Proclivity Digitech, Website Rebrand & Rebuild
From a slow WordPress site to a fast Next.js 16 rebuild, with a rebrand built in.
Overview
Proclivity Digitech is a software development and digital marketing agency, and its own public website was still running on WordPress slow, and visually behind the kind of work the agency actually sells to clients. For a company pitching modern web and app development, that's not a great look, so the brief was a ground-up rebuild rather than a theme swap. The entire frontend was rebuilt in Next.js 16 and styled with Tailwind CSS, with a brand refresh folded into the same pass instead of treated as a separate project later. Since the move off WordPress also meant losing its built-in CMS and form handling, a custom backend was built to take over that role, Node.js and Express with MongoDB Atlas for storage. Part of that work involved tracking down a MongoDB Atlas connection failure caused by mixing dotenvx with plain dotenv, resolved by loading environment variables once at the entry point (server.js) and keeping db.js free of any env-loading logic of its own. The rebuild is currently live on a staging Vercel deployment and is queued to replace the WordPress site on the agency's production domain.
The Pain Point
The agency's own public website for a company that sells web and app development to clients was running on a slow WordPress build with a dated UI, undercutting the credibility of a business whose whole pitch is modern, well-built websites.
Problem Statement
Rebuild the site on a faster, modern stack, fold in a brand refresh at the same time instead of doing it as a separate pass later, and replace whatever WordPress handled behind the scenes content, forms, leads with a custom Node/Express and MongoDB Atlas backend, without disrupting the live site until the new build is ready.
Key Features
- Full migration off WordPress onto a Next.js 16 frontend
- Tailwind CSS redesign replacing the old WordPress theme
- Brand refresh applied alongside the technical rebuild, not as a separate pass
- Custom Node.js/Express API replacing WordPress's built-in backend
- MongoDB Atlas for data storage in place of the WordPress database
- Performance-focused build aimed directly at the old site's slow load times
- Staged on Vercel ahead of the production domain cutover
Process
- 1Audited the existing WordPress site for performance bottlenecks and UI gaps to scope the rebuild
- 2Rebuilt the frontend from scratch in Next.js 16 with Tailwind CSS rather than porting the old theme
- 3Applied a brand refresh alongside the technical rebuild instead of as a separate project
- 4Built a custom Node.js/Express API to replace WordPress's backend functionality
- 5Set up MongoDB Atlas for storage and resolved a connection failure caused by mixing dotenvx and plain dotenv, by loading env variables once in server.js and keeping db.js clean
- 6Deployed the rebuild to Vercel for staging and review
- 7Preparing the cutover from the WordPress production site to the new build
The Outcome
A faster, fully custom site that matches the standard the agency sells to its own clients, full ownership of the stack with no more WordPress plugin or theme dependencies, and a build that's ready to go live on the main domain.
My Role
Solo Developer
Timeline
Ongoing
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