Hydra: the bespoke CMS we build, run and keep up to date ourselves

Customer Feedback

Ask your customers what they think, and actually learn from it.

Build feedback forms from the questions you want answered: star ratings, 1 to 5 and 0 to 10 scales, yes or no, multiple choice and free text. Each form gets a tag that we build into your website, or a QR code for receipts and table cards. Every response is kept with the form and charted for you: average ratings, Net Promoter Score, trends month by month, and the comments that need a reply.

• Thirteen question types, a follow-up question that appears only after a low score, and one response per visitor if you want it
• Charts, period comparisons and a printable PDF summary for every form
• Email alerts for every response or only the low scores, an automatic thank-you to the customer, and a weekly or monthly summary report
• Spam and test responses can be flagged out, data exported as a spreadsheet, and an optional Claude summary of comments when you choose to switch it on

Job Board

Advertise vacancies properly, with dates that look after themselves.

Write a job advert once and let the dates do the work: say when it should start showing, when it should stop, and when applications close. Adverts carry everything a candidate needs, from the pay and hours to the person specification and how to apply, and they drop off the website on their own when the time comes. Structured data is included so Google can list the vacancy.

• Advertise-from, advertise-until and closing dates, with “closing soon” shown in the final week
• Pay as a range, a single figure or plain wording; on site, hybrid or remote
• Rich-text description, responsibilities, person specification and benefits
• Apply by link or email, a named contact, and a copy function to re-run a vacancy

Book Shop

Your books, your formats, your prices, all in one place.

Made for authors and small publishers. Every book has a cover, author, publisher, ISBN, description and reviews, and can be sold in as many formats as you like, each with its own price and purchase link: paperback, hardback, e-book, audiobook. Group books into stores, set a release date for a launch, and the new title appears on the day.

• Formats with individual prices and links, so each edition points where it sells
• ISBN checked and stored correctly; reader and press reviews with star ratings
• Release dates for pre-launch titles, and Live or Hidden control per book
• Stores to shelve books by series, imprint or shop

Portfolio

Show your work, in the order you want it seen.

A gallery of projects for designers, makers, builders, photographers and anyone else whose work speaks for them. Each entry has a picture with proper alt text, a title, a description, keywords and a link, and belongs to a group so visitors can browse by discipline, client or year. Drag entries into order within each group.

• Groups with their own order, dragged into place
• A picture on every entry, resized and converted automatically
• Keywords for filtering and an optional link to the live project
• Live or Hidden per entry, with bulk changes across many at once

Library

A tidy catalogue of the documents people keep asking for.

For clubs, charities, practices and any organisation with publications to share: reports, guides, policies, newsletters, papers. Each entry has a cover, author, year, reference and description, with a link to the document itself, and sits in a category you define. Search and filter make the right document quick to find.

• Categories you name and order
• Cover image, author, year and reference on every entry
• A link to the document or an external page
• Live or Hidden per entry, duplicate for a new edition, and bulk changes

how it works/

From your idea to a working feature

Tell us what you need it to do and who will use it. We agree a clear specification and a fixed scope, build and test the plugin on a staging copy of your site, then switch it on and show your team how it works.

Talk to us about a custom plugin

Do I need technical skills to use Hydra?

No. If you can write an email and attach a photo, you can edit a Hydra website. Every screen works the same way, and the built-in manual explains each one in plain English.

Who looks after updates and security?

We do. New versions of Hydra install themselves overnight on every site, and the system reports if anything needs our attention. There are no plugins for you to keep up to date.

Can more than one person edit the website?

Yes. Add as many people as you need as Editors or Administrators. Every change is recorded in the audit log, so you can always see who did what and when.

Is Hydra good for SEO?

Yes. Every page has its own title, description, focus keyword, share image and robots setting, with live checks as you type, and Hydra writes the structured data search engines read. Your website also stays fast, which Google rewards.

Can you build a custom plugin for Hydra?

Yes. We build Hydra plugins to your specification, from a portfolio or an online shop to links with your bespoke business systems. Because we write them to the same standard as Hydra itself and keep them updated with it, they are far more secure than typical third-party CMS plugins.

How is Hydra different from Wix?

As a WIX Legend Partner we build on Wix too, and it’s a great fit for many businesses. Hydra is for websites that need a fully bespoke design, tighter control of data and hosting, or features that tie into your own systems.