What WordPress can do
WordPress started out as a blogging platform, but it has long since become a full-featured system for websites of any size, from a simple business card site to a large media outlet. Here's what you get right out of the box:
- pages, posts, categories and tags, plus a library for images and files;
- the Gutenberg block editor, where pages are assembled from ready-made blocks;
- users with different permissions: administrator, editor, author;
- page revision history with the option to roll back to an earlier version;
- extensibility through themes (look and feel) and plugins (features).
Anything beyond that, such as multilingual content, advanced forms, a catalog or a customer account area, is added with plugins or custom code.
WordPress advantages
- Easy for editors. Most people get comfortable with the admin panel in a few hours, and many have already used it before.
- A huge ecosystem. For common tasks like forms, SEO, languages, caching and backups, there are proven plugins, so you don't pay to develop something that already exists.
- Developers are easy to find. If you ever decide to switch vendors, WordPress makes it easier than any other platform.
- Undemanding hosting. Standard PHP and MySQL hosting is enough for most sites.
- A solid SEO foundation. Clean URLs, meta tags and a sitemap can be set up without complex development.
Drawbacks to know up front
- Plugins are the main source of problems. Most WordPress hacks and slowdowns are caused not by the core system but by outdated or poorly built extensions.
- The site needs regular updates. If the core and plugins go years without updates, the site becomes vulnerable, and a catch-up update later tends to break things.
- Page builders come at a cost. Elementor and similar tools give editors freedom, but they add page weight and lock the site into a specific plugin.
- Complex logic is a struggle. Calculations, data-driven customer portals and internal business processes can be built on WordPress, but such solutions are hard to maintain.
When WordPress isn't the right choice
We don't recommend WordPress for everything. It's worth considering another option if:
- the project is primarily a store with a large catalog and content is secondary: a dedicated platform such as OpenCart is a better fit;
- you need an online service with user accounts, roles and custom logic: development on a framework like Laravel works better;
- content needs to go to both a website and a mobile app at the same time: a headless CMS such as Strapi is more convenient.
Page builder theme or custom theme
A ready-made theme with a page builder lets you launch for less and gives editors the freedom to change layouts on their own. The downside is that these themes are heavy, packed with features you don't use, and hard to change over time.
A custom theme is built around your design and your page types. Editors get a set of blocks and fields (often based on ACF) that make it impossible to accidentally break the layout. The site is faster and more predictable, but development takes longer. This is the option we recommend for most corporate websites.
New site or existing site
A new site starts not with choosing a theme but with content: which pages you need, what goes on them and who will maintain them. That determines the post types, fields and blocks in the editor. Then come design, theme development, plugin setup and content migration.
An existing site gets a review first: WordPress and PHP versions, the plugin list, theme modifications, load speed and errors in the server logs. Quite often it turns out that some plugins duplicate each other and the site is slowed down by just one or two of them. After the audit, you get a prioritized list of issues and decide where to start.
WooCommerce: when the store is part of the site
WooCommerce turns WordPress into an online store. It's a good fit when sales are one section of the site alongside a blog, services or brand information, and the catalog is small to mid-sized. We connect Stripe, PayPal, UPS, FedEx and USPS shipping, and order sync with HubSpot, Salesforce or another CRM. For a large catalog with thousands of products and complex filters, WooCommerce needs serious optimization, and in that case we give you an honest comparison with other platforms.
Security and updates
A WordPress site is not a set-it-and-forget-it project. To keep it fast and secure, we:
- update the core, theme and plugins on a staging copy first, then on the live site;
- remove plugins that are unused or no longer supported by their developers;
- set up automatic backups and restrict access to the admin panel;
- monitor errors and site uptime.
If your site has already been hacked or infected, we clean it up and close the vulnerability first, then take it on for technical support.
What affects the cost
- Design: adapting a ready-made theme or a custom design with a custom theme.
- Number of page types: home, services, news, careers, team — each type needs its own template and fields.
- Languages: one or several, who handles translation and how versions are kept in sync.
- Features beyond content: a store, bookings, calculators, user accounts.
- Content and migration: whether we migrate data from the old site and who prepares the copy.
For improvements to an existing site, the price depends most on its condition: the number of plugins, the PHP version and how much the theme code was modified before us.
Frequently asked questions
Will I be able to edit text and photos myself? Yes, that's exactly why people choose WordPress. We tailor the admin panel to your site and show you how to use it.
Isn't WordPress too lightweight for a large company? Many major media outlets and corporate websites run on it. What matters more than the platform is the quality of the theme, plugins and support.
Can you fix a site built by another agency? Yes. We start with an audit of the theme and plugins and tell you what's worth keeping and what's better rebuilt.
Can a site be moved to WordPress without losing search rankings? Yes, as long as page URLs are preserved or redirects are set up and meta tags are carried over. We handle this as a separate stage of the project.
How many plugins is normal? There's no universal number. Quality matters more than quantity: one poorly written plugin does more harm than a dozen well-built ones.
Why Promodex
Promodex has been in business since 2015 and has delivered 750+ projects. WordPress is one of the platforms we work with; our portfolio includes DVL Express, Palma Club Resort, My Doctor Club and Unibox Warehouse. Design, development, SEO and support are handled by our in-house team with no outsourcing, so after launch you won't need to look for a new vendor to update and grow your site.
