About the Client
NextGen Marketing is a digital agency based in London, UK. Their core services include SEO, email marketing, and website design. In addition to digital strategy and creative execution, they offer clients website development, maintenance, and hosting services — with WordPress as the primary CMS.
As their business grew, so did the demand for technical delivery — but scaling a development team internally proved inefficient, expensive, and unpredictable.
Over the course of 15 months, Codelibry became NextGen’s external WordPress department, taking care of 28+ websites, improve project delivery efficiency, and stabilize their profit margins.
Challenges
Business Challenge: Choosing the Right Delivery Model
NextGen’s leadership team faced a common dilemma: how to deliver more websites reliably, without overcommitting to full-time developers or constantly managing freelancers.
- Unpredictable project demand: Some months required three developers; others had little to no workload.
- Freelancer risks: Availability and communication gaps made project planning difficult.
- In-house hiring limitations: Hiring a full team wasn’t justified due to fluctuating demand and added overhead.
NextGen needed a delivery model that could adapt to their real workload — without losing quality, speed, or profitability.
Technical Challenge: Inconsistent Tech Stacks Across Projects
- Custom themes with ACF Flexible Content.
- Blade-based templates.
- Page builder-based themes (e.g., Elementor).
- Complex CMS migrations (e.g., Umbraco to WordPress).
These variations created onboarding friction for developers and made it harder to maintain consistent quality across projects.
Delivery Challenge: Matching Tech Capacity to Real Demand
- During high season, up to three developers were needed to handle multiple projects in parallel.
- Other months didn’t justify even one developer’s involvement.
This made internal team planning inefficient and hiring/firing costly. Freelancer-based solutions also proved unreliable — and agency leadership spent too much time managing production.
What We Did
1. Introduced a Reliable White-Label Development Model
We started the partnership by aligning on the agency’s preferred development methodology: WordPress sites built using ACF Flexible Content templates.
- Jump into projects without long onboarding.
- Maintain consistency across websites.
- Deliver features using reusable components for faster builds
- Full-cycle website development from scratch.
- Updates and improvements to existing projects.
- Maintenance support on hosted websites.
- Clear, upfront estimation and communication via Slack.
By centralizing development with one partner, the agency regained control and saved dozens of hours previously spent managing multiple vendors.
A simplified structure of how the agency works with you:
2. Switched to Fixed-Price Projects with Accurate Estimation
We replaced the hourly billing model with a fixed-price model — backed by our internal estimation framework.
- Clear project costs before development started.
- Confidence in their own client quotes.
- Predictable margins and better cash flow planning.
- A technical analysis of the design and project scope
- Time buffers for risk mitigation.
- Transparent rules for what’s in scope vs. what’s extra.
This allowed us to absorb minor changes during delivery (e.g., small visual feedback from clients) — without running over budget or time.
For larger changes, we provided timely updates and change requests, keeping the agency fully in control of their communication with end clients.
3. Enabled Flexible, On-Demand Team Scaling
NextGen no longer had to worry about finding and onboarding a new developer every time a project came in.
- Some months we had one developer assigned.
- Other months required a team of three
They could now scale up and down with zero HR overhead, while maintaining the same code quality, standards, and communication flow.
This flexibility helped the agency say “yes” to more client opportunities — without overcommitting or adding internal pressure.
For larger changes, we provided timely updates and change requests, keeping the agency fully in control of their communication with end clients.
4. Unified Development Standards and Systems
- A consistent ACF-based component system for flexible, reusable layouts
- Git version control and development environments.
- QA checklists and visual regression tools.
- Clear feedback loops for design-accurate implementation.
Even across projects with different foundations (e.g., Elementor, Blade, migrations), our team documented and shared best practices internally, ensuring we could move fast while keeping the quality bar high.
Key Results & Business Value
Introduced a Reliable White-Label Development Model
Quality Assurance: Triple-Layered Review Process
To ensure consistent, high-quality delivery across every website — whether it’s a full build, a maintenance update, or a critical hotfix — we follow a structured, multi-step QA process that combines technical checks, usability validation, and collaborative review.
- Developer Review
The developer who implements the task begins with a thorough self-review to confirm functionality, responsiveness, code quality, and overall stability
- Project Manager (PM) Review
The PM ensures that the output aligns with the task requirements, solves the business need, and is ready for client-side feedback. The PM also checks for content accuracy, layout alignment, and readiness for Q
- QA or Peer Developer Review
A fresh set of eyes runs final checks — validating the task both technically and from a user perspective. This includes testing interactions, forms, responsiveness, layout, and user flow.
All tasks are tracked in Asana, where status updates are posted daily, so the agency always has a live view of what’s in progress, under review, or ready for approval.
Beyond Manual Checks: QA Tools and Pre-Live Testing
Our quality assurance process is also powered by tools and pre-defined checklists that minimize human error and ensure reliable delivery.
These checks ensure the website not only works as expected but also feels polished and professional when it lands in front of the end client.
Transparent and Collaborative Feedback Loop
Once our internal QA is complete, the task or milestone is shared with the agency’s project or account manager. This creates a feedback loop that supports fast iteration and smooth collaboration.
When complex or ambiguous requests come in, we don’t guess — we initiate a conversation. Either the developer, PM, or tech lead will jump on a quick call with the agency team to:
- Explain implementation options and tradeoffs
- Recommend a best-fit solution based on timeline and budget
- Document the chosen approach for consistent delivery
This level of communication is what turns our relationship from “just outsourcing” into a real external tech department — one that’s deeply invested in your agency’s success.
Features Delivered (Examples)
- Custom WordPress themes with ACF-based flexible content
- Reusable global blocks (testimonials, FAQs, CTAs)
- Fully responsive layouts with mobile optimization
- CMS migrations (e.g., Umbraco to WordPress)
- Technical SEO setup and page speed improvements
- Ongoing support and content updates
- QA and browser testing across devices
Technologies We Used
Our development stack is tailored to meet both the needs of the marketing agency and their end clients. We focused on creating consistency across builds, ensuring fast handoffs, easy ongoing maintenance, and high performance for every project.
Core Platform: WordPress CMS
Every site we worked on was built on WordPress — a powerful, flexible CMS that remains the industry standard for digital agencies and their clients. Depending on the specific project, we extended core WordPress functionality using a set of proven tools and workflows:
- Yoast SEO – To ensure every site launched with proper meta tags, canonical URLs, XML sitemaps, and Schema markup out of the box. This allowed the agency’s SEO team to hit the ground running without requiring dev involvement.
- WPML – For multilingual support on international client sites. We configured custom fields and templates to ensure seamless translation workflows and content management.
- All-in-One WP Migration – Used for rapid deployment from staging to production, and to support migrations from legacy servers with minimal downtime.
- Contact Form 7 – Used for form validation, submission handling, and custom confirmation states. On sites where CF7 was pre-installed, we extended it with hidden fields, reCAPTCHA, and custom styling for consistent UX.
- Redirection – Essential for launch phases, where legacy URLs needed to be preserved or redirected post-rebuild. This helped maintain SEO performance during transitions.
- WP All Import / WP All Export Pro – Particularly useful during redesigns and CMS migrations (e.g., from Umbraco to WordPress). We used these tools to accurately map and import large volumes of data while maintaining content relationships and hierarchy.
- Elementor – While we avoid using page builders on new builds, some legacy projects had Elementor in place. In those cases, we followed best practices to avoid bloated code and preserved consistency in layout and responsiveness.
Advanced Custom Fields Pro (ACF)
ACF Pro was at the heart of our WordPress setup. It allowed us to build fully editable, modular websites without sacrificing design fidelity or stability.
- Flexible Content Fields – Enabled us to create reusable content blocks that clients could reorder or reuse across different pages without breaking the layout.
- Post Type Field Management – For sites with custom post types (e.g., case studies, team members, testimonials), we created specific admin panels tailored to the client’s needs.
- Global Content Blocks – Shared sections like contact banners, CTAs, or pricing tables were created once and reused across the site.
- Header and Footer Management – Instead of hardcoding these areas, we gave clients visual control over top-level navigation, logo uploads, contact information, and social links.
- Website Settings Page – Centralized panel for global items like favicons, colors, third-party integrations, and analytics scripts.
- Conditional Logic – Made the editing experience smarter by showing or hiding fields based on page templates or field selections. This significantly reduced confusion in the admin panel.
The result: agencies and end clients were given full content control, while our code ensured pixel-perfect layout, responsive behavior, and high stability.
Front-End Stack: SCSS + Bootstrap Grid + JavaScript
On the front-end, we followed scalable, component-based workflows that aligned with each website’s original architecture.
- SCSS – Used for maintaining clean, modular stylesheets. We organized styles per component to ensure easier handoff and long-term maintenance
- Bootstrap Grid (not full framework) – Leveraged primarily for its grid system, which allowed us to implement responsive layouts efficiently, without relying on full utility-heavy frameworks.
- JavaScript / jQuery – Used selectively for interactive features (sliders, accordions, toggles), form validation enhancements, and lightweight animations. jQuery was only used on legacy sites where it was already loaded.
We made every effort to minimize dependencies, reduce page weight, and prioritize page speed — without sacrificing visual quality.
Blade Templates
For projects where Blade templates where already implemented as part of the setup – we continue using them to keep HTML clean, manageable, and DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself).
- Create reusable partials for headers, footers, and content blocks
- Reduce code duplication across templates
- Simplify logic in views
- Align better with modern development standards (particularly for clients who came from Laravel or more structured frameworks)
Using Blade also helped future-proof complex builds and made it easier to onboard new developers into ongoing projects.
Git for Version Control
We use Git on every project to manage versions, collaborate with other developers, and track changes over time.
- Feature branches for individual tasks and bug fixes
- Staging branch for client testing and approval
- Main branch for production-ready code
Each site had a dedicated repo, and commits were clearly labeled for transparency. This allowed our agency partner to review progress asynchronously, reduce back-and-forth, and avoid last-minute surprises during deployments.
Elementor
- Audited existing layouts to avoid unnecessary widgets and nesting
- Removed unused assets and cleaned up the DOM to improve performance
- Where needed, we rebuilt sections in custom templates to eliminate performance bottlenecks
- Used CSS overrides and JS hooks to enhance or fix visual issues without affecting client editing capability
Our goal was always to retain what worked for the client while improving speed, reducing errors, and creating a maintainable system for long-term use.
Why Tech Stack Consistency Matters
One of the key reasons we were able to deliver 28 websites in 15 months – including maintenance, migrations, and new builds – is because we didn’t reinvent the wheel every time.
Instead, we worked within the existing structure of each site while improving stability, clarity, and maintainability. This reduced onboarding time, QA effort, and delivery cycles for every project.
Even in projects where multiple tech approaches existed (e.g., Elementor and ACF on different pages), we followed clear patterns and documentation, ensuring everything was aligned under one consistent workflow.
What the Client Says
We have worked with Vitalli and his team for well over a year now and will continue to do so in the future. Having the confidence in an agency that allowed us to scale up and down development resources, as and when needed, has really made a positive difference to our agency.
This was a completely lucky find for us, but we can’t thank Vitalli and his team enough and look forward to working together for many years to come.
Final Thoughts
NextGen Marketing didn’t just outsource WordPress development — they upgraded how they deliver websites.
With a scalable team, reliable delivery systems, and predictable budgets, they unlocked faster growth while reducing stress on their internal team.
If you’re a marketing or creative agency struggling with the same challenges — too many delivery fires, unclear scopes, or unreliable freelancers — our white-label development partnership can help you scale with confidence.