Many people still look at WordPress as a platform for blogging. That might have been the case 15 years ago, and while you can still make money blogging on WordPress, today it has become the most popular website platform globally, with a staggering 36% market share.
The versatility and ease-of-use that WordPress offers have made it the leading choice, not only among entrepreneurs and small businesses but even larger companies that want to take advantage of the range of powerful features that it offers.
Still, while WordPress is relatively simple to use, developing a custom website can be a complicated process. And because of that, finding a quality WordPress developer that’s a good fit for your project can sometimes be a challenge. And when you’re trying to start an online business and don’t have prior experience, finding a qualified developer can seem almost impossible.
So, to help you get started, let’s look at some of the most critical aspects of choosing the right WordPress developer, as well as where to look for the best candidates.
Determine What You Need
Before you can begin your search for the right WordPress developer, your first task is to figure out why you need someone in the first place.
Are you starting your project from scratch? Or do you need someone to troubleshoot a WordPress issue that you can’t figure out on your own?
That will help you not only figure out what type of specialist you’ll need but also more accurately predict the scope of the project and how much work will need to be done.
As you can imagine, hiring someone to create a website from scratch will be much more time consuming and complicated than outsourcing a specialist online to solve a specific problem.
Explore Hiring Opportunities
When you define what type of project you have and what you’re looking for in a developer, you will need to figure out where to find the best candidates. Luckily, there’s a range of options for finding a qualified and experienced WordPress developer that also fits within your budget.
If you’re looking to solve a specific problem, Codementor is an excellent place to get live help from developers who have experience in building WordPress websites.
If you’re looking for someone to take over the entire project, you could go to places like Upwork or Freelancer.com, where you’ll find WordPress developers at all levels and price points. In fact, both of these can also be good for finding help on smaller projects, although you have to be careful about your vetting process if you don’t want to waste time with unqualified candidates.
If you don’t want to commit to a single developer but need help from time to time, you could consider a monthly subscription like WPCurve. With their plan, you can ask for small tweaks any time you need them and receive prompt help from a qualified WordPress expert.
Finally, if you’re on a lower budget or just need to take care of some simple tasks, Fiverr might be a viable option as well. Even though it has a reputation for being mostly used by inexperienced developers, there are actually quite a few high-quality specialists as well, who you might be able to get for smaller tasks at an affordable rate.
What to Look For
Once you determine what type of project you’re dealing with, you can start looking at specific web developers to see if they are a good fit.
Here are some of the most important aspects you should consider when going through various candidates.
Availability
Before you can start looking at the specific qualifications or personal qualities of a candidate, you will need to determine whether their availability is sufficient to handle your project. For example, if you need someone to take over the entire project of developing your WordPress site, you need to know that they won’t be tangled up in other commitments and will be able to tackle your project head-on.
There’s nothing worse than having to deal with an overworked developer who can only spare a limited amount of time, as your project can come to an almost complete stop and drag on for many months.
Communication
As you can imagine, developing a WordPress site or even working through issues requires excellent communication skills. You need someone who will be responsive, willing to listen to your feedback and to know how to solve various issues.
They must also be willing to work with your team through the communication channels that you use, whether that’s email, Slack, or Zoom.
Relevant Experience
When you’re hiring a WordPress developer, you want to be able to rely on their expertise to guide you through the entire project and help you overcome various obstacles along the way. But if the developer doesn’t have the relevant experience, you may find that they often don’t have the answers themselves, which can lead to subpar outcomes on your site.
Luckily, if you took the time to figure out exactly what type of project you are looking to get done, you can be very specific in your requirements and identify the candidate who has dealt with similar projects before.
Good Reputation
Hiring a developer is, in a lot of ways, similar to hiring any employee or freelancer. While you should definitely get to know the candidate and their previous experiences, having someone from the outside vouch for them is always a huge plus that can provide you with additional reassurance.
Ideally, you should look for references from projects that were similar to the one you’re looking to get done.
That way, you can gain unique insights about how the developer has dealt with specific problems and figure out whether that’s an approach that you want to take as well.
Do You Need a Designer Instead?
Sometimes, you might not actually need a developer at all, and might instead need to hire a designer that can help you figure out how your website should look. After all, creating a successful website is as much about the user experience and branding as it is about functionality, so you will probably need help with figuring out what your website should look like and what parts you should prioritize.
Having someone who can guide you through the countless design decisions can be an invaluable asset, which will make the development process much easier as well. Even if you’re using a theme that’s already available, a designer can help you customize it to match your brand and your audience’s expectations.
Final Words
Finding the right developer for your WordPress site can be the difference between a smooth and easy project and a never-ending crawl that ends up producing a mediocre website.
But if you take the approach listed above and determine exactly what you need, you will have a much easier time identifying not only the perfect developer but also the right plan of action to achieve your results.