monthly visitors, up from 48K (Nov 2024 → Apr 2025)
121 days
straight uptime (Dec 30, 2024 – Apr 30, 2025)
The Jesuit Conference of Canada and the U.S., a prominent organization in the Catholic industry, approached our company with a challenging task: to revamp their extensive WordPress website, jesuits.org. This case study outlines how we transformed a sluggish, outdated site into a high-performing, modern web presence that serves multiple provinces and languages.
WordPress dashboard load time dropped from 12 seconds to 1.5 seconds (87.5% faster).
Intro
Client: Jesuits Conference of North America and Canada Industry: Catholic Organizations
Website(s): Primary Site: jesuits.org Province Sites:
Rebuild the database to significantly improve backend loading times
Redesign the website for a modern user experience
Enhance the site’s appearance and functionality
Problem
Severe Performance Issues: Backend loading times ranged from 9 to 12 seconds, causing significant user frustration.
Complex Multi-site Structure: The project involved not just the main conference site but also six individual province sites within a WordPress multi-site setup.
Multilingual Requirements: The site needed to support English, Spanish, and French, with special considerations for French-Canadian users. (French-Canadian users required a separate URL to be used for the French translation.)
Large-scale Content Migration: Each province had between 100 to 200 pages that needed to be updated and migrated.
Solution
Technical Implementation
Complete rebuild of the database and database interaction tools
Migration to new hosting with Redis Caching for improved performance
Implementation of Elementor and Advanced Custom Fields
Utilization of Crocoblock suite of plugins
Design and User Experience
Modern redesign focusing on news and promotion for the Jesuit Conference and provinces
Creation of interactive elements such as prayer request forms and mass card purchasing options
Implementation of donation functionalities, a key driver for the organization
Development of a template system to efficiently update designs across hundreds of pages
Multilingual Approach
Implementation of trilingual support (English, Spanish, French)
Special URL structure for French-Canadian content to show proper respect for French-speaking Canadians
"
They do it all — Their values aligned with ours and Bend Marketing was extremely communicative, technically savvy, great at troubleshooting, and top-notch at design. We couldn’t ask for more from a web designer/developer and will continue to work with them as long as they’ll have us!
Mike Jordan Laskey | Director of Communications of Jesuit Conference
Results
Monthly visitors to jesuits.org grew from 48K (Nov 2024) to 80K (Apr 2025). April includes Holy Week and Easter.
Project Execution
Duration: 12 months Team Size: 8 people
Results and Impact
Dramatically Improved Performance: The rebuilt database and new hosting solution with Redis Caching significantly reduced backend loading times. Most notably, the WordPress dashboard loading time decreased from 12 seconds to just 1.5 seconds, marking a remarkable 87.5% improvement in speed. Monthly visitors grew from 48K in November 2024 to 80K in April 2025 (April includes Holy Week and Easter).
Enhanced User Experience: A modern, responsive design across all devices improved site navigation and engagement.
Streamlined Content Management: The new template system allowed for efficient updates across all province sites.
Improved Donation Capabilities: Enhanced donation functionalities provided a more seamless experience for supporters.
Optimized Plugin Usage: The project significantly reduced the number of plugins used, which not only contributed to faster page load times but also enhanced the overall security and stability of the website.
These improvements, especially the dramatic reduction in dashboard loading time and optimized plugin usage, demonstrate the project’s success in addressing the client’s initial pain points and creating a more efficient, secure, and user-friendly website for the Jesuits Conference.
April 2025 care report: 80K active users (+37.41%) and 131K views (+31.51%) vs. the prior period.
Ongoing Website Care
Launching the new jesuits.org was the beginning of our work together, not the end. After the rebuild, Bend Marketing stayed on to care for the platform, so the speed and stability the Conference invested in would last.
For a multisite that serves the Conference and its provinces in three languages, care means steady, unglamorous work done every month:
Updates, applied with care. We keep WordPress core, themes, and the site’s plugins current. Updates go out in planned batches (34 in February 2025 alone), so new releases don’t break templates, forms, or translations.
Daily backups. The site is backed up every day, with a rolling 90 backups on hand. If something ever goes wrong, a recent restore point is always ready.
Uptime monitoring. We watch the site around the clock and respond quickly when something needs attention. After a brief connection and certificate issue on December 30, 2024, which we resolved the same day, jesuits.org then stayed up for 121 days straight through the end of April 2025, with 100% uptime every month from January through April.
Monthly care reports. Each month the Conference gets a plain-language report covering updates, backups, uptime, and site analytics. Their team always knows the state of their website.
121 days of continuous uptime at 100% (Dec 30, 2024 – Apr 30, 2025).
Steady care also gives the Conference’s communications team room to focus on their mission. Over the reporting period, visitors spent more time with the site’s content: engagement on jesuits.org rose from 44.15% in November 2024 to 54.57% in April 2025, as people came to read stories, explore Ignatian spirituality, and take part in seasons like Advent and Holy Week.
Engagement rate rose every month, from 44.15% (Nov 2024) to 54.57% (Apr 2025).
A website that serves a mission this important needs more than a strong launch. It needs a partner who keeps it healthy year after year. We’re grateful to keep doing that work for the Jesuit Conference. If your parish, diocese or apostolate needs the same kind of help, learn how we work as a marketing partner for Catholic organizations.
Database Optimization is Crucial: For large-scale WordPress sites, focusing on database performance can yield significant improvements.
Multilingual Considerations Matter: Paying attention to linguistic nuances, such as separate URLs for French-Canadian content, demonstrates respect for diverse user groups.
Scalable Design Solutions: Creating flexible templates for multi-site setups can dramatically streamline the redesign process for extensive websites.
Performance-Focused Hosting: Choosing the right hosting solution with advanced caching capabilities is essential for handling complex, high-traffic WordPress sites.
This case study demonstrates our company’s ability to tackle complex, large-scale WordPress projects, delivering significant improvements in performance, design, and functionality. The successful overhaul of jesuits.org showcases our expertise in handling multi-site, multilingual setups while addressing critical performance issues.
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