Choosing WordPress for your business website is only the first decision. The next is finding the right person to design and build it.

As I explain in my Complete Guide to WordPress for Business Websites, WordPress gives you an enormously flexible platform, but that flexibility also means there are plenty of ways to build a WordPress website – some considerably better than others.

An experienced freelance WordPress designer should bring together good design and WordPress development with an understanding of how a business website needs to perform in the real world. That means thinking beyond how the website looks to consider its structure, usability, performance, search visibility, security and what happens after it goes live.

For many businesses, finding someone who understands all of those things can be just as important as choosing WordPress in the first place.

What does a freelance WordPress website designer do?

The job involves considerably more than installing WordPress and choosing a theme.

A WordPress designer should be able to take the requirements of a business and turn them into a website that looks appropriate, works properly and can continue to develop over time.

That usually starts with planning.

What pages does the website need? How should they be organised? What information are potential customers looking for? Which actions do you want them to take? How will the website work on a phone as well as a desktop computer?

If you’re at that stage, I’ve covered the process in more detail in How to Plan a New Business Website.

Only then does design and development really begin.

Depending on the project, a freelance WordPress designer may handle the entire process: planning the website, designing it, building it in WordPress, optimising its performance, preparing it for search engines, arranging hosting and continuing to maintain it after launch.

The exact service will vary between designers, which is why it’s worth establishing what’s included before choosing one.

Why choose a WordPress specialist?

Plenty of people can build a website using WordPress.

That isn’t quite the same thing as understanding WordPress.

WordPress is an open-source content management system that has grown enormously since its beginnings as a blogging platform. According to W3Techs, it now powers a substantial proportion of websites across the internet.

Someone who works extensively with the platform will understand how themes, plugins, hosting, databases, updates and the WordPress core fit together. They’ll also know that every additional feature comes with consequences for performance, maintenance and sometimes security.

That experience can affect decisions throughout a project.

Is an additional plugin genuinely necessary? Can WordPress already do what is required? Is a particular theme appropriate for the website? Will an impressive-looking feature slow everything down? How easy will the website be for the client to manage afterwards?

WordPress is extremely capable when it’s used well. It can also become unnecessarily complicated when features and plugins are continually bolted onto it without much thought.

A specialist should know the difference.

If you’re still considering whether the platform itself is right for your business, I’ve also looked specifically at why WordPress works so well for business websites.

Website design and WordPress development should work together

Designing a website and building one aren’t completely separate processes.

A designer who understands WordPress can consider how the finished website will actually work while it is being designed.

That means thinking about responsive layouts, navigation, reusable content, page structure, image sizes, performance and content management from the beginning rather than treating them as problems to solve afterwards.

It can also avoid the familiar situation where an elaborate design is approved only for somebody to discover that reproducing it in the chosen platform requires a collection of workarounds.

Good WordPress website design should take advantage of the platform rather than constantly fighting against it.

For a business, the result should be a website that looks good on the surface while remaining sensible underneath.

Bespoke WordPress design or an off-the-shelf template?

WordPress gives designers access to thousands of ready-made themes and templates.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with using them. For a small website with a limited budget, an appropriate template can sometimes be a perfectly reasonable solution.

The problem comes when the template starts dictating the website.

A business may find itself changing its content to fit predetermined boxes, retaining features it doesn’t need or compromising the way information is organised because that’s how the demonstration website happened to be designed.

A bespoke WordPress website approaches things from the opposite direction.

The business, its customers and its content determine the structure and design. WordPress then provides the system used to build and manage it.

That doesn’t mean reinventing every technical component from scratch. A good WordPress build can use established tools and frameworks while still creating a website designed specifically around the business.

The important distinction is whether the tools serve the website or the website serves the tools.

You can find out more about my approach to WordPress website design & development and how I build WordPress websites around the requirements of individual businesses rather than simply adapting a pre-built design.

What should a WordPress website designer understand?

A visually impressive portfolio is important, but there’s considerably more happening behind a WordPress website than you can see in a screenshot.

A good freelance WordPress website designer should understand areas such as:

• responsive website design
• WordPress themes and child themes
• plugins and compatibility
• website performance
• technical and on-page SEO fundamentals
• website accessibility
• security
• backups
• hosting and server requirements
• WordPress, theme and plugin updates
• content management
• website migration
• domain names and DNS

They don’t necessarily need to personally provide every specialist service associated with a website. SEO, copywriting, photography and highly specialised development, for example, can all become disciplines in their own right.

But they should understand how those things interact with the website they’re building and recognise when additional expertise is required.

Will you actually own your WordPress website?

This is worth asking before a website is built rather than after you decide to move it.

WordPress itself is open-source software. A properly built self-hosted WordPress website isn’t tied to one particular web design company or proprietary website platform.

It can be backed up, moved to another suitable hosting provider and maintained by another WordPress professional if circumstances change.

But that doesn’t automatically mean every WordPress website is completely portable.

Premium themes and plugins may use licences belonging to the designer. Hosting accounts can be registered in different ways. Domains may be controlled by somebody other than the business. Bespoke functionality may also have particular requirements.

Before commissioning a website, find out what belongs to you, what is licensed separately and what would happen if you wanted to move the website elsewhere.

Hopefully you’ll never need to.

But you should still have the option.

Think about what happens after launch

A business website isn’t a finished product in quite the same way as a printed brochure.

Once it is online, the environment around it continues to change.

WordPress releases updates. Plugins are updated. PHP versions change. Browsers evolve. Security vulnerabilities are discovered. Your own business changes too.

A website that was completely up to date on launch day won’t remain that way indefinitely.

This is why ongoing WordPress maintenance matters. My Complete Guide to WordPress Website Care, Hosting & Maintenance explains the different areas that need looking after and why they’re important.

At a minimum, somebody should be taking regular backups, keeping WordPress and its components updated and checking that the website continues to work correctly. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre also recommends keeping WordPress, themes and plugins updated as part of maintaining a secure WordPress website.

If the person who originally designed and developed the website continues to look after it, there’s another advantage: they already know how it works.

They know why particular decisions were made, which tools were used and how the website is structured.

That continuity can become increasingly valuable as the website gets older.

For a more practical breakdown, my WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist covers what should be checked and how often, while Why You Should Update Your WordPress Site Regularly looks specifically at the importance of keeping the software behind the website current.

Hosting is part of the equation too

Where a WordPress website is hosted can have an impact on its performance, reliability and security.

Cheap hosting may look attractive when viewed as a monthly cost, but the underlying server environment, backups, support and resources available to the website all matter.

Your designer should therefore understand hosting rather than simply treating it as somewhere to put the finished website.

Whether hosting is provided by the designer or arranged separately, you should know where your website is hosted, what backups are taken and what support is available if something goes wrong.

You can read more about my approach to WordPress website hosting.

Does a freelance WordPress designer need to be local?

For most projects, no.

Website design and WordPress development can be carried out effectively at a distance. Meetings can take place online, documents and content can be shared electronically and the website itself can be developed privately before launch.

That means you’re no longer restricted to choosing somebody within a few miles of your business.

There can still be advantages to working with someone reasonably local, particularly where knowledge of the area and local search are important. Some clients also simply prefer knowing where their designer is based.

But location doesn’t have to restrict the relationship.

A WordPress designer based in Sussex can work perfectly successfully with businesses in London, Kent, Surrey, Hampshire or considerably further afield.

For most projects, good communication matters far more than postcode.

Freelance WordPress designer or WordPress agency?

Both can be the right choice.

A large and technically complex project may require several developers, specialist integrations, dedicated project management and a larger team. In those circumstances, an agency structure can make perfect sense.

For many small and medium-sized business websites, however, an experienced freelancer or independent studio can provide the required design and WordPress expertise while giving the client direct access to the person doing the work.

I’ve looked at the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches separately in Freelancer vs Agency: Who Should Build Your Website?.

The important thing isn’t choosing a freelancer simply because they’re a freelancer. It’s choosing the person or team with the appropriate experience for your project.

Questions to ask a freelance WordPress website designer

Before commissioning a WordPress website, it’s worth asking a few straightforward questions.

How long have you worked with WordPress?

Experience with the platform matters, particularly when something unexpected happens.

Do you design and develop the website yourself?

Find out who will actually be doing the work and who you’ll communicate with during the project.

Will the website be designed specifically for my business?

If a template or pre-built system is being used, understand what can and cannot be changed.

Will I own the website?

Establish who controls the WordPress installation, domain, hosting and any premium licences.

Can the website be moved elsewhere?

A WordPress website should not unnecessarily lock you into one provider.

What happens after launch?

Find out who handles backups, maintenance, security and WordPress updates.

Will I be able to edit the website?

WordPress is a content management system. You should understand what you’ll be able to change yourself and whether any training or guidance is provided.

What isn’t included?

Sometimes this is the most useful question of all. It prevents assumptions on both sides and makes comparing quotations considerably easier.

Choosing the right freelance WordPress website designer

WordPress can provide an excellent foundation for a business website, from a relatively straightforward brochure site to a much larger website with eCommerce, custom content and additional functionality.

But the platform doesn’t make those decisions for you.

The quality of the finished website still depends on how well it has been planned, designed, developed and maintained.

When choosing a freelance WordPress website designer, look beyond the initial appearance of their portfolio. Consider their WordPress experience, how they build websites, what happens after launch and whether you’re comfortable working with them.

A good WordPress website shouldn’t simply work on the day it’s launched. It should provide a solid foundation that can continue to support the business for years afterwards.

I’m an independent freelance WordPress website designer based in Eastbourne, Sussex, with more than 20 years’ experience in web design and over a decade working exclusively with WordPress. I work directly with businesses across Sussex, the South East and throughout the UK, designing, developing and maintaining bespoke WordPress websites.

You can find out more about my WordPress website design & development service, or get in touch if you’d like to discuss a new WordPress website.