Seamless Zencart to WordPress Migration for Macbrud
Macbrud offers display systems and accessories that enhance clinical communication for medical professionals. They needed a modern, SEO-friendly website to support their catalog and improve user experience.
Industry
Medical Equipment Manufacturing
Technology
Zencart, WordPress
Services
Zencart to WordPress Migration, WooCommerce Integration, Custom Design
Project Overview
Macbrud specializes in offering innovative display systems and accessories for medical professionals, including surgeons, radiologists, and pathologists. Their product range includes custom boards, mounts, and labeling tools that improve communication and workflow in clinical environments. With a growing customer base, Macbrud needed a modern, user-friendly website that could support their product catalog, streamline the user journey, and preserve existing SEO value.
Project Objectives
- Seamlessly migrate Macbrud’s website from Zencart to WordPress while retaining all existing product data, user accounts, and SEO rankings.
- Create a modern, mobile-friendly website design aligned with brand guidelines and optimized for performance and user experience.
- Implement WooCommerce for efficient product catalog browsing, ordering, and management, tailored to Macbrud’s unique sales flow.
- Enhance SEO with 301 redirects, updated metadata, and on-page optimizations to preserve and improve search engine visibility.
- Conduct thorough testing and provide post-launch support to ensure site stability, security, and scalability for Macbrud’s evolving needs.
Project Execution
1. Design and Discovery Process
EbizON initiated the project with a thorough discovery phase to ensure alignment with Macbrud’s business goals and technical needs:
- Analyzed the existing Zen Cart website structure and identified essential SEO plugins. Conducted sprint planning to outline deliverables across all development phases.
- Documented key user journeys and functionality gaps for better UX planning.
- Created a comprehensive content inventory and mapped content to relevant WordPress post types.
- Identified required WordPress plugins for eCommerce, performance, and SEO enhancements.
- Planned the roadmap for migration, custom development, QA, and launch phases.
2. Development and Customization
The design and development team focused on building a robust, modern WordPress website:
- Designed a mobile-responsive UI using Figma with two rounds of iteration and stakeholder feedback.
- Implemented the layout on the lightweight and SEO-friendly GeneratePress theme.
- Used Elementor page builder to recreate pages such as Home, Products, Specboard, Benefits, and Contact Us.
- Applied brand guidelines, enhanced layouts, and clean imagery for improved readability.
- Developed and implemented a lightweight, responsive theme with required customizations, and integrated Elementor for flexible page building.
3. Content Migration to WordPress
Using custom scripts, the team migrated all relevant content from Zen Cart to WordPress:
- Migrated all data (products, customers, orders, users, etc.) from Zen Cart to WordPress using a custom migration script, and integrated WooCommerce with tailored cart and checkout page customizations.
- User accounts and historical order data.
- Static content such as “About Us,” policies, and product benefits.
- SEO metadata, image alt texts, and custom content blocks.
- All content was reviewed post-migration to ensure integrity and visual consistency.
4. Thorough Testing and Quality Assurance
Multiple rounds of QA were conducted to ensure a flawless launch:
- Fixing bugs identified during internal testing and addressing client feedback from the UAT phase.
- Functional testing across login, cart, and checkout processes.
- Verification of content migration, internal linking, and SEO data.
- Cross-browser and mobile device testing.
- Bug identification and resolution through a combination of automated and manual testing.
- A UAT (User Acceptance Testing) period was provided for Macbrud’s internal team to review and validate the site.
5. URL Redirection and SEO Preservation
To safeguard existing SEO performance, EbizON implemented a detailed SEO strategy:
- Created and deployed 301 redirects for all legacy Zen Cart URLs.
- Updated internal links and submitted a fresh XML sitemap.
- Verified the new site in Google Search Console.
- Ensured on-page SEO best practices: meta tags, alt texts, headings.
- Configured GA4 tracking, robots.txt, and essential SEO plugins.
- Set up 301 redirects, implemented SEO best practices, integrated GA4 tracking, and configured all necessary settings for optimal Google indexing.
6. Launch and Ongoing Support
With UAT completed, the site went live with:
- Full WooCommerce store setup (excluding payment gateway for external transactions).
- Added features: product reviews, estimate popup, newsletter signup, account dashboard.
- Security enhancements using iThemes Security and Wordfence.
- Performance optimization via Perfmatters.
- Google Analytics and GA4 setup for ongoing traffic and engagement tracking.
- Post-launch support for performance monitoring and issue resolution.
- Integrated essential security plugins and performed website performance optimization to ensure speed, security, and reliability.
Results
- 100% Successful Migration from Zencart to WordPress with no data loss
- Improved SEO Performance, retaining previous rankings and boosting indexed pages
- Fully Mobile-Responsive Design, increasing accessibility across devices
- Enhanced Product Browsing Experience, with sorting, filtering, and review features
- Increased Site Security through WordPress best practices and plugin integration
- Scalable and Admin-Friendly CMS, empowering Macbrud’s team to manage content with ease
Client’s Feedback
“EbizON’s humanity and willingness to collaborate with me were truly impressive. They consistently made progress on every section of my site, always keeping my contingencies in mind. The team was incredibly considerate and maintained open communication through virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps. What really stood out was their genuine care and flexibility in working with me every step of the way.”
Scott Lary
VP Marketing, MacBrud
What Our Customers Says
reviewed by JOE WILLIAMS
Senior manager, Remedy Liqour
Head of Business Engagement, WRI
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reviewed by Beat Walder
Manager, Forester Beauty
Chief of Staff, Strategic Dentistry
“I’m the owner of Forester Beauty in Switzerland. I’ve contacted Dee and he led me through the whole process of migrating our online shop to Shopify, including custom elements to enhance user experience. The whole Project Team at Ebizon has a very professional attitude and provide their support and insights promptly.”
reviewed by Wilma Pretorius
Managing Director, Cranimals
For fully managed WordPress installs, WPEngine is my Go-To
“The Team worked well with my company to migrate our Magento store to a new Shopify store. Ebizon was able to implement required applications to enable a near seamless transition. Thanks Team!
reviewed by Raul
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Head of Business Engagement, WRI
“Emporium Embroidery – customization module / Magento upgrade Thank you Ebizon and a great thank you to the team who was always very helpful on this journey.”
reviewed by Alexandre Salem
eCommerce Manager, Ada Cosmetic
Chief of Staff, Strategic Dentistry
“Thanks to EbizON solution, the platform enabled the company to sell products efficiently. The team worked in sprints and held weekly meetings, ensuring accurate outcomes.”
reviewed by Po Ming Lam
Manager, Avec Plaisirs Chefs Traiteurs
For fully managed WordPress installs, WPEngine is my Go-To
“Ebizon is helping our Magento development needs. Their customer oriented approach has made our experience very pleasant and efficient. We are definitely sending more work to them and recommend others to try them out!”
