Having a functional, eye-pleasing, and visually cohesive site is important for your brand and business. Whether you are looking to redesign your site or build additional features, it’s crucial to hire the right WordPress developer to do the job.
WordPress is the right tool for self-publishing your site and is perfect for those with little to no coding skills, but at some point in the development process, you are likely to hit a brick wall and get stuck in the endless lines of code. However, some logical and practical steps need to be taken into consideration when hiring a developer. Here’s why we conveyed a list of tips and tricks on how to hire WordPress developer that has the needed skill set and knowledge since we know the recruiting of the right candidate is a time-consuming and challenging process.
Establish Your Goals
Before starting the recruitment process, you’ll need to go thoroughly through your requirements and goals to understand what are you looking for and what are you trying to achieve with your website. Do you already have a design and a color scheme? Would you consider just freshening up the layout? Or are you looking for a complete redesign of your site?
Overall, you will need to consider the goal of your website, its features and functionality, and the site structure. You need to have a clear idea of the number of pages, their content, and their functionality since a different skill set is required for the front-end and the back-end development of the site. Having these points in mind is crucial when establishing your goals.
Determine the Area of Expertise
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Are you looking for custom plugin development? Or maybe to add more functionality to your current website? Whether you are opting in to improve the front-end or back-end of your site, you have to determine carefully the area of expertise. You’ll need to consider the content, various workflows, and WordPress development services since it will help you a long way in identifying the right developer.
Some of the specific functionalities and areas you might have in mind are UI/UX optimization, advanced SEO, CRM integrations or custom plugin development, editing, and creating complex forms or theme development. Once you’ve identified the area of expertise, you will need to consider whether the developer has the needed knowledge and skills to help you in the development process of your website.
The Developer’s Skills Are Important
The next thing in line to consider is the developer’s skills. Experience in coding with technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP is more than welcome in the prospective developer. If you are looking for a developer with more design experience, you’ll need to make sure the candidate has demonstrated skills in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or wireframe programs.
Yes, technical skills and knowledge are quite pivotal in the decision-making process. However, soft skills are significant for the communication flow. Since the first contact with the developer will show you how they respond and whether they are professional in their field, you can draw a conclusion and determine if they have the needed skills to work on your project.
Additionally, you might want to check their portfolio and past projects to determine their level of expertise and skills. For the front-end part, you might want someone with more experience in template and layout designs, which will provide a feel of what they can provide for you and your website. While for the back-end, you can consider the developer’s experience in custom plugins creation, forms, programming languages knowledge, database knowledge, GitHub, and server-side scripting language skills.
Establish Your Budget
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After you’ve mastered the tips and tricks on how to find the right WordPress developer for your website, it’s time to think about the amount of money you can spend on this recruitment. The cost of the web development project differs and hinges on multiple factors that need to be taken into consideration.
Generally speaking, the budget will depend on the complexity and size of the project, the amount of custom work needed to complete the project, the specific skills you are looking for, the deadline of the project, and the years of experience the particular developer has.
For the benefit of all, create a cost-benefit analysis and be realistic about your budget. Do not underestimate the developer’s time and skills brought in the web development process and certainly do not prioritize cheaper services just for the sake of completing the project.
Set the Deadline
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Another thing to consider is the timeframe. Make sure you are not providing a tight schedule to the developer since some jobs may take even months to complete. Be specific about your deadline and set expectations on when and what to be delivered.
It’s also advisable to create a long-term relationship with the person that is working on your website as they can help you with maintenance and can help you in situations when WordPress is down or your site is facing WordPress error that you can’t fix yourself! Therefore, give them time and space and make them feel like a partner to have technical support anytime you may need it during the development stage and in the future.
