2 project slots remaining for November 2026

Jonathan Bird Web Design & Development
  1. Website Platforms
  2. WordPress Development
WordPress

WordPress Developer Brisbane

A familiar CMS, engineered for the organisation that depends on it.

We design, build and maintain custom WordPress sites for established organisations. Our work covers content structure, custom themes, purpose-built plugins, integrations, performance and accessibility. Relevant projects include AMA Group, Brisbane South PHN, All 4 Adventure, Epic Pharmacy, Icon Group and East Coast Bullbars.

Platform fit

Is this the right platform?

The platform should follow the requirements. These are the conditions we test before recommending WordPress.

A good fit when

WordPress is useful when the editorial team values familiarity and the project can stay within a carefully governed set of mature extensions.

Consider another option when

It is not automatically the right choice for complex application workflows, high-risk plugin stacks or projects that need extensive bespoke domain logic.

What clients say about working with us

“Digital Bird was excellent to work with. After countless attempts with speaking with agencies and other web design contractors, we finally found Jonathan and the team, and what a blessing that was. The project was handled end to end, with clear communication the entire time. We have now engaged Jonathan and the team for on-going website management and work due to how well things turned out. If you are on the fence about which direction to go, I highly recommend just taking a call with Jonathan and the team and seeing what you can achieve together.”

Will Cross ROH Wheels
Head of Marketing & Partnerships, ROH Wheels
Google reviews

“We have used Jonathan for a number of years to develop and maintain our rather complicated Online Portal and website. Jonathan is always extremely responsive to requests and proactive in ensuring our online presence is safe, presents well and is functional to our customers needs. We would definitely recommend Jonathan for your custom web development needs.”

Nathan Smith East Coast Bullbars
Marketing Manager, East Coast Bullbars

“Digital Bird is my first pick for delivering web projects on time, on budget and to the brief — every time.

Beyond being a delight to work with, Jonathan Bird is that rare breed of developer who is both masterful on the tools (an absolute Laravel whizz!) while also being adept at engaging the client in UX-thinking, to which he applies expert insights, gained through years of experience, to help further improve the end design for the target user’s experience.

This powerful combination of skills means that 4 years on and a variety of projects later (from search directories to corporate website developments), Digital Bird firmly remains my first pick for developer.”

Emma Keller Brisbane South PHN
Communications Manager, Brisbane South PHN

“We’ve been working with Jonathan Bird for our website maintenance, and he has been nothing short of exceptional. Jonathan consistently goes above and beyond, responding quickly whenever we need help and resolving issues with impressive turnaround time. His communication is clear and thorough — he always explains what the problem was, how he fixed it, and provides helpful recommendations for long-term solutions. It’s rare to find someone this reliable and proactive. Highly recommend!”

Nichola Ross Rapidline (FurnX Commercial Furniture)
Marketing Manager, Rapidline (FurnX Commercial Furniture)

“Digital Bird has had a huge influence on our business providing many solutions besides just a fantastic reliable website. Jonathan is great to work with and has a solution to every challenge. Jonathan also has the ability to “dumb it down” and provide timely advice and assistance if something goes astray. With Jonathan we have in excess of 99% uptime on all three websites.”

Jeff Ross Impact Office Supplies Logo
Director, Impact Office Supplies

“Velg Training has had an excellent experience working with Digital Bird. Jonathan has supported us with a complex Laravel/PHP website and has brought a rare mix of deep technical knowledge, practical problem solving, and clear communication.

He has assisted with major infrastructure and platform work across AWS, Laravel Forge, Cloudflare, Redis, S3, Sentry, PayWay, Mailchimp/Mandrill and related integrations. His work has included setting up and migrating infrastructure, improving performance, resolving production issues, monitoring errors, modernising legacy code, and strengthening the reliability of key business workflows such as checkout, invoicing, membership exports, PDF generation, transactional emails and background queues.

What stands out most is that Jonathan does not just “fix the ticket”. He investigates properly, explains the cause in plain language, and looks for the right long-term solution rather than quick patches. He has helped us move away from fragile legacy processes, improve automated testing, reduce errors, improve email reliability, address performance bottlenecks, and make the platform easier to maintain into the future.

He is responsive, thorough and highly professional, with an obvious understanding of business-critical websites and custom web applications. We would happily recommend Jonathan to any organisation needing a skilled, reliable and commercially minded Laravel/PHP web developer.”

Leonie Davis Velg Training
Director, Content and Strategy, Velg Training

“Was an absolute pleasure to work with Jonathan. Could not be happier with our new website! Professional, responsive, brilliant communication from the beginning to go live. If you are fortunate enough to be in a conversation with Jonathan for a new site - just do it!”

Alex Brennan Blue Ink Office Supplies
Director, Blue Ink Office Supplies

“I’ve worked with Jonathan from Digital Bird for several years and found him to be a highly competent developer who often exceeds expectations.

Together, we’ve collaborated on a number of medium-sized platforms serving hundreds of thousands of users, including learning management systems, a widely-used school well-being platform, trade promotion competition sites, and more.

Jonathan is very skilled in API and platform integration, payment systems (such as Stripe), AWS, internet security, and more. As a Project Manager/Product Owner, I feel very confident working with Jonathan and recommending his services to our clients.”

Zachary Bavas Invision Media
Technical Operations, Invision Media

“Highly recommend Jonathan for anything web development in Brisbane and Australia-wide. Have worked with a lot of developers over the years and Jonathan’s work and communication on projects has been a clear standout. A very talent developer if you’re looking for anything from WordPress, Shopify, Laravel, or anything in-between.”

Brodie Clark Brodie Clark Consulting Logo
Director, Brodie Clark SEO Consulting

“Jonathan Bird is one of the best I have worked with in this space. He is responsive, clever and contributes to the brief, and most importantly, he is a great person to work with. It can be hard to find the right people who can take on something and lift it to another dimension. Jonathan does that and more.”

Mark Gold AMA Group Logo
Director of Corporate Affairs, AMA Group Ltd
Capabilities

What we build with WordPress

Design, development, integration and support delivered by the people responsible for the technical decisions.

Custom themes built around the content

We build the frontend around the organisation’s brand, content and audience requirements. Editors receive reusable page components and documented controls rather than a purchased theme that has to be worked around.

Publishing workflows editors can use

Content types, fields, permissions and approval steps are configured around the material the team actually publishes. Editors can update routine content without working in code or rebuilding page layouts.

Technical SEO and content migrations

We plan URL structures, metadata templates, sitemaps, structured data and redirect maps as part of the build. Existing content and search equity are checked during migration instead of being left until launch.

Custom plugins and business integrations

We build focused plugins when the site needs organisation-specific publishing, forms or workflow logic, and connect WordPress to CRM, email, commerce, analytics and operational systems.

Tested updates and security maintenance

Core, theme and plugin updates are reviewed, applied in staging and tested against the site before production. Maintenance also covers backups, monitoring, access review and recovery planning.

Performance and accessibility work

We test page templates across responsive layouts, keyboard use and assistive technology, then address frontend, media and caching issues that affect accessibility and loading performance.

How the work is staffed

Who works on your WordPress site

The people who scope our WordPress work also make the plugin and architecture decisions, write the custom code and support the site after launch.

Separate project roles

Sales, delivery and technical work sit with different people.

  • Senior staff may scope and review the work while other developers handle most of the build.

  • Questions usually go through an account or project manager before reaching a developer.

  • Plugin choices, architecture and implementation may be handled by different people.

  • The delivery team often comes in after the proposal is signed and has to learn the project from the brief.

  • A support team takes over after launch and has to learn the site.

  • Plugin updates are applied in bulk, often without checking the changelog or testing the site.

Our team

The developers making the decisions also do the work.

  • Our senior developers write the custom themes, plugins and integrations and handle deployment.

  • You speak directly with the people responsible for the work, from scoping through support.

  • The developers writing the code also choose the plugins and architecture, with responsibility for maintaining them.

  • The same senior team scopes the project, makes the technical decisions and delivers the work.

  • The team that built the site continues to support it. Most of our client relationships run for five to seven years.

  • We review each plugin update, test it in staging and record the result before it reaches production.

Straight advice

Choose the platform from the requirements.

We assess WordPress against the requirements and explain when another option would be cheaper or easier to maintain.

Start with constraints

Content, workflows, integrations, governance and ownership matter more than a feature checklist.

Avoid custom work without a reason

Configuration is preferable when it genuinely meets the requirement and remains maintainable.

Plan for operational ownership

The choice must still make sense for the team maintaining it after launch.

How our team works

The people making the platform decisions also deliver the work.

You speak directly with the developers and designers working on the project, and they continue to support it after launch.
  • Direct access to senior people
  • Design and development working closely together
  • Technical advice from the people responsible for implementation
  • Senior developers remain involved throughout delivery
  • The same team supports the site after launch
“Jonathan Bird was instrumental in redesigning my business’ website and provided invaluable feedback throughout the entire process. The results far exceeded my expectations. They then went above and beyond and met all deadlines in revamping the site again, when we re branded our business. Jonathan has been managing our website updates and hosting ever since and, with more than 10 years industry experience, is always able to add value, solve problems and exceed expectations. I highly recommend him.”
Craig Dobbs Partner, Apiary Financial Apiary Financial Logo
Process

From the first decision to ongoing improvement

We keep strategy, design, development, and technical ownership close together. Your team is involved at the decision points, with clear recommendations and visible progress throughout.
  1. Step 1: Understand

    Clarify the audience, business problem, constraints, content, and measures of success.

  2. Step 2: Recommend

    Explain the viable options and trade-offs, then recommend the simplest sound approach.

  3. Step 3: Plan

    Agree priorities, responsibilities, scope, timing, and the decisions your stakeholders need to make.

  4. Step 4: Design and build

    Work in visible increments while strategy, user experience, content, and engineering remain connected.

  5. Step 5: Validate and launch

    Test the important journeys, performance, accessibility, content, integrations, and operational readiness.

  6. Step 6: Improve

    Monitor the live system, resolve issues, and continue improving it as requirements change.

Bring us your WordPress platform decision

Book a free strategy session with the senior people who scope and deliver the work. We will help clarify the problem, test assumptions and identify a practical next step—without turning the session into a generic sales call.

Planning a project?

Free Strategy Session
Free Strategy Session