Managing an agency gets tough. You should design and take care of your clients’ websites and always make sure they perform. For that, you need to have a decent team of WordPress developers. But how to find a good WordPress developer? Hiring a WordPress developer is easier said than done. You should figure out what skills your developer should have and where to find one.
Don’t worry! To help you, we have created a complete guide for finding and hiring the best WordPress developers. But first of all:
Who is a WordPress developer?
As the name suggests, WordPress developers work with WordPress. They are the ones who design and maintain WordPress websites, using programming languages. You can trust them in both front-end and back-end development. Along with that, WP developers also design plugins and themes to enhance the website’s performance.
What WordPress Developer Should Know?
For non-technical people, one of the issues when hiring a WordPress developer is to figure out what they should know. That is why we will give a clear overview of technical and soft skills your WP developer should know.
Technical Skills:
. HTML
HTML is a markup language that your WordPress developer absolutely must know. It is used to display the content on the website. If you want someone who can customize your website according to your needs, check if he knows HTML.
. CSS
Another mandatory language to learn is CSS. It is a stylesheet language that manages the way your website’s elements look. HTML and CSS go hand in hand, and both are crucial for your website.
. PHP
Your developer should know PHP as it is the programming language that powers your website’s server. If HTML and CSS refer to the front-end, PHP relates more to the back-end development.
. JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming language that is used for the web. If you want to have very interactive themes and plugins, your WP specialist should also know JavaScript. He might also need to learn a couple of JavaScript libraries.
Finally, our last not required, but desirable technical skill:
. SEO
No matter why your client asks you to build a website, their main goal stays the same: to bring more traffic to it. In the web world, one of the ways to do it is with SEO.
SEO helps your website rank higher in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) and increases your chances of attracting more visitors. Moreover, if your website is so SEO-optimized that it makes it to the first page of the search, then you can be sure your client will be more than satisfied.
Now you might wonder: why does my WordPress developer have to know SEO? Didn’t it all have to do with keyword research, blog writing, and content-related stuff?
Well, yes and no. SEO consists of both non-technical and technical aspects. Along with keyword research and link building, you should also deal with your website structure, PageSpeed score, coding, and many other technical tasks. So, if your developer knows SEO, he will make your website inherently SEO-optimized.
Now, let’s suppose he masters all the technical skills. What else should you look for? Of course, you should see whether he is easy to work with or not. Analyzing soft skills is an indispensable part of the hiring process. You can find a perfectly professional, but it might be impossible to work with him.
Also, another piece of advice is to have your agency employees interview him. In the end, you want to make sure that your developer will integrate well with the team and agency at large. So make sure you have a few of his teammates there in the interview.
That said, what soft skills should your WP specialist have?
Soft skills
. Time management skills
One of the easiest ways to check whether your potential employee is punctual or not is to look at his hiring task. Did he give it on time, or did he miss the deadline? Also, did he show up at the interview at the right time, or was he late? These behaviors will help you to figure out whether he will be on time for other tasks too.
. Open to learning
Another soft skill important for all the employees is their ability to learn. Your employee should always be willing to improve his skills and add up to his knowledge. If there is no such aim in him, someone else will soon take his place by being more updated and in tune with the current trends.
. Communication skills
Finally, try to understand how well do you and your developer understand each other. Is your communication smooth and easy, or do you often encounter misunderstandings? Having good communication skills and being a team player is crucial for an efficient and stress-free working flow.
Finally, the last important question:
How much does it cost to hire a WordPress developer ?
Of course, it depends on the experience and the project scope, but in general, you can expect to pay from 40-80 $ per hour.
So we told you how to find a good professional. The only question left unanswered is where to find him? Well, there are a lot of freelancing platforms out there. However, you will find the best WP developers only on this site.
Good luck in your hiring process!