WordPress Developer FAQ
30 Questions Answered

Starter sites (5-10 pages): $500-$1,500. Business sites (15-30 pages, custom design): $1,500-$5,000. WooCommerce: $2,000-$8,000. Membership/LMS: $3,000-$10,000. Advanced builds: $5,000-$15,000+. Full breakdown on the cost page.

Brochure site: 1-2 weeks. Business with custom design: 2-4 weeks. WooCommerce (50+ products): 3-6 weeks. Membership/LMS: 4-8 weeks. Complex builds: 6-12+ weeks. Content delays are the most common reason projects take longer.

Both. Elementor Pro for most sites because you can edit content without a developer after launch. Custom PHP/HTML/CSS for custom post types, complex WooCommerce, REST API integrations, and performance-critical applications.

Yes. I assess content, SEO rankings, and functionality, then redesign while preserving everything that works. URLs stay intact (or get 301 redirects). SEO settings carried over. Existing content restructured into the new design.

Yes. Product setup, payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Square), shipping, tax, variations, inventory, checkout optimization. Plus WooCommerce-specific SEO: product schema, on-page optimization, and speed for stores with 100+ products.

Monthly maintenance plans: core/plugin/theme updates, daily backups, uptime monitoring, security scanning, priority support. $50-$200/month. Maintenance clients get 4-hour response for urgent issues.

Yes. Malware removal: identify infection, clean code, remove backdoors, harden security, request Google review if blocklisted, implement ongoing monitoring. 4-24 hours. $100-$500.

Yes. Migrations from Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Joomla, Drupal, HTML. Content, images, URLs preserved. 301 redirects. SEO protected. Compare WordPress vs Shopify and WordPress vs Wix if still deciding.

Basic WordPress SEO config included: RankMath, permalinks, sitemap, robots.txt, schema. On-page SEO (keyword targeting, titles, content optimization) is separate because it requires keyword research and per-page analysis. Most clients add it.

Technical: site infrastructure (crawlability, indexing, schema, speed, GSC/GA4). Done once, maintained. On-page: individual page optimization (titles, headings, keywords, content). Per page. Link building: earning backlinks for domain authority. Ongoing. All three work together.

Existing sites with authority: 1-3 months. New sites: 4-6 months. Competitive niches: 6-12 months. Anyone promising page 1 in 30 days is either targeting zero-volume keywords or risking penalties. Full timelines on the SEO services page.

No. Google considers 200+ factors, many outside anyone's control. What I guarantee: proven methodology, professional execution, transparent reporting. 99% job success across 400+ projects on Upwork reflects consistent results without false guarantees.

17 reports: technical health, index coverage, Core Web Vitals, on-page, internal linking, content gaps, keywords, 3 competitor reports, backlinks, schema, WordPress config, mobile, local SEO, and 12-month action plan. DOCX/XLSX + 30-min video. $150-$3,000. Details on the audit page.

RankMath for WordPress settings. Ahrefs for backlinks and keyword research. SEMrush for competitor analysis. Screaming Frog for technical crawls. GSC and GA4 for performance data. Surfer SEO for content optimization. Tools are inputs to analysis, not the analysis itself.

Yes. Intent classification, keyword clustering, competitor gap analysis, long-tail opportunities, prioritized mapping with page assignments. Not a keyword spreadsheet. A strategic plan: which keyword targets which page, with traffic potential and content approach. Details on the on-page SEO page.

Koray Tugberk's framework: entity-based optimization, semantic triples (subject-predicate-object), contextual vectors (related concepts), frame semantics (comprehensive coverage). Goes beyond keyword placement. Consistently outperforms traditional approaches against higher-authority competitors. Applied to all on-page and content work.

White-hat methods (guest posts, niche edits, digital PR, broken link building) are completely safe. PBNs, link farms, paid links without disclosure, cheap Fiverr packages are not. I only use white-hat. Every link from a real site with real traffic. Full methodology on the link building page.

All through Upwork messaging. Updates at each milestone or weekly, whichever is more frequent. I message immediately on blockers or decisions needed. Maintenance clients get monthly reports summarizing all work.

Minor content updates (text, images): do them yourself through Elementor. Feature additions, design changes, technical mods: new Upwork contract. Many clients transition to monthly maintenance with a set number of change requests included.

Yes. Admin walkthrough and content editing demo. Elementor: editing text, swapping images, adding sections. WooCommerce: products, orders, shipping. Custom post types: the specific admin interfaces built for your content.

Yes. White-label developer for agencies. Specialist for specific tasks (speed, technical audits). Long-term partner alongside your marketing team. I adapt to your workflow within Upwork's communication framework.

Visit my Upwork profile. Send a message with your site URL and what you need. I respond within 24 hours with assessment and fixed-price quote. No obligation. No sales call. Full details on the contact page.