WordPress development services
WordPress Developer for Small Business Websites That Stay Fast
I build and improve WordPress websites for small businesses and marketing teams. New sites your team can edit without calling a developer, slow sites made faster, insecure sites tidied up, and headless WordPress with a Next.js frontend when you need extra speed and flexibility.
Who it's for
- Small businesses that want a professional website they can update themselves.
- Marketing teams tired of asking a developer every time a page needs changing.
- Owners of WordPress sites that have become slow, bloated with plugins or hard to manage.
- Businesses worried about security after a scare, a warning from their host or years without updates.
- Anyone whose WordPress site is broken and needs a calm, careful fix.
- Teams that like editing in WordPress but want a faster, more modern frontend.
When WordPress is a great fit (and when it isn't)
WordPress is a sensible choice for a lot of small business websites. It's widely supported, your team can learn it quickly, and you're not tied to one developer or one company. If you're looking for a WordPress developer, it's worth checking first that WordPress really is the right tool.
WordPress for small business works well when:
- Your site is mostly content. Service pages, a blog, case studies, team pages and contact forms.
- Non-technical people need to edit it. Marketing teams and owners can update pages without touching code.
- You want a large choice of hosts and help. Plenty of hosting companies and developers know WordPress, so you're never stuck.
It's a weaker fit when:
- Your content feeds several places at once, such as a website, an app and in-store screens. A headless CMS is often cleaner, and my Contentful development service covers that route.
- You're really building software. Customer accounts, dashboards, bookings with complex rules or anything that behaves like an app is usually better as a custom web application.
Building a site your team can actually edit
A good WordPress site isn't just one that looks right on launch day. It's one your team can keep updating for years without it slowly falling apart.
I build pages with the WordPress block editor (opens in a new tab), the drag-and-drop editing screen built into WordPress. Instead of giving your team a blank canvas, I set up a small number of page templates and reusable blocks, such as a hero section, a services grid or a testimonial strip, that already match your branding. Your team picks the pieces and fills in the words. The spacing, fonts and colours look after themselves.
I keep the theme and plugin list deliberately short. Every plugin is something that needs updating, can conflict with others and can slow the site down, so each one has to earn its place.
Making WordPress fast
Slow WordPress sites are common, and the causes are usually familiar. When I speed up a WordPress site, I measure first and then work through the usual suspects:
- Images. Resizing, compressing and serving modern formats so photos stop being the heaviest thing on the page.
- Caching. Saving ready-made copies of pages so the server doesn't rebuild them for every visitor.
- Plugin clean-up. Removing plugins that are unused, duplicated or loading code on every page.
- Theme and scripts. Cutting back heavy page builders, sliders and third-party scripts where they aren't pulling their weight.
I track progress against Core Web Vitals (opens in a new tab), Google's measures of how quickly a page loads and how stable it feels. I'll show you the before-and-after numbers rather than promising a particular score.
Keeping it secure and maintained
Most WordPress security problems come from software that hasn't been updated or plugins nobody remembers installing. Hardening a site is mostly good housekeeping: keeping WordPress, the theme and plugins up to date, removing anything unused, protecting the login page, and setting up automatic backups stored somewhere other than the site itself.
If you'd rather not think about updates at all, a monthly retainer covers ongoing maintenance and small changes, and one-off fixes can be handled hourly. Both are explained on my pricing page.
Headless WordPress with Next.js
Headless WordPress means keeping WordPress as the place your team writes and edits content, while visitors see a separate frontend built in Next.js. WordPress supplies the content; Next.js decides how it's shown.
This is where my background helps most. Most of my career has been building production websites and apps with React and Next.js, so a headless WordPress Next.js setup plays to my core strengths. You keep the familiar editing screen, and visitors get fast pages and a frontend that can grow into more app-like features later.
It isn't the right choice for every site. It costs more to build and means two systems to look after. If speed or flexibility matters enough to justify that, my Next.js development service explains the frontend side in more detail.
What you get at handover
When the work is finished, you own the site, its content and any custom code. The hosting account and domain stay in your name. You also get written notes on how the site is put together, a list of the plugins in use and why, and a walkthrough call so your team can edit confidently.
If you are not sure whether your current site needs a rebuild or just a tidy-up, that is exactly what the free 20-minute call is for.
What's included
Site structure and templates
A clear page structure and a small set of sensible templates, so every new page looks consistent without extra design work.
Editor-friendly blocks and pages
Pages built with the WordPress block editor and reusable patterns or custom blocks, so your team can change text, images and sections safely.
Performance tuning
Caching, image optimisation and plugin clean-up aimed at better Core Web Vitals and faster pages for your visitors.
Security hardening and backups
Up-to-date software, fewer plugins, login protection and automatic backups you can actually restore from.
SEO basics
Clean page titles, descriptions, headings, a sitemap and tidy URLs, so search engines can understand your site.
Headless option
Where it makes sense, WordPress as your content editor with a fast Next.js frontend built on top.
Documentation, training and handover
Written notes and a walkthrough call showing your team how to edit pages, add content and keep the site healthy.
How it works
Step 1: Free 20-minute call
Day 1
You tell me what your site needs to do or what's going wrong, and I'll tell you honestly whether WordPress is the right fit.
Step 2: Site review and fixed quote
Within a few days
I look at your current site, hosting and plugins, or your plans for a new one, then send a fixed quote broken into milestones.
Step 3: Build or improve in milestones
Weeks 1 onwards
I work in small, reviewable stages, with a preview you can click through each week and a short written update.
Step 4: Launch and checks
We go live together, then I check speed, forms, redirects, backups and search settings so nothing is missed.
Step 5: Training and handover
Your team gets a walkthrough and written notes. If you'd like ongoing updates and maintenance, an optional monthly retainer keeps me on hand.
FAQ
Questions about this service
How much does WordPress website development cost?
A new site or larger improvement gets a fixed quote after a free call and a look at what you have, and you pay per milestone. Small fixes can be done hourly at $20/hour, and ongoing updates suit a $1,000/month retainer for 15 hours per week. All the options are on the pricing page.
Can you speed up my existing WordPress site?
Usually, yes. I start by measuring where the time goes, which is often heavy images, too many plugins, a slow theme or missing caching. I'll explain what I find in plain English and fix the biggest problems first. I can't promise a particular speed score, but you'll see before-and-after measurements.
Will my team be able to edit the site without breaking it?
That's the main goal of how I build. Pages use the block editor with a limited set of well-designed blocks and patterns, so your team can change content freely while the layout and styling stay consistent. Training and written notes are included.
What is headless WordPress, and do I need it?
Headless WordPress means your team still writes and edits content in WordPress, but visitors see a separate frontend built in Next.js. It can make sites faster and more flexible, but it adds complexity and cost. Most small business sites don't need it, and I'll tell you honestly if yours does.
My WordPress site has been hacked or is broken. Can you help?
Yes. I'll first get a backup of the current state, then work out what went wrong, whether that's a failed update, a plugin conflict or a security problem. Once it's working, I'll harden the site so the same issue is less likely to happen again.
Who owns the website when the project is finished?
You do. Once the work is paid for, the site, its content and any custom code belong to you, and I'm happy to sign an NDA before we start. The hosting and domain stay in your name too, so you're never locked in.