According to data gathered from W3Techs, 43.2% of all websites on the internet in 2022 were WP sites. This is an increase from 39.5% in 2021. This implies that two out of every five websites use WordPress.
That’s the global data telling us about the popularity of WordPress for web development. Though it started as a blogging platform in 2003, today, it’s a popular CMS known for user-friendly UI, flexibility, and customizability.
WordPress is for everyone. For someone planning to put his portfolio on the web, or want to start a freelance career, founding a startup, or planning to sell products/services online. Anyone to everyone can rely on WordPress to build their digital office. In this blog, I will start from the basics of WordPress to reason you how Custom WordPress development can do wonders for your business.
What is WordPress development? How to start WordPress development?
Introduction to WordPress Development
WordPress is a renowned open-source Content Management System (CMS) for building websites. Whether you want to create a web page, or dynamic multi-blogging site, design a business site or launch an ecommerce store, you can count on WordPress. WordPress Development is the art of designing and developing a website using WordPress’s core functionalities.
Let me tell you that building a microsite on WordPress.com is not WordPress development. WordPress.com is the hosted service for bloggers, and if you are the one trying to build a site on your own for free. They offer a free tier and paid plans to try more features. It’s a good idea only for those who don’t want to handle technicalities independently and need no plugins. On the other hand, WordPress.org (a self-hosted version of WordPress) gives you greater freedom to design unique and intuitive sites. Also, if you are planning to start a blog and make some money online, you need a site on WordPress.org. Though you need to host these websites on other hosting service provider platforms, you unlock a wealth of customization and personalization features here.
With plenty of free and paid themes available in the market, anyone with basic knowledge of web development can get started with it. It needs no coding knowledge if you just want to add some diversity to your portfolio and like to move into digital space with your own website. However, professionals always yearn for uniqueness where pre-built themes can’t make you stand out. Let me solve this puzzle for you in the next section.
How is WordPress development different from custom WordPress development?
The only difference between WordPress development and custom WordPress development is that of the skills, approach and purpose.
Let’s say an individual or a startup just needs a web presence to grab recognition in the digital space. They need an informational web page talking about who they are and what they do. For such users, website development with WordPress’s core functionalities, plugins, pre-built themes and some basic add-ons can serve the purpose.
Contrary to this use case, a brand that is targeting a global audience or even different states within a country needs a full-fledged dynamic website that lures more customers. Their approach will be to have a distinctive website that their consumers haven’t seen anywhere. To serve this purpose, they need a website to be designed and developed from scratch. And the skill of designing and developing a website from scratch per the client’s design preferences is referred to as custom WordPress Development. It needs expertise, and trying to do it independently may cost you a lot of time. If you hire freelancers, you may need to hire multiple resources to get you a functional WordPress site ready. Rather outsourcing your website project to a WordPress development company can be a smart move here.
13 Reasons why custom WordPress development should be your ultimate choice
Are you stuck in the prebuilt WordPress theme v/s custom WordPress development discussion? No worries! I can help you resolve this dilemma with a godly list of benefits you unlock with custom WordPress Development.
Slay the competition in your way
Taking design inspiration from multiple businesses is one thing, and making a replica is another. Do you want your customers to believe you’ve copied the website layout from another brand? Deadly, if that’s your competitor! I’m sure not even in dreams you would want that. Not to mention it can happen coincidently as well. Such a situation can occur when you choose pre-built WordPress themes. You may change brand colours, but not that you could move all the elements and customize the code. Only the custom WordPress theme designed exclusively for your business can save you from such a situation.
Get rid of unnecessary plugins
Ready WordPress themes come with their own set of dependencies and plugins. Even when you may not need some of those functionalities, you must keep them to avoid any code-level mishap. This impact the website’s performance and may even slow down your web’s loading speed. Businesses using custom themes mostly rely on custom plugins. Also, for existing plugins, code-level modifications can be easily made. It gives the upper hand to the developers to optimize code for better performance.
Say no to version compatibility issues
WordPress is backed by a vast community which keeps the platform updated. However, several individuals and companies contribute to WordPress’s plugin library. You will experience a delay in plugin updates whenever a major upgrade from WordPress comes. If you use ready themes, you may find some sections of your website broken, for which you can’t do anything but wait. With custom themes, you can sign up for annual maintenance services from a WordPress development company and get your theme sections modified within the promising timeline. They won’t let you lose your customers due to the website’s broken sections.
Lure more customers with mobile responsive themes
When mobile responsiveness is one of the critical ranking factors per Google’s algorithms, you would not like to miss the first spot. The sad part is that not all the pre-built themes are mobile responsive, and even if they are, they are incompatible across different screen sizes. When you opt for custom WordPress development, your website can run well across variable screen configurations. So you can provide a seamless user experience to your customers across all the touch points.
Have an SEO-friendly website
Even if you’ve chosen an extremely appealing WordPress theme but your website isn’t SEO-friendly, you know you’ve already lost the game. Much to your surprise, let me tell you that only some of the older WordPress themes are compatible with new SEO ranking norms. SEO is more than adding keywords to your web content, and you need to count on paid plugins to be somewhere safe. Custom WordPress development lets you update your website per the latest SEO norms.
Full Control & Customization
Unlike the ready themes, you will not have layout restrictions to follow. You can relish full control of your website’s design and the functionalities you want to add. Planning a layout, you can discuss with the web designers you rely on to shape your website per the industry’s standard norms. For you, the choice of functionalities will not be limited to the available plugins only. You can get the custom plugins made for your website and add or remove them as and when needed.
Unlock integration capabilities
With custom WordPress development, you shouldn’t worry about integrations with other systems and services like CRM, email marketing, ecommerce service providers, etc. You will find the support available for most add-on services, and wherever API-level integration is required, you can get it done by your web developer’s team.
Own your website
When using prebuilt themes, you won’t get code-level access unless it is a paid one. Even get access, if you haven’t opted for the premium license, you can’t remove the creator credits from the theme. Your link juice will automatically get transferred to the prebuilt theme owners. When you get custom-built websites, you need not share these credits with anyone, not even the web development agency that has designed it.
Get a personalized admin dashboard
To update blogs or make minor changes in text or images, you need to access the backend of your site. Though WordPress’s dashboard has a better UI, its features are not understandable to everyone. You can get your admin dashboard specific to your content management requirements when counting on custom theme development.
Boost your website’s performance:
Without breaking into the code website’s speed optimization is not possible to a great extent. However, custom development makes it for developers. From image optimization to code optimization and arrangement of UI elements per accessibility standard improves your web’s performance. Further, it aids the SEO ranking of your site as well.
Unlock scalability
You may not need advanced functionalities for now, but your business is growing, and you may need to add some new features 6 months later. If you opt for pre-built themes, you can’t make it happen. Get a custom WordPress site developed for your business, and you can open a way to add functionalities whenever your business needs it.
Utmost security
With custom WordPress themes, you can add new layers to the security of your website to keep your user’s data secure. You can implement robust security practices, perform code audits, and ensure the use of safe coding standards. Moreover, custom development allows optimized performance by building a lean and efficient codebase tailored to your website’s needs.
Long-term Cost Savings
While you may assess the initial upfront investment for custom WordPress development, in comparison with pre-built free themes, you will know its worth in the long run. It eliminates the need for ongoing subscription fees for premium themes or plugins. Also, it allows you complete control over your website without relying on third-party providers.
Navigating you to your next steps
In a nutshell, Custom WordPress Development is value for money for businesses. You get a tailored website ready with your choice’s look, feel, and functionalities. The integration capabilities, security, and scalability represent your brand’s values and improve users’ trust in your business. Are you looking for custom web development services? Feel free to connect with us to discuss more about your business requirements.
