Recommended
Everything your WordPress site will need, sorted by task. For each task I list the tools I'd pick if you want to do it yourself, and where to find someone who will do it for you if you don't.
Hosting and domains
You need hosting, where the site lives, and a domain name, its address. Both are cheap in year one. Check the renewal price before you pay.
Hosts and registrars
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Hostinger
Cheap hosting that is fast enough for a first site and most small business sites. Check the renewal price before you buy.
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Namecheap
Where I register domains. Clear renewal prices and no upsell maze at checkout.
Hire a professional
WordPress developer
A complete site from your content and a theme. Most builds take one to two weeks.
Page builders
A page builder lets you arrange text, images and layouts by dragging blocks instead of writing code. Pick one and stay with it, because switching later means rebuilding pages.
Page builders
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Elementor
The builder with the most tutorials, templates and freelancers. Good if you want to design pages yourself.
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Bricks
A builder for people comfortable with CSS. Clean output, fewer plugins, steeper start.
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Elementor specialist
Page layouts, template fixes and redesigns inside Elementor. Small fixes are often done the same day.
WordPress themes
The theme sets how the site looks and how fast it loads. Pick a light one, and the design can still look good.
Themes
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GeneratePress
A light theme that stays fast whatever you build on it. My pick when speed matters more than drag and drop.
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Kadence
A fast theme with a free version that already does headers, footers and layouts. A good middle ground.
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Astra
The most installed lightweight theme, with hundreds of starter templates. Free core, paid extras.
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Theme specialist
Installs the theme and adapts it to your brand: colours, fonts, layout and small design fixes.
Site speed
Most slow WordPress sites need caching, lighter images and fewer plugins. The tools below cover all three.
Plugins
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WP Rocket
The caching plugin I install when I don't want to tune settings. Works on almost any host.
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Perfmatters
Turns off the scripts and features WordPress loads for nothing. Pairs with any caching plugin.
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ShortPixel
Compresses images in the background and serves WebP. The free plan covers a small blog.
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WordPress speed specialist
Sends you a PageSpeed report before and after. Most jobs take a day.
Security and malware removal
A firewall blocks suspicious traffic, and a scanner checks your files for harmful code. Together they stop most attacks. If the site is already hacked, cleaning it is a job for a specialist.
Plugins
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Wordfence
Firewall, malware scanner and login protection in one plugin. The free version is enough for most sites.
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Sucuri
A firewall in front of your site plus cleanup if you get hacked. Worth it once the site earns money.
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Malware removal specialist
Removes the infection, closes the hole and gets the warning lifted from Google.
Backups and migration
A backup you can restore is the one thing every site needs before anything else. Migration means copying the site to a new host and checking that it works there.
Plugins
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UpdraftPlus
Scheduled backups to Google Drive, Dropbox or S3 with one-click restore. Set it up on day one.
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Site migration specialist
Moves the site to the new host or domain, with HTTPS, and checks that nothing broke.
SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) helps Google find your pages and show them to people searching. A plugin handles page titles, the page list Google reads and the extra details shown in results. The content is still your job.
Plugins
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Rank Math
Titles, sitemaps, schema and redirects in one plugin. The free version does more than most sites need.
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Yoast SEO
The classic SEO plugin. Fewer features than Rank Math, but every host and tutorial supports it.
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SEO specialist
Sets up the plugin, fixes problems search engines have reading your site and submits it to Google. Content stays your job.
Visitor analytics
Know which pages bring readers and which pages they leave from. Pick a tool that respects your visitors, then check it once a week.
Plugins
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ZenMarkup Privacy Analytics
My own plugin: visits, referrers and link clicks inside WordPress, without cookies or a third party.
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Site Kit by Google
Google Analytics and Search Console inside the WordPress dashboard. Free, but Google gets the data.
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Fathom Analytics
Simple, privacy-friendly stats on one screen. Paid, no cookie banner needed.
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Analytics specialist
Sets up Google Analytics or a privacy-friendly tool, tracks the actions you want visitors to take and gives you a dashboard you understand.
Forms and email
Contact forms, newsletters and the mail WordPress sends. The usual problem is email that never arrives.
Plugins
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WPForms
Drag and drop forms that just work. Contact forms are free, payments and surveys are paid.
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WP Mail SMTP
Makes WordPress send email through a real mail service, so form messages stop vanishing.
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MailerLite
Newsletters and signup forms with a generous free plan. Simple enough to run alone.
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Forms and email specialist
Gets forms sending and newsletters connected. A one-hour job for someone who does it daily.
Online store
WooCommerce turns a WordPress site into a shop. Payments, shipping and checkout are where most setups go wrong.
Plugins
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WooCommerce
The standard WordPress shop. Free to start, with paid extensions for the parts your store needs.
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WooCommerce developer
Checkout, payments, shipping rules and product setup. A full store takes about a week.
Courses and memberships
Sell a course or lock content behind a paid membership. These plugins do it without leaving your site.
Plugins
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LearnDash
The most complete course plugin: lessons, quizzes, certificates, drip content. Paid, no free version.
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Tutor LMS
A course plugin with a free plan that covers lessons and quizzes. A cheaper way to start than LearnDash.
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MemberPress
Paid membership and content access rules. Pairs with any course plugin or works on its own.
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Courses and memberships specialist
Sets up courses, memberships and payments on LearnDash, Tutor LMS or MemberPress.
Site translation
Every page in a second language needs its own translation, and it needs updating when the original changes. The plugin decides how much of that you do by hand.
Plugins
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Polylang
Free translation plugin, one post per language. What this site runs on.
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TranslatePress
Translate pages from the front end, with automatic translation if you want it. The easiest to start with.
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WPML
The paid standard for multilingual WordPress. Most themes and plugins test against it.
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Site translation specialist
Installs WPML or Polylang and sets up menus, page addresses and the language switcher.
Site maintenance
Updates, backups and a check that the site is still online. Install security fixes within days and the rest monthly. Do it from one dashboard or pay someone to watch it.
Plugins
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MainWP
Manage updates and backups of many sites from your own dashboard. Free core, paid extensions.
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ManageWP
The same job as a hosted service. Free for the basics, pay per site for backups and more.
Hire a professional
WordPress maintenance specialist
Updates, backups and a monthly check, billed per month.
WordPress errors
White screen, critical error, a page that stopped working after an update. This is the one task I would hand off.
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WordPress bug fixer
White screen, critical error, broken checkout. Describe the problem, get a quote, usually fixed in a day.