Our Ideas | VerticalWave Web & Mobile Development

As digital publishers navigate the evolving landscape of content, marketing, and commerce, the pressure to monetize brands in new ways has never been greater. Whether you’re managing a publishing house, overseeing editorial teams, or leading a media group like Blue Ant Media, it’s essential to choose an e-commerce platform that empowers your business model,not just today, but as you scale and diversify. At Vertical, we’ve seen both the triumphs and roadblocks publishers face when selecting technology for online stores, subscriptions, and merchandise. Here we’ll break down Shopify and WooCommerce for publishers, based on our years of experience developing and maintaining robust solutions for leading Canadian publishers and content brands.

Understanding the Real Needs of Modern Publishers

Publishers today do far more than just sell books or magazines,they’re digital brands engaging audiences with blogs, e-books, events, training courses, and branded merchandise. The right e-commerce solution must support:

• Seamless product discovery (for everything from books and print to digital content and merchandising)
• Easy content management for editorial teams (without heavy tech skills)
• Bilingual or multi-lingual capabilities (especially important for Canadian publishers)
• Advanced search and filter, intuitive navigation, and accessible design
• Integration with marketing, CRM, or third-party publishing tools
• Flexible checkout, taxes (multiple regions/countries), subscription and membership support

Shopify: The Managed E-commerce Powerhouse

Shopify provides an all-in-one, hosted environment ideal for publishers who value reliability, rapid setup, and minimal technical overhead. We’ve built high-profile publisher websites,like the modern Anansi + Groundwood Books platform,on Shopify, harnessing features publishers appreciate:

• Ease of Use: Shopify’s platform is intuitive for non-technical teams; admins can easily update products, run promotions, and fulfill orders.
• Security & Uptime: Hosting, SSL, and PCI compliance are handled by Shopify, freeing publishers from infrastructure maintenance.
• App Ecosystem: Extendable via a mature app marketplace, covering everything from reviews to advanced analytics.
• Accessibility & Compliance: Customizable themes can be optimized for WCAG and AODA accessibility, critical for public-sector or educational publishers.
• Internationalization: Support for multi-currency and multi-language, suitable for publishers serving diverse audiences.
• Scalability: Handles flash sales, high-traffic launches, and seasonal peaks with ease.

However, Shopify does come with certain trade-offs:

• Template Flexibility: While it supports custom themes, deep customization can be limited by Shopify’s proprietary templating language and app dependencies.
• Ongoing Costs: Monthly fees and transaction charges may add up, especially if many paid apps are needed or if margins are slim.
• Ownership of Data & Export: You have less direct control over server/database exports compared to self-hosted options.

WooCommerce: Flexible Publishing Meets E-commerce

WooCommerce is a free, open-source WordPress plugin,meaning it transforms a content-driven site into a feature-rich store. For many publishers, especially those who already run content sites or blogs on WordPress, WooCommerce feels like a natural extension. Key advantages for publishers include:

• Integration with Editorial Workflow: Your online store and all content live in the same CMS. Editorial, marketing, and commerce teams can collaborate in a unified environment.
• Total Customization: Developers can tailor everything,from product types (books, digital downloads, bundles) to checkout processes, user roles, and content gating.
• Advanced SEO: WordPress, with plugins like Yoast SEO, is unrivalled for organic search optimization,vital for content-heavy publishing sites.
• Cost Control: WooCommerce itself is free; costs are incurred for hosting, premium plugins, and development, allowing for flexible budgeting and no per-transaction fees.
• Third-Party Integration: Seamlessly connect with marketing tools (Mailchimp, CRMs), subscription engines, and analytics.
• Bespoke Design: Easily achieve pixel-perfect designs that match publisher branding,crucial for editorial integrity.

On the flip side, WooCommerce demands more technical management:

• Hosting & Maintenance: Publishers (or their development partners) must handle web hosting, security, and backups. Regular plugin/theme updates are critical for reliability.
• Resource Requirements: Large catalogs or multi-media resources (e.g., 30,000+ books or files) require performance optimization and advanced search (such as Algolia integration, which we’ve used extensively).

Crucial Decision Points for Publishers

Based on our hands-on projects with major Canadian publishers, these are the areas where decisions often hinge:

1. Editorial Control & Content Integration

• If publishing and commerce need tight integration (e.g., blending blogs, book launches, author pages, digital resources), WooCommerce delivers a seamless experience. Editorial teams can create rich product pages, author bios, and resource libraries,without switching platforms.
• Shopify supports content through its built-in blogging features, but these lack the sophistication, taxonomy, and publishing workflow flexibility of WordPress.

2. Catalog Complexity & Custom Products

• WooCommerce’s custom post types and taxonomy flexibility shine when handling large libraries, unique product types, or complex categorization (series, genres, contributors).
• Shopify offers robust catalog management, but highly customized structures may require additional development or workarounds.

3. Multi-Channel & International Sales

• Shopify handles cross-border sales, taxes, and multiple currencies easily,ideal for publishers selling globally out of the box.
• WooCommerce can match this flexibility, but it requires more configuration and specialized plugins for compliance and localization.

4. Digital vs. Physical Products

• Both platforms support physical and digital products (e-books, DRM, downloads). WooCommerce is especially strong at supporting hybrid offerings,like course bundles, memberships, and learning materials, using integrations like LearnDash.

5. Growth and Support Requirements

• For publishers seeking a plug-and-play approach with access to a wide range of official support and a guaranteed SLA, Shopify’s managed hosting is a major advantage.
• For those who value ownership, customized features, and the ability to innovate (especially on a content-centric roadmap), WooCommerce,supported by a team like ours,offers greater long-term freedom.

The Vertical Approach: Lessons from the Front Lines

At Vertical, we’ve led successful launches for both Shopify and WooCommerce in the publishing sector, adapting each to the client’s editorial and business model. Here’s what we’ve learned:

• Content-Led Strategies: Publishers who leverage content as a trust driver and community-building tool often gain more value anchoring e-commerce in WooCommerce. You keep SEO equity, control over structure, and editorial flexibility.
• Rapid Retail Launches: Teams focused primarily on product sales, straightforward fulfillment, or fast market entry see big gains from Shopify’s streamlined admin and scalability.
• Accessibility & Legal Compliance: Both platforms can achieve WCAG and AODA compliance, but a development partner familiar with accessibility nuances is critical. Our work with accessible Shopify stores has proven that clear navigation and alt text, proper contrast, and screen reader compatibility drive engagement from all audiences.

Quick Comparison Table

Making the Right Choice for Publishing Success

Ultimately, the choice between Shopify and WooCommerce for publishers comes down to how much you value editorial richness, customization, and platform ownership versus ease, scale, and managed support. Neither platform is inherently better for everyone,what matters is aligning your tech stack with your publishing vision, internal resources, and audience priorities.

Partnering with a team who truly understands the nuances of both platforms, and the realities of publishing, makes the difference between a store that simply functions and one that fuels community, brand loyalty, and sustainable growth. We’re here to help publishers make those choices confidently,rooted in experience, not just apps and shiny features.

If You’re Ready to Take Your Publishing Brand Online…

Whether you’re strategizing a store launch or looking to untangle a complex catalog, connect with Vertical,your Toronto-based digital specialists in WordPress, WooCommerce, and Shopify for publishers. Let’s make your e-commerce vision not just functional, but genuinely impactful for your audience and your business.

Building a successful WordPress e-commerce store goes far beyond good design, SEO, and robust functionality, especially for publishers and media-driven organizations and WCAG is a key feature. One of the most impactful, yet often under-appreciated, pillars of a modern online presence is accessibility. In North America and globally, ensuring your e-commerce experience is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) isn’t just a legal checkbox; it’s a core element of digital citizenship, expanding your audience and strengthening your brand integrity.

Why WCAG Compliance Matters for E-commerce Publishers

For organizations such as digital publishers and content-driven companies, traffic diversity is a given. Not only does your website need to serve customers with a range of abilities, it must also navigate the strict requirements of global accessibility legislation such as the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) and the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). In Canada, where we’ve helped organizations like Blue Ant Media and House of Anansi transition to accessible digital storefronts, compliance isn’t optional.

• Legal protection: Reduce risk of lawsuits or complaints stemming from inaccessible interfaces.
• Increased reach: Roughly 1 in 5 Canadians has a disability. WCAG compliance opens your store to millions more.
• SEO advantage: Accessible sites often perform better in search rankings, as many SEO best practices overlap with accessibility.
• Brand reputation: Publishers and media companies thrive on trust, demonstrating accessibility is a mark of responsibility and care.

Understanding WCAG: The Foundation for Accessible WordPress Stores

WCAG is a set of global standards created to ensure that digital experiences are Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. For e-commerce publishers, this means:

• Text is readable and adaptable (font resizing, contrast ratios)
• Media (audio, video, images) includes text alternatives
• Full keyboard accessibility for all functions, from search, to navigation, to checkout
• Error recovery is clear and helpful (think accessible form validation)
• Logical structure for assistive devices (screen readers, voice navigators)

The Vertical Approach: Accessibility Meets E-commerce Performance

At Vertical, we don’t see accessibility as a bolt-on. In our WordPress e-commerce builds, WCAG compliance is woven through our design, development, and content processes from day one. Our years of experience migrating and optimizing large publishing platforms (including major accessible Shopify builds, and complex custom WooCommerce installations) have proven that accessibility can enhance, not hinder, engagement, conversions, and long-term site health.

Best Practices: Making Your WordPress Store WCAG-Compliant

1. Choose Accessible WordPress Themes and Plugins

Start with a theme constructed with accessibility in mind. We prefer well-maintained themes that state explicit WCAG support and regularly audit all plugins for accessibility best practices. Avoid bloated or visually-complex builders that generate non-semantic HTML or interfere with keyboard navigation.

• Look for ARIA landmarks and proper heading structure.
• Test plugin modals, popups, carousels, and search fields for keyboard and screen reader use.

2. Semantic HTML & Clear Structure

Every page on your e-commerce site, from landing to checkout, should use logical, semantic HTML. This means ensuring headings (<h1>-<h4>), lists (<ul>, <ol>), buttons, and form fields are coded appropriately. Custom widgets should avoid <div>-only structures and always provide ARIA attributes where necessary.

3. Color Contrast, Typography, and Visual Cues

For content-rich stores, particularly publishers, contrast ratios are critical. We follow WCAG AA or AAA guidelines, ensuring all text stands out from its background and visual cues (links, buttons, state changes) are also conveyed non-visually (e.g., underlines, focus outlines).

• Tool: WebAIM Contrast Checker

4. Alt Text and Accessible Media

Every product image, banner, video, or audio file must have alternative text that describes the content and function. Publishers often use rich media, making this doubly important across not just product images, but also blog illustrations and downloadable previews.

• Don’t just restate product titles, describe unique visuals.
• Transcripts for videos or audio samples.

5. Keyboard Navigation & Interactive Elements

All site functionality should be accessible by keyboard alone. This is crucial in e-commerce, where customers need to:

• Enter search queries
• Navigate product categories and filters
• Add to cart, view cart, and proceed to checkout
• Enter payment and shipping data seamlessly

Custom forms, mega menus, and pop-up modals must retain focus and be dismissible without a mouse.

6. Accessible Forms, Validation, and Error Feedback

Checkout and account creation are common pain points. Make sure every form field:

• Has a clear visible label (not placeholder-only)
• Communicates errors and confirmations in text, not just color
• Respects tab order and offers clear, descriptive ARIA messages for screen readers

7. Mobile Accessibility

With e-commerce increasingly mobile, responsive layout isn’t enough. Interactive elements must be easily tappable, and screen readers should interpret the mobile experience as clearly as the desktop one. Vertical builds are extensively tested across iOS/Android assistive technologies.

8. Ongoing Accessibility Audits and User Feedback

Accessibility isn’t a one-off project. After launch, make site audits a routine: use tools such as AXE, Wave, or Lighthouse. Whenever you push new content, themes, or plugins, re-test for compliance. Encourage feedback from your user base and strive to continuously improve.

Common Accessibility Mistakes on E-commerce Sites (and How to Avoid Them)

• Images that contain critical information but lack meaningful alt text
• Flashy carousels or sliders without keyboard support
• Invisible focus indicators on form fields or buttons
• Linking structure not clear, screen reader users can’t distinguish between navigation, promotional, and action links
• Popup chatbots or banners that can’t be dismissed with keyboard
• Unlabeled icons (e.g., cart or wishlist without a text alternative)
• Error messages that are color-only or appear outside the logical flow for screen readers

WCAG for Publishers: A Focus on Dynamic Content and Accessibility

For companies with complex content requirements, like news outlets, indie bookshops, or education platforms, accessibility challenges often arise from custom content types, taxonomy-driven product catalogs, and frequent content updates. Our experience merging diverse taxonomies and resource types during large platform migrations highlights the importance of:

• Assigning clear language tags for multilingual stores
• Accessible search experiences (autocomplete, filters, live results)
• Accessible downloadable resources (PDFs, samples, etc.)

We always recommend pairing structured data for SEO and accessibility, making it easier for both search engines and assistive tech to parse your rich content.

Building Accessibility Into Your Workflow

If you’re running (or building) a WordPress e-commerce store as a publisher, here’s a practical checklist to ensure WCAG compliance becomes a core pillar, not just a late-stage afterthought:

• Include accessibility in your design briefs and acceptance criteria.
• Train content editors on writing accessible alt text and using headings properly.
• Integrate accessibility testing in your QA process with both tools and real users with disabilities.
• Partner only with developers who share the same accessibility-first philosophy.

Additional Resources for Your Team

• WCAG 2.1 Quick Reference
• AODA Compliance Basics for Ontario, Canada
• Axe Accessibility Testing Tools

Our Commitment & How We Can Help

WCAG compliance isn’t just a technical or legal requirement. It’s a moral and business imperative for publishers looking to lead in a crowded digital landscape. At Vertical, our mission is to make the web a place where every audience can connect with your content, products, and brand story, regardless of ability.

If you’re a publisher ready to prioritize accessibility in your WordPress e-commerce strategy, or if you’re unsure where to begin, our expert team is here to help you every step of the way.

Learn more or get in touch at verticalhq.ca for a consultation tailored to your site’s goals and compliance needs.

Introduction

In the rapidly evolving world of AI and search, staying ahead of the curve is essential, especially for WordPress site owners and digital agencies. One of the latest trends gaining attention is LLM.txt, a proposed standard meant to improve how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Perplexity interpret your website. But before you rush to implement it on your WordPress site, here’s the truth: LLM.txt isn’t effective for AI search visibility.

In this post, we’ll explore what LLM.txt is, why it’s not being used by major AI platforms, and what actually works to improve your site’s visibility in AI-powered search results.

What is LLM.txt?

LLM.txt, introduced in September 2024 by Jeremy Howard, is a proposed standard designed to help AI models better understand web content. It offers a clean, markdown-style file that highlights key content without the usual web clutter, like JavaScript, ads, and navigation elements .

In theory, it sounds like a smart move, especially for WordPress SEO and AI optimization. The file typically includes:

• A project name in an H1 tag
• A summary blockquote
• Organized links to key content pages

This is intended to help bots find the most relevant content faster. However, there’s a significant problem: no major AI platform is using LLM.txt.

Why LLM.txt Doesn’t Work for AI Search Visibility

Despite the hype, Google, OpenAI, and Perplexity are not indexing LLM.txt files. Here’s why:

1. No Official Support
   Google’s John Mueller publicly stated that AI platforms are not using LLM.txt, likening it to the outdated “keywords” meta tag. AI crawlers don’t even check for it in server logs .
   
2. Real-World Testing Shows Zero Activity
   Even large-scale hosts managing over 20,000 websites confirmed no activity from mainstream AI bots. Only niche tools like BuiltWith seem to access these files .
   
3. Modern AI Doesn’t Need It
   LLMs are already capable of parsing standard HTML and extracting relevant content. If they’re smart enough to verify the content of an LLM.txt file, they’re smart enough to read your regular web pages .
   

What WordPress Site Owners Should Do Instead

If you’re running a WordPress agency or managing client sites, here’s what you should focus on to improve AI search visibility:

For ChatGPT Search Visibility

• Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt
  
  Add this to your site’s robots.txt:
  “User-agent: OAI-SearchBot 
  Allow: /”
  
• Make Sure Your Content is Indexed in Bing
  
  ChatGPT relies on Bing’s index, so traditional Bing SEO is crucial.
  
• Create Structured, High-Quality Content
  
  Use clear headings, answer common questions, and prioritize helpfulness.
  
• Ensure Fast Page Load Speeds
  
  Optimize images, enable caching, and use a fast, responsive theme.
  

For Perplexity AI Visibility

• Allow PerplexityBot in robots.txt
  “User-agent: PerplexityBot 
  Allow: /”
  
• Avoid Login Gates and JavaScript Rendering
  Perplexity prefers easily crawable, public content,  no gated access.
  
• Focus on Authority and Relevance
  Think E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

For Google AI Overviews

• Stick to Traditional SEO Best Practices
  Even with Gemini-powered summaries, Google AI relies heavily on its core index.
  
• Use Schema Markup
  Help AI understand your content with structured data like FAQ Page, Article, and WebPage schema.
  
• Create Evergreen, Authoritative Content
  Long-form, well-researched articles still perform best, especially in competitive niches.

Should You Add LLM.txt to Your WordPress Site Anyway?

For now, probably not. Unless you want to experiment or have a specific niche use-case, there’s little to no benefit. AI bots are not using LLM.txt files, and your time is better spent improving content, technical SEO, and structured data.

Final Thoughts

As a WordPress agency, we understand how tempting it is to chase every new trend in the SEO world, especially when it comes to emerging AI search features. But LLM.txt isn’t the silver bullet it’s made out to be.

Instead, stay focused on proven strategies:

• Optimize your robots.txt for AI crawlers
  
• Keep your site technically sound and fast
  
• Create content that actually answers user questions
  
• Follow SEO best practices with clear structure and intent
  

At the end of the day, helping AI platforms find and understand your WordPress content still depends on the same principles that make websites valuable to human users: clarity, authority, and accessibility.

Need help making your WordPress site AI-friendly? Get in touch! Our team specializes in AI-optimized WordPress SEO and can help you build a future-proof digital presence.

The evolution of digital publishing is rapidly changing the way organizations approach their web platforms. In our work with enterprise publishers and media brands at Vertical, we see a growing interest in the architectural debate between headless and traditional WordPress. As publishing demands surge think rapid content delivery, cross-channel distribution, and scalability the right technical foundation can make or break both performance and user experience. Let’s break down what really matters for high-performance publishing sites and offer practical guidance on when to choose traditional versus headless WordPress.

Understanding the Architectures: Traditional vs. Headless WordPress

First, a quick primer. Traditional WordPress, as most know it, is a tightly coupled system: the content management backend and the website frontend are intertwined. You publish an article, and WordPress instantly renders it via your active theme for visitors.

Headless WordPress, in contrast, decouples content management (still handled in WordPress) from content delivery, which is managed by a separate, often ultra-fast frontend built in frameworks like React or Next.js. The site’s design and interactivity live elsewhere, pulling content through APIs (typically REST or GraphQL).

Key Differences Explained

• Frontend Flexibility: Traditional WordPress is limited to PHP-based themes, while headless lets you use modern JavaScript frameworks to achieve richer, more interactive user experiences and finer performance control.
• Performance & Speed: With headless, you leverage static site generation and advanced caching strategies to deliver lightning-fast page loads, which is increasingly vital for high-traffic publishers.
• Content Distribution: Need to push articles to mobile apps, smart devices, or partner portals? Headless makes omnichannel publishing seamless through API-first approaches.
• Complexity: Traditional installs are simpler to set up and maintain, while headless requires more development resources and typically two different hosting environments (one for WordPress, one for your frontend site/app).

Why Performance Matters, Especially for Publishers

Editorial teams live and die by timing, relevance, and sharing velocity. If your homepage or news archive crawls under load, you risk losing both readers and SEO traction. Google and audiences alike expect near-instant loads, especially on mobile.

In our work with Toronto-based publishers and content agencies, we’ve found that:

• Traditional WordPress can serve 95% of local publishers extremely well with proper optimization, caching, and quality hosting. It’s proven, easy for editors, and cost-effective for organizations with a steady but not massive scale of traffic.
• Headless WordPress comes into its own when you need to serve hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously, roll out new frontends for apps, or push content to various endpoints without delay. The speed gains, API access, and scalability are substantial, but so are the upfront investments and long-term maintenance requirements.

Strengths and Trade-offs for Each Approach

Real-World Publishing Challenges And Practical Solutions

Here’s how we approach these decisions at Vertical, based on years of hands-on experience helping publishers streamline, modernize, and scale their platforms:

If You’re a Fast-growing Publisher or Media Brand

• Recurring traffic spikes (think viral articles or breaking news)? Headless offers more confidence your site will hold up under pressure and deliver content globally at speed.
• Want to push content to partner apps or syndicate out to third-party platforms seamlessly? Headless’s API-first delivery means you build once, distribute everywhere.
• Have a developer team ready to manage site builds and deployments? The flexibility and ability to use React, Vue, or other JS frameworks can future-proof your platform.

If You’re a Lean Team Focused on Editorial Simplicity

• Publishing fewer than 50 posts a month and don’t have an in-house web developer? Lean into traditional WordPress, it’s fast to launch, familiar to content creators, and cost-effective.
• Rely on Gutenberg or custom page builders for real-time page creation? You’ll reap instant savings in training and deployment speed.
• Want the security of continuous plugin development and easy theme updates? Traditional holds the advantage.

Migration Planning & SEO Considerations

For digital agencies and publishing directors considering a move from traditional to headless WordPress, planning is half the battle. Key steps in a smooth transition include:

• Auditing your content structure understand which custom fields and taxonomies map to your planned frontend’s components.
• Mapping 301 redirects meticulously to protect your SEO authority during platform change.
• Ensuring your new frontend delivers structured data, meta tags, and SEO best practices, WordPress made this easy with plugins, but you’ll now need technical attention here.

It’s also wise to adopt an incremental rollout (e.g., move your homepage or top categories first), monitoring analytics for dips and swiftly addressing them.

Cost Breakdown: What to Expect

• Traditional WordPress: Expect annual spend between $200–$2,000 for typical medium-sized publishing teams, covering reliable hosting, premium themes or page builders, and essential plugins (like SEO, security, and backups).
• Headless WordPress: Budget for $1,500–$15,000 annually, accounting for extra development hours, dual hosting setups (one for WordPress admin, another for your frontend stack), and ongoing technical maintenance.

Bottom Line: Choosing the Right Architecture for Your Publishing Future

Ultimately, your organization’s scale, technical capability, and content ambitions drive this decision. Traditional WordPress is not going away, it’s a fantastic choice for most SMEs and even many high-traffic brands (with sufficient optimization).

Headless WordPress shines when performance, omnichannel content delivery, and ambitious scaling are the order of the day. But it brings complexity and cost that are best justified by rapid growth goals or a need to deliver content experiences across a diversity of modern devices and platforms.

At Vertical, we’re passionate about building future-proof, user-friendly, and high-performing WordPress experiences, traditional or decoupled. We collaborate closely with digital directors, editorial teams, and innovators to craft architectures that deliver on speed, flexibility, and editorial power.

If you’re wondering which approach can help take your publishing brand to the next level, let’s talk at Vertical, we’ll help you evaluate your options and set your platform up for growth, resilience, and creative freedom.

1. Project Background & Overview

For nearly a decade, the Homeless Hub team from York University operated its homelesshub.ca platform, the leading resource for homelessness research and studies website on Drupal 7. However, with evolving needs, the platform became less suitable. The primary issues were a slow-loading website, lack of design flexibility, and an outdated search system, as well as a heavy backend system.

The Homeless Hub wanted a more intuitive and flexible platform that could provide a simplified backend for editors, options to create pages and sections independently, improved SEO and advanced search, plus a new, modern design to match their branding, as homelesshub.ca is their flagship site. The goal was to migrate from Drupal to WordPress while addressing these challenges.

2. Challenges Faced

Migrating such a large-scale website, with over 30,000 resources and more than 10,000 contributor profiles, posed several challenges:

• Complex Content Types: The site hosted diverse resources such as books, reports, toolkits, factsheets, journals and more, all with connected taxonomies and custom fields.
• Taxonomy and Custom Field Remapping: The existing taxonomies and custom fields required reorganization to improve efficiency and ease of use for editors.
• Search Functionality: An advanced custom search was needed to handle the volume of resources while offering granular filtering options. The old search engine was slow and not pulling relevant results.
• Design Precision: A pixel-perfect design had to be implemented, ensuring a modern, user-friendly interface and interaction.
• URL Structure and SEO: Some URL structures needed to be maintained, while others had to be improved, requiring careful redirection to ensure no loss of traffic. SEO improvements were also essential.

3. Solution & Execution

Our approach to the migration was carefully planned to ensure seamless execution:

• Migration Process: We used a combination of third-party plugins and custom scripts to migrate all resources, contributor profiles, databases, and large amount of files from Drupal to WordPress.
• Taxonomy Remapping: Custom-coded taxonomies were created to match the new improved structure and existing and new fields added using Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). We combined and remapped taxonomies during the import process, reducing the number of fields and simplifying the backend for editors.
• Custom Search with Algolia: To address the need for advanced search, we integrated Algolia, creating a granular index with custom filters based on taxonomies and fields. This was seamlessly integrated into WordPress using a custom plugin to ensure fast and accurate search results.
• Design Implementation: We developed a design system in collaboration with the Homeless Hub team. Using the Divi theme, we redesigned the entire site, ensuring a modern, user-friendly interface. Rigorous testing was done across platforms (Mac, Windows) and devices (desktop, mobile) to ensure pixel-perfect design consistency.
• URL and SEO Enhancements: Resource URLs were kept intact, while new URLs were created for blogs and taxonomies. We implemented Yoast for SEO improvements and made careful redirections to ensure SEO optimization and traffic retention.
• Custom Plugins: We developed several custom plugins, including ones for fields ordering and taxonomy hierarchy management, and another for managing books with chapters and sub-chapters.

4. Unique Highlights

Several custom solutions added exceptional value to the project:

• Custom Plugins: We created custom plugins for managing content types like books with chapters and sub-chapters, as well as for taxonomy hierarchy and field ordering.
• Search Optimization: The granular Algolia search configuration resulted in an extremely fast and accurate search experience, greatly improving user engagement with the site.
• Successful Redirects: We ensured that all necessary URL redirects were in place, maintaining SEO rankings and avoiding any broken links.
• SEO Performance: Compared to the metrics before migration, the website traffic has drastically improved and the Google indexing as been extremely fast. According to GA, clicks and impressions spiked in number of days.

5. Results & Impact

The website migration resulted in significant improvements:

• Smoother Performance: The new site runs much more efficiently, with faster load times and enhanced usability.
• Simplified Backend: The backend is now intuitive, allowing editors to easily create and edit content, as well as create custom pages independently.
• Search Efficiency: Integrating Algolia greatly enhanced the search experience. The new search is now faster, more accurate, and provides users with real-time results from the vast 30,000-resource library. Users can easily filter results by various criteria, making it far easier to find relevant information quickly. This upgrade has improved accessibility and usability for researchers, policymakers, and the public.
• SEO Boost: By utilizing Yoast SEO, the website saw a significant rise in organic traffic and search rankings. Optimized content, proper URL redirects, and better site structure all contributed to this improvement. The site’s faster loading times have also positively impacted user retention, as visitors are more likely to stay and engage with the content.
• Enhanced User Experience (UX): The site is now faster, mobile-friendly, and easier to navigate. The updated design ensures a seamless experience across devices, while the simplified backend allows the Homeless Hub team to manage content more efficiently. The new platform provides a smoother, more responsive browsing experience, supporting the organization’s mission of making homelessness research more accessible.

Homeless Hub WP Website Launch

6. Conclusion

The Homeless Hub website migration from Drupal 7 to WordPress was a resounding success, achieving all of the client’s key objectives. The transition to a more flexible, user-friendly platform has empowered the Homeless Hub team to independently manage and update their site, while users enjoy a smoother, faster experience with enhanced search functionality. The project highlights the importance of meticulous planning, custom solutions, and collaboration to overcome the challenges of large-scale website migration.

With an improved design, better performance, and significantly increased traffic thanks to enhanced SEO, the new Homeless Hub website is well-positioned to continue providing vital resources and information for years to come. This project demonstrates the transformative power of a well-executed migration, where technology, design, and functionality come together to create a more efficient and user-focused platform.

Choosing the right platform for your website is more than a matter of preference; it’s a strategic decision that can significantly impact your online success and company brand. While Webflow has emerged in the last few years as a popular tool for its ease of use and visual design capabilities, WordPress continues to stand out as the preferred choice for businesses aiming for growth, flexibility, and a robust online presence. In this post, we delve into the WordPress vs Webflow matter and why WordPress triumphs, providing compelling reasons for selecting WordPress for their digital endeavors.

Customization and Flexibility

WordPress: A Universe of Possibilities
WordPress’s most significant advantage lies in its unparalleled customization and flexibility. Thanks to its open-source nature, the platform hosts an extensive ecosystem of plugins and themes, allowing users to tailor their sites to their exact needs. Whether you’re looking to enhance your SEO, boost your site’s speed, add an online store, or integrate with third-party services, there’s almost certainly a plugin for that. This extensibility makes WordPress ideal for businesses that anticipate scaling up or diversifying their online activities.

Webflow: Sleek, But Restricted
Webflow offers a more contained environment, which might appeal to users seeking simplicity. However, this simplicity comes at the cost of flexibility. While Webflow’s design-first approach is innovative, it inherently limits what you can achieve compared to WordPress. For businesses that require specialized functionalities or wish to extensively customize their site beyond visual design, Webflow’s restrictions become apparent.

SEO Capabilities

WordPress: Mastering Search Engine Visibility
With WordPress, optimizing your website for search engines is a breeze, thanks to advanced SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and All in One SEO. These tools guide you in optimizing content, improving readability, and ensuring your site meets the best SEO practices. The level of detail and control WordPress offers for SEO is unmatched, making it the go-to choice for businesses serious about high rankings in search results.

Webflow: Basic, But Limited
Webflow provides basic SEO tools that cover the essentials. However, it lacks the depth and breadth of WordPress’s SEO capabilities. For businesses looking to execute a sophisticated SEO strategy, WordPress’s comprehensive tools and plugins offer a more robust solution.

Cost-Effectiveness

WordPress: Open-Source and Economical
WordPress’s open-source nature means the software itself is free. Costs are primarily associated with web hosting, premium themes, or plugins, which are often one-time or annual fees. This model allows businesses to control their expenses, making WordPress a cost-effective solution over time.

Webflow: Subscription-Based Expenses
Webflow operates on a subscription model, which can seem affordable at first glance but may become more expensive as your needs grow. The cost of Webflow can quickly escalate, especially for larger sites or those requiring advanced features, making WordPress a more economically viable option in the long run.

E-commerce Solutions

WordPress (WooCommerce): Powerfully Flexible
For e-commerce, WordPress offers WooCommerce, a powerful and customizable platform that integrates seamlessly with your site. WooCommerce supports an array of payment gateways, shipping options, multiple currencies and currencies converters and virtually unlimited product variations, making it suited for businesses of all sizes.

Webflow: Simplicity over Flexibility
Webflow’s e-commerce capabilities are designed for simplicity, which might suffice for smaller online stores. However, businesses that need more control over their e-commerce experience will find WooCommerce’s flexibility and scalability more accommodating.

Community Support and Resources

WordPress: A Global Community
WordPress boasts a massive, global community of developers, designers, and users. This vibrant community offers an abundance of tutorials, forums, and resources, ensuring help is always available. Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced user, the WordPress community is an invaluable asset.

Webflow: Growing, But Limited
While Webflow has a supportive community, it’s significantly smaller and less established than WordPress’s. This means fewer resources, tutorials, and third-party services, which can be a drawback for businesses requiring extensive support and development.

Conclusion

WordPress’s superior customization, flexibility, SEO capabilities, cost-effectiveness, and community support make it the preferred choice for businesses looking to establish or grow their online presence. While Webflow offers a streamlined, design-centric approach, it falls short in providing the scalability, control, and extensive ecosystem that WordPress offers.

If you’re looking to build a website that can grow with your business, adapt to your changing needs, and rank well on search engines, in the WordPress vs Webflow confrontation, WP is clearly the winner. Contact our WordPress digital agency today to discover how we can help bring your business’s online vision to life, or to learn more about transitioning from Webflow to WordPress.

Introduction

The Homelessness Learning Hub (HLH) is a project started by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and is funded by the Government of Canada. It serves as an important resource for professional growth and strengthening community efforts in Canada’s sector that helps the homeless. The HLH provides training and materials that are based on the best methods and research with solid evidence. To improve its online learning, the HLH needed significant changes and were looking for a solid LMS system to meet their needs. Working with VerticalWave Solutions, we have been partners for many years and on many projects. Our goal was to create an engaging online platform that follows the newest standards in UI/UX design.

Challenge

The current HLH platform was created using Drupal 7, which is now old and doesn’t have the latest UI/UX design or the flexibility we wanted for a good learning experience. Our task was to update the Learning Management System (LMS). We didn’t just plan to start over, but to make it better and bigger. Our goals included adding new features, giving access to new tools, and organizing the content (like trainings, resources, and categories) to make it easier to find. We also wanted to keep the existing user database safe.

Analysis

Our collaborative analysis with HLH identified the essential attributes for a state-of-the-art Learning Management System:

• A lightweight infrastructure capable of supporting a vast user base without compromising performance.
• An intuitive LMS that facilitates easy access to content and tools, ensuring a logical progression through training materials.
• Effective content and user management capabilities.
• The flexibility to incorporate future enhancements without the need for extensive coding.
• Bilingual support, alongside custom content types, taxonomies, and functionalities.
• Advanced search and filtering options.
• Economically viable development and maintenance costs.

Solution

As experts in WordPress development, we saw its potential to better serve the HLH’s needs, offering improvements over Drupal in security, flexibility, and cost savings. We looked at various LMS options that work with WordPress and chose LearnDash for its wide range of course management tools. We also used the BuddyBoss theme and platform for its features in user sign-ups, profile handling, and tracking progress.

Our team carefully set up the WordPress system, BuddyBoss theme, and LearnDash LMS, adding special content types like collections, courses, and resources. We moved all the data from Drupal to the new WordPress LMS. This included courses, lessons, resources, collections, over 1500 users, and related media. After moving the data, we added custom UX/UI improvements and other specific features the client wanted.

Results

Launched in 2021, the Homelessness Learning Hub, powered by WordPress and enhanced with the BuddyBoss Pro theme/platform and LearnDash LMS, has evolved into a premier online training platform. It now boasts a rich array of content and advanced features, catering to the diverse needs of its users. Following several updates focused on improving visuals, UI/UX, and core functionalities, the platform has seen its user base grow from 1500 to over 8000.

VerticalWave Solutions remains committed to providing continuous support and updates, ensuring the HLH LMS remains at the forefront of online education in the homeless-serving sector.This case study exemplifies the transformative power of WordPress and LearnDash in creating an engaging, efficient, and accessible online learning environment.

We’re proud to present our latest project, the interactive Fast TV Channels Website Series for Blue Ant Media. Headquartered in Toronto, Blue Ant Media is a privately held global media company, with offices in five other countries besides Canada.

The Blue Ant team needed a platform to promote some of the newest shows streaming on popular platforms like Roku, LG Channels, Xumo, Vizio, Samsung TV Plus and others, while targeting content for specific countries worldwide and turned to Vertical team for design and development. The Blue Ant and Vertical teams have an outstanding relationship, as we’re providing ongoing maintenance and support for their other projects, like CottageLife, MobileSyrup, BeMakeful, TheBabyShows and other successful websites over the past year.

The challenge was to create a platform that delivers a similar design template across all websites, but promotes specific content for each individual site at the same time. The platform is engineered using our in-house design and a backend structure based on WordPress and Divi, plus additional custom built plugins. At the same time, each website displays country specific shows and streaming channels using a geolocation functionality identifying visitor IP. A default page is displayed if no shows are available in a particular country; otherwise the users are redirected towards Canada, US or Europe specific pages depending on their location.

Another advanced functionality allows administrators make bulk plugin and core updates and content edits across all websites using a single master admin system. The master-slave backend system is designed to reduce operation times and simplify maintenance. At the same time, each website can be updated individually as needed and can act as an independent app.

Here’s a quick overview of the of the Fast TV Channels top features:

• Unified layout design
• Simplified administration interface using both frontend and backend access
• One site controls all
• Geolocated content display based on user IP
• Custom 3D shows carousel
• Fully responsive

The Fast TV Channels include HauntTV, CrimetimeTV, LovePetsTV, HomefulTV, DragRaceUniverseTV, TotalCrimeTV and HistoryTimeTV. The series of channels does not stop here. Several new channels will be added in the near future to complete the list, offering info on the newest and most exciting shows available on popular streaming platforms worldwide.

House of Anansi Press is Canada’s leading independent publisher, bringing readers award-winning and bestselling books from the realms of poetry, as well as fiction, nonfiction, drama, French-Canadian writers in translation, lifestyle, and authors from around the world.Founded back in 1978, Groundwood Books is one of the top children’s books publishers, with collections acclaimed for being ahead of the curve, justice oriented, and unafraid of touching stories that may be considered difficult or controversial.

VerticalWave Solutions brought the two major Canadian publishers together on a new, integrated e-commerce platform, migrating all of the content from the old sites. The new, modern Anansi+Groundwood website is developed on Shopify and integrates a series of custom features intended to vastly improve front-end user experience as well as the back-end management for system admins.

Together with the client, our team chose a modern theme and then customized it with a wide range of features and options. The theme was modded and customized to deliver enhanced UI and UX across all devices and screen resolutions. An intuitive product browsing system, based on catalogs, collections, genres and more, complemented by a quick preview and simple and efficient shopping cart provides users with an enriched shopping experience.

One of the challenges of the project was to migrate the entire content from the old sites to the new Shopify store. Using a series of scripts, ingestion apps and checkup procedures, our team managed to successfully transfer all of the orders, customers, blogs and products to the new platform and update them with the new tags, while also integrating them into the required collections and categories.

To make sure the site maintenance and product updates are quick and easy to perform, we configured the Shopify backend with an intuitive and easy administration interface in mind, keeping things accessible even for non tech savvy admins. From orders and payment processing to products sorting and configuration, everything is tight and easy to use.

The new Shopify Anansi + Groundwood platform is also designed and developed in compliance with WCAG – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and the AODA – Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act rules. The site is accessible, sporting an optimal contrast, font sizes, image captions, tags and more and is compatible with most screen readers available today.
We’re proud to say the Anansi and Groundwood teams are extremely happy with our work. VerticalWave will continue to provide support s well as security and feature updates throughout the new site’s lifespan.

Vinostics is our latest project and we’re proud to say it is one of a kind. As a matter of fact, it is the first marketplace dedicated exclusively to the US and Canada collision repair sector. Vinostics has two major components, one dedicated to body shops, which can open bids on the products they need and one dedicated to suppliers which can fulfill the open bids. Body shops can select the most competitive offers based on prices and product selection, saving big on their expenses.

Moreover, the marketplace offers a wide array of products from which body shops can choose and also allows manufacturers and distributors suggest alternative products if needed. Communication between body shops and suppliers/jobbers is ensured via web, text messages and email. We can say it’s more of a community than a classic marketplace. The database is huge, containing more than 15k products from the most prestigious brands, like 3M, Norton, Tork, Devilbiss, Carworks, Anest Iwata, Gerson, Fusor and more. From shop supplies and tools, like wipers, cans and racks, spray guns and sanders to consumables like abrasives, fillers, filters, compounds and safety items, Vinostics covers it all.

The marketplace is built using cutting edge tech, ensuring total security and a modern, attractive and intuitive UX. Shopify is used at the core, as it is perhaps the most reliable ecommerce platform, offering multiple options to sellers and buyers. The back-end uses Node.js, due to its cross-platform capabilities. The front-end is based on the Angular framework to deliver enhanced user experience. For the database we used Firestore, thanks to its scalable and flexible features. We added Prismic as CMS, allowing administrators update the platform quickly and easyily. The marketplace also uses a custom Algolia search engine, which provides accurate results on any query.

The Vinostics marketplace grows each day. Dozens of body shops and jobbers are using the platform as we speak placing orders and bids, getting in touch and getting jobs done. The Vinostics team is also proud of their platform and the job VerticalWave has done. They are second and third generation automotive craftsmen and merchants, with extensive know-how in the industry and the marketplace app is perfectly tailored to their needs.