Case study: How Seahawk Media cut development time by 50% with WPBakery
Seahawk Media contributed to the development of several key pages on the Dakota Premium Hardwoods website. The goal was to improve usability, performance, and content management, while making it easier for their customers to explore their products and services.
By using WPBakery Page Builder, Seahawk Media was able to deliver a faster, more user-friendly site with a clean backend and better frontend experience for their client, all while also cutting their own development time by 50%.
About Seahawk Media and the project
Seahawk Media is a global WordPress agency that offers custom development, performance optimization, SEO, and white-label services. They focus on building scalable WordPress sites and use tools like WPBakery to make content management simple for agencies and businesses.
We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality, scalable WordPress solutions that help our clients achieve their digital goals.”
Seahawk Media website. Source: Seahawk Global
Their client, Dakota Premium Hardwood, is a leading Southern U.S. distributor of hardwood lumber, plywood, cabinet hardware, and woodworking supplies. They serve professionals in cabinetry, furniture making, and millwork with a wide range of domestic and exotic wood species.
With multiple branches, they emphasize quality, sustainability, and reliable service.
The challenge: Improving brand identity, usability, and internal content management
Dakota Premium Hardwoods needed a website that better reflected their brand identity and made it easier for customers to explore their products and services. Their goals were to:
- Have a cleaner layout for showcasing their offerings
- Improve site usability and mobile responsiveness
- Better categorize their product range and services
- Add custom features and functionalities to serve woodworking professionals better
- Make content management more efficient for internal teams
Additionally, one of the main challenges their client faced with their old site was that the backend was cumbersome, making it challenging for the internal team to update content or add new pages.
The client wanted a solution where their team could easily update product details, add new pages, and maintain content without needing technical expertise.”
The solution: Choosing WPBakery Page Builder
Seahawk Media redesigned and rebuilt the Dakota Premium Hardwoods website using WPBakery Page Builder.
What made Seahawk Media chose WPBakery was:
- It made development faster and gave the client an easier way to manage their own content
- Its wide compatibility with popular WordPress themes and plugins made it an easy choice
- And WPBakery’s API allowed them to extend the builder by creating custom elements
Its [WPBakery’s] versatility, ease of use for non-technical users, and compatibility with a wide range of themes and plugins make it a standout choice. It strikes the right balance between developer control and client-friendly editing.”
To support this, Seahawk also:
- Used a lightweight WordPress theme for speed, flexibility, and compatibility with the client’s preferred plugins
- Added custom features like product filtering by location, branch-specific content sections, improved the search, created reusable page templates, and custom WPBakery elements
- Integrated essential plugins such as Yoast SEO, WooCommerce, Jetpack, Slider Revolution, and Contact Form 7
The results: Faster load times, better engagement, and easier content updates
While still early, the initial feedback Seahawk Media got from their client shows an uptick in user engagement and lead generation:
- The new site loads faster and is easier to use
- Customers can find what they need more quickly with improved search
- The site is getting better engagement, thanks to the improved navigation, which has also driven more inquiries from potential customers
- And best of all, Dakota’s internal team can now manage and update content easily on their own, without needing a developer
The client appreciated the simplicity and control WPBakery provides. They were especially pleased with the drag-and-drop functionality, which made managing content much more intuitive.”
Dakota Hardwoods website. Source: Dakota Premium Hardwoods
Key takeaways
- WPBakery is a powerful tool for balancing developer flexibility with client usability. It allowed Seahawk Media to create a custom, highly functional site while giving the client autonomy over their content.
- WPBakery works best when paired with a lightweight theme and custom elements that enhance functionality without compromising performance.
- WPBakery allows developers to cut down their development time by approximately 40–60% compared to coding from scratch or using Gutenberg.
Using WPBakery Page Builder has allowed us to cut development time by approximately 40–60% compared to building custom layouts from scratch using raw HTML/CSS or even coding custom Gutenberg blocks in WordPress.”
Be sure to also check out the WP Legends podcast by Seahawk Media, with our very own Raitis Sevelis, Product Manager of WPBakery -> Raitis Sevelis on WPBakery, Visual Composer & Powering Millions of WordPress Sites
