You might think all web design agencies are the same.
Well, most are. But we are not an agency.
Since launching our business in 2015, we’ve learned plenty about what successful small business owners want from a professional web partner.
While many loved the idea of working with a local office full of creatives, account managers, project managers and web developers, they found this level of service cost-prohibitive.
They also found working remotely with freelancers too difficult, even though it was comparatively cheaper. When things went wrong those business owners found themselves alone, frantically scrabbling around trying to find someone to help fix their problems.
They hated the lock-ins other agencies used to make it difficult to leave, such as long contracts. Or realising the money that had spent had not been on a marketing asset they did not own and leaving meant building a new website from scratch.
Our big idea: GorillaHub
We decided to do something very different from the rest and create a range of fixed price website and care plans designed to give small business owners the ability to choose packages to suit their budget, time constraints and technical support requirements.
We felt strongly we should be transparent on pricing to avoid the all too common “get in touch for a quote” button that left a feeling of doubt the final bill would be significantly higher.
Our services would be purchased and delivered online and we’d recruit the best talent from around the world to deliver it.
We would include hosting and support for fixes and technial and content changes. We would measure time in 5m increments, not the hour some other agencies do. That just seemed the right thing to do.
We would offer fanatical support to stand above our competition, using our founders’ experience in operational management & service delivery honed within organisations such as Barclays, Intel, British Airways & the Royal Navy.
We would not lock customers in; but learned early on that great support ensures not many leave.
We would live by our motto: Start Small, Think Big, Move Fast.
It turned out we wouldn’t be an agency after all, and since 2015, our customer’s are glad we aren’t.
Meet Craig
Prior to forming GorillaHub with Graham in 2015, our MD Craig learned his trade with over 25 years of service delivery and support experience honed in some of the UK’s largest organisations such as Barclays, Lehman Brothers, British Airways. PSINet & the Royal Navy.
He is an expert in process engineering, data management and AI and uses his experience to create technology solutions to improve service delivery, security and automated website management, giving our customers the confidence and peace of mind their business website is in safe hands.
Our Name
Why the Gorilla?
We are often asked about the name we picked when we started the company. When choosing our name we wanted it to include Hub – a single place for all your online needs.
Gorillas are strong and the silverback demonstrates leadership and offers protection for his troop – in the same way we take responsibility for your security and wellbeing of your website. Gorillas are natural problem solvers and we like to think we are, too.
Hence our name, GorillaHub.
Sadly these incredible animals are rare, with only around 1000 Mountain Gorillas left in the wild. This is why we support both the WWF and Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund by adopting a Gorilla on your behalf for each website project completed.
Your New Web Partner
Get some experts on your team
By choosing GorillaHub, you get access to our team of design, technical, development, marketing and service delivery experts. This is the most cost-effective and simplest way to invest in your key business marketing asset – your website.
Our Secret Weapon
Meet GorillaBot
GorillaBot was our first new hire back in 2016 and joined us initially to back up and monitor our customer’s websites. Over the years she’s become smarter and now works tirelessly supporting the team.
She’s now AI-powered so we are teaching her new tricks and she normally adds a new responsibility to her role each month. She’s one of the key differences looking after customer websites that other agencies can’t match.
So what can she do? Quiote a lot, and more each month.
She checks your site’s health, security and performance every 15m. She copies it to a staging slot for safer work whenever we need to make changes that may cause problems. She helps our support team better understand technical requirements by automatically searching for possible fixes – saving us time and youi money.
Clever, eh?
If you want to know more or think we’d make a great partner for your growing business….
ServiceDesk
Relentless approach to support
Our online ServiceDesk provides an easy way to communicate with our tech team to solve problems or plan website changes. While you focus on growing your business, let the experts take care of your website.
Our Structured approach
Proven service delivery
Unlike most agencies, we only supply fully managed websites, so service delivery is the bedrock our relationships are built on. Most of our customers renew with us year after year because of our relentless approach to support and focus on service delivery.
Automation & Monitoring
We can't be everywhere all the time
Security threats are ever present and the typical website can face hundreds of automated attacks a day. To help us we have invested in sophisticated monitoring systems (we even write our own WordPress health checks).
Hand in hand with our monitoring system is our suite of automated website checks checking everything from what plugin updates are needed though to speed, performance and SEO health checks.
Our team use these tools to ensure a more consistent and thorough approach to managing your website through our popular Care Plans
Technical Expertise
The web developer's web developers
We have a solid reputation for our WordPress and web development expertise, so much so we are the first choice for many freelancers and agencies when things get a little too technical for them.
Our Compass: Think big, start small, move fast
Our core principle guides us and sets the direction for the way we deliver projects and services and our founders used this approach to great success in their previous careers. We encourage our customers to think big and work with them to reach those goals in a way that fits their business plans, availalbe resources and budgets.
THINK BIG
Our delivery process, design templates and pre-built components are all designed to work together to get you a modern and visually appealing website in the shortest possible timeframe.
With your website being fully managed and including development time each month for changes, we’ll work with you to improve your site as your business evolves.
- Your website support actively promote business growth
- Can you sell, take bookings or deliver using it?
- Can automation and the smart use of data maximise efficiency or improve customer experience?
START SMALL
Without losing site of the end goal, we believe understanding the journey but having a laser focus on the next step of that journey is the key to success. We’ve seen projects grind to a halt and the businesses beaten by a more agile competitor.
Getting going with an idea, learning what works well and regularly changing things to benefit from that knowledge is the key to remaining competitive in an ever-changing world.
- We look for the simplest way to meet your business objectives
- A phased approach to delivery better manages complexity
- Advanced capabilities delivered through Premium plugins and integration
- Websites are designed to scale with you without costly rebuilds
MOVE FAST
Like Harry S Truman, we believe that imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time. Your new business website should be the same. Go with what’s ready and keep adding to it.
While we love to design and build fantastic tech, we use ‘off the shelf’ where possible as we believe this is usually the right solution for most businesses.
- Landing / holding pages can help convert leads while a new site build is underway
- Launch an interim site until the full site is ready
- All sites a fully managed, so changes can be delivered post-launch without additional costs
