[30 minutes to complete] How a digital marketer rapidly improved WordPress functionality with Claude Code

Hello, I'm Taisa, a digital marketer. Today I'll talk about site improvement.

Have you ever experienced this? "I just want to change a button color" or "I want to slightly adjust this item in the contact form."
It feels awkward asking engineers for these "small fixes" in WordPress. But doing it yourself takes time and knowledge you might not have... As a web manager, you've probably faced this dilemma at least once.

Today, I'll share my practical experience of using the AI coding tool Claude Code to accomplish in just 30 minutes what would have previously taken half a day to complete on my own.

Article summary:

• Conclusion: With AI coding tools, you can complete minor WordPress modifications surprisingly quickly by yourself.
• Caution: However, blindly trusting AI-generated code is dangerous. Without basic knowledge to judge "why this code?", you risk causing website malfunctions.
• Best practice: Treat AI not as an "omniscient god" but as an "excellent assistant to bounce ideas off", with humans making the final decisions, dramatically improving the speed of marketing implementations.

This article will help you fully understand everything from specific procedures for WordPress modifications using AI to precautions for non-engineers to handle code safely.

Challenge: Why I wanted to make modifications "by myself" and "quickly"

The issue I wanted to solve was "creating a template to repurpose existing web pages as advertising landing pages (LPs)".

For marketing initiatives, especially when running the PDCA cycle for advertising, testing landing page hypotheses is essential. However, creating new LPs each time takes too much time and cost.

So I decided to prepare a template that meets the following requirements:

1. Based on existing pages, minimize global navigation and footer links to optimize for ad traffic.
2. Allow for partial content changes on the page.
3. Limit to direct access from ads, avoiding site navigation and search engine crawler visits (using noindex settings, etc.).

If I outsourced this to an external production company, it would require at least 6 hours of work including specification adjustments and testing. Plus, my own direction would take at least an hour.

My hidden mission was to drastically reduce this lead time and achieve "halving my own workload & zero outsourcing costs."

Solution: Consult Claude Code

Here's the process I followed while working with Claude Code to implement these modifications.

STEP1: Preparation

First, I asked our in-house AI engineer, who said, "Claude is something you use with a terminal."

So I decided to install Claude Code to have it recognize files in my local environment.
For specific methods and pricing, please refer to this article.

https://dev.classmethod.jp/articles/get-started-claude-code-1/### STEP2: Open the project in terminal

Were you able to install successfully?
Now, let's start using Claude! (※ The following uses sample values that may differ from your actual setup)

			
			# Navigate to WordPress theme directory
$ cd /path/to/your/wordpress/wp-content/themes/your-theme/

# Launch Claude
$ claude

 ✻ Welcome to Claude Code!

   /help for help, /status for your current setup

   cwd: /Users/arai.chie/Documents/labo/classmethod-2023/public/wp-content/themes/cmn

 Tips for getting started:

  Run /init to create a CLAUDE.md file with instructions for Claude
  Use Claude to help with file analysis, editing, bash commands and git
  Be as specific as you would with another engineer for the best results
  ✔ Run /terminal-setup to set up terminal integration
```### STEP3: Dialogue with Claude

Now, let's submit prompts! Below are mostly the actual prompts I used. (It's a bit embarrassing)

**Prompt 1**


		

I want to create a template for ad traffic by copying single-service.php. I'd like to set up separate global navigation and footer menus, and reduce external links as much as possible.

			
			
When you submit the prompt, it shows "thinking..." and repeats Search, Read, and Write processes. Claude asks for confirmation when changing existing sources or creating new ones. Since this request doesn't affect existing source files, I just pressed "YES" without much thought.

**Result of Prompt 1**


		

⏺ Created an ad traffic template. Completed the following tasks:

1. single-service-ad.php - Created for ad traffic based on the original template
2. template-parts/header-ad.php - Call section for ad traffic header
3. template-parts/footer-ad.php - Simplified footer menu with external links removed

Key changes:

• Global nav: Removed dropdown menus, leaving only simple links
• Footer: Removed external links like social media and recruitment pages
• Mobile menu: Reduced number of menu items by removing unnecessary options
• Other: Removed external paths like AI ethics policy and English pages

This minimizes the possibility of users leaving for other sites during ad traffic, allowing them to focus on inquiries and conversions.

			
			
Wow! The result was... beyond my expectations.  
It created the structure I had in mind. (Honestly, depending on the person handling it, they might not have separated the PHP files.)

From here, let's continue while uploading to the test environment.

What was created was somewhat simple, but still incomplete.  
Let's provide a specific sample.

**Prompt 2**


		

Please reference this page for the header and footer:
https://xxx

			
			
**Result of Prompt 2**


		

Recreated the ad traffic template based on the reference page:

Modified files

1. template-parts/header-ad.php - Simple header (logo + document request + contact)
2. template-parts/footer-ad.php - Minimal footer (copyright + certification marks)

Main features

Header:

• Classmethod logo (home link)
• Document request button
• Contact button

Footer:

• Copyright notice "© Classmethod, Inc."
• Certification marks (Privacy Mark, SOC2, ISO certification)

Removed external links:

• No navigation menu
• No social media links
• No links to recruitment site
• Minimized paths to other external sites

This allows ad traffic users to focus on conversion without leaving the site.

			
			
It's much cleaner now!  
However, the PHP has more volume than necessary for the content, so I decided to delete some parts.

**Prompt 3**


		

It seems like there's unnecessary processing remaining in header-ad.php. Please review it.

			
			
**Result of Prompt 3**


		

Removed unnecessary processing to simplify:

Changes made

Removed unnecessary processing:

• Complex inquiry URL determination logic (25 lines)
• Custom field retrieval processing
• iframe detection processing
• Dynamic URL generation with conditional branching

Simplified result:

• Document request: Fixed link to /download/
• Contact: Fixed link to /inquiry/

This makes the ad traffic header simpler and easier to maintain.

			
			
We're almost there.  
With Claude, you can also submit images, so let's quickly give instructions based on screenshots!  
(This interaction felt very easy)

**Prompt 4**


		

We don't need this part. [Image #1]

			
			
**Result of Prompt 4**


		

Removed that section.
This makes the ad traffic template even simpler, allowing users to focus on the main conversions (document requests and inquiries) without being distracted by other services.

			
			
In the fine-tuning stage, the exchange became lengthy, and we ended up going back and forth about 5-6 times before completion.  
Basically, I wanted to rely on Claude, but for parts that couldn't be expressed properly, I added CSS classes myself in a few places. Even then, it was only 2-3 spots.

## Results and Analysis

I applied the modified code to the test environment and confirmed it worked without issues. It was also successfully implemented in the production environment. This entire process **took only 30 minutes**. Even if I had asked someone else to do it, the review and modification would have taken at least 30 minutes, so I felt the speed was remarkable.

Through this experience, I realized two very important points for digital marketers using AI coding tools:

### 1. AI is a "sounding board," not the "final decision maker"
AI suggests excellent code, but these are just suggestions. It doesn't perfectly understand the context of the entire site structure or compatibility with other plugins. The final Go/No-Go decision must always be made by a human.

### 2. Basic knowledge determines the "quality of judgment"
I was able to notice concerns in AI's suggestions because I had basic knowledge of WordPress specifications and programming languages. If I had zero knowledge, I might have applied the suggested code as is, causing display issues on the site. And recovering from that would be difficult. Also, when AI gets stuck on a problem, it often can't resolve it (real development is like that too, but AI doesn't need to follow the same pattern).

That's why **non-engineers or those unfamiliar with WordPress specifications** need to be especially careful when using AI.

AI doesn't magically enable anyone to code. At minimum, **basic knowledge such as "which files to modify," "how to revert changes when errors occur (the importance of backups)" is essential. AI is a powerful assistant that boosts your knowledge** - that's the smartest way to work with it.

At minimum, the following knowledge is essential:

* **① Backup methods**: Always back up files and databases before working, to quickly revert changes if needed. Understanding GitHub usage and its principles.
* **② Basic WordPress structure**: General understanding of the roles of `functions.php` and template files (like `header.php`).
* **③ Error handling**: How to identify which file is causing an issue when the screen goes blank, and how to revert changes.

## Summary

In this article, I shared a case study of using Claude Code to improve WordPress functionality in just 30 minutes, and the insights I gained as a former engineer using AI.

* With existing knowledge, **AI allows you to make minor WordPress modifications surprisingly quickly**
* Sometimes, if AI can't accomplish something after 2-3 exchanges, it might be faster to handle it yourself...

By mastering AI, marketers can increase implementation speed and run more hypothesis tests. This is exactly the growth hacker approach that gained attention previously.

*Note: A growth hacker is a specialized role that gained prominence in the 2010s, combining marketing, data analysis, and engineering skills. Their mission is to rapidly grow user numbers and revenue for products and services through repeated data-based experiments (like A/B tests).