| Client | A national subject association and registered charity for drama educators, run largely by volunteers, with a print magazine, an international research journal and a members’ area |
| Services | WordPress development, coaching and training |
| Timescale | From 2014 until 2022, through my previous business |
| Results | New site built for about the cost of one year of the old hosting. Hosting now a fraction of the previous cost. Delivered on time and on budget, within a fixed one-year deadline. |
The challenge
The charity’s website ran on a custom system with hosting through a national body. When the hosting came up for renewal, the cost would have taken the charity’s entire operating budget for the year.
The site couldn’t simply be moved. It wasn’t built in WordPress, nothing could be exported from it, and it controlled access to content in detail, depending on each member’s type of membership.
The rebuild
The brief was clear: the new site had to look the same and do the same things. We agreed two improvements along the way. It would become responsive, so it worked on phones, and some features would be adapted to use proven WordPress plugins instead of custom code.
- Every page rebuilt by hand. With no way to export the old content, every page, magazine issue and piece of members’ content was recreated manually in WordPress.
- Membership levels kept. Members still saw exactly the content their membership allowed.
- A fixed deadline. The charity had one year before the old hosting renewed. The site was delivered on time and on budget.
The new site cost about the same as one year of the old hosting, and the new hosting costs a fraction of the old.
Training and coaching
Because the site is run by volunteers, the aim was for them to manage it confidently themselves. I started with a one-to-one training session, then held follow-up sessions when needed, and looked after upgrades to the site.
Over time, their confidence grew. They moved from simply using the site to updating plugins and experimenting with it themselves.
The result
Once they were used to the new system, the team said how easy it was to use. Most importantly, they said the site let them concentrate on the charity’s aims, without being held back by the cost of the technology.