WordPress powers millions of websites around the world, making it a preferred choice among entrepreneurs, bloggers, agencies, and eCommerce store owners. While WordPress enables anyone to create a website with little or no technical expertise, professional development is often required to realize a truly unique concept, boost performance, security, or to deliver a special experience to website visitors.
Hiring the right freelance WordPress developer can make all the difference between a successful website launch and a disaster. With so many options at your disposal, how do you find the best person to build your WordPress website?
What Freelance WordPress Developers Do
A freelance WordPress developer is an independent contractor who designs, develops, maintains, or enhances WordPress sites for clients.
Depending on the developer's area of expertise, their services may include:
- WordPress website development
- Custom WordPress theme development and customization
- Plugin development and customization
- WooCommerce development
- Migrations and transfers
- API development and integration
- Speed optimization and performance tuning
- Security improvements
- Bug fixing and troubleshooting
- Ongoing website maintenance
- Responsive design implementation
If you are looking for someone to build a simple personal blog or a complex e-commerce website, it is important to find a developer whose expertise matches the requirements of your project.
Define Your Requirements
It is critical to understand your requirements before looking for a web developer. Start by defining your project requirements — do you need a business website, an online store, a portfolio, a simple blog, a membership website, or another type of site? Then define the features that you want to include on your site. If you can provide a comprehensive list of requirements, it will become easier to find the right developer for your project.
For example, if you need a membership website, you may want to ask:
- Can the developer build a custom WordPress membership site?
- Can they create membership levels, restrict content, and add special features such as a dashboard and payments?
- How familiar are they with membership-related plugins?
If you run an online store, you will probably need someone with WooCommerce experience. You should ask:
- Does the developer have experience with WooCommerce?
- How familiar are they with payment gateways?
- Can they help customize your WooCommerce store?
Also, highlight any specific requirements you have such as special features, functionality, design, or other needs.
Check Their WordPress Development Experience
WordPress has more to offer than most people realize. A competent WordPress developer should be familiar with themes, plugins, databases, hosting, WordPress security, responsive design, and speed optimization.
Depending on the requirements that you have, make sure that the developer is familiar with the following:
- WordPress core and administration
- PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Custom plugin development
- Custom theme development
- Page builders
- REST API
- WooCommerce development
You do not need all these skills for every project, but a good developer should have at least some of them.
Ask to See Their Portfolio
It is always a good idea to ask to see their portfolio before you hire any web developer. Ask them to highlight the projects that are most similar to yours, and then study their work. Focus on design, responsiveness, performance, and overall user experience. It is always a good idea to test the website on your own device to get an idea of how it would look on your potential customers' devices.
It is also a good idea to ask the developer to tell you more about each specific project. This will give you an idea of how involved they were in the development. Was it a complete WordPress development from scratch, or did they make minor adjustments to an existing website? Working with someone who offers end-to-end development services means they will have a better understanding of how to execute your project.
Ask for References and Reviews
It is also a good idea to ask for references and reviews. Ask the developer to share testimonials that highlight the following:
- Communication and responsiveness
- Deadline orientation
- Technical skills and code quality
- Overall quality of work
- Support after project completion
In most cases, good technical skills are not enough — a competent developer should also know how to communicate and offer high-quality support throughout the development process.
Ask if They Can Customize Your Website
Most WordPress websites are built using third-party themes and plugins. While these tools give website owners tremendous flexibility, sometimes businesses need functionality that is not offered by any existing WordPress plugin. In such cases, it is necessary to ask if the developer can offer custom WordPress development and plugin customization to add the desired functionality.
You should ask if the developer can customize:
- WordPress themes and plugins
- WooCommerce functionality
- Pages and forms
- Checkout processes
- User dashboards
- APIs and third-party integrations
- WordPress admin area
Ask How They Would Improve Your Website's Performance
Website performance plays a significant role in user experience and search engine optimization. Make sure to ask the developer how they would improve your website's performance and speed. An experienced WordPress developer will address the following:
- Image optimization
- Website caching
- Code optimization
- Database optimization
- Minification of CSS and JavaScript
- Removing plugins that slow down your website
- Configuring a content delivery network (CDN)
- WordPress hosting optimization
A professional developer should give you a detailed performance report so that you can track improvement throughout the development cycle.
Ask How They Would Enhance Your WordPress Security
Any self-respecting WordPress developer should know how to keep your WordPress site secure. Ask them how they would protect your site from attacks and threats such as brute-force attacks or vulnerabilities. A competent developer should offer the following security-related services:
- WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates
- Secure login credentials
- Backup solutions
- SSL certificates
- Malware scanning and removal
- User account management
- Plugin security audits
- Database security
Avoid using insecure, poorly maintained plugins that promise extensive features but offer little security.
Ask About SEO-Friendly Development
A competent freelance WordPress developer should understand SEO fundamentals and WordPress website structure. Your website should have search engine friendly URLs, proper heading hierarchy, clean code, optimized images, mobile responsiveness, fast loading speed, internal linking, and an XML sitemap, among other optimization features that will improve its visibility in search engines.
That being said, it is always important to work with an SEO expert who can develop a winning SEO strategy for your website.
Discuss Your Budget and Project Scope
Every developer has their own pricing model, so you should ask them how much they charge for their services. In most cases, a developer will work on either an hourly or project basis. It is always a good idea to request a detailed quote that breaks down everything you will be charged for. Here are some important things to discuss with your web developer:
- Overall cost of the project
- Features that will be included or excluded
- Number of hours the project will take
- Project deadline and milestones
- Payment schedule
- Hosting and domain name costs
- Content creation requirements
- Maintenance and support terms
A clear understanding of all these details will prevent misunderstandings and unnecessary disputes when the project is completed.
Ask About Long-Term Website Maintenance and Support
Websites require regular maintenance even after they are launched. WordPress core files, themes, and plugins need to be updated on a regular basis. You may also want the developer to handle website backups, security, bug fixes, performance optimization, and new features.
Ask them how they offer long-term support and maintenance:
- Do they charge an hourly rate or offer a monthly retainer?
- What is included in their maintenance plan?
- How quickly do they respond to urgent issues?
- Can you sign an annual maintenance contract?
Final Thoughts
Several factors should be taken into consideration when choosing a freelance WordPress developer for your business. A competent developer should have extensive WordPress expertise, a strong portfolio, excellent communication skills, customization and speed optimization knowledge, and proper security expertise. It is also important to understand the cost and maintenance options that the developer offers.
A professional WordPress developer should understand your expectations and create a website that looks beautiful, is easy to navigate, secure, responsive, quick, and easy to maintain. Take the time to find the right freelance WordPress developer for your project, as they can help you achieve amazing results for many years to come.