WordPress Developer Needed for Custom Theme and Plugin Development

We're seeking an experienced WordPress Developer to build custom themes, develop plugins, and create feature-rich WordPress websites with clean code, optimal performance, and security best practices.

Key Responsibilities:

Develop custom WordPress themes from scratch

Build custom WordPress plugins and functionality

Customize existing themes and plugins

Integrate third-party APIs and services

Set up and customize WooCommerce stores

Implement responsive and mobile-friendly designs

Optimize WordPress performance and speed

Ensure WordPress security best practices

Migrate websites to WordPress

Troubleshoot and fix WordPress issues

Set up and configure hosting environments

Implement SEO best practices

Create custom post types and taxonomies

Integrate page builders (Elementor, WPBakery)

Required Skills:

3+ years of WordPress development experience

Strong PHP and MySQL knowledge

WordPress theme development (from scratch)

WordPress plugin development

WordPress hooks (actions and filters)

WordPress REST API

WooCommerce customization

HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript/jQuery

Responsive design implementation

Git version control

WordPress security best practices

Performance optimization techniques

WordPress Core Development:

Theme Development:

Custom Theme Structure:

  theme-name/

  ├── style.css

  ├── functions.php

  ├── index.php

  ├── header.php

  ├── footer.php

  ├── sidebar.php

  ├── single.php

  ├── page.php

  ├── archive.php

  ├── 404.php

  ├── template-parts/

  ├── inc/

  ├── assets/

  │ ├── css/

  │ ├── js/

  │ └── images/

  └── screenshot.png

Theme Templates:

Template hierarchy understanding

Page templates

Post templates

Custom templates

Template parts

Template tags

Functions.php:

Theme setup

Enqueue scripts and styles

Register menus and sidebars

Custom functions

Theme support features

Custom image sizes

Plugin Development:

Plugin structure and architecture

Plugin headers and metadata

Activation/deactivation hooks

Custom post types and taxonomies

Admin menus and settings pages

Shortcodes creation

Widgets development

AJAX functionality

Database operations

Security and sanitization

Plugin updates and versioning

WordPress Hooks:

Actions:

wp_enqueue_scripts

init

wp_head, wp_footer

save_post

admin_menu

widgets_init

Custom action hooks

Filters:

the_content

the_title

excerpt_length

wp_nav_menu_items

Custom filter hooks

Custom Post Types & Taxonomies:

php// Register Custom Post Type

function create_custom_post_type() {

    register_post_type('portfolio',

        array(

            'labels' => array(

                'name' => __('Portfolio'),

                'singular_name' => __('Portfolio Item')

            ),

            'public' => true,

            'has_archive' => true,

            'supports' => array('title', 'editor', 'thumbnail'),

            'rewrite' => array('slug' => 'portfolio'),

        )

    );

}

add_action('init', 'create_custom_post_type');

// Register Custom Taxonomy

function create_portfolio_taxonomy() {

    register_taxonomy(

        'portfolio_category',

        'portfolio',

        array(

            'label' => __('Portfolio Categories'),

            'hierarchical' => true,

        )

    );

}

add_action('init', 'create_portfolio_taxonomy');

WordPress Loop:

php<?php

if (have_posts()) :

    while (have_posts()) : the_post();

        the_title('<h2>', '</h2>');

        the_content();

    endwhile;

else :

    echo '<p>No content found</p>';

endif;

?>

WordPress REST API:

Creating custom endpoints

Authentication

Data retrieval and manipulation

Integration with frontend frameworks

Custom post type API support

API security

WooCommerce Development:

WooCommerce Customization:

Theme integration

Custom product types

Payment gateway integration

Shipping method customization

Custom checkout fields

Product page customization

Cart and checkout customization

Email template customization

Custom reports and analytics

WooCommerce Hooks:

Action hooks (woocommerce_before_shop_loop, etc.)

Filter hooks (woocommerce_product_tabs, etc.)

Template overrides

Custom product attributes

Popular WooCommerce Extensions:

WooCommerce Subscriptions

WooCommerce Bookings

WooCommerce Memberships

Payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal)

Shipping plugins

Advanced WordPress Development:

Custom Fields:

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF):

Field groups

Custom field types

Conditional logic

Repeater fields

Flexible content

Options pages

ACF Blocks

Meta Boxes:

Custom meta boxes

Meta box frameworks

Custom fields implementation

Page Builders:

Elementor:

Custom widgets

Theme Builder

Popup Builder

Dynamic content

Custom CSS/JS

Gutenberg (Block Editor):

Custom blocks development

Block patterns

Block styles

Full Site Editing (FSE)

Other Builders:

WPBakery Page Builder

Beaver Builder

Divi Builder

WordPress Multisite:

Multisite setup

Network administration

Site management

Domain mapping

Plugin/theme activation for network

WordPress Performance:

Speed Optimization:

Caching:

Page caching

Object caching (Redis, Memcached)

Browser caching

CDN integration

Caching plugins (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache)

Database Optimization:

Query optimization

Database cleanup

Remove revisions

Optimize tables

Database indexing

Image Optimization:

Lazy loading

WebP format

Image compression

Responsive images

Image optimization plugins

Code Optimization:

Minify CSS/JS

Combine files

Async/defer scripts

Remove unused code

Optimize critical rendering path

Performance Tools:

GTmetrix, PageSpeed Insights

Query Monitor plugin

New Relic monitoring

Profiling tools

WordPress Security:

Security Best Practices:

Strong passwords and user roles

Two-factor authentication

SSL certificate (HTTPS)

Regular updates (core, themes, plugins)

File permissions

Database security

Disable file editing

Hide WordPress version

Limit login attempts

Security headers

Security Plugins:

Wordfence Security

Sucuri Security

iThemes Security

All In One WP Security

Common Vulnerabilities:

SQL injection prevention

XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) prevention

CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) protection

File upload security

Authentication and authorization

Input validation and sanitization

Output escaping

Data Sanitization & Validation:

php// Sanitization

$safe_text = sanitize_text_field($_POST['text']);

$safe_email = sanitize_email($_POST['email']);

$safe_url = esc_url($_POST['url']);

// Validation

if (!is_email($email)) {

    // Invalid email

}

// Escaping output

echo esc_html($user_input);

echo esc_attr($attribute);

echo esc_url($url);

WordPress SEO:

SEO Optimization:

Permalink structure

Meta tags (title, description)

Schema markup

XML sitemaps

Robots.txt

Breadcrumbs

Canonical URLs

Social media integration (Open Graph)

SEO Plugins:

Yoast SEO

Rank Math

All in One SEO

SEOPress

WordPress Database:

Database Structure:

wp_posts (posts, pages, custom post types)

wp_postmeta (post metadata)

wp_users (user data)

wp_usermeta (user metadata)

wp_terms, wp_term_taxonomy, wp_term_relationships

wp_options (site settings)

wp_comments, wp_commentmeta

Custom Database Queries:

phpglobal $wpdb;

// Select query

$results = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}posts WHERE post_type = 'post'");

// Insert

$wpdb->insert($wpdb->prefix.'table_name', array('column' => 'value'));

// Update

$wpdb->update($wpdb->prefix.'table_name', array('column' => 'new_value'), array('id' => 1));

// Delete

$wpdb->delete($wpdb->prefix.'table_name', array('id' => 1));

// Use $wpdb->prepare() for security

$safe_query = $wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}posts WHERE ID = %d", $post_id);

WordPress Migration:

Manual migration

Plugin-based migration (All-in-One WP Migration, Duplicator)

Database export/import

File transfer

URL replacement

DNS and hosting configuration

WordPress Hosting & Server:

Hosting Types:

Shared hosting

VPS (Virtual Private Server)

Dedicated servers

Managed WordPress hosting

Cloud hosting (AWS, Google Cloud)

Server Configuration:

PHP version (7.4+, 8.0+)

MySQL/MariaDB

Apache/Nginx configuration

.htaccess rules

php.ini settings

Memory limits

File upload limits

WordPress CLI (WP-CLI):

bash# Core updates

wp core update

# Plugin management

wp plugin install plugin-name --activate

wp plugin update --all

# Database operations

wp db export

wp db import backup.sql

# Search and replace

wp search-replace 'oldurl.com' 'newurl.com'

# User management

wp user create username user@example.com --role=administrator

WordPress Development Tools:

Local Development:

Local by Flywheel

XAMPP

MAMP

Docker containers

Laravel Valet (Mac)

Version Control:

Git for version control

GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket

.gitignore for WordPress

Deployment workflows

Code Editors & IDEs:

VS Code with WordPress extensions

PhpStorm

Sublime Text

Atom

Debugging:

WP_DEBUG mode

Debug log

Query Monitor plugin

Xdebug

Error logging

WordPress Coding Standards:

WordPress Coding Standards (WPCS)

PHP_CodeSniffer

Proper documentation

Naming conventions

File structure

Inline comments

Popular WordPress Plugins:

Essential Plugins:

Yoast SEO / Rank Math

Contact Form 7 / WPForms / Gravity Forms

WP Rocket / W3 Total Cache

Wordfence Security

UpdraftPlus (backups)

Akismet (spam protection)

Redirection (301 redirects)

Smush (image optimization)

Page Builders:

Elementor

WPBakery

Beaver Builder

Divi

E-commerce:

WooCommerce

Easy Digital Downloads

Membership & LMS:

MemberPress

Restrict Content Pro

LearnDash

LifterLMS

WordPress Multilingual:

WPML

Polylang

TranslatePress

Common WordPress Tasks:

Theme Customization:

Child theme creation

Custom CSS/JS

Theme options page

Customizer settings

Widget areas

Menu customization

Content Import/Export:

WordPress importer

CSV import

Custom import scripts

Content migration

Custom Login:

Custom login page

Login redirect

Custom user roles

Membership systems

Email Functionality:

WP Mail SMTP

Custom email templates

Transactional emails

Newsletter integration

WordPress Testing:

Local testing environment

Staging site

Browser testing

Mobile responsiveness

Cross-device testing

Plugin conflict testing

Performance testing

Deliverables:

Custom WordPress theme (fully functional)

Custom plugins (if required)

Responsive design (all devices)

WooCommerce setup (if e-commerce)

Content import/migration

SEO optimization

Security hardening

Performance optimization

Documentation (user guide, developer notes)

Training (if required)

Source code repository

Database backup

30-day post-launch support

1-2 rounds of revisions included

Budget: $35 - $75/hour or $2,500 - $10,000+ (Fixed project depending on complexity)

Timeline: 2-8 weeks (depending on project scope)