WordPress development
WordPress development that still runs fast a year after launch.
Almost any WordPress site is quick on launch day. The ones that stay quick are the ones where every plugin was a decision, the theme was built rather than assembled, and somebody wrote down how to maintain it. That is the part we do differently.
New builds, rebuilds and rescues of sites that have become slow or fragile. India and international. First reply within one working hour.
- A plugin list you can defend Usually under eight, each one named in the scope with what it does and why it is there.
- Editing screens built for your team Only the fields your content actually needs, labelled in plain language.
- Handover, not dependency Source files, logins, a maintenance routine in writing and a recorded walkthrough.
WordPress development at a glance
- What it is
- Design and build of a WordPress website — theme development, custom post types and fields, plugin selection, speed and security work, on-page SEO setup, and launch.
- Who it suits
- Businesses that publish content regularly, need a site their own team can edit, and want to own the whole stack rather than rent it from a hosted platform.
- Typical timeline
- 2–3 weeks for a 5–10 page business site. 4–8 weeks for large content sites, WooCommerce stores, multilingual builds or rebuilds with a full content migration.
- Built with
- A block theme with theme.json for design tokens, or a classic theme with Advanced Custom Fields where content is highly structured. WooCommerce when you need to sell.
- Performance target
- Lighthouse mobile performance of 90 or above, LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1 and INP under 200ms, measured on a mid-range Android over 4G with real content loaded.
- Plugin policy
- Typically under eight active plugins. Every one is listed in the scope with its purpose, its cost and what breaks if it is removed.
- Always included
- Responsive build, custom post types and fields, Rank Math or Yoast configured, XML sitemap and schema, GA4 and Search Console, contact forms with spam protection, SSL, daily automated backups, a staging environment, and a recorded admin walkthrough.
- Pricing model
- Fixed price against a written scope. Hosting, premium plugin licences and any optional maintenance plan are quoted separately so the running cost is clear before you commit.
- Ownership
- You own the site, the code, the domain, the hosting account and every licence. Nothing is registered in our name and nothing is held back.
- Where we work
- India nationwide, plus clients in the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Canada. Calls in IST, GMT or EST.
Four reasons businesses call us about WordPress.
If one of these is your situation, the rest of this page is written for you.
The site got slow
It was fine at launch. Two years and thirty plugins later it takes six seconds on mobile and nobody knows which plugin to blame.
Nobody can edit it
Every text change needs a developer, because the previous build hard-coded content into the page builder instead of into fields.
Something broke or got hacked
An abandoned plugin, an outdated core, no backups. You need it fixed, and then you need it not to happen again.
Content is the business
You publish often and organic search is your main channel, so you need a site engineered around publishing and ranking rather than one that just looks nice.
What a WordPress development project includes.
Everything below is written into the scope before work begins. None of it becomes an extra invoice later.
A theme built, not bought
Your design, developed as a proper theme with design tokens in theme.json, so spacing, colour and type stay consistent across every page your team creates later.
Custom post types and fields
Services, case studies, team, locations, FAQs — each with its own structured fields rather than a single free-text blob. Structured content is what makes schema and filtering possible.
Editing screens designed for humans
Only the fields that page actually needs, in the order a person fills them, labelled in plain language with help text where it is not obvious.
A deliberate plugin stack
Usually under eight active plugins, each chosen for a named job. No abandoned plugins, no two plugins doing the same thing, nothing installed to solve a five-minute problem.
Speed engineering
Page and object caching, a CDN, images converted and sized properly, fonts subset and preloaded, unused CSS and JS removed, and slow database queries found and fixed.
Security hardening
SSL, forced strong logins with two-factor, login rate limiting, XML-RPC disabled where it is not needed, correct file permissions, a firewall, and automated daily off-site backups.
SEO foundation
Rank Math or Yoast configured properly rather than installed and forgotten — title and meta templates, schema, breadcrumbs, sitemap rules, canonical handling and internal linking.
Staging and safe updates
A staging copy of the site so core, theme and plugin updates get tested before they touch the live site, plus a written update routine your team can follow.
Handover and 30 days support
All logins, source files, licence details, hosting notes and a recorded walkthrough, plus a month of fixes and small changes after go-live at no extra cost.
Three ways to build a WordPress site.
Page builder, block theme, or a custom theme with Advanced Custom Fields. None of them is wrong — they suit different businesses, and picking badly is what causes the year-two problem.
Based on the builds and rebuilds we are asked to do most often.
| Factor | Page builder | Block theme | Custom theme + ACF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Small sites that need to be live next week on the tightest budget. | Most business and content sites, which is where we start by default. | Structured content, directories, portals and anything with unusual data. |
| Page speed | Heaviest. Builders ship extra CSS and JS on every page whether used or not. | Light. Only the blocks on the page load their styles. | Lightest. You control exactly what is output. |
| Editing experience | Free-form, which is powerful and also how brand consistency dies. | Visual editing inside guardrails set by theme.json. | Structured fields. Very safe, less visual freedom. |
| Build cost | Lowest. | Moderate. | Highest, because the data model is designed first. |
| Cost to change in year two | Rises. Layouts get duplicated and workarounds accumulate. | Flat. Patterns are reused rather than rebuilt. | Flat. New entries are just new records. |
| Dependency risk | High. Your content is locked in the builder's own markup. | Low. Blocks are WordPress core. | Low, though ACF becomes part of the stack. |
We recommend one of these on the first call, with the reasoning, before any money is discussed. If a page builder is genuinely the right answer for your budget and timeline, we will say so — and build it properly rather than talk you into something larger.
The plugin stack we start from.
Plugins are where WordPress sites quietly go wrong. Each one is code you did not write, running on every request, maintained by someone who may stop maintaining it. This is the short list; anything beyond it has to earn its place in writing.
- SEO — Rank Math or Yoast, configured once and properly, not installed and left on defaults.
- Caching — one caching layer that matches the host, rather than three plugins fighting each other over the same job.
- Forms — a single form plugin handling every form on the site, with spam protection and entries stored as a backup to email.
- Backups — automated daily backups stored off the server, tested by actually restoring one before handover.
- Security — login hardening, two-factor and a firewall, sized to the site rather than a heavy all-in-one suite on a five-page brochure.
- Custom fields — ACF where the content is structured enough to need it.
- Images — conversion to WebP and correct sizing, usually handled by the host or CDN instead of a plugin.
- Multilingual — only if you genuinely serve more than one language, since it is one of the heaviest things you can add.
Before launch you get a one-page sheet listing every active plugin, what it does, what it costs per year and what breaks if you remove it. On rebuild projects, that sheet usually lets clients drop a third of what they were previously paying for.
Not sure WordPress is the right platform?
It is not always the answer. Here is where each option fits, with the detail on its own page.
A site without a CMS
If content changes rarely, a hand-built site with no WordPress to maintain is faster, cheaper to host and has nothing to update.
Website developmentSelling products
If the store is the business and you would rather not administer software, Shopify usually beats WooCommerce on total effort.
Shopify developmentComparing platforms first
An open comparison of WooCommerce, Shopify and custom builds judged against your catalogue, margins and team.
Ecommerce developmentB2B or dealer portals
Spec sheets, gated documents, dealer logins and CRM-connected enquiry forms — an area where WordPress with ACF is genuinely strong.
B2B website developmentBuilt, but not ranking
The site works. What it needs is technical fixes, content built around real search intent, and links.
SEO servicesNothing to publish yet
A WordPress site is only as good as what goes into it. Landing page copy, SEO articles and product descriptions written for intent.
Content writingHow a WordPress build runs.
Five stages, each approved before the next starts, so there is no surprise invoice and no work you did not ask for.
-
01
2–4 days
Discovery, content model and scope
What you publish, who edits it, and how often. From that we design the content model — the post types and fields the site needs — then send a scope listing every page, every plugin, the timeline and a fixed price.
-
02
3–5 days
Sitemap and wireframes
Page structure mapped against the keywords your buyers actually search, so the site is organised around demand rather than around your org chart. Grey-box layouts before anyone picks a colour.
-
03
5–8 days
Design
Desktop and mobile designs for the key templates, with the reusable patterns identified so your team can build new pages later without new design work. Two rounds of revisions included.
-
04
5–12 days
Build on staging
Theme developed, fields wired, content loaded, forms and tracking connected, speed tuned with real content in place, and security hardened. You click through it daily on a private staging link.
-
05
1–2 days, then ongoing
Launch and 30 days support
Go live with 301 redirects mapped from the old URLs, Search Console and GA4 verified, backups running, and a recorded walkthrough of your specific admin. Fixes and small changes covered for a month.
What decides the price.
We do not publish WordPress packages, because a five-page brochure site and a 200-page content site with a custom data model are not the same job. Six things move the number.
- Which of the three build approaches fits — a page builder, a block theme or a custom theme with ACF.
- How many unique page templates the site needs, which matters far more than the page count.
- How complex the content model is — a services page is simple, a filterable product directory with specs is not.
- Whether existing content has to be migrated, and whether the old URLs need mapping to protect rankings.
- Integrations — CRM, booking, payment, ERP feeds and anything with an API on the other side.
- Whether you supply copy and photography, or we write and shoot it as part of the project.
Alongside the build price we send an estimated annual running cost — hosting, premium plugin licences and optional maintenance — so there are no surprises in month two. Reviewing the scope costs nothing.
Straight answers to what people ask first.
Is WordPress still a good choice?
Yes, for content-led businesses. It powers a large share of the web, the hosting and developer market around it is enormous, and you own the whole stack rather than renting it from a platform that can change its terms. The trade-off is responsibility: WordPress does not maintain itself, so someone has to own updates, backups and security. If nobody in your business will own that, a hosted platform is the more honest choice.
How many plugins is too many?
There is no fixed number, but most business sites need fewer than ten and something is usually wrong past twenty. What matters is not the count but the quality: an abandoned plugin that has not been updated in two years is a bigger risk than five well-maintained ones. Two plugins doing the same job, and plugins installed to solve a problem that was really a five-line theme change, are the two patterns we find on almost every rebuild.
Should I use Elementor or a custom theme?
Elementor and similar page builders suit small sites that need to launch quickly on a tight budget, and there is nothing shameful about that. They cost you in page weight, in brand consistency once several people are editing, and in lock-in — your content is stored inside the builder's own markup, so leaving later means rebuilding pages. For a site that will be the main channel of the business, a block theme or a custom theme is cheaper over three years even though it costs more on day one.
Can a WordPress site be fast?
Yes. A well-built WordPress site can score 90 or above on Lighthouse mobile. The usual causes of a slow one are a page builder loading its whole library on every page, a bought theme with sliders and animation libraries you never use, images uploaded at full camera resolution, several caching plugins conflicting, and cheap shared hosting with a slow time to first byte. Every one of those is fixable.
Is WordPress secure?
WordPress core is actively maintained and rarely the point of failure. Compromises almost always come through outdated plugins and themes, weak or reused admin passwords, or hosting with poor isolation. The controls that matter are automatic core updates, tested plugin updates on staging, two-factor on admin accounts, login rate limiting, a firewall, and daily off-site backups you have actually restored once to prove they work.
Frequently asked questions.
Can you rebuild my Elementor site without losing the content?
Yes. Page content, media, posts and SEO settings are migrated across, and every existing URL is preserved or 301 redirected so rankings are not disturbed. The part that takes the work is that page-builder layouts do not convert automatically — the content comes across, but the pages are rebuilt as proper templates and patterns. We agree exactly which pages get rebuilt during scoping so the price is fixed.
Do you provide hosting?
We do not resell hosting, because that is a bill you should control. We recommend a host that fits your traffic and budget, set it up in your own account with your own card, and configure caching, PHP version, backups and SSL. If you are already on hosting that works, we will use it; if the hosting is the reason the site is slow, we will say so and show you the numbers.
Can my team edit the site without breaking the design?
That is the point of building it properly. Design tokens live in theme.json and content lives in defined fields, so an editor can change text, swap images and add pages from reusable patterns without being able to accidentally change the brand's spacing, type or colour. We record a walkthrough of your specific admin so a new hire can pick it up.
Do you offer maintenance after launch?
The first 30 days of fixes and small changes are included. After that you can take a monthly plan covering core, theme and plugin updates tested on staging, security monitoring, backup verification, uptime alerts, a monthly performance check and a small allowance of content changes. Or you can run it in-house using the written routine we hand over. There is no lock-in either way.
Can you build an online store on WordPress?
Yes, with WooCommerce, and it is a strong choice when content and organic search drive your sales or when margins are too thin to give up a percentage to a hosted platform. If the store is the whole business and nobody on your side wants to administer software, we will usually point you to Shopify instead. We would rather send you to the right platform than build you the wrong one.
My site was hacked. Can you fix it?
Usually. Recovery means identifying how it got in, cleaning or rebuilding from a known-good backup, rotating every credential, updating or removing the vulnerable component, and then hardening the site so the same route is closed. We will also tell you honestly if a clean rebuild will cost less than cleaning what is there, which on badly compromised sites it often does.
Do you work with clients outside India?
Yes. We build and maintain WordPress sites for clients in the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Canada. Calls are booked inside your working hours, scopes and updates are written down so time-zone gaps do not stall the project, and we invoice in USD, GBP or AED.
How do payments work?
Projects are split into milestones tied to the scope — an advance to begin, a payment at design approval, and the balance at launch. Indian clients pay by UPI or bank transfer with a GST invoice; overseas clients pay by international transfer or card in USD, GBP or AED.
Tell us what the site has to do.
What you publish, who edits it, and whether this is a new build or a rescue. That is enough to start. You get back questions, a recommended build approach with the reasoning, a realistic timeline and a fixed price — usually within one working day.
Mon–Sat, 8 AM – 10 PM IST. Overseas calls booked in your hours.