WordPress is the most widely used content management system on the web, powering around 40% of the internet. Part of the reason is how easy it is to use: you can build almost any kind of platform, a freelancing website, a social media site, or a full learning management system, in a few hours just by combining the right themes and plugins. You don’t need any technical knowledge to get a site running. So why would you need a WordPress developer at all?
Here Are a Few Reasons Why
- You need to focus more on creating content and marketing strategy to bring in clients, not on the site itself.
- You need dedicated themes and plugins built specifically for your platform.
- Your site is growing fast and you need extra hands on deck.
- You need expert advice for a project that relies on specific plugins.
- You’re building something new that you and your team have no experience with.
These are just some of the reasons, and they vary from person to person. With a community as large as WordPress’s, there are thousands of people and companies dedicated to making it more powerful, customizable, and easy to use.
With that many options out there, picking the right one can be a long, tiring process. Here’s how to make it easier.
Step 1: Figure Out What You Want
It’s important to be clear on what you actually want.
Start with a simple analysis: where you are now, and where you want to be.
That alone will answer a lot of your questions and bring some clarity.
Things worth thinking through during that analysis:
- Type of website you have or need: social media, ecommerce, or a hybrid (social + LMS).
- Type of work required: simple tasks or complex ones.
- What kind of pages you want, their UI and structure, theme base, and so on.
- Whether you need a full-time dedicated developer or someone part-time.
- Which specific plugins need integrating, community plugins, ecommerce plugins, or LMS plugins.
- Whether you need SEO work, maintenance, backups, or security checkups.
- Whether you’re hiring for a new long-term project or to develop specific aspects of an existing one.
- Whether you need a generalist or a specialist in a specific domain, this one matters, so think it through.
- Whether you want a dedicated, exclusive theme or plugin built for your site.
- Whether the developer is needed for advice only, or to play a key role in development.
- Whether you need SLAs or NDAs in place.
Once you have a clear picture of your needs, move to the next step.
Also Read: Best WordPress BuddyPress Events Plugins
Step 2: Money Matters
Money is one of the biggest factors in choosing a WordPress developer. It’s how we measure value for service, and everyone wants to get their money’s worth. Hiring a more expensive developer isn’t a problem if you’re getting proper value out of it, but that means thinking it through carefully rather than just picking a number.
Start by setting a budget. It’ll be shaped by a few things:
- Scope (features, themes, and plugin integrations) and how long the project will run.
- The level of experience you want in a developer.
- Full-time vs. part-time, part-time will generally cost less.
- Billing type: flat-rate vs. hourly (hourly tends to add up to more over time).
- How complex the project is.
Those are the main factors that shape your budget, but keep in mind a budget is just an estimate. Actual costs can shift as requirements change mid-project, or once existing issues on your site surface that you weren’t aware of.
Step 3: The Head Hunt
You know your requirements and you’ve set a budget. Now it’s time to start digging. If you already have a reference, that’s a head start, if not, freelance marketplaces like Upwork, Freelancer.com, Fiverr, and Toptal are all good places to start searching for WordPress developers.
Once you know where to look, here’s what to actually look for in a candidate:
- How well the developer matches your requirements.
- Years of experience.
- Their rate, and whether it’s justified.
- Portfolio of previous work.
- Their GitHub, personal site, and other professional profiles like LinkedIn.
- The sites they list in their portfolio, take a look at them yourself.
- Reviews and testimonials, they carry real information.
- Time zone, a critical factor for planning how you’ll communicate.
- Whether they’re a generalist or a specialist, and if a specialist, in what.
- What contributions they’ve made to the WordPress community.
These points will help you shortlist candidates. You’ll likely have a few more that are specific to your own needs, factor those in too.
If you’d rather hire a team of experienced WordPress developers directly, check out Wbcom Designs. They’ve built for platforms like ThoughtCloud, NewChip, and SchoolsCompared, among others, and their themes and plugins are used by thousands of WordPress sites. Worth a look, it could save you a good amount of time.
Now, on to the last step.
Step 4: The Interview
Once you’ve shortlisted candidates, it’s time to set up interviews. This is where you get to know each developer better and decide who’s the best fit for your project.
- Pay attention to response time, factoring in time zone.
- How does the developer communicate?
- Did you understand them clearly, and did they understand you?
- Did you get clarity on their skills and past work?
- Did they ask questions about the project, or request a project draft? A good developer usually will.
- Did they seem patient and willing to understand your needs?
- Did they answer technical questions with ease?
These are some of the basics that will tell you whether a candidate is a good fit.
Once you’re through the interviews, shortlist your top few.
Also Read: Why Community Management Matters For Your Business?
Step 5: A Small Test Project
Put together a small paid project that covers your actual needs and hand it to your shortlisted candidates. This step helps a lot with the final decision, it:
- Justifies what you’re paying the developer.
- Shows you their actual skill level.
- Confirms you’re getting value for the money spent.
- Saves you losses, in money and time, down the line.
- Gives you confidence in the final decision.
Once a candidate completes the project, assess it against:
- Overall quality of the work.
- Total time taken, and whether that time was justified by the quality.
- Performance on specific parts of the task.
- How well they communicated during the project.
- How well they used the tools and techniques WordPress provides.
- Any other points specific to your own needs.
Also Read: How to Create Website Content that Actually Converts
Conclusion
None of us grow alone, we all need someone who can help professionally with the things we’re not experts in. Managing a platform gets hard when you’re also trying to focus on something else entirely, recording classes, finishing your next piece of work, whatever it is. So why not leave the development to professionals and spend your own time on what you do best?
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How to Establish Trust in your Marketplace Community?
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