Hiring a WordPress Developer? Ask These Essential Questions First!

So you have your bakes and cakes ready, the flowers are all set to shimmer into lovely bouquets, and your brick-and-mortar store is already taking orders, but what about building your online presence?!

Yes, dear entrepreneur, you absolutely need an efficient, scalable, responsive, and neat website that will draw in conversions and revenue. For this, you need to zero in on a content management system that is flexible enough to cater to your ever-evolving business needs. 

WordPress takes the lion’s share when it comes to the CMS of choice on the web; check out the infographic below.

Source

Whether you intend to create a website from scratch or migrate your existing website to WordPress, it makes sense to hire a professional WordPress developer. However, it is essential to have a clear-cut list of questions in the vetting process so that you can make the right hire, which will ultimately reflect in the end product, i.e., the quality of your website!

Hiring a WordPress developer can be a tough nut to crack, especially if you are not familiar with the technical aspects of WordPress development. You need to find a reliable, experienced, and skilled developer who can deliver quality work within your budget and timeline. You also need to communicate your requirements and expectations clearly and effectively to avoid any misunderstandings or conflicts.

To help you with this process, we have put together a list of key questions that you should ask before hiring a WordPress developer. These questions will help you evaluate the developer’s expertise, experience, portfolio, approach, and compatibility with your project. By fetching a clear answer to these questions, you can make an informed and well-thought-out decision about hiring the best WordPress developer for your website.

1. How long have you been working with WordPress? 

With experience comes expertise. This is one of the most basic and important questions to ask a WordPress developer. It will give you an idea of how familiar and proficient they are with WordPress as a platform. You want to hire a developer who has at least a few years of experience in developing WordPress websites, preferably in your industry or niche.

You can also ask them to share some examples of their previous WordPress projects and explain their role and contribution to those projects. This will help you assess their skills and capabilities in different aspects of WordPress development, such as theme development, plugin development, custom coding, etc.

2. What are the WordPress plugins that you use or recommend?

WordPress plugins are extensions that add or enhance the functionality of your website. There are thousands of plugins available for WordPress, both free and paid, that can help you with various tasks and features, such as SEO, security, performance, design, etc.

However, not all plugins are created equal. Some plugins may be outdated, incompatible, or poorly coded, which can cause issues or conflicts with your website. Therefore, you need to ask your WordPress developer what plugins they use or recommend for your website. You want to hire a developer who has a good knowledge and understanding of the best plugins for your website’s needs and goals.

You can also ask them how they choose and evaluate plugins for your website. You want to hire a developer who follows some criteria or best practices for selecting plugins as well as customizing them, such as checking the ratings, reviews, updates, support, compatibility, etc.

3. How do you ensure the security and performance of your WordPress websites?

Security and performance are two crucial factors that affect the success and reputation of your website. You want to hire a WordPress developer who can ensure that your website is secure from hackers, malware, spam, etc., and that it loads fast and smoothly for your visitors.

You can ask your WordPress developer what measures they take to protect and optimize your website’s security and performance. For example,

•  Do they use SSL certificates to encrypt your website’s data?

•  Do they use security plugins or services to scan and monitor your website for threats?

•  Do they use caching plugins or services to speed up your website’s loading time?

•  Do they use CDN (content delivery network) services to distribute your website’s content across different servers?

•  Do they use image optimization tools or techniques to reduce the size of your images?

You can also ask them how they test and measure your website’s security and performance. For example,

•  Do they use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze your website’s speed and performance?

•  Do they use tools such as Sucuri or Wordfence to scan and audit your website’s security?

•  Do they use tools such as Google Analytics or Google Search Console to track and monitor your website’s traffic and SEO?

4. How do you approach responsive web design?

Responsive web design is a technique that equips your website to display seamlessly according to the size and orientation of the device and screen that the user is viewing it on. It ensures that your website looks good and functions well on any device, whether it is a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Responsive web design is imperative for providing a positive user experience and improving your SEO ranking. You want to hire a WordPress developer who can create or improve your website with responsive web design.

You can ask your WordPress developer how they intend to approach and implement a responsive web design for your website.

For example,

•  Do they use CSS media queries to render multiple styles to your website based on the device and screen size of the user?

•  Do they use flexible grids and layouts to create a fluid and proportionate layout for your website that can render seamlessly on any screen size?

•  Do they use responsive images and videos to optimize the quality & size of your images and videos for different devices and screens?

You can also ask them to show you some examples of their previous responsive web design projects and explain how they implemented them.

5.  How do you communicate and collaborate with your clients?

Communication and collaboration are crucial aspects of any successful WordPress development project. You want to hire a WordPress developer who can communicate and collaborate with you effectively and efficiently throughout the project.

You can ask your WordPress developer how they prefer to communicate with their clients. For example,

•  What are their preferred communication methods and tools, such as email, phone, chat, video call, etc.?

•  How often do they communicate and update you on the project’s progress and status?

•  How do they handle feedback and revisions from you or your team?

•  How do they manage expectations and deadlines for the project?

•  How do they deal with any issues or challenges that may arise during the project?

You can also ask them to provide you with some references or testimonials from their previous clients and contact them to get their feedback on the developer’s communication and collaboration skills.

Conclusion

On that note, you are well-equipped to shortlist the best WordPress developers for your dream website. If you seek best-in-class, experienced professional WordPress developers who are privy to the demands of the game, we suggest you check out our exceptional WordPress development resources. They deliver above and beyond what’s promised every time!