Community West Bank
Services we provide:
- Discovery
- Strategy
- UX/UI design
- Website development
- Xperience by Kentico implementation
About Community West Bank
CWB is a large community bank in southern California with over 20+ locations and a track record of financial strength, security and stability gained over its 44 years in business. CWB has set itself apart from other banks by its people, dedication to client advocacy, exemplary "relationship banking," strong community support and a mission to exceed expectations. With a passion for providing customized solutions, the merger drove the decision to revamp their digital services to better serve their customers.
The Process
In an era where digital presence is critical to financial institutions and mergers are frequent, the successful merger of Community West Bank (CWB) and Central Valley Bank (CVB) depended on a robust and well-executed digital strategy, critical to providing a seamless user experience for customers and employees. SilverTech, leveraging its expertise in Xperience by Kentico website development, customized a digital solution that unified the brands of these two banks into one cohesive user-friendly digital experience in just 4 months from start to launch.
The Challenges
The merger of CWB and CVB presented unique challenges, particularly in integrating two distinct digital landscapes into a single cohesive website. The biggest challenges included:
- Differing Content Strategies: CWB's site was optimized for SEO with a rich content library, while CVB's site focused more on detailed product pages. Balancing these different content approaches was crucial.
- Short Timeline: The project needed to be completed with a demanding timeline, delivering a high-quality, functional website, from planning to launch in less than four months.
- Outdated Technology: The old CWB site suffered from poor mobile optimization, slow speeds, outdated information, and a lack of interactive features. This hindered customer engagement and usability.
Goals for New Site
SilverTech identified four main goals for CWB's new website with the main goal of unifying the brands. The merger of the two banks presented a unique opportunity to take advantage of the best from both brands.
Solution and Implementation
Based on the insight gained, SilverTech devised a comprehensive strategy roadmap to address the challenges and deliver a seamless digital experience for the bank merger. It was SilverTech's recommendation that Kentico's newest hybrid CMS platform Xperience by Kentico would be the best solution for the new website. Xperience with robust features and functionality allowed SilverTech to create an exceptional digital user experience efficiently for CWB.
The Key components of the solution include:
- Unified Content Strategy: SilverTech developed a content migration plan that combined the SEO-rich content from CWB with the detailed product information from CVB. This approach ensured that the new site would benefit from both banks' strengths while avoiding duplication and inconsistencies.
- Modern Design and Functionality: The new website was built with Xperience by Kentico, featuring a modern, responsive design to enhance user experience across all devices. Key features included:
- Enhanced Interactivity: Interactive elements and engaging content to improve customer interaction and retention
- Improved CTAs: Clear, strategically placed CTAs to guide users through the site effectively
- Technical Upgrades: Faster loading speeds, improved reliability, and mobile optimization to ensure a smooth user experience
- New Functionalities: Inclusion of essential tools like product comparison tools, branch locator and more
- Accelerated Development Timeline: Despite the tight timeline, SilverTech employed agile development practices to ensure timely delivery without compromising quality. The team worked in sprints to continuously test and refine the site, leading up to a successful launch within the four-month timeframe.
HIGHLIGHTS
Launching Your Website Isn’t the End. It’s Just the Beginning.
5/7/25
Consider it a Growth Opportunity — Not a Checkmark.
Launching a new website is a major milestone. But rather than sighing a sense of relief and focusing your attention to other projects, you've got to find your second-wind post launch to make sure your site is realizing its potential. Your website should be more of a journey than a destination.
Once your site goes live, the focus needs to shift from delivery to performance. The most successful digital teams treat launch day as the point at which the real work begins: optimizing for search visibility, validating assumptions through user testing, driving targeted traffic, and establishing continuous performance measurement practices.
Below are the core areas marketers should invest in immediately post-launch to ensure the site performs as a high-value business asset.
1. SEO Optimization: Structure, Indexing, and Content Relevance
A technically sound site is critical—but so is continuous SEO refinement. Post-launch, it’s essential to:
• Audit the crawlability and indexing status using Google Search Console
• Revalidate 301 redirects and ensure legacy URL equity is preserved
• Monitor shifts in rankings and click-through rates across priority keywords
• Identify content gaps or mismatches based on real-time search behavior
• Optimize internal linking structure and metadata for new user flows
Failing to maintain SEO momentum after launch can result in significant traffic and visibility losses. Sustained optimization ensures your site earns and retains organic visibility as search algorithms. Learn about evolving SEO strategies here.
2. User Testing and Behavior Analytics
Pre-launch usability testing provides insight, but live usage data is more valuable.
Immediately post-launch, teams should deploy tools like Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, or FullStory to capture:
• Scroll depth and interaction heatmaps
• Click patterns and conversion drop-offs
• Session recordings to identify friction points
Use this behavioral data to validate navigation structures, refine CTA placement, and adjust form lengths or page layouts. Small user experience improvements can have a measurable impact on conversion performance. We've seen lifts of double digits in conversion from post-launch user testing. Learn more about the user testing we did for F&M Bank and how it really boosted web performance.
3. Traffic Generation: Digital Marketing, Paid Media, and Social
Without sustained traffic, your new site won't have a chance to convert.
Post-launch, marketing teams should align campaign calendars to actively encourage traffic to visit the website through:
• Paid Search & Display Advertising – Drive qualified traffic to high-conversion landing pages.
• Social Media Advertising – Retarget site visitors and promote newly published content.
• Email Marketing – Reintroduce audiences to updated navigation paths or new service pages.
• Content Syndication – Extend your reach by distributing content via trusted industry channels.
Integrate UTM tagging into all efforts and set up goal funnels to ensure you’re tracking engagement and conversions accurately.
4. Conversion Tracking and Reporting Infrastructure
Launching a site without well-defined KPIs and conversion tracking is a missed opportunity. At a minimum, you should:
• Configure Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or another analytics platform with goals/events
• Set up enhanced ecommerce or funnel tracking as applicable
• Integrate with your CRM or marketing automation platform to capture lead source and campaign attribution
• Build custom dashboards (e.g., in Looker Studio, Power BI, or Tableau) to monitor user behavior, traffic sources, and conversion rates
Tracking the right data allows you to demonstrate ROI to stakeholders, optimize future campaigns, and make informed decisions about site enhancements.
5. Continuous Content Development and SEO Expansion
Post-launch SEO doesn’t stop at technical health. It extends into content velocity.
Establish an editorial calendar aligned with high-volume, high-intent keyword clusters uncovered through tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs. Leverage topic clusters, internal linking strategies, and structured data to expand your footprint across the funnel—from lead to loyal.
Additionally, ensure your site is eligible for rich results (e.g., FAQs, reviews, breadcrumbs) by implementing structured content and the appropriate schema markup.
Final Takeaway
A website is not a one-time project. It’s a digital platform that requires constant optimization, promotion, and measurement to fulfill its strategic potential.
By investing in post-launch SEO, behavioral analysis, targeted traffic acquisition, and performance tracking, you can transform your website into a dynamic growth engine.
If your organization needs support aligning your site to business outcomes post-launch, we can help.
