When it comes to starting a food blog, there are lots of decisions to make. 

The good news is that you don’t need to start completely from scratch: just like with recipes, it’s completely natural to browse other blogs for ideas, fork what’s working, and add your own unique spin for a blog that perfectly matches your tastes.

In that spirit, we’ve compiled a list of 11 unique food blogs to help you get cooking on your very own food blog. 

Many of these blogs use affordable .blog domains, which are managed by WordPress.com’s parent company, Automattic. You can buy .blog domains from other providers. But they are still managed right here by our team, so we recommend you buy your .blog at the source to avoid upcharges!

1. Munchin’ With Maddie

• Theme: Tiny Salt

Munchin’ with Maddie is a “feel-good food” site with plenty of recipes to fit a variety of specialty diets, including gluten-free, sugar-free, paleo, and vegan recipes. 

This blog is photo-forward, with gorgeous food and process photos in addition to simple recipe blurbs. 

Maddie organizes her recipes both by “course” (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert) and diet type, giving readers multiple ways to search depending on their needs. 

We also love her use of a “what’s special” box at the top of each recipe, telling readers what makes this recipe great in one quick line!

Take a page from Maddie’s cookbook

• Use a Recipe Plugin: To achieve that professional recipe site feel, Munchin’ With Maddie uses a plugin called WP Recipe Maker, a WordPress plugin designed specifically for recipe sites. This plugin adds recipe blocks to the WordPress drag-and-drop blog editor so that you can easily add step-by-step directions, shoppable ingredient blocks, videos, and buttons to jump to or print recipes. 

• Divide your content into categories: Follow Maddie’s lead and create relevant content categories for your site. Like Maddie, you should take some time to consider what overarching categories will be most relevant across your recipes/content and create a simple schema that is intuitive to your readers. 

• Get this theme: Love Maddie’s look? This website uses the Tiny Salt theme, a third-party theme. WordPress.com Business plan and above users can buy and customize this theme. Or, check out WordPress.com’s huge library of food themes, available to all WordPress.com users on the Personal plan and above.

 2. Flavoury

• Theme: Tiny Salt

Flavoury is a fully vegetarian recipe site created by Marvin, a freelance editor, hobby cook, and aspiring vegetarian. 

While this site is recipe-focused, Flavoury addresses common questions at the end of each recipe post. 

He covers topics like how to adapt the recipe for specific diets, sharing related recipes in the archive, and discussing the pros and cons of different ingredients. 

Like Munchin’ with Maddie, Flavoury also uses the Tiny Salt WP Theme and the WP Recipe Maker plugin.

You can see how different color palettes, fonts, and varying uses of drag-and-drop page elements make these two sites visually distinct.

Take a page from Flavoury’s cookbook

• Add a Newsletter block: Flavoury includes a newsletter signup at the bottom of each recipe post, making it easy for readers to subscribe while they’re already engaged. Adding the option to subscribe to a newsletter at strategic places across your site increases the odds that readers will continue engaging with your content.

• Engage your readers through comments: At the end of each post, Flavoury poses a question to its readers, encouraging them to comment and engage with the recipe and content. Enabling commenting and posing direct questions to your readers can help you build an active and dedicated community.

3. A Hundred Years Ago

• Theme: Custom

A Hundred Years Ago is a unique project bringing recipes from the early 1900s to modern cooks. 

Each week, Sheryl photocopies a “new” 100-year-old recipe from an old cookbook and discusses terms and verbiage that may be unfamiliar today. 

At the bottom of each post, she translates the original recipe into a modernized version for today’s chefs.

Take a page from Sheryl’s cookbook

• Make something old new again: Part of what makes A Hundred Years Ago so successful is that it archives and digitizes recipes and cookbooks that are likely not online elsewhere. An archival focus can help your blog stand out in this highly digitized space and guide content creation. 

• Keep a content schedule: Posting on a regular cadence can help keep your audience engaged and keep you accountable. For example, in addition to a weekly recipe every Sunday, Sheryl posts more general musings about food from the early 1900s each Thursday.

4. Smitten Kitchen

• Theme: Custom 

Deb from Smitten Kitchen has spent the last 16 years capturing hearts (and stomachs) from her tiny New York City kitchen. 

Today, Smitten Kitchen is a bona fide food media empire, with NYT bestselling books, food show appearances, and branded tools (goals!). 

Despite Deb’s growing online presence, she still keeps things warm, fuss-free, and casual.

Take a page from Deb’s cookbook

• Utilize tags: While categories can be used to organize your content into a simple, manageable system, tags offer a more free-flowing method. Smitten Kitchen uses tags for cuisine regions, common ingredients, occasions, seasons, and more. It’s a good rule of thumb to start tagging from your first post, so that by the time you have a huge collection like Smitten Kitchen, it’s easy for readers to find exactly what they’re looking for.

• Add process videos: A photo is worth a thousand words, but when it comes to cooking, a video can be especially helpful. You can upload video content and embed YouTube and Vimeo videos directly on your WordPress site. Or, if you are on the Premium plan and above, you can host 4k videos directly on WordPress. 

5. Bread.blog

• Theme: Huntt

Professional baker Karen Man’s Bread.blog is an ode to breadmaking and bread eating. 

This blog only has a small collection of staple recipes, and Man notes the site is not to be a recipe center, but rather “to give pause and allow for space to lead from your own intuition.” 

Bread.blog is a quirky collection, focusing on both aspects of the craft alongside bread-related musings, photos, and even a few Spotify playlists like this one. 

While Bread.blog is text-heavy, Man mixes whimsy and mindfulness into her posts, reminding readers to breathe and set intentions as they start the journey of breadmaking.

Take a page from Bread.blog’s cookbook

• Pick a hyper-specific niche: Part of what makes Bread.blog’s variety of posts cohesive is its hyperfocus: the unique combination of “bread+mindfulness” and Man’s engaging writing style makes this seemingly random group of posts (a picture of buttered toast or a hip-hop heavy playlist for breadmaking) feel curated.

• Add an equipment list: We love Karen’s baking equipment page, which allows readers to outfit their kitchen with professional-approved baking gear. Blog-approved gear can be a great opportunity to use affiliate links to make commissions on products and ingredients.

• Get this theme: If you love the style of Bread.blog, and you’re a WordPress.com user on the Business plan or above, check out the Huntt theme! Or, explore our huge library of food-specific blog themes to find your perfect aesthetic. 

6. Broma Bakery

• Theme: Custom

Broma Bakery is a dessert lover’s paradise, featuring indulgent treats from cookies and cakes to seasonal baked goods. 

The site’s clean, modern design puts the focus on beautiful sweets, with detailed instructions and tons of process photos that help home bakers bake with confidence. 

Take a page from Broma’s cookbook

• Add a robust search option: Broma Bakery includes a search function in its header, making it easy for readers to find recipes. Broma uses a plugin called Slickstream to offer suggestions to searchers, like related and trending recipes. 

• Create weekly menus: Broma’s weekly dessert menu is a clever way to encourage readers to keep baking (and engaging!) daily. Regardless of the type of food you offer, finding ways to keep readers coming back is paramount for blogging success.

7. Bruno Barbieri

• Theme: Custom 

Bruno Barbieri is an Italian 7-Michelin-star chef and WordPress blogger. 

His site is part blog and part career portfolio: it includes his books, some of his recipes, a travel blog, and links to his active social media. 

Since Bruno is a professional chef, his recipes lean toward the gourmet side, with niche ingredients and advanced cooking techniques.

Take a page from Bruno’s cookbook

• Link your social media feeds: Bruno puts his active Instagram account front and center on his homepage, encouraging readers to engage across platforms. Social media integrations can be a great way to keep your audience engaged, and WordPress.com offers a suite of social media integrations right out of the box — for example, you can add social media icons to your site.

• Build your professional portfolio: If you are a professional chef, your blog can act as a digital resume for potential customers and employers. Alongside personal stories and recipes, your website is a great place to list accolades, publications, and awards.

8. History and Wine

• Theme: Custom

History and Wine is a wine review blog by sommelier and Biscayne Times “Vino” columnist Jacqueline Coleman. History and Wine offers both reviews and lists of seasonal wines alongside wine tour itineraries and wine guides. 

While some posts are standalone blog posts created specifically for History and Wine, the site also acts as a writing portfolio.

Jacqueline shares blurbs with links to her monthly columns in the Biscayne Times and other publications, creating a central hub for all of her work across the web.

Take a page from History and Wine’s tasting menu

• Keep it Local: As the Biscayne Times reporter, much of the coverage on History and Wine is centered around the Miami area (with occasional guides to national wineries). A local focus can be a great way to build a dedicated following and increase your chances of showing up in local-specific Google searches.

• Create a Content Hub: If you write for paid publications, creating a centralized hub of your content is an important way to own and manage your content. Your site can show off your portfolio and create a forever home for your stories.

9. Food and Mood

Theme: Custom

Food and Mood is run by Mateja, who considers herself a videographer, photographer, and recipe developer. 

With a huge focus on photography, her images are as much of a treat as her recipes, featuring colorful textiles, textures, and stunning closeups of her creations. 

The blog focuses on natural, seasonal recipes elevated through exceptional visual storytelling.

Take a page from Mateja’s cookbook

• Invest in high-quality photographs: Good photography can make or break a food blog. Even if you’re not a professional like Gabi, invest time in learning basic food photography principles: use natural light when possible, keep backgrounds simple, and maintain a consistent style across all of your images.

• Get reader support: At the end of each recipe, Mateja has a section asking readers to fuel her creativity with a small $3 donation. Many food bloggers rely on reader contributions to help cover the costs of recipe testing, ingredients, and photography equipment. With WordPress.com, you can use various plugins to manage donations or add a donation form block directly.

10. Marco Bianchi

• Theme: Generate Press

Marco Bianchi is a scientist working in biochemical research and oncology, so his blog focuses on food and recipes as a part of disease prevention.

In addition to recipes, he publishes health-related articles explaining the properties and nutritional value of different ingredients. 

By combining scientific expertise with practical cooking advice, Marco has created a unique, nutrition-forward site for health-conscious cooks. 

Take a page from Marco’s cookbook

• Bring in your professional expertise: Marco’s background in biochemistry and oncology sets his food blog apart from typical recipe sites. Consider how your own professional expertise or education might inform your content in unexpected ways.

• Tie content types to specific days: Marco features recurring content series called “Small Snacks,” a Tuesday post series where he creates nutritious snacks for his daughter Vivienne. Having regular themed content on specific days gives readers something to anticipate and helps you establish a posting rhythm.

11. Vintage Kitchen

Theme: Custom

Vintage Kitchen is run by Dorothy, a former newspaper and magazine writer who opened an old Victorian inn with her husband in Northern Vermont. 

Through her blog, she chronicles tried-and-true recipes she’s developed and served to her guests using seasonal items from her on-site garden.

Inspired by the food her mother used to make for a household of six, her recipes are no-frills, homey, and hearty.

Take a page from Dorothy’s cookbook

1. Make it Personal: In addition to the recipe itself, Dorothy discusses the weather that day, shares stories of making these recipes in her childhood and with her family, and provides updates on her large garden. These personal touches differentiate a blog from a generic recipe site, allowing readers to connect with you on a deeper level.

2. Use images to elevate the blog layout: For example, Vintage Kitchen uses a split-page layout for each recipe, with a “sticky” recipe photo on the left and the recipe on the right. The benefit of this layout is that your image will stay on the screen no matter how long your post is. For new bloggers without ample photography skills or who don’t love taking step-by-step process photos, this approach can help you get up and running in no time. 

Ready to Get Cooking?

Looking at other successful food blogs is one of the best ways to engage and learn about blogging. 

From building relationships with other bloggers to discovering new ideas for your own blog and content, being a regular reader of food content is a great habit. 

For step-by-step directions for starting your food blog, check out our companion posts:

• How to Start a Blog 
• How to Start a Food Blog

Or, if you’re ready to jump into blogging, get a free domain name for your first year of hosting with WordPress.com.

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How can you tell if a web design company is worth your investment?

In this guide, we’ll explore how much it costs to build a website in today’s market, highlight key considerations in your evaluation, and recommend questions to ask potential providers.

By the end of this post, you’ll be able to make the right decision with confidence.

What is the average cost to hire a web designer?

Outsourcing web design can cost anywhere from $500 to over $5,000. Your final investment depends on various factors, including your website’s complexity and project timeline.

To illustrate, a basic five-page site built via our website design service costs $499, excluding hosting. This includes a free custom domain for one year and is completed within four business days or less.

In contrast, customizing a larger website requires a substantially larger budget. Hiring a web design agency through the WordPress.com Partner Directory, for instance, starts at $5,000 (excluding hosting).

This higher price point includes a custom-designed website, third-party integrations, multiple revisions, migrations, and pre-launch checks, among other benefits. Website completion takes three months or longer.

Here’s a pricing chart to differentiate the deliverables.

How do I choose a web design company?

The best web design firms don’t just craft websites that align with your brand and vision — they create an experience users love. To pick the ideal partner, here’s what you need to watch out for.

1. Decide what you’re after

Clearly defined goals pinpoint the ideal web design company for your needs.

Determine what you need your website to accomplish. Is it generating leads, driving ecommerce sales, or improving brand authority? Once you define your goal, you can quickly work out a rough budget and the type of agency to partner with.

Here are three examples to illustrate what we mean:

2. Curate a list of agencies

After defining your goals, prepare a list of potential agencies.

Here are three ways to find them:

• Referrals: Ask for recommendations from trusted peers who’ve achieved similar goals. This can be your professional connections or community groups.
• Agency directories: Analyze reviews on reputable agency marketplaces like Clutch, DesignRush, and WordPress.com Partner Directory. Focus on web design companies with positive testimonials highlighting outcomes relevant to your goals.
• Favorite websites: Here’s a neat trick. Visit websites you admire, scroll down to the footer, and identify the credited web design company next to the copyright notice. This often reveals web design firms creating the caliber of work you’re seeking.

For example:

3. Focus on agencies that match your business 

Choose web design companies whose reputation or maturity level aligns with your own. This strategic alignment ensures effective collaboration and results.

Here’s what we mean.

Imagine your small business hired a prestigious agency. Given larger agencies’ tendency to prioritize bigger clients, it’s likely the agency will delegate your project to junior web designers with limited experience. 

Enterprises partnering with less established agencies are no better. With standardized rules and processes, small agencies without first-hand experience navigating red tape will struggle to meet compliance standards, potentially delaying launches.

4. Review portfolios

Prioritize agencies with a proven track record in your industry.

A web design company working with B2C companies is unlikely to understand B2B market nuances — and vice versa.

Review the agencies’ projects, examining the challenges encountered, solutions implemented, and measurable results delivered. This should give you an idea if they possess the needed expertise.

Tip: If their portfolio lacks results, consider contacting past clients to gain insights using this script: “Hey! I noticed your website was designed by [web design studio]. It’s impressive. I’m considering hiring them to revamp my website as well. Out of curiosity, how was your experience?”

5. Assess soft skills  

Typically, relationships cause agency partnerships to falter.

Evaluate the web design companies to better understand their communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills — it’ll prevent partnership breakdowns:

• Company research: What’s their process for learning about your business, ideal customers, sales cycle, and the customer journey?
• Collaborative approach: How do they ensure your input shapes the website from concept to completion?
• Risk management solutions: What do their contingency plans for unexpected hurdles look like? For example, what happens if the lead web designer becomes unavailable?
• Communication style: What channels or systems do they use for regular updates and feedback throughout the partnership?

What to ask before hiring a website design company?

You’ve now identified several potential web design companies on your list. Ask the following questions to pinpoint the perfect partner.

1. “Who will I work with?”

Why ask this question: Anticipate the team members you’ll collaborate with. This way, you can assign the ideal counterparts in your in-house team and plan communication ahead. For example, assigning someone technical ensures immediate responses to technical inquiries from the agency’s web development specialist.

Green flags:

• Offers a kickoff meeting with your dedicated team during onboarding.
• Outlines your direct access to channels and team members (e.g., Slack for daily questions, project management software for design updates).
• Handpicks team members with proven success in your industry vertical.
• Demonstrates ongoing investment in their team’s professional development.

Tip: Check the agency’s careers page to verify ongoing training programs for its web designers and developers. Working with specialists who stay ahead of design tools and emerging technologies ensures your site remains future-proof.

Red flags:

• Cagey about who you’ll collaborate with. This indicates the agency views its delivery team as an afterthought. They’ll likely randomly assign staff without considering who’s the best fit for the job.

2. “How well does your team work together, and how is it structured?”

Why ask this question: Agencies with great internal teams deliver exceptional results. Strong team morale translates to increased productivity, enriched company culture, and successful collaboration with clients and partners.

Green flags:

• Consistently positive team reviews on career communities like Glassdoor.
• Testimonials or case studies highlighting team synergy and collaborative problem-solving.

Red flags:

• Rampant negative Glassdoor reviews reveal poor workplace experiences. This directly impacts your website project as the agency will likely provide poor customer service and inconsistent deliverables.
• Unusually rapid promotion of junior staff to senior roles. This high pace signals you’ll work with an inexperienced team lacking the depth of expertise your web project requires.

Tip: Check the LinkedIn profiles of these agency staff, paying attention to their promotion timeline.

3. “What’s the project communication like? What can I expect to receive during our collaboration?”

Why ask this question: Establish clear accountability to ensure progress toward your business goals.

Green flags:

• Provides a detailed communication plan with deliverables, deadlines, and milestones.
• Adapts their communication style to align with your in-house team’s preferences and workflows.
• Runs regular meetings to keep stakeholders informed and identify potential issues before they impact deadlines.

Red flags:

• Rigid processes that prioritize their convenience over your business workflows.
• Vague or inconsistent communication that risks delayed launches.

4. “What else do you do besides website design?”

Why ask this question: A functional website goes beyond design. Here, you’re trying to tease out the agency’s complementary skills, such as digital marketing, information architecture (the practice of organizing information in a user-friendly way), and user research — all central to creating a website that drives conversions.

Green flags:

• Highlights how their user research approach, mobile-first design process, wireframing, and UX design achieve your business goals.
• Walks you through how it handles security and third-party tool integrations.

Red flags:

• Relies on a one-size-fits-all approach to all websites (e.g., uses plug-and-play templates).
• Over-reliant on AI. While AI is becoming a bigger part of design workflows, it shouldn’t be treated as a complete replacement. The best agencies blend AI with human expertise to drive impact.
• Minimizes the importance of user research, information architecture, etc.

5. “What happens after the website is done?”

Why ask this question: The post-launch process matters as much as the initial design stage. Post-launch optimization helps you quickly spot opportunities for change and prioritize improvements based on results (e.g., conversions).

Green flags:

• Provides a comprehensive action plan (e.g., migrate content management systems, document technical issues in the first three days after launch, check responsive web design, configure GA4 setup, heatmaps, and chatbots).
• Creates an optimization roadmap for the next 30/60/90 days to align efforts, allocate resources, and prioritize improvements.
• Conducts user testing to identify friction points in the conversion path and improve conversion rate.

Red flags:

• “Set it and forget it” approach. The agency treats your website as a one-time project rather than an evolving digital asset that needs long-term optimization.

Start building your website with everything you need, right here

These key considerations and questions offer a useful starting point for further discussion. You’ll narrow down your choice and find the best-fit agency partner to turn your initial concept into reality.

If you’re building a high-end website, check the WordPress.com Partner Directory. All agencies are verified, boast years of experience in multiple sectors, and offer ongoing post-launch support as your website scales. Site migration is included, to boot.

To make it easier for you, we’ll handpick the web design agency best suited to your project. All you need to do is share your vision, design preferences, and desired functionality, and we’ll match you with a partner. Alternatively, if you’re building a smaller website, choose our Express Website Design Service. You’ll get a professionally designed site in four business days or less.

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So, you want to become a WordPress developer? That’s the best idea I’ve heard in a while!

After all, WordPress powers over 40% of the web — and behind every great WordPress site and product is someone who knows how to build and manage it. Why shouldn’t it be you?

Now, where do you start?

Well, how about right here? This guide walks you through everything you need to begin developing with WordPress professionally. You’ll learn what WordPress developers actually do, how to gather the right tools, skills, and knowledge, and how to start building a career.

What is a WordPress developer?

A WordPress developer is someone who builds, customizes, contributes to, or maintains websites using the WordPress platform.

If that feels like a rather broad definition, it is. That’s because WordPress is a big ecosystem, and there are many different ways to work within it.

Types of WordPress developers

WordPress developers come in different flavors, depending on what they like to build and how they work. These are some of the most common types you’ll find:

• No-code/low-code site builders: Also sometimes called “WordPress implementers,” these kinds of developers use visual editors and existing themes, patterns, and plugins to create sites mostly using the WordPress user interface without writing custom code.
• Coding specialists: On the other end of the spectrum, developers with deep coding knowledge can build entire websites with custom design and functionality using different programming languages and advanced layout and design tools.
• Theme developers: Create the part that defines the visual design and layout of WordPress sites. You can build custom designs for specific clients or create themes as digital products for sale. Individual themes often focus on particular industries and use cases; making them requires both creativity, design knowledge, and technical chops.
• Plugin developers: Concentrate on extensions that add new features or integrations to a WordPress site. Plugin makers, too, can work directly for and with clients or build their own products and sell them online. This work involves less creativity and more logical thinking and programming skills.
• Technical/maintenance specialists: Handle security, updates, backups, performance, and day-to-day tasks for existing websites. Requires attention to detail and deep knowledge of where to do what in WordPress.
• WordPress core contributors: Help improve the WordPress software itself by submitting updates, patches, and new features to the open-source project for the benefit of everyone who uses it.

It’s up to you to decide what kind of WordPress developer you want to become. At the same time, you can wear more than one hat because skills in one role often carry over to others.

What WordPress developers do

Depending on your role, here are some of the core tasks you might handle:

• Frontend development: Means working on the visual elements of a website, like layout, fonts, colors, and all parts of the user experience. It often involves modifying existing themes or building custom ones. In WordPress, frontend work can involve the built-in Site Editor as well as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Backend development: Here, the focus is on server-side functionality; basically, everything that happens in the background of a WordPress website. Typical tasks include using PHP to customize theme functions, create plugins, or modify WordPress core features.
• Block development: This is a growing area focused on creating custom WordPress blocks using JavaScript. It’s essential for both theme and plugin work since most content elements in WordPress now work with blocks.
• Site management: Typical tasks include updating WordPress core, themes, and plugins, trying out new extensions, managing user accounts, doing design and content updates, or running speed tests and acting on the results. You may also do site migrations and deployments.
• eCommerce development: Involves setting up and customizing online stores. WooCommerce is a great example of this. You’ll handle product pages, checkout flows, shipping logic, and integrations with payment gateways.
• Contributing to WordPress core: You can do almost all of the activities above to help improve the WordPress core software as well.

Assembling your WordPress development toolkit

To become a WordPress developer, you need the right tools for the job. Here are great options to start with:

• WordPress Studio: Free local development tool that allows you to sign up and work on websites on your computer, sync them with your WordPress.com and Pressable account, share live previews with clients, and more.
• Text editor: WordPress development is almost impossible without a good code editor. Check out Atom, Brackets, or Sublime Text for starters.
• GitHub: A platform for version control and collaboration. It also offers a free plan.
• Browser developer tools: Use Chrome or Firefox dev tools to inspect website elements and understand and debug frontend code.
• FTP client: Allows you to access your server directly to upload or edit files. Popular free options are FileZilla, Cyberduck, and WinSCP.

Understanding WordPress basics

As a first step in your developer journey, you need to familiarize yourself with some basic WordPress concepts.

WordPress.org and WordPress.com

WordPress core is the open-source software that powers every site built with WordPress. You can download it at WordPress.org and use it free of charge. It includes all functionality and default features.

To run a WordPress website, you need hosting, meaning space on a web server.

There are different types of web hosting, from shared to managed hosting. The latter is what WordPress.com is—a hosting provider that lets you easily build WordPress-based websites while taking care of everything technical, like software updates, security, and performance.

Hosting your own or your clients’ websites on WordPress.com offers the following benefits:

• Unmetered bandwidth and traffic
• WordPress-optimized server setup
• 99.999% uptime
• Free SSL certificate
• Staging sites
• SSH, WP-CLI, and GitHub deployments
• Free domain for the first year
• Expert support

For more differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, check this detailed list.

WordPress admin

The heart of every WordPress site is the WordPress admin dashboard. It’s where you manage content, themes, plugins, and settings.

It goes without saying that, in order to develop with WordPress, you need to know this part inside and out—including how themes and plugins work.

For example, WordPress themes come in two varieties: classic (PHP and file-based) or block themes (built for the block-based Site Editor). Depending on the type you use for a project, the process of customizing it will differ.

In addition, plugins cover a wide range of functionality. They can add singular layout elements, as well as create entirely new content editing experiences. This, too, is something you need to familiarize yourself with.

WP-CLI—The WordPress command-line interface

Finally, WP-CLI lets you manage WordPress sites with terminal commands.

Pretty much anything you can do in WordPress admin (like install, activate, and update plugins, moderate comments, manage users and user roles, change site settings, etc.), you can do quicker and in bulk with WP-CLI.

Plus, it has some nifty features for developers, like running and testing PHP code or flushing website cache.

(As mentioned, WP-CLI is included on WordPress.com Business and Commerce plans. You can learn more about it here.)

How to learn WordPress development

With the basics covered, next you need to familiarize yourself with WordPress’s architecture and the programming languages that make up the platform.

1. Learn WordPress development fundamentals

A good starting point to dive deeper is the dedicated Beginner WordPress Developer course on WordPress.org.

It offers a structured path to learn how WordPress works behind the scenes, development best practices, introductions to block, plugin, and theme development, as well as important topics such as the WordPress REST API, multisite, debugging, and much more.

This is a great basis to start from and decide in which direction to take your studies next.

Another frequently recommended option is the course “Become a WordPress Developer” on Udemy.

2. Get familiar with HTML

HTML forms the backbone of all web pages. It defines basic layout elements and content like headings, paragraphs, images, and links.

Knowing it is essential for understanding how WordPress and all other websites render content. That’s especially if you plan to do frontend development or customize themes or blocks.

In addition, it’s a great first language for beginners: it’s easy to read and learn, as well as immediately applicable.

You can start learning HTML for free on Codecademy, Learn-HTML.org, or W3Schools.

3. Dive into CSS

While HTML controls site structure, CSS is responsible for how a website looks. Its role is to define colors, fonts, spacing, layouts, and more.

For example, CSS is responsible for making sure the website design adjusts to different screen sizes.

Again, if your goal is to do frontend work, you won’t excel without familiarizing yourself with this markup language. You can find great learning resources for it at Codecademy, W3Schools, as well as web.dev.

4. Consider learning JavaScript

As the third-most important frontend language, JavaScript’s main purpose is to make websites more interactive. For example, you can use it to create things like sliders, pop-ups, and dynamic animations.

It also plays a role in:

• Form submissions
• Connecting to third-party services like web analytics
• Real-time content updates (e.g., after user interaction)

In addition, JavaScript is important in modern WordPress development. The WordPress block editor is built with React (a JavaScript framework), and custom blocks require working with JavaScript as well.

If you want to dive into this topic, you can do so at Codecademy, Learn JavaScript, or MDN Web Docs.

5. Master PHP

PHP is the main WordPress backend language and what powers most of the platform. It generates frontend HTML and controls how content loads, templates work, and features behave.

Knowing PHP is crucial for plugin development, although not as important for themes as it used to be.

Want to add PHP to your developer toolbelt? Great resources are Learn PHP and the ever-present W3Schools and Codecademy.

6. Be familiar with MySQL

The last skill to consider learning when pursuing a career as a WordPress developer is MySQL. It powers the database system that’s the other half of every WordPress site (the first being the file system).

The database contains all pages and post content, settings, and user data, which is pulled during the rendering process.

MySQL is likely not something you’ll work with every day, but understanding it helps when troubleshooting problems or building complex features.

You can get your bearings in this language at W3Schools, the guide in the MySQL documentation, or at MySQL Tutorial.

7. Other skills to invest in

While the above is essential to start developing with WordPress, there are a whole host of supporting skills you should consider learning:

• Git and version control
• The WordPress REST API and APIs in general
• Headless WordPress
• JSON, especially to work with theme.json
• Accessibility
• Performance optimization
• SEO (e.g., to create optimized themes)
• UI, UX, and web design
• Soft skills like marketing and sales
• Project management

Please don’t feel overwhelmed or pressured by this list; it’s just an overview. You will pick up many of these skills naturally as you take on more projects and grow your experience.

Build your first WordPress website

Speaking of which, the best way to learn anything is to use it in real life. Therefore, if you want to get into WordPress development, your best bet is to start building websites. Doing it will solidify your understanding of WordPress and give you something concrete to learn with.

You have different options for doing so:

• Use the WordPress Playground to learn in a safe, browser-based environment with no setup required.
• Create a local development environment (e.g., with Studio) and practice there.
• Purchase hosting and build a live website.

For the best results, pick a manageable project, like a personal blog, a portfolio, or a small business site. This will help you focus on achieving something tangible rather than aimlessly experimenting

If you want to focus on designing rather than managing servers, security, performance, or updates, launch your site on WordPress.com. We also have a guided first-website course for this.

Start your career as a WordPress developer

Once you’ve built a few projects and gained some confidence, it’s time to start thinking about how to turn your skills into real-world opportunities. The first step is to decide what you want:

• Do you see yourself working for a company, joining an agency, or working freelance?
• What will be your niche? Frontend development for creative agencies? Perhaps you want to do eCommerce work for small businesses. Think about this both in terms of the technical area as well as the industry.

Once you’ve made these important decisions, an important tool to find employment is your WordPress development portfolio site. There, you can showcase your work, skills, and services to help you attract web design clients. Highlight completed projects, describe the role you played, and include testimonials if possible.

After that, start applying for jobs in places like:

• WordPress job board
• WPMayor
• Remote OK
• WeAreDevelopers
• LinkedIn
• Codeable

You can also join online communities (Slack groups, forums, Facebook groups) where WordPress work is shared and discussed.

Continue your WordPress development education

WordPress and the web are constantly evolving, and staying current is part of being a great developer. It helps you become faster and stronger, and to learn new techniques and tools so you can offer more services and ask for higher rates and salary.

Here’s how to continue your education:

• Explore the WordPress Codex to deepen your understanding of core functions and best practices.
• Read WordPress.com’s developer documentation for platform-specific tools, APIs, and features.
• Join or attend a local WordPress meetup group or WordCamps to connect with other developers.
• Hang out in WordPress Facebook groups and/or subreddits.
• Subscribe to the Dev and Deploy newsletter for monthly updates, tips, and tutorials.
• Follow the WordPress.com YouTube channel for video walkthroughs, dev talks, and quick tips.

Start your development journey now

Becoming a WordPress developer is more accessible than ever — even if you’re starting with zero coding experience. There are lots of free learning resources and tools out there. WordPress itself is free, too.

Explore the different areas of development to find the right fit for yourself. Grow your skills with personal projects and gather a portfolio as soon as possible. Soon, it’ll be time to get hired for your first job.

If you want some help with the technical aspects of running WordPress websites, go for WordPress.com.

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When the non-profit Net Literacy launched 20 years ago, it started with a simple but powerful idea: Empower those without Internet skills or resources to get online, with youth volunteers serving as teachers and ambassadors. Today, they have grown into a global nonprofit reaching over 250,000 people through digital inclusion and financial education while growing  into new areas, such as AI literacy.

However, sustaining that impact across generations requires more than passion; it needs digital permanence and peace of mind that their resources will always be available online. This is what inspired Net Literacy to become one of the first customers to adopt WordPress.com’s 100‑Year Plan.

“A number of things really appealed to us about the 100‑Year Plan,” Net Literacy founder and CEO Dan Kent says. “First of all, it provides us with a lot of simplification and certainty around our operations. As a nonprofit, we’re looking to provide services for multiple generations.” 

Planning for certainty

Nonprofits live in cycles of funding and change. As Kent (who founded Net Literacy when he was only 14 years old explains, “As a nonprofit, our fundraising definitely is cyclical […] so, to provide us the certainty and peace of mind for our operations, the 100‑Year Plan protects us from downside risks and ensures that we’re able to continue our mission […] remain on the Internet for anybody around the world to access.”

Net Literacy’s mission is to establish and maintain an open, long-term digital curriculum that will be available for generations. For that, they rely on a website that cannot be lost to expired domains or administrative lapses. According to Kent, “The 100‑Year Plan provides us peace of mind, ensuring that future generations of volunteers […] don’t have to worry about making sure that our resources are accessible for anybody around the world.”

Tools to match the legacy 

Net Literacy’s programs tackle long-term challenges like closing the digital divide and spreading AI literacy. “Organizations that solve really big, meaty problems will really value this 100‑Year Plan,” Kent says. “Particularly those […] tackling problems that aren’t easily solved in decades, and need to measure their impact in generations.” 

This isn’t just about hosting your website online with world-class open source software. It’s a promise that an organization’s digital presence is built to last and ready for anything. WordPress.com’s century-based products (which also includes 100-year domains) take a multi-layered approach that begins with a long-term investment model to endow the data, ensuring there will always be finances available to maintain the service. 

This is then combined with distributed cloud server infrastructure, time-machine like layered backups, seamless trust-account continuity, and integration with the Internet Archive, making the 100-Year Plan not just a hosting plan, but a digital legacy fortress. 

A trusted partnership backed by recognition

Net Literacy felt confident about the alignment between WordPress.com and their organizational goals. “WordPress.com has been around as long as we have,” Kent says. “That track record matters.” 

Their trust in WordPress.com was reinforced when the 100‑Year Plan and Domain were recognized by Actualidad Economíca as one of the “100 Best Ideas of 2025” — a prestigious Impact Leader Award that underscores its innovation in digital legacy infrastructure.

Building for the long haul — together

Kent’s vision is clear: change is inevitable, but mission continuity is essential. 

“The one thing that will be constant going forward is change […] things such as the 100‑Year Plan … will make sure that we have a lot more optionality and make sure that our mission continues into the future,” Kent says.

With both mission and medium secured, Net Literacy is ready for what comes next. Thanks to the 100‑Year Plan, their educational resources won’t vanish — they will endure.

Learn more about how to secure and future-proof your digital legacy with the 100-Year Plan and 100-Year Domain.

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iOS 26 brought some significant updates to Apple’s mobile operating system, and we’re keeping pace with updates of our own in the Jetpack mobile app. With the release of Jetpack app 26.4, we’re shipping three new features designed to save you time, eliminate friction, and improve your experience. Let’s dive into what’s new.

Improved Stats

The new Stats screen retains the original structure, but improves every single aspect of the experience — better design, better interactions and animations, new features, and new technology to power it.

A new line chart with comparison periods, hourly data, trend indicators for metrics, significant data points on charts, custom date ranges, engagement and newsletter metrics for posts, full customization — these are just some of the new features coming to Jetpack Stats on mobile.

The new experience can be enabled using the “more” menu on the current Stats screen and can be disabled at any time. Please, give it a try and let us know what you think using the “Send Feedback” option available in the same menu.

On-device intelligence

This year, Apple made it possible for apps like ours to utilize their on-device AI models, bringing intelligence features to our apps in a privacy-sensitive manner. We started by adding three powerful features for the app — excerpt generation, suggested tags, and post summarization.

The new features also arrive with a redesigned publishing experience that makes it easier to configure the post for publishing without missing any important details. With models running on-device, we are able to generate the suggestions pro-actively and at no-cost.

The new intelligence features require an iOS 26 device that supports Apple Intelligence and are initially only available in English, with more options coming later this year.

Liquid Glass

We’ve been hard at work to get our app up to speed with the latest Apple design and technology, including Liquid Glass — a new design language.

It elevated every single aspect of the experience, and especially in Reader, which is stunning. But it’s not just Reader — every part of the app was reviewed and updated to take the best advantage of Liquid Glass.

See what’s new in the app

We hope you enjoy these new features! If you’d like to try them, they are all currently available in the Jetpack mobile app. Upgrade or download it today for iOS or Android.

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