How we took back control of our Landing Pages using Gatsby JS

The problem

We have to manage hundreds of landing pages, so we built our own tools for designing, building and hosting our landing pages. We used a modular templating system, and it was great for a time:

• mobile first
• good load times
• a nice set of UI components and customization options

So why change? Well, we developers have seen that way too often: too many new features without rethinking the whole thing, many developers working on the project one after another, and… Tadaaaa! Now we have a plate of spaghetti that’s hard to maintain…

Moreover, the modular template we thought were future-proof became a liability: impossible to fix something without risking breaking something else. It worked as is, but nobody wanted to take the risk to touch anything. No new features, the end…

The idea

We need something new

The Challenges We Faced

• Description of the initial state of the landing pages
  • Technical debt
  • Performance issues
  • Inconsistent design and branding
• Specific examples of the pain points
  • Hard to make quick updates
  • Difficulty in maintaining SEO best practices
  • Long load times affecting user experience

Why We Chose Gatsby JS

• Key benefits of Gatsby JS
  • Performance improvements
  • Better developer experience
  • Enhanced SEO capabilities
• Comparison with other options we considered (e.g., traditional CMS, other static site generators)
• Decision-making process and key factors

The Migration Process

• Step-by-step overview of the migration
  • Setting up the development environment
  • Converting existing pages to Gatsby
  • Integrating with CMS or data sources (if applicable)
• Tools and plugins used
  • Gatsby plugins for performance, SEO, images, etc.
• Challenges faced during the migration and how we overcame them
  • Technical challenges
  • Team collaboration and training

Results and Benefits

• Quantitative improvements
  • Page load times before and after
  • SEO metrics improvement
  • Traffic and conversion rate changes
• Qualitative improvements
  • Easier content updates
  • Consistent branding and design
  • Better developer experience

Best Practices and Tips

• Tips for others looking to migrate to Gatsby JS
  • Planning the migration
  • Optimizing performance
  • Leveraging Gatsby’s ecosystem
• Common pitfalls to avoid
• Resources for learning Gatsby JS

Conclusion

• Summary of the transformation
• Encouragement for others facing similar issues
• Call to action or next steps for readers

Additional Resources

• Links to Gatsby JS documentation
• Relevant tutorials and articles
• Tools and plugins mentioned in the article

Author Bio

• Brief bio about the author
• Contact information or social media links

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