The £5.33/Day Developer That Built a £120k Revenue Platform

Most agencies spend £50-100k on platform development and get half-finished systems that never quite work. I spent £5.33/day with Claude Code and built something extraordinary.

Today, I’m pulling back the curtain on every feature, integration, and capability I’ve built into the WBS Growth Platform - the internal tool that’s revolutionising how I deliver SEO services.

In This Issue

Complete Financial Intelligence - Every Invoice and Revenue Stream Tracked 4-Source SEO Data Fusion That Spots Opportunities Competitors Miss From 18-Hour Debug Sessions to 90-Second Feature Deployments The Boutique Model at Scale - Premium Service Without the Overhead Why This Platform Makes £995/Month Service Tiers Possible

The Complete Platform Arsenal

After extensive development and countless iterations, here’s what I’ve actually built:

Core SEO Intelligence System

The foundation that makes everything else possible:

• Multi-Source Data Fusion: Combines audit data, Google Search Console, GA4, and DataForSEO into unified intelligence
• Audit Engine V2: Complete website audits with recovery checkpoints and Google Sheets export
• Keyword Ranking Tracker: Real-time position monitoring across 20-50 keywords per client
• Competitor Analysis: Side-by-side performance comparisons with market leaders
• Opportunity Detection: Automatically identifies quick wins and high-impact improvements

This is where it gets expensive without proper architecture. One wrong integration costs weeks of refactoring.

Financial Command Centre

Every penny tracked, every invoice managed:

• Complete Invoice Management: Full migration history and ongoing tracking
• Revenue Intelligence: Total visibility on business performance
• Payment Reconciliation: Automated matching of payments to invoices
• Expense Tracking: Business costs categorised and monitored
• P&L Reporting: Real-time profit and loss visibility
• Bank Integration: Multi-account balance tracking
• MRR Monitoring: Monthly recurring revenue at a glance

The reality: Most businesses have no idea what their true numbers are. I know to the penny.

Client Management Powerhouse

Not a CRM - a client success engine:

• Service Tier Management: Pay Monthly (£49) → Torch Bearer (£995)
• Pipeline Tracking: Lead scoring and conversion management
• Task Management: Weekly focus areas and delivery tracking
• Document Management: Work delivered tracking and storage
• Health Monitoring: Automated alerts for client issues
• Communication Hub: Email logs, conversations, meeting notes
• Subscription Management: Stripe integration for automated billing

Content & Marketing Module

45+ blog posts managed, newsletters automated:

• Newsletter System: MDX content with Brevo distribution
• Campaign Management: Email campaigns with tracking
• Contact Database: Full marketing contact management
• Editorial Calendar: Content planning and scheduling
• Blog Integration: Astro website with 45+ published articles
• SEO Content Generation: AI-assisted content creation

The Integration Layer

Where the magic happens:

Active Integrations (Production Ready)

• DataForSEO: Complete API integration for keyword and competitor data
• Stripe: Payment processing with full subscription management
• Brevo: Email delivery and campaign management (replaced SendGrid)
• Firecrawl: Website scraping for comprehensive audits
• Google Sheets: Automated audit exports with conditional formatting
• Claude Code: AI-powered development and task automation

Phase 2 Integrations (In Progress)

• Google Search Console: Direct API access for search data
• Google Analytics 4: Traffic and conversion tracking
• Companies House: Business verification and monitoring

Standalone Tools Built

Complete solutions, not just features:

1. SEO Audit Tool (/tools/seo_audit_tool/)

   • Standalone audit → spreadsheet → landing page pipeline
   • White-label ready for agency partnerships

2. Astro Marketing Website (/tools/astro_website/)

   • https://webuildstores.co.uk
   • 45+ blog posts migrated from WordPress
   • Modern, fast, SEO-optimised

3. Trades Template (/tools/trades_template/)

   • Complete Astro template for tradespeople
   • £49/month revenue stream potential
   • Target: £49k/year from 84 trades clients

4. Migration Tools

   • Shopify Converter: WooCommerce → Shopify migration
   • Wix to WordPress: Complete migration toolkit
   • WordPress to Astro: Modern stack migration

5. Emergency Recovery Kit

   • Complete disaster recovery system
   • Weekly backups with restoration procedures
   • Business continuity guaranteed

The Technical Architecture

Database Design (Post-Decomposition)

models/
├── seo_intelligence.py     # Rankings, audits, competitive
├── client_management.py     # Relationships, communications
├── financial_systems.py     # Invoices, payments, P&L
├── content_strategy.py      # Campaigns, editorial
├── task_management.py       # Workflow, delivery
├── health_monitoring.py     # Alerts, diagnostics
└── business_intelligence.py # Analytics, reporting

The Numbers That Matter

• Development Time: Extensive iteration over 6 months
• Cost: £5.33/day (Claude Code subscription)
• Traditional Cost: £50-100k+ for similar capabilities
• ROI: Platform managing substantial business revenue
• Efficiency Gain: 40-80x development velocity

What This Actually Enables

For Client Delivery

• 90-Second Audits: What took hours now takes seconds
• Instant Opportunity Detection: AI spots what humans miss
• Comprehensive Reporting: Multi-source data in one view
• Proactive Monitoring: Issues detected before clients notice

For Business Operations

• Complete Financial Visibility: Every transaction tracked
• Automated Billing: Stripe handles subscriptions
• Task Prioritisation: AI-driven focus areas
• Scale Without Hiring: 30 client capacity with one operator

For Growth Potential

• White-Label Licensing: Other agencies want this
• API Partnerships: B2B revenue opportunities
• Service Tier Expansion: £169 → £995/month justified
• Market Differentiation: Capabilities competitors can’t match

The Compound Effect in Action

Month 1-2: Basic models, learning Django Month 3-4: Integration hell, everything breaks Month 5-6: Architecture crystallises, velocity explodes Month 7+: Features in hours, not weeks

This is where the £50k education paid off. Getting the architecture right changed everything.

What’s Missing (Honestly)

Because transparency matters:

• Client Portal: Deliberately not built - boutique model doesn’t need it
• Mobile App: Desktop-first for power users
• Advanced Analytics: Phase 2 priority
• Team Features: Built for one expert operator
• API Documentation: Internal use only currently

The Week 39 Reality Check

What I’ve built: Enterprise-grade platform capabilities What I paid: £5.33/day for Claude Code What it’s worth: £50-100k in traditional development What it enables: £995/month service tiers

The boutique model works because the platform amplifies expertise, not replaces it.

Next Week’s Preview

Week 40: “The Service Layer Revolution - How I’m Preparing for 10x Growth”

I’m implementing service layer architecture that will enable:

• Multiple developers working in parallel
• Microservices preparation
• API versioning
• White-label deployment

The platform that got me to £1,294 MRR will get me to £15k MRR.

P.S. Want to see the platform in action? Reply with your biggest SEO challenge and I’ll show you how our system would solve it.

Tony Cooper We Build Stores - Where 25 Years of Experience Delivers in One Hour What Twenty Hours of Not Knowing Cannot

tony.cooper@webuildstores.co.uk 01952 407599