How modernizing their WordPress website enabled a UAE marketing agency to slash the speed of web page creation by half and level up Google PageSpeed Insights score from 32 to 92 on average, significantly improving Core Web Vitals for desktop, such as LCP (from 4.5 to 2 seconds), INP (from 600 to 200 milliseconds), and CLS (from 0.3 to 0.1).
Industry:
Entertainment and Media
Web Development
“Set it and forget it” isn’t something you can hope for in the digital world. Websites need updates every few years, or they become slow, clunky, and vulnerable.
Our client, a UAE marketing agency, learned this the hard way. Their WordPress website hadn’t seen an update for almost a decade. A newly set solution coped with 3.000 users per day glitch-free. However, over the years, traffic quadrupled, bringing performance, efficiency, and security concerns to the surface.
Considering all that, the client had a decision to make — modernize their existing website on WordPress or switch to another CMS. With no in-house expertise to weigh their options, they contacted *instinctools.
Our team started by assessing the as-is state and communicating with the stakeholders to clarify their overall project priorities to map out the most efficient route to the spot-on, well-performing website.
A deep-dive tech assessment uncovered that website modernization would be enough to tick all the boxes — no need for a CMS migration. We suggested:
With a clear roadmap in place, our team of software and system engineers got to work.
The first step was to upgrade the client’s WordPress from 4.1 to the latest version, 6.4.2.
This upgrade alone made an instant impact:
Moving forward, we took on removing architectural roadblocks on the way to faster page loading time.
With the latest version of WordPress, NitroPack was finally up for grabs. By enabling smart caching, a built-in content delivery network (CDN), and image optimization, NitroPack gave the site a massive speed boost.
Based on PageSpeed Insights data, our team also optimized the script and style sheets, which had previously contributed to poor performance.
The client’s website initially relied on the Apache server. Its synchronous, process-driven architecture, which implies creating a thread for each connection request, suits smaller sites but becomes an obstacle when they grow.
Therefore, we recommended shifting to Nginx, a server with asynchronous, event-driven architecture that enables multiple connections to be handled within a single process. This server was designed to manage high loads with minimal memory and CPU consumption, making it a perfect fit for enterprise-grade corporate websites.
We also integrated NitroPack with the Nginx Helper plugin to additionally increase caching efficiency.
While the WordPress upgrade enabled some automation, it wasn’t enough to lessen the burden of day-to-day manual tasks. During the tech assessment, the *instinctools team identified two major areas with the highest potential for automation.
Previously, developers had to manually push every code change from local repositories to GitLab, then deploy it to staging and production.
Our system engineers enabled faster development cycles by establishing a solid and consistent CI/CD pipeline and adopting Docker.
There’re numerous WordPress website builders, such as Elementor, Divi, Brizy, Beaver, Visual Composer, SeedProd, etc., to leverage and simplify creating, editing, and customizing the website pages. We opted for Elementor Pro for its high intuitiveness and customizability paired with the broadest range of features.
We accelerated the web page markup process from 8 to 4 hours on average by introducing reusable generic blocks, widgets, and shortcodes.
The client’s website integrates with various SEO and marketing tools, so we ensured everything stayed intact post-upgrade. The only minor hiccup we had to deal with was caused by NitroPack, which blocked the HubSpot forms from displaying on the website. We resolved it by configuring NitroPack bypass caching for HubSpot-related scripts.
When performance and security degrade, many businesses assume they need to switch platforms. But in reality, modernization often delivers the same results with lower costs and fewer disruptions.
However, this option is not a one-time fix — your solution requires regular health checks anyway. We suggest running a tech assessment every three years to ensure your website or app stays future-proof and high-performing, on your terms.
