Who are BES?
The British Ecological Society (BES) is one of the oldest and most respected ecological organisations in the world. Founded in 1913, it supports a global community of ecologists through journals, grants, events and policy work, all with the aim of advancing ecological science – and placing it at the heart of decision-making.
BES approached Bliss to support with elements of their large-scale rebrand and digital transformation, including a new website, membership portal and digital infrastructure that could serve their community and support their ambitions for years to come. The initial brief has since evolved into an ongoing digital partnership spanning technical development, communications, marketing including social media and Google Ad Grant management, and strategic support.
The challenge
BES needed a website that matched the standing of one of the world’s most important ecological organisations. Their existing platform had served them well, but with an ageing design and out-of-date technical infrastructure, the site wasn’t performing as well as it could for search engines or for users on mobile devices. Crucially, the website also served as a membership portal, providing access to journals, events, grants and member resources, which added a layer of complexity to the project.
The organisation also relied on a number of third-party integrations, including their CRM (Microsoft Dynamics), content partnerships with publishers like CABI and Wiley, event management through Whova, and grant management via FlexiGrant. Any new platform needed to work seamlessly with all of these, while also being flexible enough to grow as BES’s needs evolved.
Beyond the immediate rebuild, BES were looking for a partner who could support them long-term: someone who would understand their organisation deeply enough to provide ongoing expert advice on digital strategy, rather than deliver a singular project.
Our approach
We started by understanding BES’s purpose and organisational objectives. At Bliss, everything we do is driven by our clients’ goals: for BES, this included advancing ecological science, with ecology central to decision-making; nurturing an equitable community, and becoming a more sustainable organisation. These objectives underpinned every decision we made.
Collaborating and working closely with partner agencies on the wider project, we ensured consistent, practical application of the agreed design across the full site.
The solution
The new BES website was built on a modern, scalable platform with accessibility at its core (meeting WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards). The site was designed to be easy to use, and built for future growth, with a technical foundation that is reliable, secure and high-performing.
Key elements of the build included a redesigned membership portal with CRM integration, improved navigation and information architecture, SEO-optimised code, responsive design across all devices, and – crucially – seamless integration with BES’s existing third-party tools and publishing partners.
Additionally, we built the site using open source technology with industry-standard development practices – preventing agency lock-in – giving BES full freedom to work with whoever they wish.
A growing partnership
Since launch, our relationship with BES has deepened across both technical development and communications. We support them through two ongoing retainers – Digital Support and SEO & Google Paid Advertising – alongside larger projects delivered fixed-fee.
Technical development and infrastructure
- Membership restructure: Updated the membership portal with new member plans and a pricing wizard, fully integrated with their CRM (Bluelight).
- PHP upgrade: A significant infrastructure upgrade that massively improved site performance and reduced downtime.
- Cloud-based storage: Migrated media storage to a cloud-based system, giving BES more capacity while reducing costs.
- Digital infrastructure roadmap: A planned programme of work addressing several initiatives
Communications and content
- Content strategy: Ongoing support to plan and create content that serves BES’s audience and supports organisational goals.
- Social campaign management: Tracking, reporting and optimising social media campaigns to build engagement with the ecological community.
- Google Ad Grant: Fully maximised, ensuring BES gets the most from their free advertising budget to reach new audiences.
“Bliss joined as a key partner for a large-scale, intensive rebrand and digital transformation project that we wanted to deliver within the year. We chose them, rather than sticking with our previous web developers, because they were creative problem solvers by nature, they really listened to what we wanted to achieve and found neat solutions to what had previously felt messy and unwieldy. They worked collaboratively and efficiently with our three other project partners, coming in on time and budget, with a superb end product. We’re grateful to have found a group of people we can continue to build and enhance the digital offering for our audiences in the years to come.”
Hattie Clarke
Head of Marketing, Digital and Partnerships
