How To Choose The Right WordPress Developer
With thousands of WordPress developers offering their services, how do you choose the right individual or team to trust on a WordPress development project?
Here are three things to consider:
- Experience – If your WordPress needs are basic, the good news is that you don’t need a developer with a lot of experience to serve you well. WordPress development is well documented and there are excellent resources available for the developer wanting to learn. If your needs are more advanced, though, a wide depth and range of experience is critical. When interviewing, ask a developer to detail the types of WordPress projects they’ve worked on and ask if they’ve worked on projects similar to yours before (“No” is not an automatic dis-qualifier, but pay attention to how they answer).
- Personality – For a web development project, choosing a developer (or development team) with the right personality makes a big difference. Arrange a Skype/phone conversation to hear their voice or meet in-person and pay attention to how they interact with you. Evaluating personality is not rocket science and you’re certainly not putting the developer on trial. What you’re looking for is someone you are comfortable with and who you are willing to trust with your business.
- Budget – The good news is that with the growing popularity of WordPress there is someone willing to work on your project for just about any price. The bad news is that you nearly always get what you paid for. If you’re on a tight budget and you know exactly what you need, look for a technically focused developer that just focuses on completing tasks. If you have specific objectives in mind (e.g. more leads, more registrations, efficiency gains) and achieving results are a high priority, look for a developer with an educative/consultative approach who can take your business objectives with your budget to recommend solutions.
Hiring Our Team For WordPress Development
In 1995, I hired a team of programmers that set upon the task of developing a content management system that would allow for clients to edit the content of their site and for us to be able to create a standard of stable website environment. We worked on this for a few years and decided the community of WordPress would have the support of millions of developers. We decided to jump on the WordPress wagon. That’s when I started as a WordPress developer back in 2004, experience of developing our own version and personality was about all I had going for me – that, and a love of learning. Today, over two hundred WordPress projects later, I have a wide (and deep) range of experience and have yet to take on a challenge I couldn’t meet.
Accordingly, if your project is a match for my experience, if my personality works well with yours, and if your budget is a match for my rates, then I highly recommend we work together.
Contact Invisioning.com with information that includes the following:
- Project Objectives – What are you trying to accomplish with the project you have in mind? What “job” are you wanting WordPress to do?
- Timeline/Budget – When do you want the work started/finished? How much of a budget have you set aside for the project?
Based on the details you provide I’ll get back to you with my initial recommendations and we’ll take action from there.
Other Places You Can Find Developers
If I am not a match for your needs, the great news is that there is someone out there who is!
Personal referrals are my favorite way to hire new service providers. If I need someone to mow my lawn, I could check the phone book. I’ll start, though, by asking friends who they use. An individual can say whatever they want about themselves. When someone else speaks well of them, though, it carries a lot more weight.
Accordingly, my first suggestion is to reach out to folks you know who’ve had a great experience with a developer. Getting a personal referral is highly valuable, both to you and to the developer, who now has a reputation to maintain. If you don’t know someone who can recommend a developer to meet your needs, here are some suggestions:
- Code Poet Directory – The code poet directory is a list of WordPress service providers curated by the folks at Automatic, the folks behind WordPress.com. This is a great place to find developers, and developer teams, who specialize in WordPress development.
- WordPress Jobs – The WordPress Jobs board is an official job board setup by some of the folks who made WordPress. Here you can post a job and receive offers by WordPress providers. Consider the qualifying points I offered above and be sure to ask for experience/references according to the level of priority/importance you’ve placed on the project.
- Elance/oDesk – If you’re on a tight budget, a service marketplace is a great place to find a qualified WordPress developer willing to work for less. Search elance oroDesk for WordPress. Pay particular attention to the number of jobs a provider has completed and the ratings they’ve received from clients.