People frequently tell me that they don't know how to become a WordPress developer, while possessing many of the necessary technical capabilities.
Most of the time, their dream is to work as a full-time WordPress freelancer, but they're stuck since they don't know how to get started. There's a lot more to consider than your technical ability while making that step.
In this essay, I'll go through the most crucial skills I've required to become a successful freelance WordPress developer. They are divided into three groups:
1. Strategic: What you need to know about the market and take into account your particular position in order to be a successful freelance WordPress developer.
2. Practical: The nuts-and-bolts of what you'll need in terms of equipment and services to start working as a WordPress freelancer.
3. Technical: You'll need to know about technology in order to become a WordPress developer.
I've included as much information as I could to get you started in each topic. These are the questions you'll need answers to — or at the very least, deep consideration about — if you want to learn how to become a WordPress freelancer the proper way.
One thing to note: the “Strategic” section was created with WordPress freelancers in mind: developers like me who work for clients and are either self-employed or work for small agencies. Professional WordPress developers in this area are the most numerous.
Freelancing isn't the only way to become a WordPress developer, of course. You may work for a huge firm, offer premium plugins, or provide technical help for a hosting provider, among other options. Knowing nothing about those positions, I'd say the "Technical" portion of this essay will be quite important to you, regardless of which path in professional WordPress development you choose, and the "Practical" portion will be somewhat useful, but the "Strategic" portion may not.
Core Strategic Considerations for Becoming a Freelance WordPress Developer
Clearly defining motivations and expectations
Working with WordPress, like everything else, has its benefits and drawbacks, ups and downs. Your goals for becoming a WordPress developer, as well as your expectations, must be crystal clear and practical. I'll start by telling you about my experience on the job.
Things I appreciate about freelancing with WordPress:
• Flexibility. My entire company fits inside a bag, with plenty to spare for clothes. Because of this, I was able to accompany my now-wife to New Orleans when she decided to relocate, and I can visit my parents in Hawaii for extended periods of time four or five times a year without disrupting my business. I can also take as much vacation and travel time as my own money will allow because I'm my own employer.
• Possessing a sense of mastery. I've been professionally developing WordPress since 2012, and I'm currently pretty competent at what I do. When clients require assistance with any technical subject involving WordPress, I can generally either do the task much faster than they anticipated or provide excellent ideas for moving forward. That's especially satisfying when you're rehabilitating a $100,000 WooCommerce business that an inept former developer ruined, or assisting in the big update and improvement of the website presence of an organization you care about. WordPress development is a true skill, and mastering it gives you a fantastic sense of accomplishment.
• It's possible to have a good time. Freelance WordPress development entails a lot of people management, light-to-moderate problem-solving, Googling, and getting to utilize your imagination. After a while, the technical part of the job seems a lot like completing Sudoku puzzles and building model planes. It's not an awful job.
• Usability in general. Almost everyone has, need, or desires a website for some reason or another, and WordPress is almost always the best option (see below). As a result, your WordPress development skills are a great fit for any other project you could work on.
Things I don't like about freelancing on WordPress:
• Exchanging money for time. The first time I billed work at a reasonable hourly rate, I was ecstatic: I can't believe I just made $500 for an afternoon's labor. It's fantastic, but you soon understand the downside: if you don't wake up the next day and repeat the process, the money stops flowing. In fact, when you close your laptop, the money stops flowing. It's similar like flying a kite in the absence of wind: if you stop running, the kite will cease to fly. If you are prone to any of the following conditions: boredom, burnout, loneliness, overload, sickness, life events, hobbies, or vacations, this may become a major burden over time.
• There is no safety net. It's because of work I accomplished for specific people throughout that month—people I converted into clients—that I get paid at the end of the month. You may not be able to generate money if your lead-generation strategies stop working or if you have a terrible month at random. To put it another way, you have no job security until you supply it for yourself. Once you've established a routine—building your professional network, identifying marketing strategies that work for you, and receiving regular repeat and referral business—you'll virtually always be able to find employment, and your fears will go away. Closing enough business to pay your expenses may be daunting, stressful, and unknown till and until you get into that routine, especially in your first year or two as a full-time WordPress freelancer.
• You've been assigned to a call. When the phone rings or I get an email, I despise it because it usually means a customer has a serious (or at least bad-looking) problem that they need me to solve. I have a lot of people relying on me. There are techniques to manage client expectations effectively, but they don't take away the underlying tension of being accountable for assisting to resolve any difficulties that may develop across hundreds of locations. Thank god I'm competent at my profession; I've learned from experience that having others rely on you in this way can be devastating if you don't know what you're doing.
• Working within the constraints of the client's budget. My company model is tiny and informal—very different from a major agency taking on multi-year, $100K+ projects—and it attracts small company owners, who I like to deal with anyhow. Budgets are tight in that situation, especially when the customer is paying out of pocket for a project that isn't yet lucrative. This generates a genuine sense of urgency and responsibility surrounding every dollar you charge, which is quite different from "my salary demand is $120K and yeah, I believe Microsoft can fund it," or even working in a larger agency context with wealthier clients and more predictable financials. It's very tiring to work on technical tasks that I believe have underlying strategic issues that I can't help the site owners solve: it might seem like I'm assisting people in wasting money.
• There are a lot of terrible WordPress projects. Most of my clients don't come to me at the start of their website project; they come to me in the middle, having been disappointed by a number of half-competent developers along the road. Their websites are a jumble of awful technological decisions cobbled together. Most WordPress sites are a bad experience for their end users, and that can be a bummer to think about day after day, even if you're part of the solution, because relatively few WordPress "developers" are actually qualified, and because the worst parts of the WordPress ecosystem are also the best-marketed.
That's simply my opinion. The key is that you should know what you're getting yourself into and why. Make sure it's a good fit by talking to other individuals who do what you want to do. If you're looking for WordPress freelancers, your local WordPress meetup is a great place to start. Make a simple offer to buy them lunch. The majority of them will gladly accept your offer. Some may even require a meal.
I'd also recommend reading Carrie Dils' piece on the benefits and drawbacks of working as a freelance WordPress developer.
Freelancers with WordPress might not be for you if...
Finally, if you don't have good talents in either of the above areas, I wouldn't advocate entering into freelance WordPress development.
• Technical problem-solving in general. If you're not competent in this area, it's unlikely that you'll be able to go through difficult technological undertakings (like "jailbreak my phone") by Googling and fiddling. You'll get bonus points if you enjoy reading manuals, perusing through troubleshooting forum posts, fiddling with technological systems, and, ultimately, "making stuff work," since you'll be doing all of these things a lot.
• Excellent customer service. Being weak in this area means you don't want to deal with people, you don't understand what they want, you have a hard time convincing them to take even small measures that would benefit them, you despise being bothered by them, you despise explaining things, you quickly get into disputes, and so on.
If you're poor in one of these areas but have a strong partner, that's ok, too—in fact, if you can follow it, "having a business partner whose abilities match yours" is one of my best pieces of advise. However, if you're the only one attempting to develop a WordPress freelance business on that base, it'll be difficult.
Time Commitment And Your Personal Timeline
What role does WordPress development play in your life, and where does it fit?
What is your present life situation, both in terms of free time and finances, and how does working as a freelance WordPress developer fit into it? Do you wish to work full-time on WordPress development? If so, when do you plan to arrive, and how will you support yourself through the transition?
Because people's circumstances are so diverse, I won't attempt to provide advise for any one case in particular. Rather, no matter what your current circumstances are, here are some jigsaw pieces to think about:
• Until your marketing strategies are tuned in and your client funnel starts to fill up with leads, you'll have a hard time acquiring enough billable hours. If you work full-time as a freelance WordPress developer, you should expect at least three months of extremely low income, maybe up to six—and most likely a year or more where you aren't sure if you'll be earning a middle-class wage month to month.
•
A lot of the groundwork you may lay to obtain clients—attend networking events, set up your portfolio site, and tap into your current network (see below)—has a considerable lag period between when you start and when clients show up. With no weird and unreasonable expectation of paid job dropping into your lap right away, you'll want to become a part of the local tech community by attending at least a few meetups. Your portfolio site will most likely sit there with no traffic for a long until your methods for driving traffic to it become live, which can take anything from a few weeks to six months to set up effectively (AdWords) (SEO). In other words, unless you're willing to do things the hard way, like cold-calling local companies, it's difficult to make "attract clients" a full-time career.
• You'll be technically unsteady for at least a year. This implies you'll be presented with difficulties you don't know how to tackle on a frequent basis. More options may be found in the section below under "who'll bail you out," but the key point is to warn you that you're in for an unpleasant period with some terrifying moments. I'm not sure if you'd be better off working full-time or part-time as a WordPress developer at this time—it could actually be preferable full-time because you'll have no option but to overcome problems as they arise. In any event, I bring it up because you should budget for a period of time during which you promote yourself as a competent WordPress developer while feeling fuzzy and unclear about many aspects of the work.
To summarize, being a freelance WordPress developer is typically a long process. Ideally, you should either have a substantial personal savings account or retain at least one foot in your current responsibilities until you're confident that your WordPress work will be able to maintain you.
Of course, I didn't do that, and it worked out fine: my back-against-the-wall, deep-end-of-the-pool method to learning was effective, though not particularly enjoyable at the time.
How Do You Decide On Your Rates?
I prefer hourly fees for WordPress development work unless you have a compelling reason to do differently. Many people dislike hourly rates and prefer project or value pricing instead, but I've found that anything other than hourly rates is too difficult to execute with most freelancing customers.
Project pricing, in particular, leads to lengthy procedures of creating estimates and communicating with clients, whereas value pricing ensnares you too deeply in the client's larger company. If you're going to be deeply involved in steering many aspects of the business's broader strategy for years, that's fine; but if you're mostly there to offer technical solutions for one aspect of the business (as is often the case with freelance projects), project pricing becomes like a plumber saying, "I don't yet fully understand what's wrong with your home's plumbing because I haven't crawled under your house yet." When it comes to value pricing, it's like that plumber getting compensated in home equity. It's preferable if the plumber charges by the hour.
General Rate Recommendations
For a US-based freelance WordPress developer, below are some general hourly prices for WordPress development.
• For freelancing WordPress development services, you should never charge less than $50 per hour. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever “But it's my cousin, and I'm just getting started,” for example, is a condition that necessitates charging your cousin at least $50 per hour.
• A modest starting rate of $50 or $60 is OK; nevertheless, by a year, you should be up to $75, and within two years, you should be up to $100.
If you're like most people, you skimmed through the bullet points above but didn't pay attention. You're ecstatic to begin making $30 per hour. You've calculated that $30 times eight hours equals $240 per day, $1,200 per week, and $54,000 per year, even with seven weeks of annual vacation! You don't have to be a multimillionaire like the rest of the freelancers; the figures above should suffice as a starting point. Why hasn't this occurred to anyone else?
What you won't comprehend unless you've been through a lot of personal tragedy are the facts that make the preceding math incorrect and for experienced, non-greedy, just sensible experts to charge $100 and up:
• As a freelancer, especially a solo freelancer, you'll spend at least half of your working hours on non-billable tasks such as nurturing leads, tweaking your personal site, adding portfolio items, sending over proposals, “getting to know you” meetings with additional stakeholders, writing blog posts, fiddling with Google Analytics, writing invoices, following up on invoices, monthly bookkeeping, filing y If you just went out and bought a new USB drive and some coffee, you just wasted 90 minutes that no one is paying for. That was 20 minutes that no one is paying you for if you cooked yourself a grilled cheese sandwich and scrubbed your dish and cooking pan. • This isn't the same as a regular job. You can only work totally focused billable job for so many hours every day. Your clients are paying you for complete, not partial, attention to their technical issues, and after a year (or five) as a freelancer, you may realize that you can't spend twelve hours a day staring through poorly written WooCommerce function library documentation like you used to.
• You're in a race to the bottom with no bottom if you compete on pricing. You'll be competing in a worldwide market against freelancers who, like you, offer to "create the WordPress website you've always wanted for super-cheap!" Except that their hourly salary will be $12, $8, or $6, not $30 or $20. Even your balloon math won't be able to work with those figures.
You'll also discover that higher-paid engineers are typically more than worth the extra cost to the customer. What counts is how excellent you are at the tasks for which you are paid on an hourly basis. I charge between $125 and $200 per hour after seven years, and I'm both lot better and considerably cheaper than a developer who's just starting out at $30 per hour. What gives that this is possible?
Those developers will cost you thousands of dollars in lousy solutions: they'll become stuck on an issue for dozens of (billable) hours, implement the completely incorrect answer, and then resign or get fired, leaving the client to pick up the pieces. Around 80% of the freelance projects I work on require me to spend hours undoing the work of inept previous developers: rickety and self-incompatible towers of 50 plugins, horrible technology stacks (HostGator/Divi/hundreds of ACF settings/Visual Composer, why not), actual site-breaking bugs, SEO nightmares, and so on.
Raise Your Rates Continually
As you gain more confidence and expertise, your rates should rise in tandem. I can't offer you a particular curve for how and when you should modify your rates, but I can tell you that you should just raise them. Clients aren't as concerned as you think they are, and the additional money you'll make is really genuine.
Here are some helpful websites to help you get started learning about the financials of working as a freelance WordPress developer and determining your own hourly rate:
• Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator • Custom WordPress Development Costs • How Long WordPress Projects Take • "How much a plugin costs" (handling open-ended customer cost concerns)
A solid guide on contractor pricing tactics that don't undercut you
An email course on freelancer pricing is available for free.
How Will You Locate Clients?
“How do I obtain clients?” is the question that determines whether you eat or not as a freelance WordPress developer.
You'd already know the answer if this question had a simple response. However, there are some helpful pointers to get you started. As intelligent thoughts on the matter, I can offer two articles: here and here.
I can also provide headlines for the primary rules that I believe apply while you're just getting started:
1. Networking events in person
2. Make use of your own network.
3. Specialize (as said before) and build a network around it.
4. Look for any references you can get from your first few clients, as well as from previous employment, internships, volunteer initiatives, and other experiences.
To summarize the four components: Talk to everyone you can, in or out of your existing network, one-on-one. Longer-term techniques, such as content marketing and social media marketing, are excellent, but they are unlikely to generate leads in the near future.
When you're in over your head, who will bail you out?
David has always been my secret weapon in WordPress development: a continually stronger developer who has always been 12 to 24 months ahead of me in terms of technology. I've been in charge of a lot of the business strategy and customer connections, and I know that if I dive too deep into a technical problem (complicated Git commands is a current example), David will be there to save the day.
If you don't have a talented software engineer as a business partner, you'll need to find a means to "swim" rather than "sink" when working on a client project with a technical issue you don't comprehend.
So, what do I suggest? To be honest, there is currently no substantial and well-established safety net for a working WordPress freelancer. Here are my top three recommendations for today:
• Get involved in the WordPress Meetup community in your area. Meetups are teeming with developers eager to teach you what you don't know—or even what you don't realize you don't know.
• Join IWP and AWP on Facebook, as well as the WPShout Group, and utilize them freely.
• I'd suggest attempting to form a connection with an established developer in your region by offering to pay his or her full hourly fee in exchange for access to tech problems as needed.
But my true recommendation is to send us an email stating that you require a safety net! Both David and I am enthusiastic about assisting WordPress developers in finding their feet. We may be reached at contact (at) wpshout.com.
How Will You Specialize?
It's not simple to be "simply a WordPress developer" because that's a rather restricted definition. Great, you loaded the correct plugin, but it now appears to be really unattractive; could you make it seem more sleek and contemporary, and more in line with our brand identity? They say we should have a blog area, but I have no clue what to write about; can you provide any assistance with content writing strategies? Can you help me with SEO for my website? Is it necessary to send out a newsletter? Is it necessary to have an Instagram account, and if so, what should we put on it? When will the site begin to generate revenue?
All of these queries lead to skillsets that aren't part of the standard WordPress developer toolbox. If you can be truly useful in numerous areas, you will be a lot more appealing bundle in the marketplace.
E-commerce—specifically WooCommerce—is the finest area I'm aware of within the technical limits of WordPress development. It's a completely other world, and there's a lot of money to be earned there because (wonder of wonders) the clients are making money. My only advice is to approach taking on WooCommerce clients with humility: WooCommerce takes a couple hundred hours to fully understand because of all the edge cases customers will throw at you, and if you just dive in without knowing what you're doing, you'll end up hurting real businesses that generate thousands of dollars in monthly sales.
Complementary WordPress Development Skills
The greatest thing you can do, in my opinion, is to expand your competence outside WordPress programming and bundle your services. Other than "WordPress developer," the most common job descriptions required by most clients are:
WordPress Development work or jobs
• Search engine optimization expert.
• Graphic and web designer.
• Email marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing are all examples of digital marketing.
• Writer of copy (requires a deep understanding of both SEO and content marketing).
Being a designer-developer is fantastic if you have a strong visual sense. Learning SEO as a vocation is definitely less difficult than learning WordPress programming if you're adept at general problem-solving, and the two form an excellent combo. If you're extroverted, you'll find that many of your clients have no clue how to promote themselves and are in dire need of company development assistance. If you can write, that's fantastic, but you'll also want the majority of the items mentioned above.
Finding the Intangibles that Make You Stand Out
Many people have had unpleasant experiences working with WordPress technicians. How do you differentiate yourself from that starting point? Are you a very warm person? Are you very receptive? Are you a strategic partner for your clients (rather than someone who just builds what they say they want)? Do you have pricing that is very clear and transparent? Turnaround times that are unusually fast and dependable? A rare capacity to stick to a budget?
All of these things should, in theory, be a “yes,” but the objective is to spend some time figuring out why a customer should be delighted they picked you rather than someone else for the exact same job for the exact same price. What are the intangible aspects of your WordPress freelancing business that make working with you the best option for your potential clients? People start to pay attention when you're clear on these intangibles—and you back them up with the way you engage on the phone, how your portfolio and testimonials appear, and so on.
Contractors Who Are Complementary
The fact is that no single individual, or even two persons, can supply all of the abilities required for an average client's project to succeed in the marketplace. So you'll need to establish a professional link for any capabilities you don't have in-house. You'll suggest business to these contacts, and the best part is that they'll return the favor!
To summarize, the responsibilities you'll need to be able to find are:
• Search engine optimization expert.
• Graphic and website designer.
• Copywriter • Digital marketing: social media marketing, content marketing (this person needs a deep understanding of both SEO and content marketing).
If you're not sure where to seek for these folks, try a local Meetup group dedicated to the expertise you're searching for.
Core Practical Considerations for Becoming Freelance WordPress Developers
This is the least crucial of the three sections: the actual steps you take to start a freelance WordPress developer business.
In general, the mindset you should have here is one of speed and simplicity: do the simplest, cheapest thing you can, because this is all overhead compared to you finding the proper clients (strategic) and providing them with the proper value (strategic and technical) to get your job rolling.
Let's get started.
Perhaps you should register your company.
I'd hold off on this until you're sure you're serious, but once you start making money, becoming incorporated offers tax and liability benefits. We used Rocket Lawyer (LegalZoom is a comparable service) to form a S Corp, and it was quite inexpensive (less than $500). In general, we've found that the less attention you can give to business structure, the better.
Creating Your Portfolio Website
As a new freelance WordPress developer, you'll want your portfolio site to fulfil three requirements:
• It has a professional appearance.
• It places you exactly where you want to be.
• It is simple and inexpensive to construct.
You should not treat your portfolio site as if it were a vital part of your company. Make it a goal to create something professional-looking that accurately represents your brand—not something outrageously creative, entirely created from scratch (maybe to prove you can do it? ), and so on. If you're not sure where to begin, I'd suggest visiting one of the theme shops listed below.
If you don't have much experience with design, it wouldn't be insane to hire a professional designer a few hundred dollars for a logo and design assistance. However, the total cost and complexity of this project should be low. It should also be content-focused: how do you position yourself? Is your site's distinctive case for why they should select you being convincingly communicated to visitors?
Your site will need a portfolio area as the social-proof part of this information. If you're new to development, this is where you may use your imagination: have you ever volunteered at your local library and helped them enhance their website? Make it a part of your portfolio. Even two or three portfolio pieces are sufficient to establish yourself as a WordPress freelancer with some experience working with clients.
Gear
By "gear," I mean the tools and hardware you'll need to run your company. The most essential thing I can tell you is that it doesn't matter what you're wearing.
The following is a complete list of the tools I use to manage my WordPress freelance business:
Laptop
Almost any laptop from the last ten years will do. I work on a PC that runs Windows. If you're willing to be flexible, a Mac is preferable: technical experts despise Windows, so they create lessons thinking you're using one. On Windows, command-line stuff is particularly awful. But most of this won't become an issue until later in your career, when you're spending a lot of time on the command line, and even then, it won't be too awful.
Phone
I recently misplaced my previous phone, so I purchased a $30 Walmart replacement. You will, however, require a telephone.
Headphones
Bose noise-cancelling headphones are excellent. If you're on a tight budget, cheap earphones will suffice.
A microphone is a device that records sound.
Yeti in blue. I only use it once or twice a month to capture videos or when my sound on a Zoom or Skype conversation is poor. This is unquestionably a cost that can be postponed.
Needs for Practical Software
These software solutions aren't directly related to WordPress development, but they're essential for your business.
Tracking of Time
You must understand how you spend your time in order to optimize your billable time and choose how much to charge your clients. This is when Toggl comes in handy.
Payroll and bookkeeping
QuickBooks Online is a decent bookkeeping and invoicing program. If you choose, you may even utilize it for payroll. We utilize a local CPA firm, which is quite beneficial since they handle all of our withholdings and taxes, and we can be assured that everything is done correctly. Payroll costs $60 per month, while taxes cost roughly $700 per year.
Video Conferencing
Zoom is fantastic. Skype used to be excellent, but it now seem to be fighting with itself to become worse every week.
Keeping Files
Dropbox and Google Drive are two of my favorite apps. If you don't have a lot of money, Dropbox Premium is a good investment.
Trello is an excellent project management tool. It's suitable for personal projects, team projects, and client tasks.
Chat
You'll need a free Slack account to collaborate with a business partner.
Image Retouching
Basic picture alteration turns out to be really useful—at least a couple times every week in my situation. GIMP is a great free Photoshop clone that I urge you download and learn how to use.
Core Technical Considerations for Becoming a Freelance WordPress Developer
This is the portion where you'll discover what code abilities you'll need to start selling yourself as a WordPress freelancer, which is probably what you assumed the whole post would be about. And this piece is crucial—otherwise, there would be no meat in your freelancing sandwich.
Right away, I'm going to make a happy plug: go out and get Up and Running. It's our greatest effort in terms of explaining the technical underpinnings of WordPress development in a logical and easy-to-understand manner. If you're serious about understanding WordPress in depth enough to start a career as a freelance WordPress developer, you'll be glad you bought the book.
With that encouragement in mind, here's a high-level review of the basic technical parts of WordPress that each freelance WordPress developer should be familiar with.
What Is WordPress Good For, And When Should I Use It?
What are the benefits of WordPress? What makes it superior to Joomla! and Drupal? What are the benefits of using it for my website? Is it true that my manager stated it's insecure? Why not use GoDaddy's built-in page builder? Isn't Wix a lot less expensive when you include in hosting and other costs?
Not only do you need sensible answers to these questions for your clients, but you also need to know what you're offering in the marketplace. Grasp what software to employ is a technical subject that requires a thorough understanding of what the program does, what it does not do, and how it compares to alternative options.
The articles below provide a fair overview of why and when to use WordPress. The first is a flowchart that provides a quick and easy overview of the types of projects for which WordPress is a good or bad fit:
Following that, David has written a fantastic high-level post that begins to answer the question, “Why WordPress?”
And this introduction to Squarespace (the greatest of the "hosted builders," with Wix and Weebly being two others) explains why Squarespace is a better choice than WordPress and when it isn't:
Software Designed for Developers
This is a continuation of the last point about "gear doesn't matter": the software you use to communicate with WordPress technically should be relatively basic.
Pippin Williamson once told me that he compresses his laptop's contents to the point that he can toss it in a lake and be up and running on a new one in 30 minutes. That means a lot coming from the CEO of a multimillion-dollar WordPress plugin company—a WordPress freelancer can absolutely follow suit.
I'll need the following items for a typical customer project:
• FileZilla for FTP • Sublime Text for text editing
• A browser (I use Chrome and the Chrome developer tools) • WAMP for local development (MAMP for Macs)
For the most part, that's all there is to it. It's all free, and at a basic level, none of it should take more than an hour to understand.
Technical Languages Background
PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the four primary languages used by WordPress, in order of importance. With the first three coming in, hopefully you have some expertise with them—but even if you don't, you can learn PHP “by osmosis” as you study WordPress' basic systems.
If you don't know PHP, my advice is to study it alongside learning to write in WordPress: WordPress only utilizes a small fraction of PHP, and what it does use is highly and distinctively flavored. To put it another way, learning to build swimming pools is preferable to having an architectural degree so you can come in and build swimming pools (if that makes sense).
If you try to follow WordPress development instructions and become completely confused, you should get back up to speed on the language that is causing you problems. Others would hate me for saying this, but I enjoy W3Schools' introductions to each language. If you have any kind of technical experience, a week of strong PHP, HTML, and CSS instruction should be more than enough to get you into the heart of the material, which is learning WordPress development.
Fundamentals of Wordpress Development
This is the technical backbone of a WordPress developer's abilities: what we mean when we say "WordPress development."
We've previously established what these basics are: whatever we consider to be fundamental is included in Up and Running, and everything that isn't is excluded. On the Up and Running sales page, scroll down to “What Will I Learn” to learn what it entails.
A Quick Test of Familiarity
Here's a stream-of-consciousness cloud of WordPress phrases for an informal test of your own degree of advancement in WordPress development. Everything in this cloud should immediately fill an experienced WordPress developer's mind with a plethora of associations, recollections, and ideas.
the Loop, add action, add filter, functions.php, stylesheet, customizer, wp enqueue script, wp enqueue style, wp enqueue script, wp enqueue style, wp enqueue script, wp enqueue style, wp enque get template part, add image size, get post meta, get the content, get the ID, the title, new WP Query, template hierarchy, get the content, get the content, get the content, get the content, get the content, get the content, get the content, get the content, get the_ is singular, $args, foreach get header, get footer, get header, get footer, get header, get_ while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while, while update option, get option, add shortcode, do shortcode, get the terms, wp reset postdata
If everything on that list feels familiar to you, you're most likely a WordPress developer. The more stuff on that list you don't understand, the more likely it is that you'll need additional study and experience before becoming a fully-fledged WordPress developer.
This is not a list of all, or even most, of the fundamental ideas in WordPress development; rather, these are some informally picked important phrases that each WordPress developer should know. In order to utilize WordPress successfully, a developer must also understand how each particular development notion fits into the wider technological architecture. The exercise is just a fun way to see how well you know some of the most frequent WordPress development patterns.
Technical Tools from Third Parties
External WordPress technology—themes, plugins, hosting, and so on—have a direct impact on your capacity to provide value to clients. For each one, you should have a go-to solution.
Hosting Service Provider
You should always be able to suggest a host to your clients. SiteGround (or Kinsta or Flywheel if the customer wants or requests managed hosting, or even Cloudways if you're clever and fancy) should be your default for practically each customer you'll acquire as a WordPress freelancer. In our entire WordPress hosting analysis, we go into great depth about each of those suggestions, as well as which hosts to avoid and why.
You should also be able to tell whether a client's hosting transfer is and isn't worth promoting. A hosting switch becomes more appealing in general if:
Why The hosting account just has one site, and the site is still in its early stages of development, so you won't be moving dozens of email accounts, for example.
The problems with the present host are preventing the site from prospering, not simply causing annoyances.
The third bullet point is crucial: while extremely sluggish hosting, SSL mishaps, terrible or unaccountable tech assistance, and other annoyances are all huge irritants, these difficulties are only sometimes strategic hurdles for the site. Transfer if terrible hosting is hampering your plan; if it's merely an irritation, deal with it. Knowing how to tell the difference is a skill you'll develop over time.
Builder of Forms
On a WordPress site, forms are perhaps the most popular way for users to engage. Forms may manage everything from event registrations to complicated user interactions like volunteering to adopt a pet, to name a few examples.
Gravity Forms is my go-to solution. There are few things it can't accomplish, but unless the project proves me differently, it's a good first pick for virtually every form requirements. Caldera Forms and Ninja Forms are also nice. For contact forms, Contact Form 7 is a wonderful (and free) option. I'd be wary of using any form plugin that isn't on this list: as unjust as it is to those projects and their authors, these are the commonly accepted excellent alternatives, and it's doubtful that using something else would miraculously fix an issue that these won't.
Builder of Web Pages
There is currently just one excellent WordPress page builder plugin, and it has completely transformed how I operate with WordPress. Beaver Builder is the page builder in question. Every WordPress freelancer, in my view, should download it immediately, learn how to use it, and make it the go-to option whenever a customer requires a page with a custom layout.
Elementor is likewise popular, and it's generally decent while also being more ambitious and feature-rich than Beaver Builder. However, I find it more difficult to use and more buggy (reliability is crucial in a page builder), and it has a bit intense hyper-commercial vibe that Beaver Builder lacks, which makes me apprehensive.
Until proven differently, all other page builders are terrible. I've heard wonderful things about the Oxygen Builder, but I've never used it. You should never utilize Divi or WP Bakery (Visual Composer) in your WordPress client work unless you are forced to by a prior developer's decisions.
If you want to learn more about why I prefer Beaver Builder to the other premium page builders available for WordPress, I've prepared a full comparison:
What about Gutenberg, for example? What about hosted builder platforms, such as Squarespace? I've always been interested in the authoring and editing experience in WordPress, and I've written a lot about it in the last several years, particularly on the intricate connections between different technologies like Squarespace, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg. The following are some essential points:
• Gutenberg isn't anywhere close to becoming a completely functional page builder right now. In truth, it's not that useful right now, save as a sort-of-better method to produce blog articles with layout components. I sincerely hope Gutenberg improves in utility over the next year or two. Until then, use Beaver Builder, and you can even install the Classic Editor plugin to deactivate Gutenberg on your clients' sites. • Beaver Builder 2.0 is much better than it was the last time I evaluated it (it also came top of my full review of all WordPress page builders).
• Squarespace offers a little more beautiful authoring experience than Beaver Builder (and is a lot simpler technology than WordPress overall, when hosting and other costs are taken into account), and is a suitable alternative for extremely simple sites. However, Beaver Builder is now almost as easy and good as Squarespace, so the only folks I'd suggest Squarespace to today are those who would struggle to set up WordPress on hosting and choose a theme.
Theme Store or Go-To Theme
The theme market is badly inflated and skewed by commercial pressures that value empty presentation over depth and skill, making good themes difficult to come by. Starting your site with a terrible theme is also one of the quickest ways to sabotage your project.
I can recommend the following boutique theme stores, and you should absolutely look for your own—again, staying away from ThemeForest in general:
• Elmastudio • ThemeBeans • Codestag • Solo Pine
With the advancements in page builders, you may wish to stay away from commercial themes entirely. As an all-purpose beginner theme, I favor Understrap, and as a WooCommerce beginner theme, I like Storefront. But be warned: Understrap is quite "developer-y" (it has something like 8,000 files as dependencies and is all hooked into task runners, dependency management, built Sass stylesheets, and so on), and Storefront is immensely (and to me, vexingly) hook-based.
Finally, for an all-in-one development experience, you may try Beaver Builder's theme, Beaver Themer. I've never tried it myself, but I intend to do so soon.
It'll also be beneficial to learn how to evaluate a theme before purchasing it:
You should also avoid two types of themes: ThemeForest's tens of thousands of huge "everything themes"—the X Theme is a fantastic example, as are most top themes on ThemeForest—and (sorry, guys) any Elegant Themes theme, including and particularly Divi. More information on recognizing badly created themes may be found in our guide on picking themes.
Solution for Backup and Migration
I'm not as careful about manual backups as I "should" be, especially because SiteGround has always come through for me with its own backups on the rare instances when I've truly screwed something up. (WP Engine's excellent automated backup system is worth highlighting as a significant reason for using their services, and it is now used by practically all managed WordPress hosting.) Backups, on the other hand, are critical, and BackupBuddy is a decent default option.
Check out All-in-One WP Migration for a backup and migration solution that I adore. I can attest to the “migration” portion, which has proven to be a huge time savings. And, by definition, it's a complete backup solution because it takes entire snapshots of your site.
That's How to Begin Working as Freelance WordPress Developers
Don't be intimidated: you'll pick up on a lot of these skills through time rather than having to plan everything out in advance.
Isn't that a lot of information? Don't become overwhelmed: rather than having everything laid out in advance, you'll pick up on a lot of these things through time. So this post is akin to a guide to "going to Italy and leading a good life there": there's a lot to consider, but not all at once, and certainly not before you move.
What I hope this post does is to show you the path to become a freelance WordPress developer while also alerting you to any potential blind spots. Many of the concerns discussed in this post are ones that I overlooked until I had no option but to address them, and as a result, my own journey as a WordPress freelancer has been slower and bumpier.
Another happy and honest plug: If you want to start a career as a freelance WordPress developer, you should purchase Up and Running, our “learn WordPress development” handbook. You'll be glad you did since it makes WordPress understandable.
You may watch a free video Q&A we produced on the issue if you want to learn more about the realities of becoming a freelance WordPress developer:
Is there anything more I should know about being a freelance WordPress developer that I didn't cover? Please let me know in the comments section below!
Details to Know Follow:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress
https://wordpress.com/support/
