The Chosen
Outcomes
🎉 TheChosen.TV Now Ranks #1 in SEO
🎉 TheChosen.TV Ranks Above Their Main Competitor, Angel Studios, In Search
🎉 775,000 average monthly users in 2024
Project Background
What is The Chosen?
The Chosen is a historical drama series based on the life of Jesus Christ. The series provides a more personal and intimate depiction of Jesus and his interactions with people, highlighting their personal struggles and growth. It has been well-received for its faithfulness to the source material and its fresh, engaging storytelling approach.
The Chosen's Site Ranked Poorly for SEO, Creating an Opportunity for a Redesign
The Chosen's main website had lower SEO rankings compared to other sites that offered its episodes. In particular, it ranked lower than their recently separated distribution partner, Angel Studios. To address this, I proposed redesigning their entire web ecosystem into a single, cohesive experience. This approach allowed the the client to enhance SEO optimization and provide a more seamless user experience.
Problems
Business Problem
The Chosen's main website ranked poorly in SEO
User Problem #1
The site did not accommodate for all user types and their needs
User Problem #2
The user's experience was inconsistent due to the web content being spread across different domains, which also contributed to poor SEO
Solution
Create a Single Site with SEO-Driven Content That Meets All User Needs
Why The Chosen had Poor SEO and User Experience
Their Digital Ecosystem was Inconsistent and Spread Across Different Domains
The client’s ecosystem of experiences was fragmented between different domains that had no way of navigating between each other, leading to poor SEO. Those domains did not look like part of the same brand or product, leading to an an inconsistent experience between each product for our users.
The old chosen ecosystem spread across different domains did not allow for horizontal navigation
No Single Domain Addressed All User Needs
Four types of users typically visited the ecosystem, each seeking a different experience: learning about the show, watching episodes, purchasing gifts, or a combination of these. However, because these experiences were spread across different domains that felt like entirely separate properties, users' needs were not consistently met.
The Chosen user types
The separate domains and their relevant users
Creating a Consistent, SEO-Driven Experience
We Proposed Unifying Domains Into One, Consistently Branded Site
To address the SEO issue, we proposed to merge all the separate domains experiences into a single domain, TheChosen.TV. This way, all the experiences would power a single domain instead of multiple. This consolidation would also allow users to navigate between different experiences that are relevant to them: discovering the show, watching episodes, purchasing products, and accessing bonus content. By unifying these experiences under the same branding guidelines, we created a consistent look and feel throughout the site.
Horizontally navigable mid fidelity wireframes under a single domain with relevant users
Horizontally navigable high fidelity designs under a single domain with relevant users
How Each Site Section Addresses User Needs and Boosts SEO
Each section of the site was specifically designed to address the needs of each user. Additionally, each section was conducive for new content to be uploaded which would drive up engagement time and increase relevant keywords for SEO optimization.
Results
🎉 TheChosen.TV Now Ranks #1 in SEO
By combining the experiences into one domain, we generated enough SEO power to rank #1 in search.
🎉 775,000 Average Monthly Users in 2024
With the launch of the new domain, we generated 775,000 average monthly users in 2024. This is 200,000 more than in 2023.
🎉 A More Consistent User Experience
The brand look & feel between each experience look more visually aligned, creating a more consistent user experience.
Caveats and Conclusions
Caveats
Initially, we planned to merge all domains into a single site experience. However, midway through the project, the client did not grant LERMA/ Agency control of all the domains. The domains where the users watched The Chosen and shopped for The Chosen are controlled by a 3rd party and the clients themselves, respectively. Consequently, we were unable to consolidate all domains into one site. To adapt, we created interim steps and pages to guide users to the gift experience and watching experience domains. While we couldn't achieve a complete domain merge, we successfully developed transitional pages with consistent branding to direct the users to separate experiences
Conclusions
At the time of writing, we are still developing additional transitional pages between TheChosen.TV and the other domains to ensure a smooth user experience. The unexpected pivot during the project taught me how to be flexible and adapt to changing project needs.
