Before beginning a new WordPress Website Development or rebuilding project, you should know what a WordPress website developer does. The term “developer” can mean many different things. We will break down the most crucial aspects to help you develop your site or hire a professional developer.
Understand how search engines index and rank website pages because it is crucial to WordPress Website Development. Additionally, your developer must have search engine knowledge in addition to coding and theming skills.
Will A WordPress Developer Meet Your Needs
WordPress Website Development Questions to Ask
- What is your budget?
- What are your website goals?
- What is your timeline?
- Are there specific industry needs for your website, financial calculators, eCommerce, etc.?
- Can the developer meet your timeline?
SEO For WordPress Website Development
There are a lot of design and structure features of your website that will boost or deter a higher ranking with the major search engines.
Develop your website to be found in the search engine results pages, or your website will not rank high.
Failing to meet this critical step is like having a salesperson who never talks to anyone. Your website is a virtual salesperson and not just a way for your customers to get your phone number or directions to your business.
WordPress Website Development Features That Contribute To SEO
Site and navigation structure
Google’s algorithm considers your website’s navigation structure for clarity and ease of use before ranking your website. Other search engines use similar procedures.
Your website structure should be easy to understand for visitors and easy to find the information they are looking for. Search engine algorithms continue to become more sophisticated and look for human readability.
The navigation structure of your site must be clear and easy to understand. Just remember, “Don’t make me think”!
Theming
Your website is your virtual storefront; a first impression is a lasting impression. Theming is a vital component of SEO in your website. Theming is considered a separate layer, but also a vital component in WordPress Website Development.
Your website must look professional and informative to searchers. Professionalism will prevent searchers from backing out and moving to the next website.
Plugin Development
WordPress has an enormous number of plugins in the WordPress plugin repository. Many of the plugins are free and some are premium plugins. If you hire a WordPress developer, they will surely have a list of their favorite and very useful plugins.
Using too many plugins from the WordPress repository could increase the cost of building your site. A custom plugin is a great way to add features specific to your business needs.
WordPress Website Development includes custom code specifically for your business needs. You can write your code in different places in a WordPress website, however as your website grows this can become increasingly difficult to maintain.
Putting your custom code in a plugin is the optimal choice for code organizational purposes. The custom website plugin is easier to maintain and improved over time.
Entire books and websites are dedicated to plugin development, but having a general knowledge of how the backend of your website is structured is helpful.
Content creation for websites
Ranking higher in the search engines, you must have a content creation strategy. Content creation is often the most overlooked feature of a website. Searchers usually have a specific question they are looking for when your website shows up in the search, and you must have a strategy to answer those questions and move them to the next level of doing business with you.
Search Engines
Search engines are highly competitive with each other and are competing for searchers. Knowing how the search engines work and rank websites is vital to understand when developing a website.
Each search engine has its algorithms and processes for indexing and ranking your website, but they are very similar. You must have a specific process that will appeal to all major search engines.
You should continuously improve your knowledge of how search engines index and rank websites to get your site to the top of the searches.
Ecommerce website
If you think E-commerce websites are businesses that sell many different items and not companies that sell few products, you could be missing out on some business. Ecommerce features may be more affordable than you think, and you can add the following features to your website.
Selling one product
Restaurants with to-go orders
Memberships
Virtual products and downloads
Selling information
And many others.
If you are hiring a WordPress developer, do they have the capability to add e-commerce features to your website?
This section goes into more details about WooCommerce.
Summary
Whether you are building your website or considering hiring a developer, all the features listed above are vital in the WordPress Website Development process. You need more than just technical development skills to build a website that gets your business found and customers coming in the door.
Understanding the steps listed above will give you confidence and make you more knowledgeable when talking to a WordPress website developer or building your website.