By Tips To Hire A WordPress Developer
If you are looking for a WordPress developer, there are many options that you can explore. However, how do you know if the developer is good? How do you identify if they are not right for your project? In this article, we will share some tips that we followed at Reviews N Guides while building our website. We’re sure that these tips will help you as well.
Know what you need
As you begin to interview candidates, it’s important to ask open-ended questions that will allow you to get a sense of their experience and background. Asking specific questions about what they do, how they do it and why will help you understand their strengths and weaknesses as well as their preferences in terms of tools or methods.
Though this may seem like an obvious point, knowing exactly what it is that you want from your new team member is essential. You should have an idea of what the ideal candidate will look like (for example: Does he or she have a lot of experience in WordPress development? How many years has he/she been working with this type of technology).
Once again, don’t be afraid to ask for references so that potential candidates can provide specific examples from previous jobs instead of generic responses about what kind of work they’ve done in the past – this way both parties will know exactly where each other stands when negotiating terms later down the road!
Hire a freelancer or a company?
You can hire a freelancer, or you can hire a company.
Hiring a freelancer: You may be tempted to go the freelance route because it seems like the most cost-effective option. However, there are some drawbacks to hiring a freelance WordPress developer for your project.
The main disadvantage is that your relationship with this particular developer will come and go; once you’re done working together, they typically won’t be available again unless you hired them full time (which isn’t exactly an option).
A second drawback is that if something goes wrong with their work product or communication style during the course of your project—and believe us when we say things always go wrong—it could leave both parties feeling disrespected and dissatisfied at the end of things (even if they don’t admit it).
Have a project brief ready
It’s important to have a project brief ready so that the developer can understand your needs. Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself before talking with a developer:
- What do you want to achieve? Do you want to create a simple blog, or build an ecommerce site? If it’s the latter, how many products do you expect to sell per day/month?
- What is your budget and timeline? You might be surprised by how much it costs—or doesn’t cost—to develop a WordPress site. And if there are any specific features that will require more time and money than others, let the developer know right away so they can factor it into their quote.
- How many pages would like on your website (including blogs)? This will affect how much time is needed from both sides (you’ll need content writers and editors too).
Look at their previous work
Remember to look at the portfolio of each developer. Don’t just look at their number of projects, but also the quality of their work.
You want a variety of projects in their portfolio from different industries and types—and you should check if they are up-to-date with current trends in web development.
Look for a portfolio that demonstrates skills like HTML5, CSS3 and WordPress customizations. Make sure to check out how they use JavaScript / jQuery as well as PHP code because these are essential skills required by most WordPress developers when working on sites powered by this CMS framework.
Assess their communication and soft skills
The next step is to assess their communication and soft skills. You need to find out if they can communicate well, whether they understand the project requirements, and whether they ask questions to clarify anything that’s not clear. The last thing you want is for your developer to be working on something in a way that doesn’t meet the brief or deliverables specified by the client.
You should also look at how often does this developer respond with answers and updates? Are there any delays in answering emails, phone calls or messages?
This will give an indication of how efficient and reliable this candidate is in times of urgency when things need urgent attention as well as during non-urgent situations when some work has been done but more needs done before it can be completed by someone else from another department within your company who may not have enough experience with WordPress (or other platforms).
Also Read: How To Create A WordPress Popup Form With WPForms
Ask candidates to do a small test project
The best way to see if someone is competent is to have them complete a small test project, and then review it. This will give you an idea of their skills and how they work with deadlines. It will also give you insight into whether or not this person has any potential problems that may arise in the future when working on your larger projects. Make sure that the test project is easy enough for them to finish within a short amount of time, but not too complex so that they can’t show off their skills properly!
Check their reviews online
You can also check out their reviews online. Look at sites like Upwork, Freelancer or any other freelance marketplace that they have worked on. You can also see if they have been reviewed by clients on Yelp or Google My Business. Another good place to look are comments left by customers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages of your chosen developer.
Ensure they are comfortable with your CMS of choice
WordPress is the preferred CMS for most businesses, but there are other options out there you might want to consider. Drupal and Joomla are both open source content management systems (CMS) that have been steadily gaining ground as alternatives to WordPress.
A good developer should be able to work with any of these popular CMSs. However, if your website is going to rely on a custom theme or plugin, it’s probably best to hire someone who specializes in one CMS over another.
Tips To Hire WordPress Developer: Conclusion
So there you have it, my tips for hiring a WordPress developer. I’m sure after reading this post you’re more than ready to take on the challenge of finding the perfect candidate for your project. And while there are many things to keep in mind when it comes down to hiring someone new, remember that at its core, this is just another creative process—and as every artist knows well: practice makes perfect!
