Collaboration
WordPress Website Builder provides a free, open source platform upon which businesses construct their professional websites. This software is incredibly conducive to flexible collaboration from many devices.
Because WordPress is based on browsers, you can access your admin dashboard anytime, anywhere, which is particularly helpful for small but timely edits. The platform itself is scalable and can grow with your business as it expands, allowing you to add features and functionalities as you need them. Finally, you can set up several users for admin access and easily transfer management to outsourced agencies.
SEO
Search engine optimization is the process of increasing organic rankings and website discoverability through technical improvements and creative elements. WordPress is equipped with plenty of SEO optimization tools to help businesses grow their audiences.
SEO strategies that the free, open source website builder provides include simple code, title tags and meta descriptions for web pages and images, and additional tags. In addition, brands can utilize the built-in blog to boost SEO value through content marketing and can tailor their site to keywords through additional tags.
Integrations
Perhaps the biggest benefit of the WordPress website builder is its copious integrations that customize each website to a brand’s identity and goals. These features include design themes, content marketing blogs, embedded social media feeds, and more.
What’s better, WordPress takes plugins to the next level by marrying them with other WordPress features, increasing the overall value of the platform. For example, users can create an optimized blog post, which can then be automatically placed into an RSS feed that allows other WordPress-powered sites to syndicate your content, give you a valuable link back to your site, and, thus, help increase your SEO ranking.
Security
With the help of expert WordPress designers and developers, you can create a professional website that protects customer data and business information. This is imperative to maintain trustworthy relationships with consumers that will grow your brand.
Website security is particularly important for small businesses. In fact, even a small security breach can be the kiss of death, is it would quickly diminish any trust or confidence a growing audience might have in a startup. Therefore, it is worth the extra effort, in the long run, to invest in a great WordPress design agency to add an extra layer of protection.
Cost
WordPress is notoriously one of the most affordable website building and hosting platforms available. The core services of WordPress are completely free, and additional plugins, widgets, and features can typically be paid for as-needed.
This pricing structure is great because businesses never have to pay for more than what they need -- a critical feature for startups and growing companies. Instead, brands can focus on creating a website with rock-solid functionality, then scale as they are able to in their own time.
Questions To Ask The Top WordPress Website Design Companies
Pricing
All great WordPress website agencies have different pricing structures for their various services. Before you commit to an agency partner, make sure you understand exactly what you’ll be charged, the services you’ll receive, and the results you are guaranteed.
- How much do your services cost?
- Do you charge per hour, per project, or per results?
- How long will the project cost?
- Are there any additional fees we could expect?
- How much will additional services cost?
- What results can you guarantee throughout the project?
Results
Websites act more like marketing tools, encouraging clicks, conversions, returning visitors, and ultimately increasing revenue. Therefore, any website design should aim to solve business problems and/or achieve certain objectives. The best WordPress website design agencies are able to determine reasonable objectives that will grow your business, then ensure your digital destination has the features to reach those goals.
- What tools or programs do you use to determine strategies and track success?
- Who programs do you use to build or design websites?
- Which functions and features are aimed at solving our business problems?
- How will you determine reasonable objectives?
- How long will it take for us to reach our goals?
Process
Great WordPress website design companies have organized workflows in place for every project. This ensures that deadlines are met, clients are in the loop, and websites are ultimately successful. The questions below will help determine if an agency will be a breeze to collaborate with.
- What does your design process look like?
- How do you couple creative inspiration with achieving our business goals?
- How do you determine goals and objectives?
- How will you keep the project on track and ensure deadlines are met?
- Who will our point of contact be?
Services
Not every WordPress website design company offers the same services -- in fact, many companies that are well-versed in WordPress also offer additional development, marketing, and business growth assistance. These additional services are especially important for growing companies who need a lot of immediate changes or anticipate updates down the road.
- What WordPress-related services do you offer?
- Does your company offer additional services?
- Are we able to create our own custom project through several of your offerings?
- Do you have a support team in place to help our company implement and learn new changes?
Team
The top WordPress website design companies have top talent who build a beautiful website with all the features your brand requires. Ask the questions below to ensure you know who is working on your team and determine how qualified they are to build your business’s online presence.
- Who will be working on our project?
- What are their qualifications?
- What will their role be?
- What projects, both successful and unsuccessful, have they worked on?
- What did they learn from each project?
Top Value Propositions & Differentiating Factors Of The Best WordPress Web Design Companies
If you know you need a new website one of the first steps in the journey to launch is determining which content management system (CMS) will best suit your company’s needs. If you’ve partnered with a digital agency to build the site they will be able to recommend a platform based on your needs, and they’ll have the expertise to build sites on a variety of different content management systems.
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems on the web, and it’s one of the first options new businesses consider when evaluating their options. Below is an overview of what types of websites are best-suited to WordPress, as well as a summary of which key differentiators you should look for in a WordPress web design company.
What Kinds Of Sites Should Use WordPress?
WordPress is known for its user-friendly interface and for being an accessible CMS choice for even the most non-technical users. Businesses who wish to partner with a web design company to design and develop their site but then manage it on their own moving forward will likely be more than satisfied with a WordPress CMS.
WordPress began as a blogging platform but has since evolved into a CMS platform suited to many different kinds of businesses. According to WordPress, 28% of the world’s websites are built on the platform, including well-known publishers like CNN and Techcrunch. It’s clear that WordPress is a great for content-based sites, which makes it a solid choice for small businesses and corporate websites whose needs are generally not overly complex.
More complex websites, however, are likely not a great match for WordPress. More sophisticated ecommerce sites, for example, are better served by Magento, Drupal, or Shopify. Sites with complex organizational structures and those that require high levels of customization may also be better served by an alternative CMS.
Custom WordPress Design vs. Off-The-Shelf Themes
If you decide to use WordPress as your CMS, the next step will be deciding whether to build your site using an existing WordPress theme or hiring a WordPress web design company to create a custom design based on your needs and specifications. One of the benefits of using WordPress is that the choice is yours, though of course, the custom option will always be the more expensive one.
WordPress has hundreds of themes and premium themes to choose from, many of which are responsive designs (layouts that adapt to the screen resolution of the device being used) so they’re totally compatible with mobile devices. Choosing one of the many WordPress theme options will save your company money but it will limit your flexibility. You’ll be able to customize the theme to your brand, but you’ll have to work within the existing structure of whichever theme you choose.
Custom WordPress design offers total flexibility. The WordPress web design company you partner with will create something from scratch based on your specific needs as communicated to them. They’ll ensure that the final design accommodates all the features you require. This is the preferred option for most businesses and it’s a service you’ll find at any top WordPress development company.
Using WordPress For eCommerce
WordPress can be used as a CMS for small online stores. As mentioned above, it’s not an ideal solution for large ecommerce sites or even small ones that anticipate a need to scale quickly in the near term. For small or medium ecommerce sites, however, it’s possible to easily integrate ecommerce functionality in WordPress with the WooCommerce plugin. Just like WordPress, WooCommerce promises out-of-the-box features and user-friendly tools that non-technical site managers will have no trouble learning. WooCommerce is open source and customizable, so businesses can feel confident in their ability to tailor it to their needs.
Top WordPress Web Design Companies Are Guided By Process
Every web design project should be guided by a clear process. Particularly when working with an agency partner, having an established project process in place in the best way to keep a design project on track. Look for a WordPress design company that differentiates itself on its commitment to a proven approach to projects. Each project should begin with discovery, where the web design company seeks to understand your brand, your goals, and the challenges you face. This phase of the project informs all others. Look for a development company that will specify timelines for every phase of the project and clearly outline what’s expected of both parties.
Reputable WordPress Web Design Companies Are Tested
When developing a WordPress website it should go without saying that you want to partner with a developer that has plenty of experience with the platform. Top WordPress web design companies will be eager to share case studies with prospective clients and they’ll have robust portfolios demonstrating past success. Look for a design company that has executed projects that are similar to yours in terms of size and scope. Be sure to also get a sense of their responsive web design work.
Service Offerings Of Top Wordpress Web Design Companies
Though some WordPress web design companies are strictly limited to web design and development services, many take a broader approach to their service offerings. At top WordPress design companies you can find a range of strategy, design, and even marketing services on offer.
Typical service offerings may include:
- Strategy - Research into target audience and key competition, as well as recommendations for must-have content and messaging direction.
- Site design and development - Start to finish custom WordPress website design, including user experience design, responsive layout, visual design, development, and quality assurance.
- Content migration - Many web design companies can assist with content migration from one platform to another, though this service usually comes at an additional cost to the client.
- Search engine optimization - At a bare minimum, most web design companies can help manage the onsite optimization process (technical edits) that are the first step of the SEO process. Top web development companies will always ensure that the websites they design are structured in an SEO-friendly manner.
- WordPress hosting - Web development companies can usually help arrange web hosting services on behalf of their clients, including managed WordPress hosting if desired.
How The Best Wordpress Design Firms Marketing Themselves
WordPress design and development companies promote themselves through a variety of digital marketing channels. Search is a major channel for discovery, so search engine optimization and paid search are key tactics employed by design agencies.
Thought leadership in the tech and design spheres is another tactic that presents opportunities for design firms. They’re usually avid bloggers and active publishers on key social media channels.
Takeaway
WordPress is a widely-used and much-loved content management system for small businesses, content sites, and bloggers. It’s approachable tools and user-friendly design make it a viable option for even the least technical users.
A few things to know if you’re considering WordPress for your website project:
- When to use WordPress - WordPress is best-suited to small to medium websites and corporate brochure-type sites. Complex websites are better off using a more scalable and customizable solution.
- Custom WordPress design - For most businesses, custom WordPress design is the best option. Custom design and development requires the help of a WordPress web design company to execute properly. WordPress themes, including premium themes and responsive designs, are also available.
- WordPress ecommerce - WordPress is an option for small ecommerce stores through integration with the WooCommerce plugin.
- WordPress development process - The best WordPress developers are guided by a straightforward and proven development process. This process outlines all the phases of the project and aligns the team to its goals and trajectories.
- WordPress experience - Top WordPress design companies have experience with the platform which is demonstrated through their portfolio and case studies. References are available upon request.
Top Qualities Of The Best WordPress Website Design Companies
The WordPress Experience
Once you’ve decided to go with Wordpress as your choice of CMS for your website, you’ll want to spend the time to find a qualified, experienced company to do the job of implementing your vision. The top Wordpress web design companies are the ones with years of experience developing on the platform. This experience will ensure the company is familiar with the intricacies of developing for Wordpress and will know enough to avoid any potential issues or pitfalls before they happen. Choosing a company with the right amount of experience will give you the peace of mind that your website is in capable hands.
Solid Portfolio
Another way to gauge a company’s capabilities is by doing a thorough review of their portfolio of work. Top Wordpress web design companies will have a portfolio of their best work ready to go should a client ask to see examples of previous projects. Look for a portfolio that demonstrates the company’s ability to work on a range of different projects with variable scopes. You may also choose to ask them to include any relevant examples of past clients who are in your industry or who had similar design and development requirements to yours.
Strategic Approach
In any website build, it pays to be strategic in your approach. Top Wordpress web design companies don’t simply jump into a project without a careful review of the requirements. They should spend time understanding your goals and detailing all the features and functionalities that are important to you. This is what allows them to define a clear scope and outline a timeline for the project’s completion. The company should have a plan in place for managing the transition from your old platform over to Wordpress, and for maintaining any existing SEO value of the current site.
Personality & Communication
Whichever company you choose to work with, know that your relationship with them is one that needs to endure the long, and sometimes stressful process of building and launching a website. The nature of web development is that issues and challenges are inevitable, no matter how well planned out the project may be. That’s why it’s essential that your Wordpress web designer is one with whom you can communicate honestly and openly. Top Wordpress web design companies make transparent communication a priority and are committed to building and maintaining good relationships with their clients. Try your best to assess whether the company will be one your team can work with successfully throughout the course of the project.
Getting to launch day might be the goal, but the necessity for ongoing maintenance shouldn’t be underestimated. Many companies choose to bring maintenance and support in-house, but if you don’t have the technical skills on your team you’ll need a partner who can help. Many top Wordpress web design companies will offer ongoing maintenance services (for a fee). You should also expect your Wordpress partner to onboard and train your team in the use of the platform ahead of the website launch.
