Global River

What Global River does

Global River Limited is a privately held UK digital marketing agency founded in 2010 by Jon Hassett and headquartered in Northwich, Cheshire, with additional offices in Knutsford and Macclesfield. The company operates with a core team of approximately six professionals and delivers a full-stack service portfolio to small and medium-sized enterprises: bespoke WordPress and WooCommerce website design and build (priced £1,500-£10,000+ per project), recurring hosting and WordPress security retainers (£30+/month), WebWorks digital marketing retainers (£120+/month), social media packages (£240+/month), PPC management, SEO services, email marketing via Campaign Monitor, graphic design, video production, and a separate Sales Consultancy practice.

Name

Global River

Legal name

Global River Limited

Website

https://global-river.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Global River is a privately held UK digital marketing agency founded in 2010, serving SMEs across Cheshire and North West England with bespoke WordPress/WooCommerce web design, SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, and sales consultancy services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Marketing Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Advertising Agencies (54181), Graphic Design Services (54143)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Content Marketing & Branded Content Agencies (MPAAAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Creative & Brand Campaign Development (BPAFAAAB), Creative Concepting & Campaign Development (BPAFAEAD)

Keywords

• Website design services
• Digital marketing agency
• Search engine optimisation
• Ecommerce website development
• Wordpress development

Headquarters

HQ city

Northwich

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Website Design & Development: One-time bespoke website design and build services. Pricing varies by complexity: Basic WooCommerce £1,500–£5,000; Intermediate £5,000–£10,000; Advanced £10,000+. Includes WordPress/WooCommerce builds, e-commerce functionality, and custom features.
2. Hosting and Support Retainers: Monthly managed hosting packages with 100% uptime guarantee, 24/7 monitoring, daily backups, and WordPress security support. Starting from £30 + VAT/month for basic security. Full service retainers available.
3. WebWorks Digital Marketing Retainers: Monthly digital marketing packages covering social media, email marketing, SEO, content creation, website updates, and graphic design. Starting from £120 + VAT/month for digital marketing support. Social media packages from £240 + VAT/month.
4. PPC Management: Pay Per Click advertising campaign management integrated into marketing strategy. Managed as part of WebWorks packages or standalone service.
5. SEO Services: Search Engine Optimisation campaigns managed as ongoing retainers or project-based engagements. Includes SEO health checks, optimisation, and training.
6. Sales Consultancy: Sales consulting and fractional Sales Director services. Targeted at businesses with under £20m turnover. Advisory and coaching engagements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Global River designs and builds bespoke websites on WordPress and WooCommerce for small and medium-sized businesses, then layers on full digital marketing services including SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media marketing, graphic design, video production, hosting, and sales consultancy. The agency operates as an outsourced proactive marketing team for SMEs, with flexible WebWorks retainer packages combining ongoing digital marketing services under one roof.

Product overview

Global River is a full-service digital marketing agency offering a unified portfolio of interconnected services centered on website design and development. The core offering is bespoke Website Design & Development built on WordPress, which serves as the foundation for all other services. Ecommerce Website Builders (using WooCommerce) extends the web development capability to online retail. The marketing layer includes PPC Advertising, Search Engine Optimisation, Email Marketing (via Campaign Monitor), Social Media Marketing, and Web Works Digital Marketing (a monthly retainer package combining multiple disciplines). Supporting services include Hosting and Support (via Rackspace partnership), Graphic Design and Print, Company Video Production, Support Service & Maintenance, and Sales Consultancy. The company has been operating since 2010 and delivers websites that channel over £5m of ecommerce sales per year for clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Website Design & Development

Quantifiable outcome

• E-commerce websites channel over £5m of sales per year for clients
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GooglecoreTechnology or IntegrationGoogle Partner with current AdWords and Analytics certification. Certified in Google AdWords management and Google Analytics. Access to Google Partner resources including in-depth website reports, SEO health checks, and Google-approved optimisation practices. Badges displayed on website confirming partner status.
• RackspacecoreTechnology or IntegrationManaged hosting partnership with Rackspace providing enterprise-grade hosting infrastructure for client websites. Includes daily backups, 24/7 technical support, and server monitoring. Rackspace partnership enables 100% network uptime guarantee.
• UKFastcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with UKFast for WordPress support and hosting. Provides Global River and their clients with access to UKFast technical team 24/7/365 for emergency out-of-hours support. Allied with Global River's own monitoring and support services.
• WordPress / WooCommercecoreTechnology or IntegrationCore technology platform. Global River has been specialist WordPress developers for over 13 years. All websites built in WordPress with WooCommerce for e-commerce functionality. Benefits from open-source plugin ecosystem and global community.
• ImpartaminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSales training and methodology partner. Jon Hassett partnered with Imparta to implement sales growth and turnaround strategies at O2. Helped set up the award-winning Sales Training Academy at O2 Telefonica. Global River uses Imparta methodology in sales consultancy services for clients.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Builtvisible: UK-based digital marketing agency focused on SEO, content, and digital PR for mid-market brands. Closely comparable on SEO and content-led service layer, though typically with larger clients than Global River.
• Hallam: UK-based full-service digital marketing agency offering web design, SEO, PPC, content, and social media marketing. Similar mid-market/SME positioning with an integrated agency model.
• Click Consult: Established UK digital marketing agency providing SEO, PPC, paid media, content, and web development services to mid-market and SME clients. Comparable in offering breadth, client segment, and SEO-led acquisition approach.
• Evoluted: UK agency combining web design/development with digital marketing services (SEO, PPC, social, content) targeting SMEs and mid-market. Closely aligned on the combined website-build + retainer-marketing GTM motion Global River deploys.
• Canny Creative: UK-based creative and digital marketing agency offering web design, branding, SEO, content and social media services to SME clients. Comparable in the combination of creative/branding and digital marketing services.
• The SEO Works: UK-based full-service digital marketing agency offering SEO, PPC, web design, and content marketing for SMEs, with comparable Google Partner certifications and a similarly broad retainer-led model. Highly analogous in scope, customer type (UK SMEs), and service mix.
• Vertical Leap: UK digital agency specializing in SEO, digital PR, content marketing, and paid media. Overlaps strongly on the SEO-led content and digital marketing services Global River offers.
• Blue Array: UK SEO and digital marketing consultancy offering technical SEO, content, and PPC services. Compares to Global River on the SEO/PPC side of the offering, with similar SME/mid-market client focus.
• Browser Media: UK digital marketing agency with SEO, paid media, content marketing, and analytics services for SME clients. Comparable service mix and target customer segment to Global River.
• SoBold: UK digital agency providing web design and development alongside digital marketing services for SMEs. Comparable on the agency-as-outsourced-marketing-team positioning and WordPress/web design heritage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/GlobalRiver
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/global-river

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Global River