As you may well know, search engine optimization, or SEO as it is commonly known, is a crucial aspect of many businesses’ digital marketing strategies. Through SEO, they can improve their search engine ranking, which can help them get more traffic. This is why you will see many companies hiring the services of a web development company to optimize their websites for SEO. There are many SEO software out there, but WordPress is the content management platform that dominates the market for the most part.
WordPress has more than half the worldwide CMS market because of the ease and various plug-ins that it provides. There is a lot of demand for WordPress developers, which means excellent opportunities to get a nice salary. If you are a WordPress dev or interested in becoming one, you may be wondering what skills you should learn to stand out in the coming year. We’re here to help you out with that. Here are 6 skills every WordPress developer should master in 2022.
1. CSS and HTML
Strictly speaking, CSS and HTML are programming languages, but any WordPress developer must master them. This is because they form part of the basics of web development and fall under the technical skills category.
HTML helps provide the structure for any website you are building from the ground up, and you can consider it the backbone of the website. Therefore, you must try and become an HTML expert, and this is easily possible through a range of online courses and YouTube lessons that are available.
On the other hand, CSS is responsible for visual appearance and design elements for a web page that has been created with HTML. It is mandatory for anyone who wants to become a WordPress front-end developer and can easily be learned through the sources we mentioned for HTML.
2. JavaScript
JavaScript is one of the most popular and common programming languages that fall under mandatory technical skills a WordPress developer should learn. It is responsible for a site’s dynamics, including any website’s interactive components, such as themes or plug-ins.
Once you have created a page with HTML and then styled it with CSS, Javascript adds functionality to the website. You can use JavaScript for both front-end and back-end web development. Learning this language is crucial for any WordPress dev, but learning some JavaScript libraries (one or two) is also essential.
3. PHP
PHP is a scripting language mainly used to develop websites but has recently become a general use language. It is used by almost 80% of all websites on the internet to power their back-end. Sure, you can use many other programming languages to develop websites, but PHP is by far the preferred one for WordPress websites. Therefore, mastering it can help give you an edge over other developers.
With PHP, you can enable the fundamental aspects of your website and manage your content. You can also communicate with the database to control third-party integrations, plug-ins, etc. Additionally, you can easily apply any theme to your website using PHP. Therefore, knowing PHP is essential for any back-end WordPress developer.
4. Basic Photoshop
Photoshop may seem like a useless skill for a WordPress developer, but it is essential to have some basic knowledge to stand out in 2022. With photoshop, you can turn PSD files to HTML through the Move tool, which you will see a lot as a dev. Additionally, tasks like trimming a photo, layering, and auto-selecting will be used quite a bit when setting your website design, and Photoshop can allow you to do so.
Learning Photoshop will also enhance your visual knowledge, which can go a long way for you. After all, having some extra knowledge can also help you land a job as it demonstrates that you show initiative. You can easily learn Photoshop through online courses and tutorials available on YouTube.
5. BootStrap
BootStrap is a valuable tool for WordPress developers as it reduces the need for writing code from scratch. It is a framework with various standard HTML components like navigation bars. You can easily find components and ready-made websites parts for free that you can copy and paste into your code. This includes grids and layouts that can help you develop responsive websites with ease.
Learning BootStrap helps you save a lot of time and effort that would otherwise be spent manually writing lines and lines of code. Therefore, BootStrap can help streamline your work. However, keep in mind that some clients may have specific requests for their website, so you may need to customize the code a little bit to fulfill the client’s needs.
6. SEO Knowledge
SEO is a valuable skill that every WordPress developer should know because it is something that companies invest in them to optimize. A website can be as well-designed as possible, but it is pointless if it is not SEO-optimized because there will be no traffic from search engines. The intent with SEO is to create a website that follows search engine guidelines to appear at the top of search results. And so, if it isn’t optimized, it means companies will not get traffic which won’t translate into sales.
There are various factors based on which a website is ranked, and a web developer must be aware of these when designing a website to fulfill as many of these factors as possible. Therefore, having SEO knowledge as a WordPress developer will likely give you an edge in the market in 2022.
The bottom line
WordPress is the most popular CMS platform to make websites which means there is a high demand for WordPress developers, whether they be front-end or back-end developers. However, to stand out from the rest of WordPress developers, there are certain skills you should master for the coming year. We have discussed all these skills above, whether technical skills or knowledge that a developer should have. We hope this article helps you become the WordPress developer we know you can become and wish you luck in your future endeavors.
