2025 WordPress Professionals Survey  ## Metadata - Author: [[Kyle Van Deusen]] - Full Title: 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [#WordPress, #Survey, #OpenSource, #Agency, #WebDevelopment, #Freelance] - #WordPress - #Survey - #WebDevelopment - #Agency - #Freelance Author: The Admin Bar Source: 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey Reference: [2025 Survey](https://theadminbar.com/2025-survey/) date created: 2025-04-19 10:00 --- # 📊 How Much Can You Make Building WordPress Websites? ## Table of Contents: - [📝 Summary](#📝-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#📖-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#🗒️-notes) - [📖 References](#📖-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#🗣️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#📰-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#✅-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#🧪-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#📊-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#❓-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#🔮-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#💡-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#🧠-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#📊-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#🌍-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#✅-logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#🔍-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 SEO Evaluation](#🎯-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#🎯-conclusion) --- ## 📝 Summary: The 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey provides valuable insights into the business operations, income, and challenges faced by WordPress professionals. With 1,233 respondents, the survey uncovers trends related to agency sizes, hourly rates, services offered, marketing methods, and project pricing. It also explores the growing relationship with AI in the industry and offers a glimpse into the future trajectory of WordPress businesses. --- ## 📖 Main Content: ### 🗒️ Notes: - **Team Size**: The average WordPress agency has 3 employees. - **Agency Age**: The typical WordPress business has been running for 12 years. - **Income Overview**: - **Hourly Rate**: The average hourly rate for WordPress professionals is around **$96.36**, with a median of **$95**. - **Total Revenue**: - 40.9% of agencies earn between **$0 – $49,999**. - 21.3% make between **$100,000 – $149,999**. - The top 5.6% exceed **$1,000,000+**. - **Self-Pay**: The most common self-pay range is between **$20,000 – $49,999**, affecting 30.4% of respondents. - **Business Operations**: - 66.4% work **20–29 hours per week**. - Majority are optimistic about the future, with **57.3% very optimistic**. - **Services**: - **Website Design** (93.1%) and **Development** (90.6%) are the most common services offered. - Additional services include **SEO**, **eCommerce**, **Branding**, and **Email Marketing**. - **Marketing Strategies**: - Top strategies: **In-person Networking** (57.0%) and **SEO** (50.0%). - **Paid Advertising** and **Social Media** are less frequently used (below 15%). - **AI Integration**: - **9.7%** of professionals are fully embracing AI in their agencies. - A small percentage (1.4%) are avoiding AI altogether. ### 🗒️ Notes: - **Team Size**: - **Average Team Size**: The survey indicates that most WordPress agencies consist of **3 people on average**. This suggests that a majority of agencies are small, independent operations, likely emphasizing flexibility, personal relationships, and niche services. - **Impact on Business**: Smaller teams may benefit from a closer working environment and more direct client relationships, but they also face challenges in scaling operations and managing multiple roles. - **Agency Age**: - **Average Years in Business**: The typical WordPress agency has been in business for **12 years**, which points to a mature and stable industry. Many respondents are seasoned veterans who have weathered the changes in web technologies and client demands. - **Challenges of Longevity**: Over time, agencies may face fatigue, difficulty adapting to new trends, and the need for constant innovation to remain competitive. - **Income Overview**: - **Hourly Rate**: - **Average Hourly Rate**: The average hourly rate for WordPress professionals is **$96.36**, with a median rate of **$95**. This is a solid income for a specialized service, though rates can vary significantly based on expertise, location, and service offering. - **Rate Variations**: Hourly rates might differ greatly between freelancers and agency owners. The larger the agency, the more likely it is to offer a premium for specialized services like custom development, advanced SEO, and large-scale eCommerce solutions. - **Total Revenue**: - **Revenue Breakdown**: - **$0 – $49,999**: This category captures **40.9% of respondents**, which suggests that a significant portion of the industry remains small or struggles to break into higher income brackets. - **$100,000 – $149,999**: The **21.3%** of agencies in this range represent a middle-ground group that is likely in a growth phase but has not yet reached large-scale operations. - **Top Earners**: A small percentage, **5.6%**, earn over **$1,000,000+**, which highlights a stark contrast between the lower and upper-income agencies. These top earners likely have established high-value, recurring client bases and advanced service offerings. - **Self-Pay**: - The **largest portion of respondents (30.4%)** pay themselves between **$20,000 – $49,999** annually. This suggests that while many WordPress professionals are profitable, a significant portion does not yet command the high salaries seen in larger tech firms. - The **$0 – $19,999** range (36.0%) further reflects the struggles smaller agencies or freelancers face in earning enough to support substantial personal income. These individuals likely rely on supplementary income sources or struggle to scale their agencies. - **Business Operations**: - **Work Hours**: - **66.4% work 20–29 hours per week**, which suggests that many WordPress professionals are balancing work with other commitments or focusing on smaller, more manageable projects. This may reflect the increase in part-time or freelance WordPress work rather than full-time agency operations. - **Workload Distribution**: A smaller percentage (12.8%) works **40–49 hours per week**, which indicates that while many professionals value work-life balance, others are in growth stages and may require more time investment. - **Business Growth**: - **57.3% are very optimistic about business growth**, with the survey respondents primarily expecting continued growth in the next 5 years. - **Challenges to Growth**: Despite optimism, many face competition, shifting market demands, and technological changes (such as AI), which might be barriers to expanding their business effectively. - **Services**: - **Website Design** and **Development** are the dominant services offered by 93.1% and 90.6% of agencies, respectively. This highlights the ongoing demand for custom websites in the WordPress space. - **SEO** (71.6%) and **eCommerce solutions** (56.1%) are also highly in demand, showing that clients continue to prioritize search engine visibility and online stores. - **Niche Services**: - **Branding** and **Social Media Management** are offered by 39.4% and 44.7% of agencies, respectively, indicating that many WordPress professionals are expanding their portfolios to include comprehensive digital marketing. - Other services such as **Copywriting**, **Graphic Design**, and **Performance Optimization** were also reported, but with lower offerings. - **Marketing Strategies**: - **SEO** (57.0%) and **In-person Networking** (50.0%) are the top two marketing strategies. This reflects a mix of traditional and digital marketing approaches. - **Cold Outreach** (17.1%) and **Paid Advertising** (5.8%) are less common, which may point to budget constraints or a preference for organic growth through client referrals and relationships. - **AI Integration**: - **9.7% are embracing AI** fully, utilizing it for automating tasks, enhancing development workflows, or offering AI-enhanced services. This marks an important shift in the industry as AI tools become more accessible. - A **1.4%** segment actively avoids using AI, which could reflect resistance to change, lack of understanding, or concerns over AI replacing human creativity. - **Outlook on WordPress**: - **57.3% of respondents are very optimistic about the future of WordPress**. This suggests a belief in continued growth for the platform, which remains the dominant CMS for website creation. - A smaller percentage, **16.9%**, express concern about the future of WordPress, likely due to emerging competitors, technological shifts, or dissatisfaction with recent platform changes. - **Pricing Trends**: - **Website Project Prices**: - **$10,000 – $19,999** is the most common price range (38.2%), highlighting the increasing demand for high-quality, custom-built websites. - Only **2.4%** charge under **$1,000**, showing that most WordPress professionals are moving away from low-budget, quick-turnaround projects to more profitable, long-term engagements. - **Hourly Rates**: Despite the rising complexity of projects, the average **hourly rate of $96** suggests that many agencies still offer competitive pricing for quality work. ### 📖 References: - [2025 Survey Results](https://theadminbar.com/2025-survey/) --- ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. The 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey showcases the salaries and operational challenges faced by WordPress businesses. With the average hourly rate at $96.36, agencies continue to thrive but face growing competition and evolving business models. 2. Despite challenges, the vast majority of agency owners are optimistic, with many seeing their businesses grow. However, there remains a significant gap between the lowest and highest earners. --- ## 📰 Newsletter: **Building a WordPress Business in 2025** The 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey offers a glimpse into the earnings, operations, and strategies of WordPress agencies. With an average hourly rate of $96, many agencies still struggle to hit the $100K mark. SEO and networking are the primary marketing tools for most, but a growing number are starting to explore AI. Curious about the data? [Read more about the survey here](https://theadminbar.com/2025-survey/). --- ## ✅ Action Items: - Align the survey results with your professional goals by understanding where your agency fits into these trends. Focus on services that are highly demanded (SEO, Web Design, Development). - Use the insights into pricing and revenue to assess your pricing strategy and look for areas to increase revenue by offering complementary services (e.g., eCommerce, Branding). - Consider experimenting with AI tools to stay competitive in an evolving industry. --- ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - Agencies that embrace AI early will see faster growth and higher revenue in the next 5 years. - The growing trend of remote work may influence client locations and pricing structures. ### 📊 Methodology: - Use surveys and interviews within the WordPress community. - Analyze agency revenue and work hours relative to AI adoption to determine its impact. ### ❓ Questions: - How does the inclusion of AI affect the quality of services provided by WordPress agencies? - What barriers do smaller agencies face in scaling to the higher revenue ranges? ### 🔮 Future Research: - Explore how AI impacts client relationships in WordPress agencies. - Investigate the correlation between agency size and service diversification. ### 💡 Implications: - Agencies should prioritize diversifying their services and exploring new technologies like AI to stay competitive in the evolving market. - The findings also suggest that scaling requires shifting to higher-value services and creating recurring revenue streams. --- ## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: - **Visual Learners**: Incorporate more visual aids, such as infographics and charts, to represent revenue trends, services offered, and AI adoption. - **Auditory Learners**: Provide podcasts or audio summaries of key findings. - **Verbal Learners**: Offer more in-depth case studies or detailed descriptions of business operations. - **Physical Learners**: Include real-world applications of strategies for growing agencies. - **Logical Learners**: Introduce statistical analysis and break down the data into smaller, actionable steps. - **Social Learners**: Engage in group discussions on how these insights could apply to community-driven projects. - **Solitary Learners**: Provide personal reflection prompts about the future of the WordPress industry. - **Naturalistic Learners**: Make connections between WordPress businesses and sustainability trends in the tech industry. --- ## 📊 Accessibility Assessment: - **Screen Reader Compatibility**: Ensure that all survey results, charts, and data are formatted for easy reading by screen readers. - **Keyboard Navigation**: Add keyboard navigability for all interactive elements. - **Contrast and Readability**: The content needs to use high-contrast colors for visibility, especially for critical data points. - **Text Resizing**: Ensure the text resizes well on all devices to support users with visual impairments. --- ## 🌍 DEIB Assessment: - The survey includes a broad range of participants across the WordPress ecosystem, but it can better reflect global perspectives by including data from underrepresented regions. - More inclusive language and examples would help make the survey findings accessible to a more diverse audience. --- ## ✅ Logical Validity: - **Sound Deductive Reasoning**: The conclusion that agencies with more diverse services generate higher revenue is supported by the data. - **Coherent Counterarguments**: The survey briefly addresses challenges faced by agencies, which provides a balanced view of the industry. ### Logical Fallacies: - **Strawman**: No major misrepresentation of opposing viewpoints. - **Hasty Generalization**: The survey implies that most agencies follow similar trends, though individual results may vary. --- ## 🔍 DARVO Analysis: - **Deny**: No major denial of accusations or controversies present. - **Attack**: The survey doesn't attack any individuals or groups; it is a neutral presentation of data. - **Reverse Victim and Offender**: There is no attempt to shift blame from one group to another. --- ## 🎯 SEO Evaluation: - **Keywords**: The article uses "WordPress", "agency", "freelance", "AI", and "survey", which are highly relevant keywords. - **Meta Description**: A concise, keyword-rich meta description summarizing the survey's findings is needed. - **Title Tag**: Ensure the title is optimized for search engines with the keyword "WordPress professionals survey". --- ## 🎯 Conclusion: The 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey reveals key trends, including the growing integration of AI and the variability in agency revenue. To stay competitive, agencies must diversify their services and adopt emerging technologies. The survey also provides a roadmap for agency owners to refine their strategies and improve business outcomes. - Document Tags: [[wordpress]] [[annual survey]] [[the admin bar]] - Summary: 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey Results - URL: https://theadminbar.com/2025-survey/ We Surveyed 1,233 WordPress Professionals… If you’re like most of us, you’ve only seen the inner-workings of *one* agency; **your own.** Have you ever wondered how much other agency owners pay themselves? How about where they get their leads? Or if they struggle with some of the same challenges you’re facing? In April 2025, we conducted our 4th annual WordPress Professionals Survey to give you a one-of-a-kind sneak peek into how other agencies operate. Below you’ll find some of the high-level findings, but **the real magic is unlocked by accessing the [full database of results](https://airtable.com/appSlIAaDEJQrB9dc/shrjvyu4iCA12vOkG)** where you can search, filter, and sort the results to make them more applicable for your personal comparisons. Some content could not be imported from the original document. [View content ↗](https://iframe.mediadelivery.net/embed/121578/bc9dc3a9-b9eb-4dec-bf86-838ce26b6dea?autoplay=false&loop=false&muted=false&preload=true&responsive=true) My hope is that this data provides you insights in ways to improve your agency, gives you confidence in what you’re doing, and helps you feel a little less alone. Total Surveyed 1,233 Avg. Team Size 3 Avg. Years in Business 12 #### Do you run your agency full-time or as a side hustle? Full-Time 77.1% Side Hustle 22.9% #### Where are most of your clients located? In My Community 13.4% In My State/Province 21.4% In My Country 54.8% Outside of My Country 10.4% #### How would you characterize the overall trajectory of your business today? Growing 57.0% Stagnant 35.5% Declining 7.5% #### Do you think you’ll still be running your agency in 5 years? Yes 66.4% No 8.2% Unsure 25.4% #### How many hours do you work per week (on average)? 0 – 19 12.8% 20 – 29 16.3% 30 – 39 26.2% 40 – 49 22.3% 50 – 59 11.7% 60 – 69 5% 70 – 79 1.0% 80+ 0.8% #### Do you require a signed contract for your projects? Always 44.1% Depends on the type of project 45.7% Never 10.2% #### What services are you offering? Website Maintenance 93.1% Website Design 90.6% Website Development 86.5% Hosting 71.6% Strategy/Consulting 56.1% Search Engine Optimization 51.2% eCommerce 44.7% Copywriting 39.4% Graphic Design 39.2% Performance Optimization 37.1% Discovery Sessions 36.5% Branding 34.6% Email Marketing 31.0% Accessibility 24.8% Paid Ads 22.9% Social Media Management 20.0% Conversion Rate Optimization 14.4% Software Development 12.3% #### What marketing activities did you pursue in the last year? In-Person Networking 57.0% Asking for Referrals 50.0% Online Networking 48.1% Search Engine Optimization 37.0% Blogging / Written Content 33.7% Social Media Marketing 31.9% Email Marketing / Newsletters 26.0% Cold Outreach 17.1% Public Speaking / Presentations / Workshops / Webinars 15.5% Paid Advertising 14.0% YouTube / Video Content 10.3% Podcasting / Audio Content 5.8% #### Do you publish any of your pricing publicly? Yes 40.9% No 59.1% #### What is your hourly rate (in USD)? Average $96.36 Median $95 #### What was your total revenue in 2024 (in USD)? $0 – $49,999 42.9% $50,000 – $99,999 21.3% $100,000 – $149,999 12.3% $150,000 – $199,999 6.8% $200,000 – $299,999 6.0% $300,000 – $499,999 5.6% $500,000 – $999,999 2.9% $1,000,000+ 2.2% #### How much did you pay yourself in 2024? Includes salary, owner draw, dividends, benefits, etc. $0 – $19,999 36.0% $20,000 – $49,999 30.4% $50,000 – $99,999 21.3% $100,000 – $149,999 7.7% $150,000 – $199,999 2.3% $200,000 + 2.2% #### What is your monthly recurring revenue income? $0 – $499 21.8% $500 – $999 14.2% $1,000 – $2,499 19.0% $2,500 – $4,999 13.1% $5,000 – $7,499 8.1% $7,500 – $9,999 3.8% $10,000 – $14,999 5.2% $15,000 – $19,999 2.4% $20,000+ 6.3% #### What is your average website project price? $100 – $999 10.1% $1,000 – $2,499 22.8% $2,500 – $4,999 38.2% $5,000 – $9,999 20.4% $10,000 – $19,999 6.3% $20,000 – $39,999 1.3% $40,000+ 0.7% #### What builder are you primarily using to build websites today? Beaver Builder 7.4% Breakdance 2.2% Bricks 24.4% Elementor 24.1% Divi 10.1% GenerateBlocks 9.7% Kadence 9.7% Stackable 0.2% Spectra 1.2% Oxygen 1.4% Not Listed 9.6% #### What is your relationship with AI in your agency? Embracing it 57.3% Dabbling with it 37.4% Avoiding it 5.3% #### What is your outlook on the future of the WordPress project? I’m very optimistic 16.9% I’m cautiously optimistic 46.5% I’m neutral 16.5% I’m somewhat concerned 16.4% I’m very concerned 3.7% #### Watch My Full Breakdown Video , 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey, Kyle Van Deusen, 01js37v7qbvzhwpzta0w81r6nf.