Industry: eCommerce & Wholesale
Services Delivered: WordPress performance optimisation, plugin cleanup, SEO improvements, custom scraper development, WooCommerce integration
Supporting a Growing eCommerce Operation — the Right Way
This project began as a performance audit for a single WooCommerce store and quickly evolved into a long-term collaboration across multiple websites, each with its own challenges. The client — who manages several online shops in industries ranging from beauty to catering — needed expert help to stabilise performance, automate repetitive tasks, and improve reliability across the board.
What They Needed
- Faster load times and better PageSpeed scores across desktop and mobile
- Cleanup and refactoring of plugin-heavy setups, including script delays and redundant code
- Help resolving tracking inconsistencies with Google and Facebook scripts
- Ongoing WordPress troubleshooting and recommendations
- A reliable system to scrape and sync product data from a supplier portal
How I Helped
Speed Improvements on Multiple Fronts
I optimised five WordPress/WooCommerce sites, streamlining scripts, deferring third-party tracking tags, and replacing bloated plugins with lightweight alternatives. Where possible, I hard-coded tracking snippets instead of relying on plugins, regaining performance without sacrificing analytics.
To improve SEO scores, I also added structured metadata, missing alt tags, and optimised image delivery — all while preserving design and functionality.
Smart Script Management
To tackle performance drops from third-party tools like Site Kit and Facebook Pixel, I implemented a staged-loading strategy — deferring non-critical scripts and removing plugin overhead. Clients retained visibility into ad performance without undermining site speed.
Custom Python Scraper
For product updates, I rebuilt and extended an existing scraping script to:
- Handle a two-stage scraping process (including login + barcode resolution)
- Pull product data from structured CSV and dynamic web pages
- Associate barcodes with product IDs and store results for future use
- Integrate with WooCommerce via a local script that directly updates the database
Troubleshooting & Recovery
From fixing failed logins and crashed plugins to switching themes and replacing poorly supported tools, I provided pragmatic fixes and long-term solutions. A good example was replacing a legacy “My Custom Functions” plugin with a better-supported alternative and migrating all custom logic with no downtime.
Hosting Support
While not directly responsible for server performance, I flagged issues related to MySQL usage and bandwidth overages, helping the client identify potential problems with shared databases and recommend better configurations.
Tech Stack Highlights
- WordPress & WooCommerce — Across five production sites
- Python — For web scraping and automation
- Updraft — For backup and staging workflows
- WPCode Lite — Replacing legacy function-injection plugins
- Autoptimize — For asset optimisation and script management
Results
- Performance scores improved across all sites — often hitting 90+ on mobile
- Replaced multiple slow or outdated plugins with more robust alternatives
- Integrated a fully working two-stage scraping system tied into WooCommerce
- Client empowered to manage stock, pricing, and analytics more reliably
- Built trust and laid the foundation for ongoing collaboration
Why It Worked
This project is a great example of how small, consistent improvements can add up to a big result. By combining pragmatic code changes, performance-focused development, and client-focused communication, I helped turn a group of problematic WordPress sites into stable, reliable platforms — and established a long-term relationship based on trust and results.
“Fantastic work, comprehensive replies and achieved the goals we set.“
— James S.