Anthony McGrathWhat does WordPress development involve?
WordPress development covers custom themes and blocks, plugins and features, integrations, fixes and support, speed and security and tracking and seo built in. Most WordPress sites slow down and get harder to change as they grow. Anthony McGrath does the work himself, with 22 years in digital marketing, for businesses in the UK, the US, Dubai and Australia.
- Best for
- Businesses, publishers and service firms running, or moving to, WordPress
- What you get
- Custom themes and blocks, Plugins and features, Integrations, Fixes and support, Speed and security, Tracking and SEO built in
- First step
- Talk it through: a short call about your site, who it is for and what it needs to do better.
- Where
- The UK, the US, Dubai and Australia, working remotely across time zones
- Who does the work
- Anthony McGrath, hands-on, with 22 years in digital marketing
Why hire a specialist WordPress developer
Most WordPress sites slow down and get harder to change as they grow. Page builders, dozens of plugins and quick fixes pile up until a simple edit breaks something else. A good developer fixes the cause instead of adding another plugin.
I have built and fixed WordPress sites for over two decades, for service businesses, publishers, membership sites and online stores. You get one person who understands the code, the SEO and the tracking, so a redesign does not quietly lose your rankings or your conversion data.
What's included
From one small fix to a full custom build. If it runs on WordPress, it is covered.
Custom themes and blocks
- Bespoke block themes and full site editing
- Custom Gutenberg blocks and patterns
- Page templates your team can reuse
- Mobile-first, accessible layouts
Plugins and features
- Custom plugin development
- Replacing heavy plugins with lean code
- Forms, bookings and memberships
- Advanced Custom Fields and custom post types
Integrations
- CRMs such as HubSpot and Salesforce
- Email platforms and Zapier workflows
- REST API and headless setups
- Payment and booking systems
Fixes and support
- Bugs and errors found and fixed at the source
- Broken layouts after updates
- Monthly developer support
- Clear notes on everything changed
Speed and security
- Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed fixes
- Caching, CDN and image optimisation
- Hardening, firewalls and malware clean-up
- Backups and safe update routines
Tracking and SEO built in
- GA4 and Google Tag Manager
- Google Ads and Meta conversions
- Schema markup and clean URLs
- Tested before and after every launch
Before and after
An example of what rebuilding a slow, plugin-heavy WordPress site typically looks like.
- Mobile PageSpeed score: 29 before, 86 after
- Active plugins: 41 before, 14 after
- Enquiries per month: 38 before, 57 after
An example of the kind of change this work aims for, based on typical starting points. It is not a promise or a specific client result: every business starts somewhere different.
How it works
- Talk it throughA short call about your site, who it is for and what it needs to do better.
- Plan and priceA written plan: pages, features, plugins, timings and a fixed price for each stage.
- Build and testBuilt on a staging copy, tested on real phones and browsers, checked for speed and accessibility.
- Launch and look afterLaunched with redirects, tracking and backups in place, then kept updated and secure.
Platforms and tools
Questions
How much does a WordPress developer cost?
Small fixes and features are quoted as fixed-price pieces of work. Bigger builds are planned and priced in stages, so you always know the cost before work starts.
Can you work on a site someone else built?
Yes. Most of my WordPress work is on existing sites, including Elementor, Divi and custom themes. I work on a staging copy first, so your live site is never at risk.
Do you use page builders?
Only where they make sense for your team. For speed and long-term ease I usually build with native blocks and custom code, which keeps the site fast and simple to edit.
Do you work with businesses outside the UK?
Yes. I work with businesses in the UK, the US, Dubai and Australia, including multi-language and multi-region sites.
About Anthony McGrath
Tip of the day
Avoid tiny split audiences. Combine similar ad sets so Meta gets enough conversion data to exit learning phase.
A UK-based freelance digital marketer with 22 years across Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, conversion rate optimisation, funnels, Google, Meta and TikTok ads, SEO and tracking. He works directly with businesses in the UK, the US, Dubai and Australia, so the person who plans the work is the person who does it. More about Anthony or connect with him on LinkedIn.
Got a WordPress job that needs doing?
A fix, a feature or a full rebuild. Send me your site and what you want, and you will get a clear plan and a fixed price.
Tell me what you need built