Catching Up with Chicago Blues Camp: How Their Website Aids in Their Success

Catching Up with Chicago Blues Camp: How Their Website Aids in Their Success

Almost a year ago, Human Pixel helped Chicago Blues Camp migrate from Adobe Business Catalyst and then created a professional & brand new WordPress website for them. Fast forward to today, we decided to catch up with them to see how it has helped their Organisation.

The Organisation

Before we go deep in detail, let’s talk about the Organisation first.

Held annually a week before the Chicago Blues Festival, the Camp is an opportunity for enthusiasts to get together and hone their knowledge and skills in authentic Chicago Blues. The Camp’s Executive Director Brett Champlin launched it a few years ago after noticing a missing piece in the Blues community. He said that while there are different guitar workshops & conferences out there, almost none focused on the blues. Chicago Blues in particular—and he wanted to change that. Hence, the Camp was born.

Other than its focus, what makes the Camp unique are its venue, instructors and activities. It’s held in Chicago and the Masters who teach the style are all locals who tour around the world. Most of them were born and raised in the city and learned the blues there. They give lectures on the style’s history and provide hands-on sessions on how to play different instruments.

Then to truly immerse the students, the Camp also schedules outings to see performers play in world-class Chicago blues venues. Moreover, the Camp recently added an Ensemble class where students perform and the Masters critique their performance. They tell them how they can improve as if in a professional recording studio.  All attendees and Masters in the Camp are present during the session which enables everyone to learn.

The Partnership

Since its launching four years ago, the Organisation continues to grow. But the announcement of Adobe Business Catalyst’s discontinuation hampered that growth last year. This caused a huge problem because Business Catalyst was their website’s platform—and their site was the gateway to their event. Hence, they needed to move to a new platform and do it fast.

And as if by fate, Human Pixel crossed paths with Chicago Blues Camp not long after.

“It was great to find somebody who’s focused on the problem. [To find somebody] who understood us, our problem & understood what we needed and had the skills to make that happen.”

– Brett Champlin, Chicago Blues Camp Executive Director

We knew what we had to do to help them continue growing. After talking with the Organisation more and making the necessary assessments, we went to work. We performed the following services:

  • Migration from Adobe Business Catalyst to WordPress
  • Implementation of WordPress onto Human Pixel’s fast business-grade servers
  • Replication of existing design, as requested
  • Improvement of Camp registration functionality
  • PayPal integration
  • SSL Certificate installation
  • Google Analytics installation
  • Google Webmaster Tools installation
  • Quality Assurance Testing

We chose WordPress as the new platform for Chicago Blues Camp’s new website because of its versatility and user-friendly nature.

“I don’t have any experience with WordPress. I wasn’t really convinced that it was the way to go but they convinced me that it was a professional platform that can handle our business and serve us well. And it’s proving to be very successful in that way.”

– Brett

Other than making their website informative, the Organisation wanted to provide ease of use for everyone, from registration to payments to content management. So, we delivered just that.

The site’s PayPal integration allows the convenient and secure collection of payments online. New registrants are also automatically added to the Camp’s drip-fed email campaigns, making it easier for the Organisation to update them with the latest news. Moreover, the Organisation can modify the website’s content anytime with the easy-to-use content management system (CMS) we set up for them.

The Success

With everything that’s been implemented on the new Chicago Blues Camp’s website, processes became smoother and quicker for the Organisation.

“Everything’s done through the new website.”

– Brett

New students can now register with ease and make their payments conveniently. They can also sign up for different classes. Additionally, the Organisation can track the number of registrants in real-time. All of these done via the website.

That said, Chicago Blues Camp’s new website proved to be a huge factor in the success of the latest edition of the Camp. More students came including overseas attendees from Australia, UK, Canada, Brazil and Switzerland.

“I don’t know how we would have handled the Camp if Human Pixel hadn’t moved us quickly to the new website.”

– Brett

The Continuing Partnership

Even though our project with Chicago Blues Camp already wrapped up, it doesn’t mean it ended there. We continue to work alongside them through Lifetime Warranty to help them get the most out of their website.

So, if you’re one of the many Organisations affected by Adobe Business Catalyst’s discontinuation, our team can help you move to a new and better platform through our cost-effective & end-to-end website migration service.

“For anybody who needs to convert [their website] from Adobe Business Catalyst and needs somebody who understands the platform, I highly recommend Human Pixel.”

– Brett

About Author

Catching Up with Chicago Blues Camp: How Their Website Aids in Their Success

Adam WInchester

Experienced Technology Leader with Nearly Three Decades of Impactful Achievements | Driving Business Transformation with Data-Driven Solutions | CRM and ERP Expert With an extensive career spanning nearly three decades, Adam brings a wealth of experience and expertise across various industries and software applications.