Task
Generate more qualified bookings through the website, starting from a situation where recurring technical faults, an unreliable booking journey and incomplete tracking undermined campaign optimisation.
Case Study / Web Engineering + Performance Marketing / Zurich
Fix the technical foundation first. Then scale the budget.
Schwimmkanal.ch had a strong offering, but its website was not delivering it: recurring technical faults, an unreliable booking journey and campaigns without dependable data. Rather than increasing advertising spend, the system was repaired first. Revenue measurably attributed to the website then grew from around 1.500 to over 15.000 CHF per month.
$ scott@webuniverse:~$ case --project=schwimmkanal.ch --scope=fix,build,ads,tracking
STARTING POINT
≈ 1.500 CHF
Monthly revenue that could be attributed to the website
RESULT
15.000+ CHF
Monthly website-attributed revenue after the improvements
FACTOR
10×
Increase in website-attributed revenue
TECHNICAL FOUNDATION
Full Rebuild
Structure, processes and measurement rebuilt rather than patched individually
SUMMARY
The task, approach and result — in three paragraphs.
Approach
Audit before implementation: address the root causes and establish reliable measurement, then build a clear landing page architecture and only then scale Google Ads around search intent close to purchase.
Result
A stable technical foundation, traceable conversion data and significantly greater visibility in the target market — with measurable website-attributed revenue of over 15.000 CHF per month instead of around 1.500 CHF.
01 / FINDINGS
The problem was in the system, not just the marketing.
The audit identified five issues that reinforced one another. Without addressing their causes, additional campaigns would only have increased the losses.
| Symptom | Cause | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Bookings failed intermittently | A WordPress installation that had grown over the years, with plugin conflicts in the booking journey | Prospective customers ready to book were lost without this appearing in reporting |
| Recurring technical faults | Symptoms were patched while the underlying causes remained | Ongoing repair work instead of development, and a lack of confidence in the platform |
| No reliable conversion data | GA4, GTM and conversion measurement were only partially configured and did not cover completed bookings | Campaign decisions lacked a data foundation — optimisation depended on guesswork |
| Too few entry pages for a broad offering | All services were grouped on a few general pages | No message match between search query, ad and landing page |
| Limited visibility in the target market | Content did not systematically address search intent in the Swiss market | Demand existed, but other providers captured it |
02 / DECISION
Two options. One sustainable foundation.
The obvious approach
The quickest option would have been to focus on campaigns and accept the website as it stood.
- Fine-tune ad copy and bids
- Increase the budget for the existing pages
- Judge success by clicks and cost per click
- Accept technical faults as a given
The chosen approach
The order was reversed: increase the budget only when the system can support it.
- Reproduce faults and resolve their root causes
- Make the booking journey technically reliable
- Track through to completed bookings
- Create landing pages for each search intent rather than general-purpose pages
- Run ads afterwards — measurable and scalable
03 / IMPLEMENTATION
Audit. Stabilisation. Structure. Campaigns. Operations.
The sequence matters: each phase establishes the prerequisites for the next.
Phase 01 / Audit
Understand the system rather than treating symptoms
Technical weaknesses, user journeys, marketing data, search intent and existing processes were analysed together as one system.
- Fault analysis: reproduce issues and isolate their causes
- Review WordPress, plugins and the booking journey
- Assess loading times, stability and maintainability
- Review the GA4, GTM and conversion setup
- Analyse search intent and search terms in the target market
Phase 02 / Stabilisation
Build a reliable technical foundation
Before further marketing investment, the platform was repaired so that prospective customers could complete their journey.
- Technical faults resolved at their source rather than masked
- Plugin and template structure cleaned up
- Booking process made technically reliable
- Performance and loading times improved
- A maintainable foundation established for additional pages
Phase 03 / Structure
Landing page architecture for each search intent
A clear structure enabled service pages focused on specific demand — reproducible, consistent and suitable for conversion rate optimisation.
- Service areas positioned and separated more clearly
- New landing pages for services matching purchase intent
- Message Match: Search Query → Ad → Page → Booking
- Trust elements and short paths to booking
- A reusable page pattern for future services
Phase 04 / Campaigns & Measurement
Optimise ads on a measurable foundation
Google Ads was configured as part of the complete sales journey, with measurement through to booking rather than a focus on buying clicks in isolation.
- Campaigns and ad groups structured around intent
- Search term analysis and consistent use of negative keywords
- GA4, Google Tag Manager and conversion tracking fully configured
- Bookings used as the conversion goal rather than form views
- Budget allocation guided by qualified enquiries
Phase 05 / Operations
Measure, refine and scale
The funnel is reviewed continuously: search terms, ads, pages, bookings and technical faults. Improvements are guided by data rather than assumptions.
- Regular analysis of campaign and funnel data
- Iterative optimisation of pages and ads
- Technical monitoring and reduction of underlying causes
- Expansion of visibility into additional topic areas
04 / IMPACT
Stable technology, reliable measurement, multiplied website revenue.
Website-attributed revenue after implementation 15.000+ CHF per month — Factor 10×
Measurable monthly revenue attributed to the website rose from around 1.500 CHF to over 15.000 CHF. This result came from the combination of web development, troubleshooting, structure, tracking and campaign work, rather than a single change.
Monthly Comparison of Website-Attributed Revenue
How to interpret these figures
- “Website-attributed revenue” refers to bookings and enquiries that can be attributed to the website through the booking system and conversion tracking — not the company's total revenue.
- The baseline is the monthly average before the project began. The result is the stabilised value after the implementation phases were completed.
- The 10× factor is rounded and represents the ratio of these two values.
- Visibility and awareness are described qualitatively because they cannot be reduced to a single metric.
- Results are specific to this project. The starting point, market and competition also affect the outcome — these results are not a promise for other projects.
05 / LESSONS
What this project teaches us.
- Advertising spend amplifies every fault More traffic makes an unreliable booking journey more expensive, not better. Address technical debt before scaling.
- Measurement is part of implementation Without conversion tracking through to booking, optimisation relies on interpretation. A complete data chain makes decisions verifiable.
- One page for each intent General-purpose pages can cost conversions. Aligning search intent, ads and landing pages creates an advantage before bidding begins.
TECHNOLOGY STACK
WordPressBooking SystemLanding PagesGoogle AdsGA4Google Tag ManagerConversion TrackingCROTechnical SEOPerformanceTroubleshooting
“The cheapest click is not the goal. What matters is a system that reliably turns demand into qualified bookings and measurable revenue — technically stable, traceable and scalable.”