Hacked Website Became an 8.24% Conversion Rate Success Story
What if I told you a hacked website selling fake Rolex watches became an 8.24% conversion rate success story?
In the next 5 minutes, you’ll discover the exact methodology that transformed a failing property surveyor’s digital presence into a lead-generation machine – and how the same approach could revolutionise your next project.
Picture this: You’re staring at an SEO audit that’s just revealed your client’s website has been hijacked by fake luxury watch sellers. The CEO is skeptical about investing in digital marketing because their current website generates zero leads. Sound familiar?
This was my reality in 2017 when I took on what would become my flagship case study – and the project that proved what’s possible when you put conversion optimisation at the heart of everything from day one.
The Challenge That Changed Everything
Arnold & Baldwin, a Surrey-based property surveying firm, wasn’t a new client – they were an old one we were about to lose.
Joe (the CEO) was an old friend of Chris, our Creative Director, who had designed their previous website years earlier. But now Joe was quietly shopping around for someone cheaper to redesign his next website. He wasn’t impressed with how their current site was performing for the business.
The design itself was decent (Chris’s work usually is), but it had become outdated. More critically, Joe had asked another friend, Reece, to develop it – and frankly, it wasn’t great from a technical standpoint.
Here’s the kicker: Joe later admitted in a face-to-face meeting that he’d only held off firing us because he didn’t want to upset Chris. He’d been putting off that awkward conversation for months.
But timing, as they say, is everything. Just as Joe was wrestling with this decision, his business had suffered a major blow – he’d lost a profitable division and was genuinely worried about having to lay off several team members if he couldn’t find new cashflow sources quickly.
Chris, recognising that Joe’s brand and website were looking increasingly outdated, reached out with an offer: “How about a free SEO report to see what opportunities you might be missing?”
What I uncovered during my audit was a digital disaster waiting to happen – and the perfect opportunity to prove our worth one last time.
It was a smart move by Chris, but what we discovered during my audit was far worse than anyone expected:
- Their website had been hacked by fake Rolex sellers (completely unknown to them)
- Zero lead generation despite being in a competitive industry where timing is everything
- Technical issues from Reece’s development that were actively hindering performance
- No mobile responsiveness in an increasingly mobile world
- A business owner who was understandably skeptical about more digital investment
But here’s what I saw that others missed: This wasn’t just a problem to solve – it was an opportunity to demonstrate what happens when you get digital strategy right from the ground up.
The Strategic Pivot That Won the Day
I knew this wasn’t just about winning a project anymore – it was about proving we deserved “one last chance” when Joe was already mentally moving on to someone cheaper.
So I crafted two versions of my audit findings: one technical deep-dive for internal use, and a compelling business case that spoke directly to his urgent need for new revenue streams.
The client-facing report didn’t just highlight problems – it painted a picture of untapped potential. I showed Joe exactly how a well-optimised website could work 24/7 generating qualified leads and replacing the revenue he’d just lost.
The breakthrough moment came when I presented the fake Rolex discovery alongside the solution roadmap. This wasn’t just about fixing a website anymore – it was about transforming his entire lead generation system while his business was facing a genuine crisis.
But here’s what made this particularly challenging: my recommendations meant Joe would have to make some tough decisions. We’d need to handle the entire project – meaning his friend Reece would have to go. We’d need to refresh the entire brand (thankfully Chris was brilliant at creating a more corporate, professional look). And we’d need significant investment from a company that was about to struggle with cashflow.
It was my conviction, combined with the report and the perfect timing of his crisis, that gave Joe the confidence to take this brave leap. As he put it: “Give us one last go” – but only if we did it all.
Working with Chris (our Creative Director), we even developed their new mission statement: “Protect Your Investment” – because buying a house is one of the most expensive purchases most people ever make, and they needed a surveyor who understood that gravity.
Building the Foundation for Exponential Growth
With the CEO convinced, I led a team of 3 developers through an intensive 3-month build that would fundamentally change how we approached web development.
This was my first major opportunity to implement conversion rate optimisation from the design phase onwards – not as an afterthought, but as the core philosophy driving every decision.
Every button placement, every piece of copy, every user flow was designed with one question in mind: “How does this move our ideal prospect closer to becoming a client?”
But here’s where I made a crucial strategic decision that many overlook: I positioned myself as the guide, not the executor.
Instead of writing all the blog content myself, I trained their team on what types of thought leadership content would work best for their industry and LinkedIn strategy. I showed them how to identify topics that would position them as experts while naturally leading to survey inquiries.
The result? They eventually needed me less because they could execute the strategy independently – which is exactly what sustainable growth looks like.
The Innovation That Gave Them an Unfair Advantage
Property surveying is a “first contact wins” industry. When leads come in from platforms like Really Moving, whoever responds fastest usually gets the instruction.
I had an idea that would change the game entirely.
Working with Carl (who deserves credit for writing 97% of the code), we developed a Lead Manager system that would automatically:
- Pull lead data from multiple APIs, emails, and dashboards
- Feed everything into their CRM in real-time
- Send personalised SMS and email responses within seconds of lead capture
My role was evolving the brief with Carl and handling the integrations, but his technical execution made it reality.
The impact was immediate: they went from losing most third-party leads to winning 8 out of 10 – not because they were the cheapest (they weren’t), but because they were the fastest and most professional in their initial response.
We then optimised the messaging over time, split-testing different approaches until we hit that 8/10 conversion rate on leads.
Results That Redefined What’s Possible
The numbers tell a story that still gets me excited:
Year One:
- Investment recouped within 5 months
- 3.65% sitewide conversion rate (55% above global average)
- Consistent lead flow replacing feast-or-famine cycles
Year Four (after continuous optimisation):
- 8.24% sitewide conversion rate
- Lead response time reduced from hours to seconds
- Team efficiency improved by approximately 1 hour saved per lead processed
But here’s what those numbers really represent: proof that when you integrate SEO thinking, conversion psychology, and strategic content from day one, you don’t just improve performance – you transform entire business models.
The Methodology You Can Apply Tomorrow
What made this project special wasn’t luck or a perfect client – it was a systematic approach that you can replicate:
1. Audit for opportunity, not just problems Present findings as business growth potential, not technical issues
2. Make conversion optimisation your design philosophy Don’t retrofit CRO – build it into every decision from wireframes onwards
3. Train clients to own their content strategy Be the guide who creates sustainable systems, not dependency
4. Automate the time-sensitive competitive advantages Identify where speed creates unfair advantage, then systematise it
5. Never stop optimising The real results come from continuous refinement over years, not launch day
What This Really Taught Me
This project became my proof of concept – evidence that the methodology I believed in could deliver transformational results in the real world.
More importantly, it established a truth I’ve carried into every project since: the biggest opportunities often hide behind the biggest problems.
That hacked website selling fake Rolexes? It became the perfect demonstration of why they needed to take digital seriously.
The skeptical CEO? He became our biggest advocate after seeing 500% ROI in year one.
The “outdated” industry? It turned out to be hungry for digital innovation done right.
Your next project might look impossible from the outside, but inside every digital disaster is a transformation story waiting to be written.
Want to discuss how these principles could apply to your next challenge? The methodology that delivered 8.24% conversion rates isn’t magic – it’s systematic, and it’s replicable.
