Chicago's WordPress Development Partner
Chicago WordPress development for manufacturers, associations and service firms with large, aging websites. Years of accumulated plugins are usually the real problem, so we rebuild on a clean foundation rather than patching around the damage.
Real Mojo Dojo clients, on the record.
Rebuilding large, aging WordPress sites on a clean foundation.
World Business Chicago describes the region as an $886 billion economy in which no single sector exceeds 13% of GDP. That diversity shows up in the websites we are asked to fix. A distributor with a product catalog built up over ten years, a professional association with member content locked in an old plugin, a manufacturer whose site was redesigned twice on top of the same theme. Each one works, just about, but pages are slow, updates break things and nobody wants to touch the code.
Patching that kind of site rarely ends well, because the real problem is the stack of overlapping plugins and custom code underneath. We audit what the site actually does, keep the content and URLs that earn traffic, and rebuild on a lean custom theme with a small, maintained plugin set. Product data, member areas and resource libraries are rebuilt as proper custom post types, so they can grow for another ten years without the same mess.
The audience is broad and demanding. The metro is home to 30 Fortune 500 headquarters, and trade show season at McCormick Place brings buyers from around the world to research suppliers online. Meanwhile 35.4% of city residents speak a language other than English at home, and people search by neighborhood or suburb, not just the city name. A rebuild is the right moment to add Spanish content, location pages and structured data, with SEO protected through every redirect.
This page covers Chicago; for the national picture see WordPress Development USA. We also provide WordPress development in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin and Miami.
Related Chicago services include Web Design, SEO and Copywriting. Browse all Chicago services.
WordPress development in Chicago: a big, diversified market.
Regional figures from World Business Chicago, the Census Bureau and Choose Chicago, with each source named.
Industries we help in Chicago.
The sectors that anchor the regional economy, and the WordPress work each one tends to need.
Manufacturing and food innovation
Rebuilt product catalogs, spec sheets and distributor locators for manufacturers, with structured data that lets buyers filter by material, size or application.
Logistics and distribution
Clear service, lane and facility pages for freight, warehousing and wholesale firms in the region's largest employment sector, plus quote forms routed to the right team.
Associations and trade bodies
Member areas, event calendars and resource libraries migrated out of legacy plugins into a maintainable structure, integrated with your membership system.
Professional and business services
Expertise-led sites for consulting, law and accounting firms, with people, practice and insight templates that stay consistent across hundreds of pages.
Health care and education
Accessible provider directories, program pages and enrollment forms for the fastest-growing major sector in the metro.
Hospitality and conventions
Fast booking-led sites for hotels and restaurants that peak in summer and fall and around shows at McCormick Place.
Is your Chicago website held together by old plugins?
Send us the site and tell us what it has to do. We will come back with an honest keep, fix or rebuild recommendation, a timeline and a fixed-price quote.
Why WordPress, and why us.
Platform share from W3Techs (28 September 2026). Build history from Mojo Dojo.
What a custom WordPress build gives you that a template does not.
A theme built from your design
We convert your approved design into a bespoke theme, with no unused layouts, no page builder bloat and no license fees tied to a theme vendor.
Editing your team can use
Custom post types, custom fields and reusable blocks mean staff update services, team pages and case studies without touching code or breaking the layout.
Speed built in, not bolted on
Lean templates, optimized images, sensible caching and Core Web Vitals targets set before we write code, not patched in at the end.
Security and updates handled
Hardened configuration, minimal plugins from maintained sources, backups and a clear update process, so the site is not the easy target it is when left to drift.
SEO structure from day one
Clean URLs, heading hierarchy, schema markup, redirects and analytics tracking are part of the build, so the site launches ready to be found.
Code you own and can hand on
Documented, standards-based code in your repository or hosting account. You are never locked in to us, and any competent WordPress developer can pick it up.
Get your free Chicago WordPress audit.
Submit your website and within 48 hours we will list its plugins, conflicts, speed problems and security gaps, and tell you whether your WordPress site should be fixed or rebuilt. No calls, no obligations.
WordPress development services for established sites.
Everything we build and maintain. Rebuilds of older sites usually lean on migration, plugin rationalization and custom post types.
Custom theme development. Design to WordPress theme, fully responsive and mobile first.
WooCommerce stores. Product, checkout, shipping and payment setup for ecommerce on WordPress.
Plugin selection and custom plugins. Audit of what you have, the right plugins for what you need, and custom code where none exist.
Custom post types and fields. Structured content models so your site scales past a handful of pages.
Redesign and reskin. A new look on your existing WordPress site without losing content or rankings.
Migration to WordPress. Move from another CMS or host, with redirects mapped and domain authority preserved.
Multisite and multi-language. WordPress Multisite networks and multi-language setups, kept safe and maintainable.
Rescue of abandoned projects. Technical assessment, an honest scope and a plan to finish what a previous developer left.
Speed and Core Web Vitals. Performance tuning, image and script control, and website speed optimization on live sites.
Security hardening. Login protection, file permissions, malware scanning and backup routines.
Analytics, tagging and tracking. GA4, tag management, conversion events and form tracking set up and tested.
Maintenance and support. Monthly updates, monitoring, uptime checks and priority access to developers.
Built for search, AI answers and speed.
A WordPress site that cannot be found is an expensive brochure. We build with search in mind: crawlable templates, structured data, tidy internal linking and a redirect plan for every URL that changes. If you want expert help after launch, our WordPress SEO team works directly inside the sites we build.
Search is also moving towards AI answers, so we mark up your services, people and content so assistants can read and cite them. Read more on AI SEO. For stores, our WooCommerce SEO service covers product and category pages once the build is live.
Speed decides whether visitors stay. We test against Core Web Vitals before launch and keep tuning afterwards, and we can host the finished site on managed WordPress hosting if you want one team responsible for both.
Older sites often carry years of search equity in URLs that nobody has documented. Before a rebuild we crawl the whole site, compare it with analytics and Search Console, and flag the pages that bring in leads, so the new structure keeps them and the redirects are complete on day one.
How we work with you.
Three ways to engage. Sites carrying years of plugins usually start with a rescue audit that shows what to keep.
Project build
A fixed-scope, fixed-price build from brief to launch, with milestone dates agreed up front so you can plan around them.
Ongoing retainer
Monthly maintenance, updates, monitoring and a pool of development hours for changes, with a named account manager who knows your site.
Rescue and takeover
Already have a WordPress site that is slow, broken or abandoned? We audit it, tell you honestly whether to fix or rebuild, then do the work.
Get your free Chicago WordPress audit.
Submit your website and within 48 hours we will list its plugins, conflicts, speed problems and security gaps, and tell you whether your WordPress site should be fixed or rebuilt. No calls, no obligations.
How a Chicago WordPress rebuild runs.
Six stages with sign-off at each one, delivered remotely over video calls, with the new build on a shared staging site from week one.
Discovery and scoping
We define your audience, goals, content and required features, and map the site structure and integrations before any design starts.
UX and UI design
High-fidelity designs built around your brand and conversion goals. You approve every template before a line of code is written.
Development
We build the custom theme, content structures and integrations on a staging site you can review as it takes shape.
Content and SEO migration
Content is loaded, redirects are mapped, metadata and schema are implemented and existing rankings are protected.
Testing and quality assurance
Cross-browser and device testing, speed and accessibility checks, form and tracking tests and a full security review.
Launch and handover
We take the site live, monitor the first weeks closely, train your team and hand over documentation.
Areas we serve in Chicago.
We work with organizations across Chicagoland remotely, through video calls, shared staging links and regular reporting. In the city that includes the Loop, River North, the West Loop, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Pilsen and Hyde Park.
In the suburbs we build for businesses in Evanston, Oak Park, Skokie, Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Rosemont, Oak Brook, Naperville, Aurora, Elgin, Joliet and Waukegan, and across the state line in Hammond, Indiana. People here search by neighborhood or suburb, so multi-location firms usually need a page for each area they serve.
Selected results.
Featured projects from our wider client portfolio. They show our approach, not results for organizations in this city.
WordPress, Shopify or something else?
WordPress is the right choice when content matters as much as the sale: services businesses, publishers, membership sites, B2B sites with a lot of pages, and stores that need deep content alongside the catalog. It is also the most flexible option when you need unusual functionality or want full ownership of your code and data.
For a straightforward retail catalog where hosting, checkout and payments should just work, Shopify is often the better fit. We build on both and give you an honest recommendation based on your requirements, not on what we would prefer to sell. If you are weighing a wider redesign, see our web design and development service.
Manufacturers and distributors with large catalogs sometimes ask whether a dedicated ecommerce platform would be simpler. If the catalog is mainly for research and quote requests, WordPress with structured product data usually wins. If buyers check out online at volume, we will talk through the alternatives honestly.
“Their team understood our business before we even had to explain it. Enquiries are up 250% and the quality is better than ever.”
How a website sells, not just how it looks.
Most websites are built by people who think about how they look. The Website Playbook is about how they sell: the funnel, the proposition, and the landing page, in the order you should work on them.
Send me the Website Playbook →
Free. 14 pages. 18-minute read. In your inbox. Magic-link delivery, it arrives in about two minutes, and there's no sales call attached to reading it.
WordPress development questions.
What people ask before a WordPress project, plus a few questions from organizations with large, older sites. Contact us →
What does a WordPress developer actually do?
A WordPress developer builds and maintains the code behind a WordPress site: the custom theme, the content structures, plugin configuration and custom plugins, integrations with other tools, and the performance and security setup. They turn a design into a site your team can edit and keep running.
How long does a WordPress project take from brief to launch?
A standard WordPress website typically takes 4 to 8 weeks from design sign-off to launch. Larger projects with WooCommerce, custom plugins or significant content migration take 8 to 14 weeks. The main variable is how quickly feedback comes back during design. Your quote includes a project plan with milestone dates.
Do you work with Chicago businesses?
Yes, remotely. Audits, design reviews and training happen over video calls, the rebuild is visible on a shared staging site throughout, and after launch you receive shared reporting on speed, uptime and leads. Your stakeholders can join from the office, home or the road.
Should I use a template or a custom WordPress theme?
A template is quicker and cheaper at the start, but it carries code and layouts you do not need, is harder to speed up and often limits what you can change. A custom theme costs more up front and gives you a faster site, editing tools shaped around your content and no dependence on a theme vendor. For a site that has to earn revenue, custom usually pays back.
Can you take over a WordPress project another developer abandoned?
Yes, and we do this regularly. We start with a technical assessment of what exists, what can be kept and what needs rebuilding, then give you an honest evaluation and a realistic scope. Sometimes fixing an inherited site costs more than starting fresh, and we will tell you when that is the case.
Will my Google rankings survive a WordPress migration or redesign?
They can, if the migration is planned for it. We crawl the existing site, map every URL to its new location with 301 redirects, carry over titles, descriptions and structured data, and monitor Search Console after launch. Rankings can dip briefly on any migration, and our process is designed to keep that short and small.
Is WordPress or Shopify better for ecommerce?
For a standard retail catalog, Shopify is usually the better choice because it handles hosting, security and payments natively. WooCommerce on WordPress wins when you need deep content alongside ecommerce, complex pricing rules, unusual product setups or B2B features. We build both and recommend based on your requirements.
Is WordPress secure?
WordPress core is actively maintained and regularly patched. Most compromised sites are hacked through outdated plugins, weak passwords or poor hosting. We reduce that risk with a minimal plugin set from maintained sources, hardened configuration, backups, malware scanning and a regular update routine.
Do you provide ongoing WordPress maintenance after launch?
Yes. Our maintenance retainer covers monthly updates, backups, uptime monitoring, security scanning and priority access to our developers for changes. Clients get a named account manager and a monthly report on load times, Core Web Vitals and any issues found.
Can you make my existing WordPress site faster?
Usually, yes. Slow WordPress sites are most often caused by heavy themes, too many plugins, uncompressed images and poor hosting. We audit the site, fix what is causing the delay and measure the result against Core Web Vitals. See our website speed optimization service for details.
How many plugins is too many?
There is no magic number, but every plugin adds code, update risk and potential conflicts. On older sites we often find several plugins doing the same job, or doing something the theme could handle in a few lines. We aim for a small set of maintained plugins, each with a clear purpose.
Can you move our member or product data out of an old plugin?
Usually, yes. We export the data, map it into custom post types and fields, and migrate it with scripts so records, relationships and media carry across. We check counts and spot-check records before launch, and keep URLs or redirect them so nothing that ranks is lost.
Get your free Chicago WordPress audit.
Submit your website and within 48 hours we will list its plugins, conflicts, speed problems and security gaps, and tell you whether your WordPress site should be fixed or rebuilt. No calls, no obligations.