WordPress Development: The Complete Guide to Getting Started

Powering more than a fourth of all websites, WordPress is probably the easiest way to go about building a blog or website if you want to build a presence on the web. 

Building a website is an important part of establishing infrastructure on the Internet for your business. This is where most of your marketing and sales take place.

The first step in building a website is figuring out what tools and/or developers you need to do it. And if you want to do right by your business, you have to make sure you know what your options are.

If you’ve heard of Weebly or Wix before, you already have a good idea of what WordPress can do for you. However, for a number of reasons, people choose WordPress over these alternatives. Today you’ll find out why.

If you’re coming to this guide hoping to understand how WordPress development actually works or how to get started with it, you’re in the right place. I’ve added a few sections that walk through the fundamentals, because many people jump into WordPress without knowing how the underlying system fits together.

What Is WordPress?

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) for the creation and modification of digital content, in this case, websites. It’s written in PHP and uses a MySQL database.

Like most things on the web, WordPress also uses a bit of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But WordPress itself does not need programming to operate.

Its creators and community have made it especially accessible to use. You can find the free, open-source software that is WordPress on WordPress.org.

Unfortunately, WordPress.org is often confused with WordPress.com, a for-profit, paid service powered by WordPress.org software with strangely less flexibility than its free counterpart.

WordPress’s original origins can be credited to Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little in 2003. It was originally well-known for being an easy-to-use tool for creating blogs.

Since then, it has amassed much more online real estate. To add, its large community of open-source contributors has evolved and adapted the code to be usable for any type of website.

More than 40% of all websites use some version of WordPress in 2025. Individuals and businesses, large and small, depend on WordPress to run their websites.

Here are some examples of websites you can build with WordPress:

• Blog
• E-commerce website
• Membership website
• Portfolio website
• Forum website
• Event website
• E-learning website
• Wedding website

WordPress is capable of managing your website, no matter the purpose.

How WordPress Development Works

At a glance, WordPress may look like a simple tool where you click a few buttons and a site appears. But development in WordPress is a bit different.

It usually involves working with themes, templates, and plugins that control everything from layout to functionality. Even small adjustments can require some technical awareness, which often surprises people who expect a more drag-and-drop experience.

A WordPress developer is someone who understands how WordPress handles templates, how PHP interacts with the database, and how the platform’s hooks and filters allow for customization.

You can get quite far without coding, but development often means shaping WordPress into something that fits a business rather than using it “as is.”

The Basics of WordPress Architecture

WordPress uses a surprisingly straightforward technical structure, although it may feel a little opaque the first time you peek behind the curtain. Here are the pieces that matter most if you’re trying to learn development:

• Themes control design, layout, and most front-end presentation. A theme might include templates for blog posts, landing pages, or custom layouts that a business requests.
• Plugins add or modify functionality. Some plugins handle simple tasks like adding a form, while others create entire systems like memberships or online shops.
• PHP handles server-side logic. Even small actions, like fetching a headline or showing a list of recent posts, run through PHP files.
• The MySQL database stores posts, settings, users, and plugin data. Developers interact with it indirectly through WordPress rather than writing SQL queries directly.
• The Loop governs how posts and pages are displayed. Almost every theme uses it, so it’s worth learning early on.
• The REST API allows WordPress to communicate with external tools or custom front ends. Some modern WordPress developers lean on it heavily, especially when integrating React-based features.

You don’t need to memorize all of this on day one, but being aware of these parts makes learning WordPress development less overwhelming.

What Is a WordPress Developer?

A WordPress developer is a professional who is familiar with the basic coding and structural organization of WordPress software.

While WordPress does not require programming in the traditional sense, WordPress developers must have expert knowledge of how to tailor a website to a business’s needs.

Someone with this familiarity will more than likely have a background in other common web technologies for dynamic web pages, such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

There are a few specific types of WordPress developers that you may want to be aware of.

Core Developer

WordPress core developers work on the back-end functionality of the platform. Core developers must work on the internal WordPress software. They can write code to improve WordPress for the better.

Theme Developer

A theme reflects the overall design of your website, including its layout. Theme development is a big part of front-end development as it encompasses what the user sees on their side.

WordPress.org has a directory with thousands of free themes available for use. But if you want to be unique, it pays to make your own.

Plugin Developer

Plugin developers are, unsurprisingly, responsible for plugin development. Plugins act as add-ons to websites and give them additional functionality. Plugins are the preferred way to do this, as they limit any changes made to the core WordPress files.

One pre-installed WordPress plugin is Hello Dolly. When clicked on a WordPress web page, this plugin offers a lyric from the song of the same name by the famed Louis Armstrong.

Additional WordPress Developer Roles

Some developers drift toward niche roles. A few work mostly with WooCommerce, since online shops tend to involve payment gateways, inventory, and shipping rules.

Others split their time between custom plugin work and broader full-stack responsibilities.

You’ll also find developers who specialize in performance optimization, which can be an entire job on its own if a site has many plugins or heavy traffic.

Why Use WordPress?

There’s no question that WordPress is popular. The question is why? WordPress is useful, but that does not explain why businesses choose WordPress over alternatives. WordPress has some choice characteristics, setting it apart from competitors in the industry.

Free

Any free and open-source software will have automatic leverage over other software at any cost. Cutting costs at this level of software development is almost never a bad idea.

Adaptable

Many people may know WordPress as the platform that hosts their favorite blogs. But it’s more than that. WordPress caters to several different website types.

Everyone and every business can use WordPress. Some popular WordPress users are Beyoncé and PlayStation. Look below for other popular websites that use WordPress.

Flexibility

WordPress does not just make a website, but entire modes of operating. Anything from a social network to a forum can be made with the help of WordPress.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

WordPress makes SEO easy. It simplifies the use of different header tags and keywords in your website address. In addition, it supports various plugins that work to showcase your website to consumers everywhere.

Advantages of Using WordPress

Whether or not you’ve committed to using WordPress, you should know about some of the qualities that draw developers to its doors.

Extensible

Open-source software also means you have community contributors constantly altering the WordPress landscape towards improved function and performance.

Most HTML website builders do not do more than the basics. But WordPress is all about functionality to the max. New and useful themes and plugins are always at your helm.

Developers have the option to make their own themes and plugins as well. Skilled developers never have to settle for only what’s available.

Support

Unlike some platforms, WordPress hardly discriminates against varying media types. Images, documents, audio, and video are accepted in a dozen or so formats, including .jpg, .png, .gif, .pdf, .doc, .pptx, .mp3, .m4a, .mp4, .mov, .wmv, and .avi.

More obscure media types get along with WordPress just as well. For example, .odt, .key, .ogg, and .3gp are all accepted file types.

Community

Like many other open-source, widely used software platforms, WordPress has a large community. This means developers will never be out of the loop when it comes to helpful knowledge and new information.

Ease of Use

Easy is a word you’ll hear often in conversations about WordPress. WordPress is renowned for its five-minute installation and approachable support guides.

Because of its popularity and community, WordPress is easy to learn, too. This, in turn, makes it just as easy to manage.

Developer Friendliness

If you’re building something more complex, you’ll find that WordPress has a surprising number of tools that speed things up.

WP CLI for command line management, the block editor for structured content, and a wide library of reusable code snippets all help developers move faster without reinventing the wheel.

How to Get Started With WordPress Development

A lot of people want to jump straight into building, but the learning curve feels smoother if you spend a little time setting up the basics.

You don’t need to be a career developer to follow these steps, but knowing where things live inside WordPress helps you avoid the frustration that usually comes with trial and error.

Here’s a simple way to start:

1. Set up a local environment. Tools like Local or XAMPP help you experiment without breaking a live site.
2. Explore how themes work. Even if you never plan to create a theme from scratch, opening one up shows you how templates are arranged.
3. Experiment with a small plugin. Many new developers create a plugin that adds a simple shortcode or admin setting, just to see how WordPress handles functionality.
4. Learn the basics of hooks and filters. These appear everywhere in WordPress and may seem intimidating, but once you click, you can customize almost anything.
5. Build a tiny project. Something realistic, like a minimal blog layout or a landing page for a friend’s business, helps lock in what you’ve learned.
6. Pay attention to debugging. Turning on WP debug or using Query Monitor teaches you how to spot errors quickly.

It’s easy to feel impatient here, but every developer I know learned by opening files, changing something, and seeing what happened. WordPress rewards that kind of curiosity.

Websites That Use WordPress

• Whitehouse.gov
• Microsoft
• The Rolling Stones
• BBC America
• The New York Times
• Katy Perry

Reasons to Hire a WordPress Developer

WordPress is one of the easiest tools to create a functional website in minutes. A quick install, and you can start adjusting for a look that suits your business.

In general, websites serve as an effective hub for regular consumers and potential customers to learn more about your business. WordPress developers can build a website for your business and keep it up-to-date.

Your website should serve its visitors and your business. A good website will have a low bounce rate, making sure its visitors are here to stay.

By creating an informative website that keeps visitors intrigued, you can garner more leads and amp up your marketing. WordPress developers know how to do just that.

Further, on top of enhancing the website’s theme for the visitor’s visual appetite, WordPress developers can implement various add-ons to your website to keep visitors engaged.

This can include a forum for visitors to discuss whatever product your business is advertising or a contact form so customers can get in touch, for instance.

A WordPress developer can also employ Google Analytics or other Google Analytics alternatives, which can track the success of your webpage.

One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is that the platform is very accommodating towards SEO strategies. WordPress developers can work with you and your business to put your website on the map.

How to Hire a WordPress Developer?

For those who wish to take the high road and hire WordPress developers on your own, we’re still here to help. Hiring a developer on your own is a very focused and hands-on process that requires considerable knowledge about software development in general.

The last thing you want to do is trust your hiring process to someone with no technical ability. If you are a non-technical manager looking to learn a thing or two, we have a great resource here for you to learn more about the hiring process in detail.

Otherwise, we’d recommend you contact Trio for consulting and developer allocation.

What should you look for in a WordPress Developer?

WordPress is a tool with many functions. As mentioned, a WordPress developer can dive deep into plugins, themes, or the core of WordPress itself if they want. But there are some expectations for what every WordPress developer should be capable of.

At a high level, WordPress developers should be able to:

• Build and maintain client websites
• Implement and customize different themes and plugins
• Work with clients to personalize the website to their preferences
• Troubleshoot WordPress software where needed

How much do developers cost in the U.S?

WordPress developers, on average, make $84,542 per year, according to ZipRecruiter. Of course, there’s variance. On the lower end, a WordPress developer will make $18,500, and on the higher end, $156,500.

Here’s a chart that visualizes the salary ranges within the United States for a Senior Software Developer. 

How much do developers cost in South America?

Due to economic differences between the United States and South America as a whole, the cost of offshoring software development is significantly lower than hiring full-time U.S talent.

For Brazil, a mid-level developer costs around $76,000.

How much do developers cost in Ukraine / Eastern Europe?

Eastern Europe shares very similar rates to South America, again due to the economic differences. When looking at salaries in Eastern Europe, data shows that a Senior WordPress developer costs around $100,000 on average.

Hourly Rates for WordPress Developers

Another way to look at developer costs is through hourly rates. While salaries are good to understand for hiring developers for full-time and long-term, you might just need a developer for a period of 3-6 months or 6-12 months. In these types of situations, it’s best to calculate your costs based on the hourly rates of a developer.

Below is a table that lists the various hourly rates of developers in different locations based on their job title.

Why Hire a WordPress Developer?

Trio WordPress developers are pre-vetted, interviewed, and then trained further to become true software professionals, capable of adapting to situations that are both within and outside of the scope of their general expertise.

At Trio, we hold our developers to a higher standard. Much like how elite special forces units recruit only the best from the main branches of the military, we recruit developers who either show amazing potential or demonstrate exceptional skill. We then take their talents and sharpen them even further.

Another benefit of hiring a Trio developer is that you won’t incur the costs of hiring, which can add up to be around 30% of a developer’s salary on average, as well as overhead costs associated with full-time employment.

By working with Trio, you can enjoy a highly experienced full-time developer for a fraction of the cost, along with the added project management assistance.

To learn more, get in touch with Trio today and tell us about your project. 

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