Royal website for The Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire

About This Project

A super accessible website and web support “fit for a royal”: The Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire website

As His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, Anna Turner and her colleagues aim to champion and promote the people of the county. As official ambassadors of the royal family, they needed an accessible and well-designed website through which they could engage with and support the people of Shropshire.

“We did have an existing website for the Lieutenancy, but it was dated,” reflects Anna Turner, who was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire in 2019.

“By the time I stepped into the role, it was clear we needed a modern website. Something that was easy to use and would allow the public to learn about and engage with The Lieutenancy.”

And that’s where TukTuk Creative Marketing came in.

“I felt as if I was in safe hands”

“Vicky was absolutely brilliant,” says Anna. “When she came to Shrewsbury for the first meeting, I remember feeling like a rabbit in headlights; I’d had no experience in website creation and didn’t know what to expect.

“Vicky made us feel that it was all going to be possible; I was totally reassured. And with the encouragement of my Vice Lord-Lieutenant, Jenny Wynn, I felt in safe hands.”

Jenny Wynn was involved in the creation of the website from the start. She was impressed with Vicky’s immediate commitment to the project.

“Vicky had researched other Lieutenancy websites,” Jenny recalls, “She knew what best practice looked like. But she also took the time to get a flavour of what Anna wanted to achieve with our website.”

“Wow, this is amazing.”

Website copy all taken care of

Having worked with Vicky previously, Jenny was already familiar with TukTuk Creative Marketing’s level of service.

“Much like the previous websites Vicky created for us,” says Jenny, “The Lord-Lieutenant’s website came to fruition very quickly because of that key difference; writing copy.”

As a newly appointed and very busy Lord-Lieutenant, Anna appreciated having the website copy taken care of. “Considering the amount of time that researching and writing the website entailed,” says Anna, “I would never have had time to do it myself alongside all my new duties.

“Whenever a new draft appeared for me to review, I’d think, ‘Wow, this is amazing!’. It was as if the writer had been a Lord-Lieutenant themselves.”

Overcoming website accessibility challenges

One of the biggest challenges to this project was the level of accessibility that the site required.

The website needed to adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and meet level AA for accessibility. The problem was, this requirement only became clear when the website was almost finished.

“Vicky had already included some accessibility tools,” remembers Jenny, “but we were suddenly made aware that we needed to do more to ensure the site was accessible to absolutely everyone.

“It was a big, last-minute hurdle to overcome, but Vicky jumped straight on it. We’re so glad to have it now because it means the website’s very accessible.”

Anna particularly appreciated Vicky’s proactive attitude in getting the project over the line. “When Vicky learned about the new accessibility requirements,” recalls Anna, “She got started immediately. In fact, she saw it as a learning opportunity to expand her own knowledge of website accessibility.”

Urgent website support upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II

Anna and Jenny are supported by a team of Deputy Lieutenants, including Deputy Lieutenant Fiona Rogers-Coltman.

Once the website was launched, Fiona stepped in to keep the site updated and monitor engagement. But whenever issues with the website arise, help is just an email or phone call away.

“If there ever comes a time when I get stuck, Vicky is absolutely brilliant,” says Fiona. “When I’m unable to make something work, I can just ping Vicky a message and she responds immediately with a solution.”

“When the time came, Vicky was right there when we needed her.”

“The biggest last-minute challenge that Vicky was able to help us with happened in September 2022, when we received the sad news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

“The Lord-Lieutenant is Shropshire’s link to the royal family. It was critical that we were able to respond appropriately. We urgently needed to change all the photography and messaging on the homepage to acknowledge and commemorate the Queen’s passing.

“While I had all the pictures ready to go, when I went to place them on the homepage, they wouldn’t display correctly! Thankfully, Vicky responded to my messages immediately and sorted out the issue.

“I had primed Vicky in advance that I might need her help. When the time came, she was right there when we needed her.”

Growing site engagement and building trust

In speaking with the Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire and her team, it’s clear that their website is fulfilling its intended purpose; helping them to engage with and support communities across the county.

“One of the key functions of the website is to build trust,” reflects Deputy Lieutenant Fiona, “People can visit our website to check that information they’ve heard is correct. It sounds simple but this allows us to build that all-important trust with our community members.”

“The website has been the perfect place to share information about who we are and what we do, such as promoting the UK Honours System.

“Just by looking at the Google Analytics, you can see our figures have been growing over the last two years. We can see from the traffic that’s coming through the doors that more and more people are engaging with the website.

“Working with Vicky continues to be a great experience.”

When I’m unable to make something work, I can just ping Vicky a message and she responds immediately with a solution