Web development
WordPress website
WordPress still runs around 40 percent of all websites, and there is a reason for that. The problem is rarely WordPress itself. It is everything people stack on top of it.
- Same-day reply
- Fixed price
- No lock-in
- No page builder
- Under ten plugins
- Editable by editors
- Core Web Vitals ready
Service
WordPress website
How I build
I start by mapping which section types the site actually needs. Usually seven or eight, not forty. Those become blocks the editors can arrange in any order without being able to build something that looks wrong.
The rest is discipline. Images are scaled and converted on upload. Fonts are hosted locally. JavaScript only where it is needed. It is not rocket science, it is just what gets skipped when people are in a hurry.
The plugin list
A typical site I hand over has between five and ten plugins. One for fields, one for forms, one for SEO metadata, one for backups, one for caching. The rest I solve in the theme, because a plugin that solves one small problem often drags a whole framework in with it.
Every plugin is also a security liability and a future update that can go wrong. Fewer plugins is not a goal in itself, but it is a good indicator.
Migrating from an existing site
- A full map of the old URLs before anything gets moved.
- 301 redirects for every single page that changes address, not one blanket redirect to the front page.
- A comparison of indexed pages before and after, so we notice if something disappears.
- Content moves with its structure, not as one big field of HTML.
Deliverables
What you get
Concrete deliverables, not a report of recommendations someone else has to find time for.
- Seven or eight blocks
The section types the site actually needs, which editors can arrange without being able to build something wrong.
- Under ten plugins
Fields, forms, SEO, backup and cache. The rest gets solved in the theme, because every plugin is one more liability.
- A redirect plan
Every URL from the old site mapped to the new one. Not one blanket redirect to the front page.
- A short video walkthrough
So the next person to open the project can find their way without calling me.
Process
How it works
Four steps. You know what happens when, and you can stop after any of them.
- 01
Get on a call
Twenty minutes where you explain what is going wrong and I ask the questions that decide the scope. I say so immediately if the job is not a fit.
- 02
I read the code
Before quoting I spend half a day to a day reading the project. You get an honest assessment of the state of things, including when it is worse than you hoped.
- 03
Fixed price and scope
You get a written quote with what is included, what is not, and when it is done. Not a three-month range you cannot plan around.
- 04
Delivery in your workflow
I work in your git repository and open pull requests that can be reviewed. Everything I touch is documented, so knowledge does not walk out the door with me.
Who does the work
I am the person you will be working with
My name is Mikkel and I have been building for the web since 2010. There is no project manager in between, and you will not get a junior on the job because the senior was busy. What you agree is what gets built, and I am the one building it.
Day to day I am a partner at Bigum&Co, and I have worked on more than 400 projects across ecommerce, pharma, construction and the public sector. Call or write — I usually reply the same day, and I will say straight away if the job is not a fit.
- Experience
- 16 yrs
- Projects
- 400+
- Rating
- 5.0
- Reply time
- Same day
In depth
WordPress website
Why WordPress is still a sensible choice
WordPress runs around forty percent of all websites. It is easy to be critical of, and some of the criticism is deserved, but there are real reasons the number is that high.
The editing interface is familiar. If a marketing department needs to publish without help, the odds that someone has used WordPress before are very high. It sounds trivial and it is one of the largest costs of choosing something more exotic.
There are people. If you change vendor in three years, there are hundreds of developers in Denmark who can take over. Pick a less common system and the pool of people who can help might be twenty, which hands them a position you do not want.
And the criticism is usually aimed at something other than it thinks. Slow WordPress sites are slow because of what was stacked on top — page builders, forty plugins, uncompressed images — not because of WordPress. A tightly built WordPress site is fast enough for anything.
On security
The WordPress core is genuinely quite solid. There is a security team, updates arrive quickly, and critical fixes install automatically. Nearly every break-in I have seen came from somewhere else.
The most common is a plugin that has not been updated in two years, often because the developer who made it stopped. That is why the number of plugins is not only a performance question — every plugin is a place someone can get in.
The second most common is passwords. An administrator account with a password also used somewhere else that leaked in a breach three years ago. Two-factor on administrator accounts solves it and takes five minutes to set up.
The third is hosting. Share a server with three hundred other sites and one of them gets compromised, and it can spread. That is one of the costs of cheap hosting nobody mentions.
Reviews
What people say about me
Mikkel delivered competent, professional work setting up my website. Everything ran quickly and without a hitch.
Sisse Find(translated from Danish) Mikkel Tschentscher is my lifeline when something is urgent and nobody else can work it out.
Torben Wiese(translated from Danish) Mikkel is a man after my own heart. Executes at lightning speed, has an eye for detail and is always there when you need him. It does not get better than that.
Tini Owild(translated from Danish)
Services
Why me
- 16 years of experience
I have built for the web since 2010 and seen most of the ways a project can come off the rails. It makes the estimates more honest.
- 400+ projects
Across ecommerce, pharma, construction and the public sector. Chances are I have seen something close to your job before.
- You talk to the person coding
No project manager in between, and no junior on the job because the senior was busy. What you agree is what gets built.
Brands I have worked with
A selection. Some freelance, some through agencies, some across several years.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
- Is WordPress not insecure?
- The WordPress core is actually quite solid. Nearly every break-in I have seen came through a plugin that had not been updated in two years, or a password that was also used somewhere else.
- Can we add new pages ourselves?
- Yes, that is the whole point of building the blocks properly. You can assemble new pages from the existing sections without calling me.
- What about hosting?
- I do not sell hosting, but I will happily tell you what I would choose. It is one of those decisions where the cheapest option costs the most in the end.
- Can we add new pages ourselves?
- Yes, that is the whole point of building the blocks properly. You can assemble new pages from the existing sections without calling me.
- How long does it take?
- A regular company site with ten to fifteen pages typically takes four to eight weeks from approved design. What usually drags it out is not the code, it is that the copy has not been written yet.
- Can you move us from another system?
- Yes. The critical part is the URL structure and redirects. Content can nearly always be moved, but it has to move with its structure rather than as a lump of HTML.