WordPress Development
As you’ve probably guessed at this point, I’m kind of a WordPress fanboy. Well you’re right. In my experience there is nothing that does a better job at managing web content than WordPress. It’s extendable through custom code or plugins, well organized and well maintained, and can come with as many or as few features as you need. Maybe thats why it powers a third of all websites on the internet!
Why is WordPress the right choice for my website?
As you might have guessed, this website is powered by WordPress. Its a great solution for a site like this because it keeps my various content types well organized. That makes it incredibly easy for me to add a new page after I complete a new project, speak at a WordPress meetup, or want to share a new snippet that I think will help someone else. I know exactly where to put it and where it will show up when I’m done.
WordPress also lets me automate certain things on my websites. For example, I run a small podcast directory site. I used to have to Google the official name of the podcast, download the album artwork, and go to iTunes to get the podcasts description to add to my site. After doing the same process over and over again, I wrote a plugin that hits the iTunes API when I start to add a new podcast. It shows me a list of results and when I select one, it automatically pulls in that podcasts official title, uploads the podcast’s artwork to the Media Library and sets the featured image, and pulls in the description and populates it on my page. A couple minutes here and a couple there adds up when you do it a couple hundred times.
What kind of WordPress development do I do?
Speaking very generally, I do it all! But my favorite work is the work that allows me to be creative with my development. Not necessarily in the design; I generally hire a designer for that. I like to be creative in how I solve the problem for my clients. I like thinking from the ground up. I pride myself in building bulletproof WordPress sites that make sense for my client and their customers. Everything should be easily editable, and unbreakable. Images and graphics will always look great no matter what device you view them on. Load times as fast as possible and without jumping or glitching when it’s finished. And after development is done, empowering the client to continue to build their site and their business without headache.
My process
My process starts offline. I need to get to know you and your business in order to build you the best possible online representation I can. Should it be used to attract customers to your brick and mortar, should it offer your products to potential customers outside of your general location, should it encourage users to pick up the phone and call? These are all questions you can likely answer; what I am looking for is what can I do to help in an area you might not be thinking about. Can a new site move your Google MyBusiness listing up? Can it shed light on some of your lesser known services and expand your customers lifetime value?
Once I’ve taken a good look at your business, its time to think about what we want your customers to see when they find you. What did they come to you for and how do we make sure they find it when they find you. If they can’t, they’ll move on to the next business on the list that offers your services. For this step I usually collaborate with a designer that I know can come up with something clean, simple, and beautiful. They’ll pair fonts and colors with the vision we came up with to create a completely unique, completely customized design that matches you and your business perfectly.
On to the development phase. I’ll take that design along with everything I know about your business and the competitive landscape, and turn it into a fully functional website. We’ll work together to populate it with all of your content and images so that when we are done, you’ll have a beautifully designed and one-of-a-kind website that your new customers will love. With the help of WordPress, you’ll be able to log in and make changes or add new pages as you need to.
What about everything else?
My specialty definitely lies in giving you the best and most user friendly website possible, but that doesn’t exactly start at a code level. It comes from your design, your content, and your photography. While I may have a vision for these things, often times I’ll rely on the proven talents of my peers if I feel a professional designer, copywriter, or photographer is going to best suit your project. We all have our individual styles, and I’ll find the best one to represent you and your website.
I have been building with WordPress just about every day since 2012. I use it for clients sites, I use it for my personal sites and I use it in some capacity for every one of my side projects. Simply put, I have yet to come across a site that I needed to find an alternative solution for. The number one and probably the most important reason behind my love for WordPress is my clients love it! From an administration standpoint, it’s really well laid out and super easy to use. I’ve taught countless people with ranging skill levels how to use it to manage their own websites. And I can teach you too!