Why WordPress is our CMS of choice
We humbly submit that we are the best WordPress web designers and we want to work with software and tools that are also the best. WordPress is certainly that. We have been working with WordPress as our primary content management system since the beginning. Back when WordPress was primarily a blog engine before it blew up into the full-featured software it is today. We stay aware of all the other competitors out there such as Drupal, Square Space, Wix, Shopify, and Joomla and we still think WordPress is, hands down, the best CMS on the planet. We have even helped develop proprietary content management systems in the past to exact specifications and always come back to WordPress as the better choice.
WordPress has a huge community behind it with more than 27% of the entire Internet running on it. Many fortune 500 companies from Sony to Rolling Stone currently rely on WordPress and almost any kind of website you can imagine can use it to their advantage. Business websites, personal blogs, eCommerce sites, community-driven sites and all forms of small business use WordPress daily to get it done. Because of its widespread use, it's also very easy to get help working on WordPress and you will never need to feel trapped with your current developer simply because of the CMS that was used.
WHY SHOULD YOU USE WORDPRESS FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
WordPress is
Search
Engine-Friendly.
If you're serious about search engine optimization, WordPress should be your CMS of choice. There are a dizzying number of tools available to WordPress designers and users that streamline the SEO process. The Yoast SEO plugin alone will give you on page grading of keyword focus, create XML sitemap files for you to submit to Google Search console, provide fields for customizing meta tags and much more. WordPress frameworks tend to be semantically correct for perfect on-page SEO. WordPress web designs will also be lightning fast at getting any new content indexed with it’s “pinging” functionality that tells search engines that new content is available, so please come crawl it.
WordPress has come a long way since it came out on May 27, 2003, by its founders, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. That is a long time iterating and making improvements with its usability. We have found that WordPress is by far the easiest to use for the end-user. The owner of our websites will get full WordPress training at the end of the project leaving them with all the skills necessary to not have to hire us for updates (although we are more than happy to do updates if desired). Tasks such as adding blog posts, updating testimonials, changing pricing on eCommerce sites and adding services pages are all easily handled by even the most technically challenged.
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WordPress is
easy to use for
non-technical
people.
WordPress offers
ultimate design
flexibility.
Other content management systems can look great if you stick to the designs and layouts that they use out of the box. What if you want your web design to be a little different? What if you want something completely custom? Using WordPress allows us to design without restriction. If we can dream it up, we know we can implement it with WordPress. Don't make your marketing bend to your CMS. Let your business be represented online in as unique a way as you want it to. We have been implementing custom WordPress web designs for a decade. Whether you dream it or we do, we can feel confident that the choice in content management will not be restricting us in any way.
Given the huge user base and giant community behind WordPress there is little argument that it is the most well polished CMS out there. It’s quite amazing that something so complex can work so well. All of the plugins, all of the themes and all of the customizations that can be done using WordPress and still not give you problems is really quite amazing. And in the off chance that something does go wrong, it is very easy to find people that can help. Want to learn to be a WordPress expert yourself? Go check out wordpress.tv or do any kind of search you can think of on youtube and you will find all the tutorials you can handle. Buying into the WordPress ecosystem is a decision you will not regret.
WordPress is
the most used,
most reliable
CMS.
WHY WORK WITH US?
We are Experts
in WordPress
Design
What does it take to be able to call yourself an expert WordPress web design agency? We have a combined 40+ years of experience pumping out custom designed WordPress websites, modifying themes, researching and learning every important WordPress plugin out there and being fully entrenched in the WordPress ecosystem. WordPress is what we use daily and our systems and processes are built around its workflow. As we are so versed in it we are able to put out a very strict level of quality while keeping WordPress design pricing affordable because of our efficiency. This level of detail, quality and efficiency can only come from putting in your 10,000 hours and we have certainly put in the time.
We create optimized,
100% Responsive
Websites
With Google transitioning most websites over to their mobile first index in search results, it’s no longer an option for any website serious about being visible to not have a responsive web design. As a matter of fact, all new websites set up in Google search console will be indexed with its mobile version. We have been building mobile-friendly responsive websites with WordPress for many years. Your site will function as perfectly and beautifully on phones as it will on desktops. No matter the width of the browser our web designs are viewed in the layout will adjust in a user-friendly and pleasing way.
We strategize around
SEO and User
Experience
WordPress SEO is by far at the leading edge of search optimization. If SEO is important to you, then you should most certainly be working with an SEO agency that specializes in WordPress. The way WordPress itself works, the way that themes are coded and the myriad of SEO plugins available to WordPress developers all add up to a winning combination that can’t be messed with. SEO is so much more than semantics as well. If you have a marketing strategy that is going to crush you will never be held back by WordPress itself. Create as many landing pages as you like, A/B split test, create Skyscraper blog posts and implement any strategy you can think of with ease using WordPress.
We are a Partner
you can
trust
We are a WordPress design company that cares. It sounds like it should be an obvious attribute in any service based company but I assure you that it’s not. We treat your WordPress site like we do our own. There are a thousand ways that corners can be cut while developing a website to save time and cost and in the end, it would be difficult for a non-WordPress designer to be aware. We cut no corners. From the initial install with the security steps, we take all the way through to the training and support we provide at the end of our WordPress web design projects it will be very clear that we are an agency that actually cares.
FEATURED WORK
Friday Forward Pictures WordPress Design
Many of our clients may be surprised to find out that our founder is a musician and recording engineer. In 2017 Rodney started working with Alex Frey of Friday Forward Pictures on a dystopian music video for Trigram’s single “Assimilate”. Working with Alex, who has been a long time WordPress client of ours, was a true pleasure. It was great to be able to return the service’s favor by designing them one of our all-time favorite WordPress websites for his equally top-notch video production company. This WordPress design does it’s best to stay out f the way of Alex’s beautiful imagery.
Assets Elevated Business WordPress Design
Assets Elevated was one of our first WordPress web clients. We have been working with these great people for a decade now and have developed a dozen (or more!) WordPress websites for them for their various endeavors over the years. Working with the Elliotts is always a pleasure and seeing the leadership torch being passed from father to son has been a heartwarming transition to watch. Our aim with all of our WordPress clients is to develop a lasting relationship with mutual growth. If our clients grow and provide top-notch service day in and day out we will grow with them.
Two Cylinders eCommerce Design
WordPress allows us the creative freedom to do whatever we want with design. In eCommerce, it’s especially important to be able to create a design that really speaks to the target audience. WordPress makes it possible for us to design outside of the box and without limitation because of the choice in the content management system. One design that we have a ton of pride about is the design for the Two-Cylinder Magazine. They have a devoted following of John Deere and Tractors enthusiasts. Our WordPress design kept UI/UX to the familiar eCommerce layout yet caters directly to the familiar branding preferences of the target audience.
WordPress Statistics
WordPress Posts Are Made Every Second
Percent of the Internet Runs on WordPress
WordPress
Themes on The
Market
Plugins
Available
for Download
The statistics on WordPress are fascinating. To sum it up: There is a huge amount of content put out using WordPress every day. The percentage of WordPress sites that fill the internet is staggering and the number of WordPress plugins and WordPress themes that have been developed to extend the functionality and control the look and feel of WordPress is dizzying. This will only continue to grow. The benefit to you? Your website is part of a much larger ecosystem that provides constant updates, security patches, functionality and design that is all available to you at the press of a button. WordPress development is affordable as we do not need to recreate the wheel and easy to work with as it has been iterated upon for so long now.
ASK US HOW WE CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW
CALL US AT (818)570-5620
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a completely free piece of community-driven open source software that came into existence in 2003. It is a set of PHP files driven by a MySQL database that creates a framework for building websites. It was originally used as a blogging platform but quickly grew into the powerhouse that it is today. For the end user, most of this is irrelevant. What users truly enjoy about WordPress is the ability to control website content and design without the need of knowing complicated code. Although you can go as far down the rabbit hole as you can imagine with WordPress the basics of managing a WordPress site for tasks such as adding a blog article, editing a page of content or even adding some functionality are all relatively simple to learn.
WordPress is able to perform the backbone duties of almost any kind of website you can think of. Here is a small list of the kinds of websites that WordPress performs especially well behind:
- Blogs
- Business websites
- eCommerce websites
- Portfolio websites
- Social network sites
- Membership sites
- Learning websites
This list can go on and on. Essentially, bar the most complicated of website specifications, WordPress can provide the engine for any website you can imagine. We have been building WordPress websites for over a decade now and we have seen it all done. It allows us rapid development, lightning fast speed and functionality that you would otherwise have to spend hundreds or thousands of hours on without.
The State of WordPress from The Founder
The Building Blocks of a WordPress Website Design
SOFTWARE
At its core WordPress is a collection of PHP files organized in a number of folders and directories. You can then break those files down into the core files that make WordPress run, the files that users add to the system to extend its functionality and finally the user media files that users add to the system. WordPress itself updates their core files pretty often for security reasons and to make the software run more smooth all while taking advantage of the newest technologies available. There is nothing hidden from us regarding what makes WordPress tick. If you really want to you can dive in and see how it all works. You don’t ever really need to of course and the WordPress core software are files that you should never have to touch. They just work.
THEMES
All WordPress websites require a theme to run. While the core WordPress software handles the engine behind a WordPress website the theme files handle the look and feel. You must have a theme to have a WordPress site. To some, a theme implies cheating or using someone else's design. That is not the case. If you code a WordPress design from scratch you would be making your own WordPress theme. The theme is responsible for what the website looks like. It houses all of the template images and the CSS behind the web page structure. The common headers and footers are all defined in the theme. This keeps core WordPress functionality separate from design. If you want to change the look of your website you just need to replace the theme components of your site. Very smart!
PLUGINS
Although WordPress has a huge feature list that it can handle out of the box they had the foresight to know that people would want more. They developed a hook system that allows software developers to “plug in” to WordPress is a system for extending its functionality. Plugins are one of the most fun and beneficial aspects of working with WordPress. See some functionality on a website that your website doesn't have? There is probably a plugin for it. Want to add an amazing eCommerce section to your website? Instead of having to code for hundreds of hours to have a bare bones shopping cart you can now install a plugin and just configure it. If you can dream it there is likely already a plugin for it.
What is our WordPress Website Design Process?
STEP ONE. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Every website starts with defining the goals of the website first. This allows us to keep the end game in mind for every decision made along the way. We work out the sitemap of website, define competitors in the space and come up with personas for the ideal website visitor. The site is fully envisioned before a line of code is written.
STEP TWO. DESIGN
The IA documents have been approved and now they are handed over to our web designers to actualize the look and feel of the website. It’s much more than just creating a prety website. It’s about making a website that will appeal to the target user, be easy to use and guide people towards the goals of the website.
STEP THREE. CONTENT
Once we have design approval it’s now about adding content to the website. Much more care and attention is put into the content than most design companies. Each page is handled individually and looked at as mini-home pages. While the design phase defines the look and feel, the content phase adds the real meat of the site.
STEP FOUR. TESTING AND DEPLOYMENT
Although the website may look done we go through a rigorous testing phase on all browsers and devices to ensure it looks great everywhere. We go back through the website and re-examine our on-site SEO and check for improvements that can be made to make the website lightning fast. Then we launch and train the client on how to use their new website!
ASK US HOW WE CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW
CALL US AT (818)570-5620
How much will a WordPress website design cost?
To answer this question without more information is really difficult. Our WordPress websites tend to fall between $4,000 and $20,000 depending on the specifications. Although we can and will work for less and we have handled custom projects for more, the average cost for a custom designed WordPress website is around $5,000 to $8,000. Our current rates are $85/hour and we have a few hard costs that go with most projects such as themes, plugins, copywriting and hosting. Every project is quoted individually though.
The actual cost of a WordPress web design is determined by many factors. Basically, it comes down to the following: 1) How much design time will be required for the WordPress design? 2) How large is the website? 3) How much functionality is needed? 4) Additional factors such as schedule and time needed to manage the project. As most of web design comes down to just labor costs most of the estimating process can be handled by educated guesses relating to man hours for each phase of a project. To determine the price of your WordPress project we just need 15 minutes on the phone with you to discuss the particulars and we can come back with a full proposal usually within a day or two. You can try our pricing calculator to get a rough idea or contact us for a quote specific to your project.
