Blog

A WordPress Developer Committed to Performance-Optimized Themes

Composer website screenshot

This new version of the site is definitely WAY more mobile friendly. Love it!
Reg Unterseher

My latest WordPress project, which involved customizing a single Theme for 5 domains for 4 Northwest choral composers.

By collaborating on their marketing efforts – the group was able to affordably launch a series of custom, co-branded domains. The new, customized Gutenberg Block Editor enables each composer to create rich page layouts and integrate a unique color palette – while providing a consistent layout and user experience to visitors. In particular, each composer appreciated the power and flexibility of the Latest Posts Block, which was used to compile their respective choral catalogs alphabetically, as well as showcase featured compositions on their homepages.

Conductor-Composer website screenshot

Based on Automattic’s _Underscores Theme, page load speed ranks in the top 10% of sites – with high benchmark scores for accessibility, SEO, and other best practices.

Site Statistics

Google Lighthouse Insights
Accessibility: 98/100
Best Practices: 100/100
Mobile Speed: 87/100
Desktop Speed: 99/100
SEO: 100/100

WebPageTest Speed Index: 1.238 (median = ~3.519; top 10% = <1.388)

Total Server Requests:   26 (7 Scripts + 7 Images + 3 Fonts + 7 CSS + 1 HTML)
Total Page Size:                 334 Kb (In 2020, the average page size was ~2.4 Mb; the median size was ~2.1 Mb)
Page Load Speed:             ~1.2 seconds

Composer-Conductor website screenshot

Web Design + Development Team

Visual Design by David Owen Hastings
WordPress Theme Development by Scott Marlow

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Reliable WordPress Web Hosts

Below are my preferred web hosts for WordPress CMS sites.

Hosting for medium – larger CMS sites:

Pressable
WPEngine
Superior WordPress-only managed hosting for larger, high traffic websites starting at $25/month.

Hosting for smaller websites, with lower visitor traffic:

A2 Hosting
Reasonably fast shared hosting plans starting at $11.99/month. VPS and Dedicated Hosting options available for larger clients.

5 Web Host Features to Look For

  1. Security
    Your web host is your first line of defense to protect a database-driven CMS, like WordPress. Look for features like brute force protection, IP blocking, open source (free) Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, quarantine protocols, and servers running the most recent version of PHP.
  2. Performance
    Despite having a reputation as a commodity service – not all web hosts perform the same. Reputable hosts provide modern server architecture, caching, CDN options, HTTP/2 enabled servers, at least 256 Mb of PHP memory for WordPress, and the latest version of PHP. Avoid online web hosting ‘review’ sites, which are often just paid to hype high-paying hosting affiliates.
  3. Support
    I prefer only hosts who provide support via chat, email and phone. 24×7. Without delays.
  4. Administration
    Larger-scale providers – like WPEngine, Pantheon and many others – develop proprietary hosting interfaces. While these platforms can provide robust tools, they are often overkill for smaller organizations. Instead, I typically recommend web hosts with a more standardized CPanel (Linux only) or Plesk (Linux and Windows)  because you’ll have a much better chance of finding someone familiar with those server control panels.
  5. Transparent Domain Registration
    If you insist on paying your annual domain registration and monthly hosting fees to the same company – confirm that your hosting and registration are not tied together. That way, you can choose to move your hosting in the future easily.

My hosting recommendations come from over 15 years of experience working with dozens of web hosting companies.

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Building Nonprofit Websites in King County

Nonprofit youth mentoring website screenshot

A redesigned WordPress website for The 4C Coalition – a community-based nonprofit, founded in 1999, that helps black and other youth of color succeed in school and in life. The 4C Coalition offers one-on-one mentoring, group mentoring and tutoring to 12- to 17-year-olds in King County.

Scope of Work

content migration
copywriting
creative strategy
color palette development
front-end web development
online data management
performance optimization
security hardening
search engine optimization
visual design
WordPress training and consulting

Performance

Page load speed ranks in the top 15% of sites.

WebPageTest Speed Index: 1.737 (median = ~3.591; top 10% = <1.388)

Total Page File Size: 1.3 Mb (In 2020, the median web page size = ~2.1 MB; the average page size = ~2.4 Mb)
Total Web Server Requests: 48

Web Design Team

Content Strategy: Rita Cipalla
Photography: Rebecca Sullivan
Visual Design: Joan van den Berg
WordPress Theme Development: Scott Marlow

 

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