Walker Sands – Web development partner

Technology

WordPress
WPEngine

Services

Web Development
UX

Background

Walker Sands is a B2B marketing agency that employs outcome-based marketing (OBM) to meet businesses’ goals. This begins with the desired results and aligns marketing activities across channels, industries and capabilities.

Since 2021, they have partnered with Spicerack as their development partner for all website design projects. These websites are typically built using a custom WordPress and Gutenberg blocks theme that Spicerack maintains and develops further. Due to this successful ongoing collaboration, Spicerack was the natural choice to develop Walker Sands’ own website, a crucial element in their significant service evolution.

Project goals

Walker Sands needed a new website to reflect their shift from web design to a marketing-focused business strategy. Their revamped site aimed to emphasise B2B integrated marketing and PR services, moving away from a web development-centric image.

The new site also needed to incorporate WordPress's Full Site Editing features and integrate Greenhouse for recruitment. With a tight timeline starting in September and aiming for a January 4th launch, enhancing brand visibility and user engagement were also key objectives.

Challenges

Maintaining a cutting-edge online presence is crucial for a marketing agency, and Walker Sands were struggling with a dated website built by a now-departed technical team. Legacy issues and patchwork fixes had led to performance problems and disrupted user experience. With significant updates in WordPress, the site needed an overhaul to leverage new features and ensure future growth.

They rely on Spicerack’s expertise to navigate the web development requirements of their own clients, and sought our help for their own website to create something robust, flexible and future-proof. There were high expectations for a seamless, visually appealing and technically sound online presence, ready to support the agency's growth and align with the latest WordPress capabilities.

The design

The new website is designed to draw current and prospective clients in with impactful content, imagery and benefits, while promoting their capabilities. The homepage introduces Walker Sands and guides users through outcome- focused information about the agency, leading projects and pain points they help solve. The homepage immediately establishes credibility for users while providing segmentation points for its primary and secondary audiences with case studies, slider segmentation and client logos.

Technical implementation

The new website was built from scratch to fully utilise WordPress features, including a division editor, various blocks and easy content customisation. Designed with a continuous development mindset, the site is forward-compatible with future WordPress updates, eliminating any need for backward compatibility.

We created 14 pages with 30 unique block elements, including Full Site Editing blocks, allowing the marketing team to build pages without developer assistance. They can now easily adjust font sizes, colour, and other functionalities.

Performance was a critical requirement, so we implemented conditionally loaded assets to ensure the site only loads necessary resources, enhancing speed. All images are in next-gen formats, and we minimised unused JavaScript and CSS for optimal efficiency.

Working with Spicerack on web development projects has been a very positive experience for us. Their expertise and collaboration help us to deliver for our clients.
Patrick Daley, Walker Sands