Service

WordPress website

WordPress powers a large part of the internet, and that's a good thing — there are people to maintain it and places to find solutions. The bad part is what's done with it: a fifty-dollar theme, a page builder on top and thirty plugins fighting each other. We use it differently.

Prices start at: €600
Topic: Written by hand
Page builders: We don't use them
Plugins: The bare minimum

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A WordPress website with its own bespoke theme

Why

What's wrong with the typical WordPress site.

This isn't a criticism of WordPress, but of the way it's usually used. We've found every one of these in someone else's site that we've taken over for maintenance.

A ready-made theme carries someone else's baggageIt's written to serve thousands of different sites. Yours uses perhaps five per cent of its code, but the browser downloads all of it.

The builder writes the markup for youElementor and the like wrap text in dozens of nested blocks. The result is a slow site and markup that search engines struggle to read.

Thirty pluginsEach is someone else's code with access to your database. Each can stop being maintained. The more there are, the more often something breaks on update.

Lock-inIf the theme or the builder ceases to exist, the content stays but the layout falls apart. Replacing them means rebuilding the site.

SpeedA heavy theme plus a builder plus plugins gives you a site that loads slowly on a phone — which is where half your traffic is.

Maintenance gets expensiveEvery update is a risk, because the parts weren't written for each other. That's why many sites simply don't get updated — and end up hacked.

How we do it

The same WordPress, used differently.

We keep the admin you're used to and change what the visitor gets.

A bespoke themeWe write it for your site. It contains exactly as much code as you need, and not a line more.

No page builderThe layout lives in the theme, the content in the editor. The two don't mix and don't break each other.

Few pluginsUsually fewer than five, each with a clear reason. For a form, for caching, for the sitemap — not for things that take twenty lines to write.

Editable contentTexts, photos and products are changed from the admin, without calling us and without breaking the layout.

Speed by defaultOptimized images, deferred JavaScript, no libraries you don't use.

Clean markupHeadings in the right order, meaningful URLs, structured data. The foundation that optimization stands on.

UpdatableThe core is updated without fear, because the theme is yours and we know what every update touches.

PortableThe site is yours and can be taken over by another agency. We don't lock the content into a format of our own.

When

When WordPress is the right choice, and when it isn't.

Not every job is for WordPress. It's cheaper to say so now than after it's built.

A good fitFor a business website, a blog, a content portal and a shop with up to a few thousand products. In other words, for most businesses.

It works wellWhen the content changes often and has to be managed by a non-technical person.

Not a good fitFor a system with user profiles and complex business logic, a configurator, or a platform with many simultaneous users.

Then we write from scratchIn those cases we offer a custom system, not WordPress loaded down with plugins.

MigrationIf you're on Joomla, Drupal or an old site with no system, moving to WordPress is routine work.

HonestlyIf we think your job is for a different platform or a different agency, we say so in the first conversation.

Questions

About WordPress.

If your question isn't here, call us — we answer by phone too.

+359 882 95 89 89

How much does a WordPress website cost?

The same as any other site with us — a business website from €600, one with an extended structure and SEO foundation from €1,100, a shop from €1,200.

The platform isn't what determines the price. The scope is.

Why don't you use Elementor or Divi?

Because they write the markup for us. One paragraph becomes ten nested blocks, and the site downloads several hundred kilobytes of code to lay them out.

The result is a slower site, harder maintenance and dependence on a product we don't control. We write the theme by hand and get the same result at a fraction of the weight.

Will I be able to change the content myself?

Yes. We keep the standard WordPress admin and train your team. Text, photos, news and products are changed without us.

The layout stays in the theme, so you can't accidentally break it while editing text.

Is WordPress secure?

WordPress itself is well maintained. The problems almost always come from un-updated plugins and weak passwords.

That's why we keep the number of plugins low and recommend maintenance. An un-updated site is the most common reason sites get hacked.

Can I migrate from Joomla or another system?

Yes. We carry the content over, keep the URLs that bring visitors, and set up redirects for the ones that change.

See website migration for details.

What happens if we decide to switch agencies?

The site is yours. You get the access details, the theme code sits on your hosting, and any WordPress developer can carry on.

That's exactly why we don't use proprietary formats or page builders — so we're not the only ones who can work on the site.

Next step

It starts with a conversation.

Thirty minutes, no fee and no sales pitch. If the job isn't for us, we'll tell you on that call — not a month later.

+359 882 95 89 89 office@illumi.bg

Sofia, Bulgaria We reply within 24 hours In business since 2012