I back myself as an ethical WordPress Developer where I put more priority for quality over quantity.
Must tell the WordPress market at the moment is pretty competitive. It’s good and bad at both times. Though I am losing lead conversion to cheaper quotes provider. On other side – most of my conversions are coming from clients having bad experience with previous developer or client that values their website. It’s not uncommon to get an email from previous lead after few months when their site is severely screwed up by another developer. What surprises me most is that there are so many developers and agencies that oversell their skill and end up building site on 50 dollars premium theme, and on top outsource the work to freelancers.
Did you put the priority on cost first?
If you value your website, have some realistic goals. Having so many options is definitely good, but common sense is quite important. Have some realistic budget on your mind. Choose the best developer with your budget.
These are quite vital expect for your website.
Well reputed WordPress developer
When choosing a WordPress Developer, my suggestion is to go with reputation over cost. You might be paying extra money for now but over long term it will yield good return.
If you end up choosing the cheapest quote, you might end up your website built by offshore developers. There are a lot of freelancers and agencies that do outsource their work for offshore developers. I am not slagging offshore developers – some of them are really skilled but most of them are not. Well yes, the good offshore developer does charge some reasonable fees.
WordPress theme
If you can afford to go with a custom theme. Custom themes can be bit expensive but over time it can be rewarding.
Premium themes can be a good solution considering they are pretty reasonably priced. But when choosing premium themes go with something light and something that had good reputation.
WordPress hosting
Choosing a good web hosting is the top priority for any website.
A good WordPress web hosting is important for:
- Security
- Good page speed
- Better support
- Backup strategies
Did you check any background about the developer?
Choosing a good WordPress Developer can’t be that hard.
Here is some easy way to check about background:
- Look at the quality of their personal or business website
- Look at their portfolio
- Ask for references if needed
Did you test your website before going live?
If you value your website you have to put time and effort. Ask your developer when they are building a website to get access to Admin panel so that you can do some test uploading content yourself.
Another important aspect is keeping an eye on how fast the website loads. If you end up using premium theme that is heavy – you can still do some optimisations within your website. Ask the developer to do some optimisation and use decent caching mechanisms.
The other important audit you can do on your website is checking the website on different devices. Make sure your website looks decent on all devices. If mobile conversion is important, do a proper test around mobile devices.
Did you log into your admin panel and see how many plugins were used?
Plugins add extra functionalities to your website. Lesser the plugin, the better for website. It’s arguable when you use well coded and good reputed plugins you can get away with number of plugins used. But the problem is when you start using plugin for each and everything that’s where your website starts to get into problems.
Staying with same dodgy developers and not pulling off
Once you start working with a developer, pulling out of it can be a hassle. Most of the website owners hesitate to do so. When you sure, your developer is not doing any justice to your website, its better to pull off.
When you work with a good WordPress Developer, your website should be investment for future. Over time it builds reputation, gets good at organic SEO, gets you proper quality score when you think of doing SEM, and most importantly generates more leads.
Conclusion
When you are a website owner and your business depends upon it – it's your job to take care of it. At least you need to have realistic budget and find a good developer so that it can be more investment rather than a waste of your time and money.