If you are looking to hire a professional WordPress Developer you will notice the hoard or people claiming to be a WordPress Developer. Finding the right person or company to maintain or work on your WordPress website can be hard. Choosing the best WordPress Developer for your project does not have to be hard if you know what you are looking for.
Search Locality for a WordPress Developer
Nothing beats being able to call and talk to the developer. A lot of companies that provide WordPress Maintenance, Development or Design are overseas or out of your timezone. Searching locally helps local business and give you the peace of mind that you can contact the developer(s) when needed.
You can use services like Thumbtack, or Craigslist but ultimately, your best results will be to use Google and search for local web design and development companies.
Ensure that the developer is actually a WordPress Developer
After you find a possible WordPress developer, it is important to check the credentials. The title “WordPress Developer” or “WordPress Specialist” is thrown around like candy at a parade and anyone can claim to be. A sure-fire way to find out if the developer is legit, it to ask for plugin or theme examples that are being hosted on WordPress.org. Your best choice of a WordPress Developer will have plugins or themes hosted with the official WordPress site.
A legit WordPress Developer will be able to provide some like https://profiles.wordpress.org/justingreerbbi#content-plugins. With this said there are WordPress developers that do not have plugins or themes hosted.
Sure Signs to Stay Away
If a developer uses “wordpress” or “WordPress“, look elsewhere! The WordPress community is pretty tight and the biggest pet peeve we see is the misspelling of WordPress. This misspelling is a dead giveaway that you are not talking to a legit developer (or at least someone in the WordPress community).
Another thing we see a lot is are basement bargain prices. You should always look for the best deal, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for in development. The cheapest is not always the best choice. When you hire a developer, you are paying for experience and knowledge. Choosing a cheap developer raises the likelihood you will be paying for their service as well as a real professional to repair what they did.
Conclusion
If you do not find the right WordPress developer locally and you find a developer that is does not have a portfolio, it is ok. Just keep in mind that you get what you pay for and a bad developer can cost you more in the long run.
If you are unsure where you can look or if a developer is the right one, contact us and we can help you find the right WordPress developer.