At Dogwood, our philosophy on web development has always been “lean and mean.” In the world of WordPress, it is incredibly easy to fall into the trap of “plugin bloat”—the practice of stacking dozens of single-purpose plugins on top of each other to achieve a desired result. While this might work in the short term, it creates a “house of cards” that is prone to security vulnerabilities, slow load times, and constant plugin conflicts.
As we look toward the future of the 220+ websites we manage, our goal is to systematically reduce these dependencies. To do that, we need reputable, world-class partners. That is why we are excited to announce that Dogwood is fully integrating Elementor One into our core tech stack.
The Shift from “Patchwork” to “Platform”
For years, managing a large-scale portfolio required a patchwork of third-party tools. We had one plugin for accessibility, another for image compression, and a third for SMTP email delivery. While these tools worked, they didn’t always play nice together.
By migrating to Elementor One, we are moving away from a fragmented “plugin soup” and toward a unified, high-performance platform. Elementor One isn’t just a page builder; it is a comprehensive site management suite that consolidates our most critical tasks under one roof.
Accessibility Reinvented with Elementor Ally
We have long been advocates for web accessibility, previously implementing Elementor Ally as a foundational tool across our builds. However, with the transition to Elementor One, we have unlocked the full potential of this suite.
Previously, Ally provided the framework, but now, through the Elementor One shared credit system, we have extended advanced functionality to all our managed sites. We can now perform deep-level accessibility scans and, most importantly, utilize Elementor’s built-in AI tools to automatically detect and fix compliance issues. This ensures that every site Dogwood manages is inclusive, legal, and user-friendly, without the need for heavy third-party accessibility overlays that often slow site performance.
Streamlining Image Optimization at Scale
Managing images for 220 sites is a massive undertaking. In the past, we relied on separate optimization plugins to ensure images didn’t tank a site’s Core Web Vitals. While effective, managing 220 separate licenses and configurations was a significant time sink for our team.
With Elementor One, image optimization is baked directly into the workflow. Because it is part of the Elementor One unified plan, we can apply professional-grade compression and WebP conversion across our entire portfolio much more efficiently. This reduces our “tech overload” and ensures that every site we launch is optimized for speed from day one.
The Future of Email: Elementor Site Mailer
One of the most persistent headaches in web management is ensuring that contact form notifications and system emails actually reach the client’s inbox. Traditionally, this required configuring a separate SMTP plugin for every single site.
While we are rolling this out strategically, the new Elementor Site Mailer included in Elementor One represents the final piece of the puzzle. It allows us to remove yet another external dependency. By using Elementor’s native email delivery system, we simplify maintenance and ensure our clients never miss a lead due to a plugin conflict or a third-party API change.
Why Partnering with Elementor Matters
Choosing a partner like Elementor is a deliberate choice for Dogwood. In an industry where plugins can disappear or stop being updated overnight, Elementor provides the stability and innovation we need to protect our clients’ investments. Elementor One is the next step in our journey to simplify our processes, making our sites easier to operate, faster to load, and significantly more secure.
By reducing the “noise” of unnecessary plugins, we can focus on what we do best: building beautiful, high-converting websites that grow with your business.
