Over the course of 2018, I plan to post occasional short “Case Studies” (this being the first of a regular series). Each Case Study will act as an introduction to an existing Client’s Website, along with some background information, detailing how the project in question came about, including any pitfalls or development issues that were encountered and surpassed along the way. Sensitive information (such as project budgets and so on) will of course not be disclosed here.

Introducing, Wild-Oaks.

Mounsey Web Consultancy were recommended to then new start-up Wild-Oaks Tree & Garden Services, by an existing client Derbyshire Dales Engineering Limited.

Dan (who was in the process of setting up the Wild-Oaks business) was also an employee/contact of Derbyshire Dales, though we had not previously met. After the initial (and welcomed!) introduction, a face-to-face meeting was soon organised, which duly took place and went well for all concerned. The client had a clear idea of what he wanted for/from the prospective Website – and I supplemented this valuable information with some additional advice and a few recommendations of my own.

An itemised, clear quotation was compiled soon after – and following a few follow-up questions, the project received the all important “Green Light” and was scheduled in!

A smooth development process.

The proposed Website was to be of a purposefully simplistic nature – the initial focus being on integrating the (already arranged) corporate identity and working with Dan’s text-based information (as a newly launching venture, at that point he only had a few photographs of previously completed work).

In order to ensure strong compatibility with mobile devices, I once again turned to my development “weapon of choice”, WordPress. The core system setup was quick and painless (kickstarted by the successful inbound transfer of the client’s already registered Domain Name (wild-oaks.co.uk). WordPress installation complete, I quickly set about sourcing and implementing a clean, simple WordPress Theme – which would act as the core framework and “look” of the Website.

Throughout these key early stages of development, I kept the client closely updated with regular, short email notices. There are not typically many questions during this groundwork part of the process, but I believe it to be important that clients remain in the loop throughout the entire process.

Time to present.

The core content provided by the client was swiftly converted, inserted and optimised on the WordPress installation – and soon after that point was reached, I was in a position to confidently present the work-in-progress layouts to the client. On this particular occasion (as the client was not directly local) this key step was handled over email, with a follow-up phone call. A private, secret “Preview” URL (link) was sent over to the client, along with some accompanying notes, where applicable.

The key advantage of employing this approach was that the client was immediately presented with a “real” (albeit of course incomplete) version of their Website, rather than a series of potentially misrepresentative “screen-shots” or (worse-still!) printed off page layouts (long since a thing of the past, fortunately).

Positive feedback – and launch!

Much to my delight Dan (Client) was delighted with the approach and visuals I had presented to him – which cleared the way for the successful publication of the (by then) completed Website. At launch there were (unavoidably) only a small number of visual resources on the pages – but it was mutually agreed that additional photographs of successfully complete jobs and so on could be added at a later date (and ideally on an on-going basis).

The completed Wild-Oaks Website has now been successfully “Live” on the internet for over a year. As part of the on-going development of it, the client occasionally adds additional images using the easy-to-use WordPress “Media Library” (and Gallery page) – and Mounsey Web Consultancy provide a monthly SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) reporting service too.

If you have any questions about this Website project, or require something similar, please get in touch – and thanks for reading!

John Mounsey

Visit the Wild-Oaks Website