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Why we created Swwwift

Let’s talk about Swwwift! We’re going to share with you the background of our built-for-you website platform, why the idea came about and our journey so far…

The idea and who Swwwift is for

So the idea of Swwwift came about in 2017, when Founder Ryan Grist was being asked by his clients were being turned away from his web agency, Angle Studios, as they didn’t have the budget required for an agency-built site.

“I felt we could be doing more for clients who didn’t have the time, budget and know-how. The limitations of freelancers, online website builders and agencies all have their advantages – but also many disadvantages.

So you end up having to pick between what you require most at the cost of something else, which leaves you with no balance.” – Ryan, Swwwift Founder.

Ryan was a graphic designer who ended up growing a web agency. He did it the hard way and wished he has Swwwift as a tool to delivery websites to his clients. Not being able to write code the options were slim in 2009. That’s why he wanted to build a platform to help other graphic designers build an income.

Who Swwwift is for

In short, Swwwift is for graphic designers who are either currently selling websites to clients or looking to do so. Swwwift will be the right platform for you if any of the following criteria sound familiar:

You want to grow a new revenue stream or side hustle by selling websites
Your clients don’t have the budget for an agency
You don’t have the time to invest in building websites through a traditional web builder
You want a built-for-you service
You want tech support on-tap whenever you need it
You’re a WordPress fan and can’t bear the online website builders!
You don’t want to rely on a freelance developer

Founding the business and the Swwwift team

Founding Swwwift

Fast forward to 2019 and Swwwift became more than just an idea! After careful consideration and planning, the time was right for Swwwift to get going.

The team – who are the experts behind the scenes

The Swwwift team started out with just Ryan, his developers, and a handful of trusted collaborators. Naturally, more resources were needed as Swwwift has continued to grow, to full development, design, tech, support, and marketing team.

Swwwift’s beta testing, completion and feedback

As you’d imagine, the next logical step for Swwwift was a beta testing phase. Plans were set in motion and we set about putting Swwwift in front of our ideal audience through online ads. Our vision appealed to them and signed up in the hundreds to be part of the beta program – just over 1000 designers and some marketers.

The beta

The beta users were given six months to get a real feel for Swwwift and how it could work for them. The Swwwift support team was on hand to provide any help the users required throughout the beta, whether to just answer questions or full-on tech-support to get sites live.

A successful beta completed…

A few things quickly became apparent as the beta concluded; the most encouraging for us… people had plenty of positive things to say!

Obviously, the whole purpose of beta testing is to find out exactly whether your product can work for people, while helping you to understand any potential pain points users experienced.

Feedback

“This seems like a smart and no-hassle way to sell websites to start-ups.”

“Swwwift gives me more confidence to sell nice websites and put my design spin on them.”

“I have been looking for something like Swwwift that would allow us to quickly deploy a site for a startup or small business and then support and grow that business with our additional services.”

“It takes the coding out the equation and offers an all round package with support available.”

“Swwwift could let me create websites without using an Agency.”

Development – themes, support, plugins

As you’d expect, Swwwift has undergone plenty of development. We have listened to our users, carried out heaps of market research and held countless internal discussions with our design team and developers. Then a WordPress update was launched which put a spanner in the works….we had to rebuild our tech – Read why we disappeared!

Themes: Services & E-Commerce

We have continued to tweak the fully customisable themes to ensure they provide exactly what users need.

Whether it’s a service website for a client who wants to enhance their plumbing business, or an e-commerce store for a client to add a much-needed shop to their online offering, Swwwift’s got it.

Swwwift support

We believe in offering more. While our built-for-you websites already solve a huge problem so many professionals encounter, it’s the ongoing tech support that is key.

For us, the solution was simple – creating a platform that had the required support. Along our journey we have already put together a comprehensive support resource that will continue to offer more.

Swwwift-approved plugins

How did you decide on the Swwwift-approved plugins? – is a question that’s already popped up…

An in-depth analysis was carried out on plugins by our development team to make sure the best selection of Swwwift-approved plugins are available for our users. All too often plugins offered on web builders aren’t well supported and need updating… another problem Swwwift has tackled. But on top of this when you receive your site you get full access to the plugins library from WordPress.org. But we’ll first-line support you with the plugin or find a replacement.

Flexible hosting

One of the drawbacks of other platforms is you are locked in. You cannot move your site elsewhere. At Swwwift we offer a fully hosted solution included in the fee, or the option to buy a theme and host it elsewhere with no support from the Swwwift Experts. But you have a choice!

Platform soft launch and success

In early November 2020, Swwwift officially became available as a platform for professionals and users have already been enjoying success with their new recurring revenue. As we said a bit earlier, we were hit with a spanner in the works by a WordPress update…. but we’re BACK!

In case you missed it: Lizzie’s Story: How to start selling websites with no previous experience