Case Study — A New Way to Build Websites That Actually Works

If you have ever had a website built for your business and then found yourself dreading every update, struggling with a complicated content management system, or watching your site slow to a crawl because of yet another plugin conflict, this is for you.

We have been quietly building something different. And it is now live, working, and ready to show you.

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The problem we kept seeing

Over the past twenty years of working in digital marketing, we have watched a familiar pattern repeat itself. A business invests in a new website. It looks great on launch day. Then gradually, things start to go wrong.

Plugins need updating. Some updates break other things. The theme does not quite do what you need it to do. The content management system is so complicated that only the person who built the site can really use it. Making a simple change means either learning a confusing dashboard or paying someone else to do it. Performance drops. Security patches stack up. The site gets slower.

Eventually, the website that was supposed to help your business becomes something you avoid dealing with.

We saw this happening with WordPress sites, Wix sites, Squarespace sites and plenty of others. The platforms are different but the frustration is the same. Too many moving parts. Too much maintenance. Too steep a learning curve for the people who actually need to use the thing.

So we decided to build websites differently.

On the left, the headaches most business owners know too well. On the right, what we set out to fix.

What we built and how it works

Our websites are built using a set of AI development tools that produce clean, lightweight, modern code. There are no bloated themes. There are no plugins to manage, update or worry about. Everything the site needs is built into it from the start.

Here is what that means in practice.

Speed. Because there is no unnecessary code weighing things down, these sites load fast. Properly fast. On phones, on tablets, on desktops. Speed matters for two reasons. First, people leave slow websites. Second, Google uses page speed as a ranking factor. A fast site is better for your visitors and better for your search visibility.

A CMS that anyone can use. Every site we build comes with a content management system that is genuinely simple. We are not talking about "simple compared to WordPress." We mean simple in the way that anyone can sit down and start using it within a few minutes. If you can use a basic word processor, you can manage your website content.

There is also the option to make changes by talking to AI. Describe what you want in plain English, and the system can make it happen. Want to add a new page? Update your opening hours? Change the text on your homepage? You can do it yourself without waiting for anyone.

SEO built in, not bolted on. With traditional sites, SEO is often treated as something you add afterwards with a plugin or a separate piece of work. Our sites are built with search in mind from the very first line of code. The page structure, the headings, the speed, the mobile experience, the way content is organised. All of it is designed to help search engines understand what your site is about and show it to the right people.

No themes to fight with. Every site we build is bespoke. It is not a template with your logo dropped in. It is designed for your business, your content and your audience. That means you get exactly what you need, and you are not fighting against the limitations of a pre-made theme.

Minimal maintenance. Because there are no plugins to update and no themes to patch, the ongoing maintenance burden is dramatically lower. Less can go wrong. Less needs managing. You spend your time running your business instead of worrying about your website.

The proof — Visit Shaftesbury

We do not just talk about this technology. We use it ourselves. Our own Okapi & Co website is built this way. But the best example of what it can do for a community or organisation is Visit Shaftesbury.

Visit Shaftesbury is a website we built for the Shaftesbury Chamber of Commerce as part of our commitment to giving back to the local area. It is a working, live site that people in the town and visitors to the area use every day. You can see it at visit-shaftesbury.co.uk.

Visit Shaftesbury is a live example of what this technology delivers. Fast, clean, and packed with useful features for the community.

Here is what the site includes.

Interactive events listings. The site pulls in events happening in and around Shaftesbury, displaying them with dates, times, venues and descriptions. At the time of writing, it is featuring the Snowdrop Festival, the Shaftesbury Book Festival and the Food Festival. Events are easy to browse and the community can submit their own events through a simple form.

A business and services directory. Local shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs and professional services are all listed in a searchable directory. Businesses can submit their own listings, making it a genuinely useful resource that grows with the community.

Venue listings. If you are organising an event and need a space, the venues section shows what is available in the town, from halls and churches to pubs and community spaces.

Travel and transport information. A dedicated page explains how to get to Shaftesbury by train, bus and car, along with practical details about parking and EV charging. This is the kind of content that visitors genuinely need and that search engines love to surface.

Accessibility features. The site includes text size controls so visitors can enlarge or reduce the text to suit their needs. This is a small but important detail that many websites overlook.

Works beautifully on any device. Whether you are looking at it on a phone while walking through town or on a laptop planning a visit, the site adapts and works well.

We are constantly working on this project, adding features and improving the experience. It is a living example of how our approach works in practice, not just a case study from the past.

What this means for your business

You might be thinking that this sounds good for a community website, but wondering whether it would work for a business. The answer is yes. The same technology and approach applies whether you are a local shop, a professional services firm, a hospitality business or an ecommerce retailer.

The fundamental benefits are the same regardless of what your business does. A fast website that works on all devices. Content you can manage yourself without a technical background. SEO that is part of the foundation rather than something patched on top. A clean, professional design that is not constrained by template limitations. And dramatically less to worry about in terms of ongoing maintenance.

If your current website is built on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or any other platform and you are frustrated by the experience of managing it, this is worth a conversation.

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Want to see it for yourself?

We appreciate that reading about a new way of building websites is one thing. Seeing it is another.

If you would like a demonstration, we are happy to show you. We can walk you through the Visit Shaftesbury site, show you our own Okapi & Co site, and let you see the CMS in action. You will see how content gets added, how changes are made, and how straightforward the whole experience is.

No plugins. No themes. No fighting with complicated dashboards. Just a website that works, that you can manage, and that is built to be found.

The way websites are built is changing. If you are interested in what that looks like, get in touch and we will show you.

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Okapi & Co is a digital marketing agency specialising in AISEO, GEO and web development. Based in North Dorset, working with clients across the UK.