Enabling more than 34 percent of websites running online, WordPress stands out as the best and most popular CMS or website development platform. However, with the sheer number of websites running WordPress, building a solid, fully functional, and well-designed WordPress website is not just a cup of tea for everyone. It not only requires the right skills and in-depth knowledge of the CMS and its features but also requires knowledge and understanding of other programming languages ​​related to technical stacks such as HTML, PHP, javaScript, CSS, and MySQL. Apart from this, the engineer should also have skills such as creating responsive UI design, development skills, Photoshop knowledge, etc.
And this make sense to hire a WordPress developer and PHP developer with sufficient knowledge of the platforms and its features and other related to technologies. Setting certain conditions that can help you narrow down your choices is inevitable. And here are some questions you can ask to finally choose the right WordPress developer for your next project.
How much valuable experience do you have in WordPress?
While it is true that building a WordPress website is not so difficult for web developers as it is a good and easy-to-manage way, but it is important for developers to have a thorough knowledge of it. features, themes, extensions, plugins, and all WordPress features to ensure an ROI-driven and highly functional website that makes good use of CMS. This makes it important to look for a developer with relevant knowledge and expertise in WordPress development. Consider choosing someone with years of experience working with WordPress. Also, you can look at a developer portfolio to get an idea of ​​the types of websites they have built before and what quality of work they maintain and deliver.
Are you creating custom web designs or using ready-made WordPress themes?
This is a technical but important question to ask. WordPress comes with a host of attractive built-in themes that can be used by developers to simplify the design process and build a UI design quickly. These ready-made themes can be customized to fit the needs of the project, which is also very simple. But when you choose a WordPress developer, you can’t rely on someone who can just use and customize these pre-installed themes. The technician must be able to create a new theme from scratch and according to project requirements. Although this may take a long time it is still important as sometimes the ready-made themes may not exactly fit the needs of the business.
Also, creating a theme from scratch according to business needs can give a personal touch to the overall look of a website. Also, creating a responsive UI design is important and you should ask about it while discussing website design. Responsive design ensures the same customer experience and consistency and provides the same look and feel regardless of which device the customer or visitor is using.
Do you have expertise in customizing WordPress plugins?
The WordPress repository has many useful plugins that can be downloaded and used for effective, efficient, and fast website development. But choosing the right plugins is important according to the needs of the project. This is why you need an engineer who has a good knowledge of these plugins and who can make sure to customize and use the plugins as per your specifications.
What about website repair services? Do you provide after-improvement services?
The website needs regular updates and regular maintenance to stay up to date with the latest features and functionality. A reliable and professional WordPress developer can certainly provide post-development and website maintenance services and WordPress is constantly being upgraded and updated with new and improved features. Therefore, ask about it before choosing your engineer.
Do you care for the SEO and security of WordPress websites?
Making a website SEO-friendly or well-designed is important to increase website ranking in SERPs. Aside from the fact that WordPress is an SEO-friendly platform, the developer may need to perform some basic SEO techniques to make the website more advanced such as clearing permalinks, efficient use of title tags, alt image features, no canonicalization problems, etc. And this makes it very important to seek out an expert with extensive experience in developing WordPress websites using the best SEO practices and understanding marketing strategy.
Security is always a major concern for customers or site visitors and business owners. And developers should take extra care when it comes to website security. WordPress is widely used in building eCommerce websites and one of the most important features of the eCommerce site is its security as it includes online payments, sensitive customer information storage, banking details, and other business confidential information. Therefore, it is important to make the website 100 percent secure using the appropriate WordPress security tools and to protect the website from all external threats and hijackings.
Ask all of the above questions before choosing your WordPress developer. Finding satisfying answers from developers on all of the above questions is important. The developer must understand the requirements of your project, have the necessary knowledge and experience, must be able to effectively use CMS in the development of your website, and must also provide website optimization services.
Rob Stephen is a dedicated and knowledgeable WordPress developer affiliated with Australia’s leading WordPress development company, PHPProgrammers. The author wrote this article to help you hire a WordPress developer with all the skills and competencies you need
