WordPress Custom Development Services That Pay for Themselves

I may be a writer, but I’ve also built and launched WordPress websites – entirely from scratch. 

I’ve also heard a lot of things said about WordPress, some good, some not so good. But I’m no stranger to the platform and have done my share of work in the backend, so I think I should address some of these – especially the critiques.

There are approximately 800 million websites built on WordPress, right now. That number accounts for over 40% of all websites on the internet. It is insane. 

And, by the way, it’s not for lack of options. Off the top of my head, I can rattle off close to ten: Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Drupal; and then there are the eCommerce-specific platforms, like Volusion, Magento, BigCommerce, and Shopify.

People don’t use WordPress because they have no choice. They use it because there is nothing better. 

Now let me back that up. 

Why WordPress?

WordPress is just about to celebrate its 20th birthday. It was developed in 2003 as a CMS platform, but today, it can be used to create any sort of website imaginable. 

The platform is open-source, which means that anyone can access the code used to build it. This means that it’s endlessly possible to make customizations to the interface and design of a WordPress website. It also means your ability to integrate the platform with other apps and tools is limited only by your skill with code. 

Speaking of apps and tools, at the beginning of this year, there were more than 60,000 free apps and tools that are so easy to use with WordPress, literally, anyone can execute the integration. All you have to do is search, click, install, and configure. It takes a few keystrokes. On other platforms, integration is nowhere near as simple and can even require you to write custom scripts. 

On that note, there are apps for WordPress that can do almost anything. I’ll be the first to admit, looking at a blank WordPress page, and having minimal coding experience, the platform can be daunting. But there are free plugins like Elementor that convert the WordPress interface to a drag-and-drop editor that anyone can use. 

There are also free tools for WordPress analytics and reporting, SEO plugins, apps, and tools that can sequester bots to prevent attacks, compress images, improve site speed and security, improve the user experience, and so much more. 

I don’t have the time and you probably don’t have the patience for me to enumerate 60,000 different types of WordPress apps, but you get the picture. 

WordPress is so widely used, by so many different people and organizations around the world, that the WordPress economy is worth well over $600 billion. That’s worth more than some countries. Actually, that’s worth more than a lot of countries. 

So, basically, if you can’t do it with WordPress, you can’t do it at all.

Still, that makes WordPress custom development services all the more valuable. 

How WordPress Custom Development Services Benefit eCommerce Merchants 

As endlessly customizable and widely useful as WordPress is, it can be difficult to create custom solutions without a good degree of coding experience.

There are good plugins you can use to make the platform more manageable, but these limit you to preconfigured customizations. 

A true customization is something that hasn’t been made or done before. 

So, that said, here are some of the top reasons WordPress custom development services can help an eCommerce store. 

1. Custom App Development 

 

 

As I already covered, there are more than 60,000 extant apps that are expressly compatible with WordPress. They can do everything from converting the backend to a drag-and-drop editor (as in the case of Elementor) to streamlining SEO optimizations (such as in the case of Yoast).

There are WordPress apps and plugins that can streamline the production and management of forms, categorize and filter analytics, backup the website, cache data and improve speeds, and so much more. 

If you can dream it, there is probably already a WordPress app or plugin. 

Then again, the human capacity for dreaming is surprisingly profound. Maybe you have a dreamt of something and determined that there indeed is not an existing WordPress app for it. 

This very condition is the reason there are providers of WordPress custom development services. They can write custom scripts and code custom apps and then integrate that customized functionality, seamlessly, with your WordPress website. 

2. Custom Theme Development 

To be frank, there are more themes compatible with WordPress than you will ever have time to look through in a calendar year. Even so, the best way to ensure proper, complete brand integration is by creating a truly custom theme.

And that, unfortunately, requires no small deal of coding experience. Drag and drop editors are nice, but they only get you so far and when you use them, they’re not good for much more than making basic customizations. 

If you want a truly custom theme, you will need to work with a team of WordPress designers and developers. 

3. Site Speed Optimization 

There are lots of things that your average WordPress entrepreneur can do to improve website speeds. 

For instance, you can use plugins to compress images, or use tools like TinyPNG to compress them before uploading. There are plugins you can use that will implement lazy-loading functionality. You can even access your page’s code and scrub it for bits and pieces that are not necessary. Those things slow websites down. 

But, at a certain point, it’s hard to know what code is and is not necessary, as well as if there are other aspects of the website that are hindering its speed. I myself am the first to admit that my technical knowledge is somewhat limited here. 

Skilled developers can look at a website’s code on a granular basis and see where resources are being taxed before taking concrete efforts to improve speed, which, by the way, boosts both SEO and UX. 

4. Mobile Optimization 

Many WordPress themes are pretty mobile-friendly out of the proverbial packaging, but there are still things you can do to improve the layout of a page to make it more usable on a smaller screen. 

Responsive developers are specifically skilled in this arena and can write the code necessary to create favorable layout shifts and ensure that page elements, like menus, images, and blocks of text, display properly on smaller screens. 

Some themes need help with this. WordPress custom development services are the solution. 

5. WooCommerce Integration/Development 

Speaking of plugins, there is a plugin specifically for WordPress that converts it into an eCommerce store. Perhaps you’ve heard of it – it’s called WooCommerce. 

WooCommerce is the world’s most popular eCommerce platform/plugin. Don’t tell that to the people at Shopify and BigCommerce, but it’s much more popular, even, than both of these. 

Why? Because it’s free, it’s usable, and it’s endlessly customizable. It also enables you to leverage the power of the most robust CMS system on the planet: WordPress. 

Like WordPress, WooCommerce uses open-source code and is endlessly customizable. But, being open-source, making customization means that making changes to themes, interface, checkout options, payment collection, and things like that, will require the skills and experience of a developer. 

And since WooCommerce is technically just a plugin, not a platform, that means what you’ll need is the help of an experienced provider of WordPress custom development services, by extension.

6. Support and Maintenance 

Sometimes you don’t need a custom theme developed or have your website’s speed increased. Maybe you have a stellar WordPress eCommerce site. That’s fine, surely some merchants do. 

Sometimes WordPress development services have more to do with peace of mind than an actual, concrete project. 

Because time is money, and if something breaks on your WordPress site and you don’t know how to fix it, well, you’ll be paying to keep the lights on until you can get things back up and running. 

7. Brand Integration 

Many WordPress developers offer brand appraisal, logo design, and brand integration services. 

It takes a creative eye to manage a brand, and designers and developers have special creative skills. That’s why they went into that line of work. 

They use rubrics that can quantify your brand efforts and integration, outlining just how well your website is brand integrated. 

And, if there are areas for improvement, they can suggest and implement them. 

8. Blog Development/Content Marketing 

Before you savage me for suggesting this, let me explain. 

I know WordPress has a built-in blog; like, the whole thing is just a blog. 

I know, I know. But if you want any customizations made to the blog page itself, for instance, changing the layout, font sizes, colors, or integrating a social feed, custom WordPress development services may be necessary. 

There are tools and plugins, as well as basic code, you can implement to make some of the changes I mentioned, but just how easy (or not) it will be is largely a product of your theme.

Also, some WordPress developers also work with digital marketing teams that offer content marketing teams, and content marketing, being an extension of your brand, is also a valuable investment. 

So while it may not be expressly development-related, it’s a worthwhile add-on service.

WordPress: Still Got It 

You know the expression, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? Well, WordPress ain’t broke. 

There may be better platforms out there that are more convenient to use for eCommerce than WordPress, but nothing is as customizable or robust, and nothing even comes close to the same community of support that WordPress offers. 

It is the be-all, end-all of website platforms. 

So, if you’re thinking about migrating, keep that in mind. Maybe you don’t need to. Maybe you just need WordPress custom development services to help you scale.