Building a WordPress Website

Make Money Building WordPress Websites for Clients

In today’s digital age, every business needs a strong online presence, and WordPress website development has emerged as one of the most in-demand freelance services. As a WordPress website developer, you have the opportunity to help businesses establish their digital footprint while building a profitable freelance career. This guide will walk you through the key aspects of building and selling WordPress websites to clients.

The Growing Demand for WordPress Websites

Many businesses understand they need a professional website to establish credibility and attract customers, but they don’t have the skills or time to create one themselves. They may try using DIY platforms but often end up with websites that lack the functionality, design, and performance they need to compete online.

By offering WordPress website-building services, you help businesses create customized, high-quality websites that represent their brand and meet their specific needs. You handle all the technical aspects, while they focus on running their business, creating a reliable income stream for yourself.

Understanding Client Needs

Your first task is to understand the client’s goals for their website. Every business has different needs—some want to sell products online, others need a portfolio to showcase their work, and some are focused on building a blog or offering services.

By understanding their target audience and what they want to achieve, you’ll create a website that not only looks great but also functions effectively to meet their goals. The design, structure, and features of the site will all reflect the unique needs of their business, ensuring that it serves as a valuable tool in their overall strategy.

WordPress Setup and Customization

WordPress is the most popular content management system because it’s flexible, customizable, and easy for clients to manage once the website is built. You’ll start by installing WordPress and setting up the basic framework.

Theme Selection and Customization

The foundation of any WordPress website starts with choosing the right theme and making it unique to your client’s brand.

This includes selecting the right theme that aligns with the client’s brand. Themes provide the structure and visual design of the website, but your role goes beyond simply selecting one. You’ll customize it to reflect the client’s style, colors, and brand identity, making the website unique and tailored to their business.

Plugin Integration

Enhance your client’s website functionality with carefully selected plugins that meet their specific needs.

Plugins are what give WordPress its versatility. You’ll install and configure plugins that add functionality to the site, whether it’s an online store, booking system, or contact form.

For eCommerce businesses, you’ll set up WooCommerce, WordPress’s popular plugin for creating online stores. This includes configuring payment gateways, product listings, and shipping options.

For service-based businesses, you might set up booking plugins that allow customers to schedule appointments directly through the site. The right combination of plugins ensures that the website has all the features needed to serve the client’s customers effectively.

Design and User Experience

Design plays a critical role in the success of a website. You’ll be responsible for ensuring the site is visually appealing and easy to navigate. This includes designing a clean, user-friendly layout with clear calls to action.

The goal is to create a seamless user experience that guides visitors through the site and encourages them to take action, whether that’s making a purchase, filling out a contact form, or signing up for a newsletter. You’ll focus on creating intuitive navigation, ensuring that visitors can easily find what they’re looking for without frustration.

Mobile Responsiveness

Ensure your client’s website performs flawlessly across all devices with proper mobile optimization.

Mobile optimization is crucial. With the majority of web traffic coming from mobile devices, every website you build needs to be fully responsive, meaning it adapts to different screen sizes.

A site that looks great on a desktop but is difficult to navigate on a smartphone won’t serve the client well. You’ll ensure that all elements of the website, from text to images to buttons, resize and reformat correctly on mobile devices. Testing the site on various screen sizes during development ensures it provides a smooth experience for every visitor, regardless of the device they use.

SEO and Performance Optimization

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is another critical element in website building. Clients want their websites to be found by potential customers, and SEO is what makes that happen.

You’ll optimize the website for search engines by configuring SEO plugins like Yoast, ensuring that each page has the right keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags for images.

By structuring the site in a way that’s easy for search engines to crawl, you help improve its ranking on Google and other search engines. SEO-friendly sites attract more organic traffic, making it a valuable part of the website-building process.

Website Speed and Performance

Optimize your client’s website for peak performance and faster loading times.

Speed and performance are essential for a successful website. Slow-loading websites frustrate visitors and lead to higher bounce rates, which is bad for both user experience and SEO.

You’ll optimize the site for speed by using caching plugins, optimizing images, and minimizing code where possible. Hosting also plays a key role in performance. You’ll recommend the best hosting solutions for your clients, whether it’s a basic shared hosting plan or a more robust VPS (Virtual Private Server) option for larger sites. Ensuring the site loads quickly and runs smoothly is crucial to its success.

Security and Maintenance

Security is a top priority for any business website. You’ll implement basic security measures like installing security plugins, enabling SSL certificates, and setting up regular backups.

For eCommerce sites, you’ll ensure the checkout process is secure and that customer data is protected. A secure website not only builds trust with visitors but also protects the client’s investment from potential threats like hacking or data breaches. By setting up these protections, you give your clients peace of mind and help prevent costly issues down the line.

Designing the Layout for a WordPress Website

Client Training and Support

Empower your clients to manage their websites effectively with proper training and ongoing support.

Once the website is built, you’ll train clients on how to use it. One of WordPress’s strengths is its user-friendly interface, but not all clients will be familiar with it. You’ll offer guidance on how to add new content, update images, or make minor changes to the site without needing to contact you for every update.

This empowers your clients to manage their site effectively after the build is complete, though many will still rely on your services for more complex updates or ongoing maintenance.

Ongoing Maintenance Services

Create recurring revenue by offering essential maintenance services to keep client websites secure and up-to-date.

Ongoing maintenance is another service you can offer. Websites require regular updates to stay functional and secure. WordPress itself, along with plugins and themes, will periodically release updates that need to be installed to keep the site running smoothly.

You can offer a monthly maintenance package that includes software updates, security checks, and backups. By offering this service, you create an ongoing revenue stream and ensure that your client’s website continues to perform well long after the initial build.

Pricing and Marketing Your Services

Pricing your WordPress website-building services can depend on the complexity of the project. A simple informational site with a few pages might have a different price point than an eCommerce site with hundreds of products and custom features.

Offering tiered packages—ranging from basic setups to fully customized builds—allows you to cater to different types of clients. You can also charge additional fees for services like SEO optimization, ongoing maintenance, or custom plugin development. As you build your portfolio, you’ll be able to charge higher rates for more complex projects and attract larger clients.

Marketing your services will involve showcasing your past work. A strong portfolio with examples of websites you’ve built is essential for attracting new clients. Highlighting case studies that demonstrate how your websites have helped businesses grow or improve their online presence can be a powerful selling point.

Social media, freelance platforms, and business networking events are great places to promote your services. As you build relationships with clients and provide excellent service, word-of-mouth referrals will become one of your strongest sources of new business.

Is WordPress Website Development Right for You?

Wondering if WordPress website development is the right path for you? Consider if your skills and interests align with what’s needed to succeed in this field. This career path might be perfect for you if:

  • You have an eye for design and enjoy creating visually appealing layouts that effectively communicate a brand’s message
  • You’re detail-oriented and take pride in creating polished, professional work that meets high standards
  • You enjoy problem-solving and finding creative solutions to meet unique client needs
  • You’re comfortable learning new technologies and keeping up with industry trends
  • You have good communication skills and enjoy working directly with clients to understand their vision
  • You’re patient and good at explaining technical concepts to non-technical people
  • You enjoy the satisfaction of building something from scratch and seeing it come to life
  • You’re interested in both the creative and technical aspects of web development
  • You’re self-motivated and can manage projects and deadlines effectively

Getting Started as a WordPress Website Developer

Start building your WordPress development business with these foundational steps:

Build Your Foundation

Start with these fundamental steps to establish your technical expertise:

  • Set up a local WordPress development environment on your computer to practice building sites without the need for hosting
  • Master the WordPress dashboard and familiarize yourself with its core features and settings
  • Learn the basics of HTML and CSS to customize themes effectively
  • Research and test popular WordPress themes to understand their capabilities and limitations
  • Experiment with essential WordPress plugins to understand which ones work best for different purposes

Create Your Portfolio

Develop a strong portfolio to showcase your skills to potential clients:

  • Build your own professional WordPress website to serve as both your portfolio and a demonstration of your capabilities
  • Create 2-3 sample websites for different types of businesses (e.g., restaurant, photography studio, online store) to show your versatility
  • Document your process and create case studies explaining your approach to different website challenges
  • Take screenshots of your best work and create before/after comparisons if you redesign existing sites

Develop Your Service Packages

Structure your offerings to serve different client needs:

  • Create basic, standard, and premium website packages with clear deliverables for each tier
  • Define your workflow and create a client onboarding process
  • Develop a website questionnaire to help clients articulate their needs and preferences
  • Create templates for proposals, contracts, and project timelines
  • Set up a system for tracking project progress and managing client communication

Building Your Future with WordPress Development

Offering WordPress website-building services is a highly valuable and flexible freelance opportunity. You help businesses create professional, functional websites that serve as the foundation of their online presence.

By handling everything from design to SEO to security, you provide a complete solution that meets their needs while building a profitable and scalable freelance business for yourself. With the growing demand for high-quality websites, your expertise will always be in demand.