Ajay Khandal - WordPress Developer

20/08/2026

Quick check: do you know what PHP version your site is running?

PHP 8.1 hit end of active support back in November 2024, and 8.2 followed in December 2025. Running an unsupported PHP version on a live site means unpatched security vulnerabilities — and that risk compounds every day it's left alone.

PHP 8.5 shipped in November 2025 and is the most significant release in the 8.x series: OPcache now compiled in by default (one of the biggest WordPress performance wins available), plus new language features like the pipe operator and built-in array_first()/array_last().

Full step-by-step upgrade guide for Ubuntu 24.04 and 22.04 — Apache, Nginx/PHP-FPM, extension reinstalls, and the exact fixes for the errors that catch people out most:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/upgrade-php-8-5-ubuntu/

Do you know your site's current PHP version off the top of your head? 👇

18/08/2026

Commercial themes ship with dozens of layout options, shortcodes, and bundled plugins you'll never use. Every unused feature is dead weight on every page load.

A well-built custom theme typically hits 30-50% better Core Web Vitals than the bloated alternative — because it contains only what the site actually needs.

I wrote the complete developer's guide to building one from scratch: environment setup, the template hierarchy, a full classic PHP theme walkthrough AND a modern block theme with theme.json (the direction WordPress is actively investing in), custom post types, schema markup, and deployment.

Whether you're building your first theme or deciding classic vs block for a new project:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/how-to-build-custom-wordpress-theme-from-scratch/

Classic theme or block theme — which are you building with these days? 👇

17/08/2026

This isn't a WordPress sales pitch — Squarespace is genuinely good at what it's built for. The real question is which one fits what you're actually building.

Squarespace wins when: you want a polished site live this week, design matters more than deep functionality, and you never want to touch a setting.

WordPress wins when: you're planning to grow content or SEO seriously, your store might outgrow a basic catalog, or owning your site (not renting it from one company) actually matters to you — Squarespace sites can't be exported as working files if you ever want to leave.

Neither platform ranks better in Google by default. The platform sets your ceiling; your content and setup decide if you get near it.

Full comparison — pricing, SEO control, ecommerce, ownership, speed:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/wordpress-vs-squarespace/

Which one's running your site right now? 👇

17/08/2026

Elementor site loading slow? It's probably not your imagination.

Real numbers: Elementor typically adds 400-600KB of CSS/JS to every page and pushes LCP past 3.5-6 seconds. A lean custom-coded theme hits 0.8-1.8 seconds. That gap is a confirmed Google ranking factor, and on eCommerce specifically, a 1-second LCP delay costs roughly 7% of conversions.

But a page builder isn't automatically the wrong call — it depends entirely on what you're building:
→ Portfolio, brochure site, tight budget or deadline → page builder is the right call
→ eCommerce, lead gen, or a site where speed = revenue → custom code pays for itself
→ Already on a builder and failing Core Web Vitals → audit first, migration might not even be needed

Full breakdown — real performance data, honest cost comparison, and a four-scenario framework to make the call for your specific site:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/page-builders-vs-custom-code-wordpress/

Which one is your site running on right now — Elementor, Divi, Bricks, or custom? 👇

14/08/2026

Every minute your WooCommerce checkout is broken, people are landing on your site, trying to give you money, and leaving without doing it.

It's almost always one of five things:
→ A plugin conflict (even ones that don't look checkout-related — chat widgets and analytics tools cause this constantly)
→ A theme conflict with WooCommerce's checkout templates
→ A JavaScript error silently breaking the AJAX that loads checkout fields
→ An SSL misconfiguration (redirect loops behind Cloudflare are a classic case)
→ A caching plugin serving a stale checkout page to some visitors while it works fine for others

I wrote the complete diagnostic guide — a triage table to match your exact symptom, the systematic debug sequence, and the specific fix for every cause including payment gateway and PHP errors:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/woocommerce-checkout-not-working-fix-guide/

WooCommerce checkout broken and losing sales right now? Diagnose and fix every common cause — plugin conflicts, theme conflicts, payment gateways, SSL, and caching.

14/08/2026

f you're comparing quotes right now and one number looks dramatically lower than another, you're probably not imagining things.

Real 2026 numbers: US WordPress developers typically charge $50-$150+/hr. Equivalent senior-level India-based developers charge $35-$65/hr for the same category of work — custom themes, WooCommerce, performance optimization. Not junior-for-cheap, the same skill level at a different cost structure.

On fixed-price projects specifically, savings commonly land in the 40-80% range.

Full breakdown by experience level and project type (brochure sites, WooCommerce builds, migrations, ongoing retainers), plus what a real fixed-price quote should actually include before you compare numbers across providers:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/us-vs-india-wordpress-developer-cost/

Real 2026 rate comparison: US WordPress developers charge $50-$150+/hr, India-based developers $35-$65/hr. See the full cost breakdown by project type and experience level.

12/08/2026

Your site can rank #1 in Google and still be invisible — because when someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity that same question, they get a synthesized answer with a citation, not a list of links to click.

That's Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and it's a different game than traditional SEO:
→ Declarative, fact-dense writing beats hedged, vague prose — AI models quote the specific sentence, not the qualifier after it.
→ FAQPage schema is the single highest-return addition for most WordPress posts — AI engines extract Q&A pairs directly.
→ Native Gutenberg blocks beat page builders here — cleaner HTML means cleaner extraction.
→ An llms.txt file at your domain root gives AI crawlers a map of your best content.

GEO doesn't replace SEO, it extends it — full implementation guide (schema, llms.txt, content structure, and how to measure it) here:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/generative-engine-optimization-wordpress-geo-guide/

GEO is about being cited by AI answer engines, not just ranking in Google. How to structure WordPress content, schema, and llms.txt so AI models quote your site.

12/08/2026

Real talk about hiring a WordPress developer from India: the cost savings are real (40-80% less than typical US rates), but the thing that actually determines whether it works out isn't the price — it's communication and process.

Fixed-price quotes so there's no open-ended clock. Replies within 5 hours regardless of your timezone. Clear scope before any code gets touched.

If you're weighing this decision, I put together exactly what to expect and the questions worth asking before you commit — to me or anyone else:

👉 https://ajaykhandal.com/hire-wordpress-developer-india/

Hire a senior WordPress developer from India: Save 40-80% compared to US rates with transparent, fixed-price and guaranteed responses within 5 hours for all time zones.