Key TC Services
A smooth migration for a behind-the-scenes real estate pro
The Backstory
The “TC” in Key TC Services stands for Transaction Coordination - a vital behind-the-scenes role in the real estate world that helps keep deals moving along smoothly. Janine founded Key TC in 2017 and has been redefining what the role can offer ever since.
For years, Janine had been running her website on WordPress. By 2024, her template was not only getting pushed beyond its limits by her site’s growing needs but it was also out of date with WordPress - meaning that the website was about to be unusable in its current set up. Key TC’s website was at risk of being frozen in time, unable to change or improve, and increasingly unreliable for visitors - which would damage the company’s growth.
Janine was at a crossroads. She needed to fix her broken down WordPress but she also wanted a solution that would mature with her business rather than slow it down.
It was important to Janine to keep some of the initial look and feel of her WordPress alive in the new site, but SquareSpace opened up ways of being more expressive with that information. Knowing the content that we needed to present allowed for a more granular approach to the layout early on, making sure our bases were covered by the solution we eventually chose.
The Process
Shared Understanding
My first step in any project is to understand my client’s choices and rationality for their existing website. Shared context is everything in adding perspective to shape our path forward and find a fitting solution!
Janine had chosen WordPress because it was familiar and an easy bundled option with her GoDaddy webmail, making it the default option for launching her business quickly. Knowing that she wasn’t tied to any of her prior technical choices, we could explore the appropriate options.
Naming Needs
Before deciding on a platform, we identified what Key TC’s site needed to do. This list of needs would inform us about moving the site to another platform versus staying on WordPress.
The Key TC website is a marketing site to showcase Janine’s business model, highlight clients, and provide an easy way to get in touch. Despite its stated simplicity, even a straight forward site like this has unique requirements.
For Janine, WordPress had become a barrier. She wanted to be able to make dynamic page updates like adding client logos or updating team information without third party help - after years of having to get costly support for making minor changes to her WordPress site she knew she wanted an easier process that she could handle on her own. She also wanted to expand what the site could display - like more room for different types of client reviews without work arounds that would break every time WordPress’s version needed an update.
Equally important was recognizing what she liked about the existing site. Janine valued her content, branding, and visual assets. By honoring these, the redesign would feel familiar and collaborative rather than forced and alien.
Through these conversations one major goal became clear: Key TC is growing, and the website needed to support that growth rather than stunt it.
Accessing Options
With needs identified, we considered our options. Staying on WordPress was possible, but it carried the risk of templates or plugins becoming obsolete again. This would mean higher costs in the long term and potential business disruption. Plus, it didn’t solve for the self-serve aspect Janine was looking for.
To avoid repeating the same issues happening in WordPress again, we explored alternative platforms. Because making her own updates was a high priority, SquareSpace emerged as the best fit. Its trial period allowed us to test the framework and secure Janine’s buy-in before any financial commitment.
We made sure to mitigate the pain points that were present in WordPress. One such was Key TC’s impressive list of growing clients they work with. Now Janine has a way to add new client logos to this list without worrying about how the design adapt as it grows!
Building with a Growth Mindset
Collaborate Early (and Often)
Since Janine liked her existing website’s copy, I used it as a blueprint. This gave me time to focus on design improvements, such as making content easier to read on phones - where most of her traffic was coming from - while keeping it polished on desktop.
To give Janine confidence in making her own edits, I built structured update flows. Client logos could be added and team headshots could be swapped out using list functionality, which automatically adjusted formatting. This created a truly no-code experience for her and eliminated the need of costly ongoing tech support!
Keep the Big Picture in Mind
To help set Key TC up for growth, I optimized the site for search visibility. This is something that SquareSpace really shines in; and by restructuring the content and auditing metadata, I positioned the site to generate more organic leads.
This wasn’t a request from Janine, but it aligned with her vision so we made it part of our plan. And it worked. After launch, Key TC saw a 20% increase in organic search leads. Even more exciting, Janine began signing larger clients who found her by Googling for a transaction coordinator - a first for her business!
These kinds of improvements show why a migration can be transformative. Janine thought she just needed a fix for her broken site, but by listening closely, I was able to deliver a site that not only worked better but also helped her business grow.
Part of Key TC’s glow up on SquareSpace was adding call to action sections, like this! Inbound leads for Janine drastically improved with this migration, part of that is better attention to getting potential clients to take action.
The Outcome
The new site didn’t just look better for Janine’s clients - it worked better for her. Janine could now make her own updates easily and quickly, without needing exterior help.
Now, Key TC has:
A modern, lower-maintenance site
Better visibility in search
Improved inbound lead generation
Fewer barriers to small, everyday updates
Sometimes, a platform switch is more than a technical choice - it’s a business move. For Janine and Key TC, it paid off.
“I had such a great experience working with Brittany on my website! She vastly improved the overall design from the basic template I had originally used, and visitor interaction has significantly increased. She also suggested features and adjustments that I hadn’t even considered - like how it looks on mobile devices, and having my Google reviews automatically also post to my site. Brittany really listened to what I needed, then expanded on those ideas in ways that made my site both more effective and more user-friendly.”
— Janine Valentine, Founder of Key TC Services