WordPress website development

This page is for UK businesses that have settled on WordPress, or are leaning towards it, and want a site their own staff can update without calling a developer for every change. It covers what goes into a WordPress build, how the project runs, what you own at the end and what happens once the site is live. If you have not yet decided between a new site and repairing the one you have, my guide to fixing or rebuilding a website is the better starting point.

Who a WordPress build suits, and who it does not

WordPress is open-source software for running a website: your pages, posts and images sit in a database you control, and you edit them in a browser. No single company owns your site, so you can change host or developer without starting again. For service businesses, professional practices and B2B firms that publish advice, case notes or news, that independence is worth more than any design feature.

It is the wrong choice in a few situations. A five-page brochure site that nobody will touch for two years is cheaper to run on a hosted builder, because there is nothing to update. A shop with a large catalogue needs scoping as an ecommerce project, where payments, delivery rules and product feeds drive the decisions. And if the site needs booking flows, client portals or links into your CRM, the work is closer to custom development than a standard build. I would rather say that on the first call than sell you a platform that does not fit.

What a WordPress build includes

How I run a WordPress project

1. Discovery call. We agree what the site must do, who it is for and which pages matter most.
2. Page plan and copy. I map the pages, then write or edit the copy, so the design is built around real words rather than filler.
3. Design of the key templates. Home, service and contact pages are designed at phone width first, then widened for desktop.
4. Build on a private staging site. It is password protected and hidden from search engines while we work.
5. Testing. Forms, tracking, consent, speed and layout are checked across phones, tablets and the main browsers.
6. Launch. I work through my website launch SEO checklist, switch indexing on, submit the sitemap in Search Console and confirm the first enquiry is recorded.
7. Handover. A recorded walkthrough of editing pages, adding posts and replacing images, plus written notes.

If the new site replaces one that already brings in search traffic, the move is planned alongside website migration SEO, so every old address that earns visits redirects to its new equivalent.

Why I avoid heavy page builders

Drag-and-drop page builders make the first week easy and every year after it harder. They add their own layer of code to each page, which slows the site down. They store your content in a format only that builder understands, so leaving it later means rebuilding pages by hand. And they tend to arrive with paid add-ons that each need their own updates and licences.

That does not mean a working page-builder site should be thrown away. If yours brings in enquiries but feels slow or dated, a redesign that keeps what already works is often the better spend.

Problems I see most often on UK WordPress sites

• The setting that asks search engines not to index the site left switched on after launch, so nothing appears on Google.
• Dozens of plugins, several doing the same job and some no longer maintained by anyone.
• Analytics and ad pixels firing before the visitor has given consent.
• The domain, hosting or admin login held in a previous designer’s name.
• Hosting chosen on price alone, so pages slow down whenever the shared server is busy.
• Contact form emails going to spam, so enquiries are missed for weeks before anyone notices.

What you receive

• The finished site on hosting registered to your business, with full administrator access.
• The domain, hosting and every paid licence in your name.
• A page plan showing which search each page is written for.
• GA4 and Tag Manager set up under your own Google account, with a list of what is tracked.
• A recorded training session and a short handover document listing each plugin, why it is there and where backups are kept.

After launch

WordPress needs regular updates to its core software, theme and plugins, backups stored away from the server, and someone checking that forms still send. A capable member of staff can handle this in-house with the handover notes, or I can take it on as a monthly care arrangement. In the first weeks after go-live I check Search Console for pages Google has not indexed and confirm enquiries are being counted correctly.

What a WordPress build costs

Each quote is written in GBP after a free audit or a first call, and agreed in writing before any work starts. The cost depends on the number of page templates, who writes the copy, how many pages move across from an old site and whether you need integrations such as online booking or a CRM. I put the scope in writing after the discovery call, so you know exactly what the price covers before anything starts.