WordPress website development in Japan – see an editable site before you commit

Decide this before you hire a WordPress developer

WordPress is one of the most widely used CMSs in the world. Its strength is that you can update news, blog posts, services, case studies and job openings yourself from the admin panel. A good WordPress developer turns that flexibility into a design that fits your brand and an admin area your team actually finds easy.

So before the first meeting, work out who will update what after launch. It makes every conversation with a developer more concrete.

• Pages you will edit in-house: news, blog, case studies, products or menus, team profiles
• Who edits and how often: one person or several, weekly or monthly
• What the developer should keep doing: design changes, new page types, WordPress core and plugin updates
• The result you want more of: inquiries, bookings, job applications or brochure requests

Pages you update often work best with a dedicated entry screen and fixed fields, so anyone can add content without breaking the layout. See building a website you can edit yourself for more on this.

How to choose a WordPress developer: six questions to ask

Many studios build with WordPress, and portfolios alone rarely show the difference. Ask these questions while you compare quotes:

• How is the theme built? A commercial theme or a custom one, what each costs and how easy it is to change later
• Can I see the admin screens? Whether you get to try the editing screens before launch, plus a guide or walkthrough
• What is the plugin policy? A short list of maintained plugins, with nothing abandoned
• Whose name are the accounts in? Domain, hosting, WordPress admin rights and GA4 should all belong to you
• What does maintenance cover? Core and plugin updates, backups, how issues are handled and at what cost
• Are SEO and tracking included? Titles and descriptions, speed, mobile layout and Search Console setup

Account ownership and maintenance scope matter most. Leave them vague and switching developers or fixing a problem later becomes hard. If you are still weighing other platforms, our CMS comparison can help.

What WordPress development typically costs

The price depends on the number of pages, how custom the design is, the features you need and how much content work you hand over. As a rough guide in Japan, a small site on a commercial theme typically runs to a few hundred thousand yen, a custom corporate site from several hundred thousand to around a million yen, and a large site with many pages or features more than that.

When comparing quotes, look at the breakdown first:

• Planning: site structure, user paths and the role of each page
• Design: home and inner pages, mobile layouts
• Theme build: WordPress implementation, entry screens and custom fields
• Content: copywriting, photos or stock images, migration from the old site
• Setup: SSL, forms, basic SEO, GA4 and Search Console
• Running costs: hosting and domain, maintenance, update support

A low build price can hide charges for every small change later. Add the build cost to two or three years of running costs and the real comparison becomes clear.

How a WordPress project runs, from brief to hand-off

A small site typically takes one to two months, a larger one around three. The usual steps:

• Brief: goals, audience, pages you want to edit, reference sites
• Structure: page list, navigation and the route to an inquiry
• Design: set the direction on the home page, then roll it out
• Build: the theme, entry screens and forms
• Content: add copy, photos and case studies, then review
• Pre-launch checks: mobile view, forms, speed, redirects from old URLs
• Hand-off: admin walkthrough, account handover, maintenance begins

It helps to have ready: logo files, photos you want to use, any company or service materials, domain and hosting details, and two or three sites you like. Final copy can come later once the structure is agreed.

Common WordPress mistakes and how to avoid them

WordPress is flexible, so how it is built decides how easy it is to live with. Most problems can be prevented at the hiring stage.

• Too many plugins slow the site down and updates keep breaking the layout
• The admin account stays in the developer's name, so you cannot change settings
• Pages are built so rigidly that even a small text edit needs the developer
• Core and plugin updates are left undone, leaving security gaps
• There is no hand-off session, so nobody can update the site once staff change

Three habits prevent most of this: try the editing screens before launch, receive every account in your own name, and agree who maintains the site and what that covers. Our page on WordPress maintenance explains updates and security in detail.

How UNANOBO builds WordPress sites: free demo, hand-off, maintenance

Before you commit to anything, UNANOBO builds a free demo of your WordPress site from your brand and current information. You click through it on a computer and a phone, and decide whether to go ahead once you like the design and structure. After the demo you receive a structure proposal, a project plan and an estimate.

Each page type you update gets a simple entry screen, and plugins are kept to what the site needs. At launch you get an admin walkthrough by message, and the domain, hosting, WordPress admin rights and GA4 are handed over in your name. Updates, maintenance, SEO and ads after launch run through the same contact.

The process is free demo, feedback, launch, growth. The founder handles every project personally, from the first demo to after launch, and everything runs by message in Japanese or English.