Case Studies
Real problems we have solved for Irish businesses. Here is a closer look at how we work.
Case Study 01
Hacked E-Commerce Site Recovery
Client: Online homeware retailer based in Dublin with a WooCommerce store generating approximately 200 orders per month.
The Problem: The client contacted us after Google flagged their site as containing malware. Visitors were being shown a security warning before they could access the site, and organic search traffic had dropped by over 80% in the space of three days. The site had been injected with obfuscated PHP code that was redirecting a percentage of visitors to a phishing site. The malware was deeply embedded, with backdoors in multiple plugin directories and a modified wp-includes file.
Our Solution: We began with a full malware scan using both automated tools and manual code inspection. We identified and removed 47 infected files across the wp-content and wp-includes directories. We found the entry point: an outdated, unpatched version of a contact form plugin with a known file upload vulnerability. After cleaning all malicious code, we verified every WordPress core file against official checksums, updated all plugins and themes, reset all admin passwords, regenerated security salts, and hardened file permissions. We then submitted a review request to Google Search Console to have the malware warning lifted.
Result: The site was fully clean and verified within 3 hours. Google removed the malware warning within 24 hours. The client’s search traffic returned to normal within one week. No customer data was compromised.
Timeframe: 3 hours from start to completion.
Case Study 02
Speed Optimisation for a Photography Portfolio
Client: Professional photographer based in Galway whose portfolio site was built on WordPress with a premium theme and multiple gallery plugins.
The Problem: Pages were taking between 8 and 12 seconds to load, which was unacceptable for a visual portfolio. The client was losing potential wedding and event booking enquiries because visitors were leaving before the galleries loaded. Google PageSpeed Insights scored the site at 18 out of 100 on mobile. The hosting was adequate, but the site itself was the bottleneck.
Our Solution: We conducted a thorough performance audit. The primary issues were uncompressed high-resolution images (some over 8MB each), no browser caching, render-blocking CSS and JavaScript from 14 different plugins, and an unoptimised database with over 50,000 transient rows. We compressed and converted all images to WebP format with responsive srcset attributes, configured server-side and browser caching, eliminated render-blocking resources by deferring non-critical scripts, removed 6 redundant plugins, and cleaned the database.
Result: Load time dropped from an average of 9.4 seconds to 1.8 seconds. Google PageSpeed score improved from 18 to 91 on mobile. The client reported a noticeable increase in contact form enquiries within the first month.
Timeframe: 4 hours from start to completion.
Case Study 03
Failed WordPress Update Recovery
Client: A Cork-based solicitors’ practice with a WordPress site that served as their primary client acquisition channel, averaging 40 enquiries per month through the contact form.
The Problem: The office manager attempted to update WordPress from version 6.4 to 6.5 and the update process failed midway through, likely due to a brief server timeout. The site was stuck in maintenance mode, displaying only a “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance” message. The wp-admin dashboard was inaccessible. Their previous developer had not responded to calls in over a week.
Our Solution: We connected via SFTP (as wp-admin was inaccessible) and removed the .maintenance file to take the site out of maintenance mode. The site loaded but with significant errors: broken navigation, missing stylesheets, and a non-functional contact form. The partial core update had left WordPress in an inconsistent state. We manually completed the core update by downloading the correct WordPress version and replacing the corrupted core files. We then updated all plugins one by one, testing after each update to catch any conflicts. The theme required a minor compatibility patch for the new WordPress version, which we applied.
Result: The site was fully restored and running on the latest WordPress version within 2 hours. All functionality, including the contact form, navigation, and styling, was verified working. We set up automatic backups to prevent future data loss from similar situations.
Timeframe: 2 hours from start to completion.
Case Study 04
DNS and Domain Resolution Crisis
Client: A bed and breakfast in Kerry that relied heavily on their website for direct bookings, especially during the tourist season from May to September.
The Problem: The client had transferred their domain from one registrar to another and shortly afterwards their website and email stopped working entirely. The site showed a “server not found” error for all visitors. Their booking form was offline, and enquiry emails were bouncing. The transfer had been initiated without updating DNS records, and the old nameservers were no longer authoritative for the domain. The client had no technical background and was understandably panicked with the season approaching.
Our Solution: We reviewed the domain’s DNS configuration at the new registrar and found that the nameservers had defaulted to the registrar’s parking page. None of the original DNS records (A, CNAME, MX, TXT) had been transferred. We recreated all necessary DNS records: the A record pointing to their hosting server, CNAME records for www and subdomains, MX records for their email service, SPF and DKIM records for email authentication, and a verification TXT record for Google Search Console. We also configured the WordPress site URLs to ensure consistency and set up proper SSL with the new DNS configuration.
Result: DNS records were configured within 1 hour. The website was accessible again within 4 hours as DNS propagated. Email was fully functional within 12 hours. The client had zero bookings lost as the issue was resolved before any guests attempted to book. We documented all DNS records for the client’s future reference.
Timeframe: 1 hour of active work. Full propagation within 12 hours.
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