Thanks to the many tools that are now available, anyone can build a custom website. However, you might not have enough time to learn coding, troubleshooting, or tackle other development skills. This is where a WordPress development agency can help you.
When you hire a development company, you can streamline the website creation process without having to learn the technical skills needed when building a site. Professional web developers can also help you fully customize your WordPress website and optimize your site performance.
In this guide, we’ll discuss why you should consider hiring a WordPress development agency, and we’ll offer some tips on how to choose one. Then we’ll list some of the top WordPress development companies around to make your job even easier. Let’s get started!
An Overview of WordPress Development Agencies
WordPress development agencies employ teams of developers who are dedicated to building and maintaining sites. By hiring an agency, you can leave the technical knowledge to the experts and give yourself more time to create content, increase traffic, and find clients.
When you reach out to a development agency, you can usually get a quote based on the services you need. Simply visit the website’s Contact Us page and enter your information. Then, in most cases, the company will reach out to you for a consultation.
Why Should You Consider a WordPress Development Agency?
When you want to create a website from scratch, hiring a development company can be the key to success. You can fully customize your site and schedule its launch date by working with skilled developers.
Here are some key WordPress development services:
A WordPress development agency can also assist you when you’re improving an existing website. This might involve a complete redesign or simply a few changes to optimize your site performance and functionality.
Ultimately, this option is beneficial if you don’t have the time to learn website development. In other words, WordPress development agencies allow you to focus your attention on your business instead.
Although you could reach out to a freelance developer, an agency often provides more support. A larger company will likely have a team of top WordPress developers, so you won’t have to depend on just one person.
However, a freelance web developer is still a viable option if you have a limited budget. They often have cheaper rates and more personal communication and are ideal for small or short-term projects.
5 Best WordPress Development Agencies
To help you find the best WordPress development services, let’s go over a few of the top companies you can work with.
1. WPRiders
With more than 1,000 clients over the past 14 years, WPRiders is one of the most popular website development agencies. They provide flexible and extensive support for all of your website creation needs, including project strategy, development, and testing.
When you hire WPRiders, their developers will clarify your project goals, research solutions, and provide an estimated timeline and budget. Then the team will code your project and test it on a staging site. After your approval, it will go live on your domain.
Although WPRiders has experience with a variety of project types, many of its case studies involve eCommerce. If you’re looking to get your WooCommerce store off the ground, you may want to consider hiring this development agency.
Key Services:
- WordPress software and plugin updates
- Security checks and backups
- Custom website features such as memberships or online stores
- Website maintenance
- Plugin review and replacement
Case Study: Board Bar had two websites with WooCommerce booking features. WPRiders helped to synchronize them in real-time.
Pricing: WordPress support plans start at $95/month and include basic support, site monitoring, and daily backups.
2. DevriX
DevriX is a website development agency with over 15 years of combined experience in the IT industry. Due to this expertise, DevriX web engineers have extensive technical knowledge in PHP, JavaScript, and SQL.
Although this web development company has many clients, DevriX is known for being highly communicative. Since its employees are distributed worldwide, DevriX services are available 24/7. Plus, it offers multilingual support.
If your project relates to WordPress plugins or themes, DevriX can be a great choice. Since its founding, DevriX has developed many free plugins that extend the functionality of WordPress sites.
Key Services:
- Technical WordPress development
- Front-end design such as logos, banners, and landing pages
- Website maintenance, including server management, optimization, and scalability
- Business consulting
- Social media marketing and content production
Case Study: DailyFeed is a UK publisher who faced challenges engaging its audience, scaling its website, and managing advertisements. DevriX helped solve these issues by building a scalable infrastructure, accessible content layouts, and an advertising management framework.
Pricing: DevriX offers a standard retainer rate of $180/hour. For standard WordPress customizations, plans start at 50 hours/month. However, you can access discounts with a long-term contract.
3. Crowd Favorite
In 2007, Crowd Favorite was the first development agency to specialize in the WordPress platform. Thanks to their years of experience, Crowd Favorite is currently one of the best options for outsourcing web engineering, content management, and system integration.
Although Crowd Favorite is now multi-disciplinary, it remains one of the best development agencies for WordPress websites. Whether you want to build an eCommerce platform, improve your page speed, or grow your audience, Crowd Favorite can get the job done.
Key Services:
- UI and UX design audits
- Custom web development
- WordPress eCommerce integration
- Performance optimization
- Integrating online tools
Case Study: When ZUKi Petshop needed a complete redesign of its eCommerce website, Crowd Favorite aimed to improve user experience and accessibility. This involved updating the main navigation and product pages to make the site easier to use.
Pricing: Crowd Favorite’s rates are not listed since they are tailored to your project and budget. You can use their contact page to share your project details and request an estimate.
4. 10up
10up is a renowned website management agency that has built WordPress websites for high-profile clients such as the White House and the Academy Awards. Additionally, 10up received multiple Emmy nominations for its design work:
Ultimately, 10up claims that its goal is to “make the internet better”. This includes a number of services, such as content creation, management, and design.
With more than 200 web experts, 10up is capable of handling large projects. However, this shouldn’t deter you if your scope is on a more modest side. 10up chooses 6-8 specialists from this employee pool to work on individual projects. Such strategy helps ensure consistency and excellent communication.
Key Services:
- Optimizing strategies for maximizing revenue and click-through rates
- Functional design updates
- Web engineering such as code review
Case Study: 10up relaunched Grantland after ESPN shut it down. Its developers made the site exceptionally mobile-friendly better to serve Grantland’s high number of mobile users.
Pricing: Although 10up doesn’t provide pricing tiers, you can use their contact page to set up a consultation session. Based on your budget, timeline, and project details, you’ll receive an estimate.
5. WebDevStudios
Since its creation in 2008, WebDevStudios has collected a skilled team of designers and developers to ensure that every client maximizes their website’s potential. With a high level of WordPress coding knowledge, WebDevStudios provides efficient security features to avoid any vulnerabilities.
WebDevStudios is one of the best development companies for WordPress websites. Of its employees, more than half have contributed to WordPress open-source software.
Unlike other options on this list, WebDevStudios specializes in websites for small businesses. WDS can provide interactive maps, contact forms, and SEO strategies to optimize a website with smaller ambitions in mind.
Key Services:
- Personalized website design
- Custom development with high-quality coding
- Performance and security checks
- WordPress migrations
- Automated backups and external security scans
Case Study: Creator Amy Herzog came to WebDevStudios to redesign her website. This development company helped her customize a Storefront theme for smooth WooCommerce integration.
Pricing: Before choosing WebDevStudios for your next project, you can schedule a 15-minute phone call with one of its team members, during which you can discuss your needs, gain pricing estimates, and decide if WebDevStudios is suitable for your website.
How to Choose a WordPress Development Agency (3 Essential Tips)
Once you decide to hire a WordPress development agency, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the share number of options available. To guarantee you find the best one for your website, let’s discuss the most critical criteria for WordPress development agencies.
1. Look for Technical Competence
First, you’ll want to ensure that the company is familiar with at least the basic WordPress development practices. Since its employees will be responsible for coding your website, they should have comprehensive technical skills and knowledge related to WordPress.
Here are some areas a WordPress development agency should be knowledgeable in:
To see whether a company is adequately knowledgeable in these areas, you can start by checking out its website. Usually, the best WordPress development companies will include thorough information in their list of services.
If you’re looking for a developer, you probably have a specific project in mind. To see if a particular agency can handle your unique needs, you might also want to review its general service areas.
For example, 10up is a development company that focuses on strategy, design, and engineering.
By reviewing its About Us page, you can see that 10up has worked to improve user experience, optimize revenue, and decrease bounce rates. If your project aligns with this skill set, 10up might be the best development company for you.
2. Assess the Agency’s Portfolio and Reviews
Most development agencies will link to previous work on their website. It’s important to review this portfolio to see if the company is experienced in handling the services you need.
For example, WPRiders is a popular development agency that lists past clients on its Case Studies page.
You can scroll through the portfolio to view general information about each client’s experience. Then you can also click on specific case studies to gain advanced insights into these collaborations. This can tell you more about the company’s process, communication level, and technical proficiency.
Many development agencies will offer interactive portfolios for you to browse. You can even filter the past work based on the types of projects or technology used.
After reviewing the portfolio, you’ll have a general idea of whether the agency will be a good fit for your site. If you’re still unsure about hiring a specific company, consider checking out its online reviews as well.
A company will usually display customer testimonials on its website. However, you can also use a website such as DesignRush to find more objective reviews.
Here, you can also view an agency’s hourly rate, minimal budget, and the number of employees. It will also list provided services and past clients. This can help you find the right agency for your goals.
3. Consider the Agency’s Size and Availability
Finally, it’s important to review any development agency’s size and availability. Unlike hiring freelance WordPress developers or boutique agencies, larger companies may not offer as much attention and flexibility. On the other hand, they’ll probably be able to take on more projects.
Before you hire an agency, you’ll want to understand who you’ll be working with. For instance, in a more prominent agency, you may be assigned an account manager. Alternatively, when you work with a smaller agency, you might work directly with founders or developers themselves.
One way to evaluate a WordPress development company is by looking at its employees. Most agency sites will provide a page dedicated to their team members and their qualifications.
By scrolling through a list of employees, you can determine an agency’s size. You can also click on specific employees and view their experience and technical knowledge. This way, you can evaluate whether they would be a good fit for your project.
For example, you might be trying to improve your website’s user experience. On an employee page, you can look for UX designers and strategists to get a sense of who you’d be partnering with.
It’s important to remember that larger agencies might have a project manager or account manager as your primary point of contact. When reviewing employees, be sure to look into these positions as well.
Once you decide that a particular agency might be a good fit, you can reach out for a consultation. There will usually be a contact page or form where you can list your information and project details.
The best WordPress development companies will be easy to get in touch with. They’ll also be eager to discuss your project right away. For example, WebDevStudios provides a way to schedule a 15-minute phone call with a team member directly on its website.
When reaching out to an agency, be sure always to keep your project in mind. Larger projects, such as a website overhaul will require much more communication, so you should work with a company that makes you feel comfortable and listened to.
How WordPress Development Works
Since WordPress is open-source software, developers are constantly collaborating to make improvements. This often includes creating new themes and plugins that resolve technical issues on WordPress sites.
Additionally, WordPress developers might redesign website flows and functionalities to enhance user experience (UX) or search engine optimization (SEO). They may also be responsible for migrating, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites.
Although not everyone will want to become a WordPress developer, it can be a rewarding path. Professional WordPress developers have a strong understanding of PHP and other standard coding languages the software depends on.
Conclusion
Hiring a WordPress development agency can effectively improve your website’s functionality and boost your success. This way, you can leave design and performance optimization to the professionals.
However, there are many development companies to choose from, so it’s important to review their qualifications and experience.
To recap, here are some tips on how to choose the best WordPress development agency for your website:
- Look for technical competency.
- Review agency’s portfolio and reviews.
- Consider the agency’s size and availability.
To optimize your website performance even further, we recommend using reliable web hosting with WordPress optimization.
Are you still wondering if a WordPress development agency is right for you? Ask us about it in the comments section below!
