WordPress
Kelp is a proud Automattic Agency partner. This means we are experts within the WordPress ecosystem including Jetpack, Pressable, and WooCommerce. In fact, this very website is a headless WordPress instance.
We love building custom WordPress themes and plugins with a clear purpose. WordPress can be an incredibly powerful platform — as long as you respect its ecosystem and use it the way it was designed. We’ve embraced the Gutenberg editor and gone all-in on block-based themes. Automattic recognized our work with The Innovator Award in 2023.
We believe that your website's underlying technology can either hold you back, or give you momentum to hit new records. Our preferred method to build custom WordPress themes is with Timber as it provides a powerful templating engine with a clean syntax. However, we don't mind working in existing themes built with good ol' vanilla PHP. Headless WordPress sounds scary, but it can also be quite nice.
Where Teams Get Stuck
WordPress becomes difficult when editing is inconsistent, plugins accumulate without a plan, or custom code is undocumented. A site may look fine to visitors while the team avoids making needed updates.
How We Fix It
We organize the content and block system around what editors actually publish. Custom themes, plugins, integrations, or a headless front end are considered when they solve a defined problem. We also plan performance, accessibility, updates, and support from the outset.
Build for the Content You Really Manage
We organize pages, custom content, navigation, and reusable components so the site can grow without becoming difficult to update. The build can include custom interfaces, application connections, forms, and migrations where the workflow requires them.
Keep the Experience Consistent
In Artisan Talent, Kelp worked with a custom WordPress setup, an Angular jobs application, and HubSpot pages to maintain a unified experience. Ongoing updates and support are part of keeping a WordPress site reliable. Talk with Kelp about your WordPress project.
Kelp's own website is a headless WordPress build. The team also works with block-based editing, custom themes, and plugins. The architecture depends on how editors work, what the site must connect to, and the long-term cost of maintaining it.
How This Works in Practice
WordPress is flexible, but that flexibility needs an editing model. We decide which content should be structured, which layouts should be reusable, and where custom development is justified. Performance, accessibility, search access, and maintenance are part of the build plan. Integrations with applications or marketing systems are scoped around ownership of data and the workflow people actually use.
What the Work Includes
- Content architecture and editor experience
- Custom theme or block development
- Integrations and migration
- Maintenance and performance plan
What Moving Forward Looks Like
Show us the current editing process and the changes the team cannot make confidently. We can decide whether targeted improvements or a broader rebuild will serve you better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we need headless WordPress?
Only when its flexibility justifies the added complexity. Kelp's own site uses headless WordPress, but a conventional build may be a better fit for many teams.
WordPress Sites In the real-world
Don't just take our word for it, check out some of our real projects in the carousel below.
