it.
What we changed
Six decisions, each with a reason.
1
A promise instead of a description
The top of the page used to say what Paul offers: padel coaching for beginners in Paphos. Now it says what the visitor gets: confident on court in 90 days. Beside it, a small gauge shows the way from level 0.5 to 2.0.
Why Someone who arrives from an ad decides within seconds whether to stay. A result holds them better than a list of services. The figures come from Paul's own programme. We only moved them to the front.
BeforeAfter
2
The objections first
Right after the opening, the page takes up what holds beginners back: never held a racket, don't know the rules, no partner to play with. Each line is struck through and answered.
Why These worries used to sit on a questions page of their own, which hardly anyone opens. The answers come from Paul's own questions and from his players' reviews. None of it is made up.
3
One page instead of four
Questions, reviews and Paul's story are no longer pages of their own but sections of a single one. The visitor scrolls and gets everything in the order they need it.
Why On a phone, every change of page is a place where people leave. So that nothing gets lost, all twelve old addresses lead to the right place on the new page, in all three languages.
HomeQuestionsReviewsAbout me
→
One pageHomeQuestionsReviewsAbout me
4
The way as a rally
Paul's programme has four steps. We show them as one rally on a padel court: with every scroll the ball flies one shot further, the camera follows it, and the level gauge counts from 0.5 to 2.0. Anyone who has asked their phone for less motion gets the same page at rest.
Why “From 0.5 to 2.0 in 90 days” is only a claim at first. The rally shows what happens in between, and the visitor sees their level rise before they have booked a single lesson. Padel is a sport, not a form: the movement is the reason you keep scrolling. It is built so that it does not slow the page down.
5
A price calculator instead of a price list
The old site had thirty prices in four lists to unfold. Now you tap how many are coming, when, for how long and how often, and read one number. It counts along with every tap. Below it you see the cost per session and per person, and what a pack saves.
Why Someone who has to work out a price often does not, and leaves. Four taps are quicker than four lists, and at the end there is exactly your own price, not a “from”. The figures are Paul's own prices. We only took over the arithmetic.
BeforeAfter
6
WhatsApp instead of a form
Paul's enquiries come in on WhatsApp. So every button leads there, and none opens an empty chat: depending on where the visitor taps and what they chose, the fitting message is already written, in their language. All that is left is to send it.
Why An empty chat is where beginners give up: they do not know what to write. The finished message takes that hurdle away. Paul reads at once who is coming, when and at what price, and can answer with a date. Every tap on a WhatsApp button is recorded, so it shows which part of the page brings the enquiries.
Paul PadelPadel coach in Paphos
Price calculator: 2 players, from 4 pm, pack of 5
Hi Paul, I'd like to book padel coaching: 2 players, From 4 pm, 60 minutes, Pack of 5. The website says €430.
First lesson: two of us, on holiday
Hi Paul, I would like to book a first padel lesson. There are two of us. I am here on holiday. When would you have time?
This is how WhatsApp opens. The visitor only taps send.
What can be measured
Faster, lighter, fewer detours.
Measured on the day of the switch with Lighthouse, Google's own testing tool. Old and new site under the same conditions.
Main content visible on a phone
Before 10.4 sAfter 3.3 s
Page weight on a phone
Before 1,653 KBAfter 290 KB
Phone before
Phone after
Desktop before
Desktop after
Performance (out of 100)
62
90
90
100
Main content visible
10.4 s
3.3 s
1.9 s
0.6 s
Page weight
1,653 KB
290 KB
1,829 KB
279 KB
Requests to servers
70
24
75
24
New site: the middle value of three runs. Old site: one run, before it went offline. Tracking switched off on both.
The move
Switched over without anything standing still.
A new site is worth nothing if visitors, rankings or tracking data get lost on the way. So the move itself was a piece of work of its own.
The ads kept running through the switch. There was no moment in which a visitor landed on nothing.
All twelve addresses of the old site lead on, the German and Russian ones too.
The blog stayed where it was, untouched. It is rebuilt in the new design and moves in a second step, article by article.
Tracking for the ads runs as before. New: every tap on a WhatsApp button is recorded on its own.
The old site was kept as a way back. We did not need it.
BeforeAfter
