8 Things You Need To Consider When Hiring A WordPress ECommerce Developer
How do you choose the right eCommerce developer to hire? The person you decide to partner with on this significant project will be instrumental in making your website as engaging and effective as possible, ultimately helping to increase your conversion rates, sales, and revenue. Have a look at eCommerce share of retail sales from 2017 to 2013:
While there are many different qualities you should consider before bringing on any new hire, here are 8 important qualities that will help you decide whether or not your chosen developer is right for the job. If any of these qualities are missing, it might be time to look at someone else!
1. Identify Your E-commerce Project’s Requirements
Before you start searching for a developer, you need to make sure you clearly understand your e-commerce project’s requirements. This is critical. Let’s face it—if you haven’t done your homework, you won’t be able to articulate what exactly you want. This makes it hard for a prospective developer to present viable solutions that align with your goals and budget. Make sure to develop a clear picture of how much traffic, products, and revenue you expect from your online store in order to determine how much effort (and funds) are required before you begin hiring an e-commerce solution provider.
2. Ask About Their Experience
If you’re looking to build a professional ecommerce store, it’s important to hire a developer who has experience with ecommerce sites. Look for a developer that can show you examples of their work and point you in the direction of clients they have worked within your industry. If possible, talk to these previous clients directly; ask what they liked about working with your chosen developer and if there were any issues along the way. By finding an experienced WordPress ecommerce developer, you can be sure that your site will perform well now and down into the future as your business grows.
3. Check Portfolios and References
Before you begin interviewing any developers, take a good look at their portfolios and see if they have a similar project that is similar to what you’re looking for. The better their portfolio matches your needs, the more likely it is that they can do something for you. It also helps to find out how much work they typically get in an average month. This information will help give you a sense of whether or not they are usually busy and whether or not you’ll be able to move ahead with them quickly. If they aren’t very busy, why is that? It could be because they aren’t very good at what they do, or maybe they just haven’t made enough connections yet; so make sure to ask about these things too!
4. Find out What Approach eCommerce Developers Follow
There are three main types of ecommerce solutions available on market: build from scratch approach, plugin and theme approach, and SaaS (Software as a Service) approach. The first two approaches have their clear advantages - you get customized functionality that meets your business needs perfectly, plugins from leading developers like WooCommerce or Magento can work wonders for your site. But what you gain in flexibility, customization options, and cost savings, you'll lose in ease of implementation and maintenance. If you're looking to set up an online store quickly, without having to deal with code or design issues yourself, then software-based systems may be more suited to your needs. However, if long-term flexibility is important for your business then hiring a developer will definitely be a worthwhile investment.
5. Discuss the Pricing Model
Working with an eCommerce development company requires serious consideration of your budget and needs, as well as how those factors affect pricing. Before you dive into hiring a developer, you should have a clear idea of what your goals are (and how much they’ll cost), what your current budget is, what skills are needed for your project and how much time is available to work on it. With that in mind, consider working with a freelancer for small tasks like fixing one section of code or building an app rather than hiring someone full-time. If you choose to go full-time, be sure to check references so you can see if previous clients are happy—and unhappy clients may have something negative to say about their experience in order to discourage others from working with that person.
6. Agree on Communication Channels
One of your first steps should be to determine how you and potential developers will communicate. If you’re interviewing a few candidates, it’s best to let them know how they can get in touch with you ahead of time. While phone calls are convenient for some, others find that communicating via Skype or even Google Voice works better for them. Find out what communication channels work best for both of you and stick with those from start to finish.
7. Ensure a Warranty on Their Work
If you’re going to hire a company, especially one that is going to be building an e-commerce website for your business, make sure they offer a warranty on their work. If something isn’t done right or they miss something in their initial design and functionality, you want them to come back and fix it without charging you again. As with any type of software development project, everyone makes mistakes—you just want yours fixed free of charge. Do whatever you can to prevent being taken advantage of later down the road by making sure your chosen developer has some sort of insurance on his or her work.
8. Ask for eCommerce Support & Maintenance Services
Before you jump into hiring, you should make sure you’re taking advantage of any kind of support and maintenance services that are offered with your hosting package. While these services may not seem like a big deal at first, they can save you countless hours and headaches down the road. Make sure your host is offering an easy-to-use ticketing system that allows their customers to communicate easily with them. Also, make sure your hosts offer several different levels of service so you can pick one that fits within your budget. The last thing you want is to have all sorts of trouble with things like upgrades or losing data because your host doesn’t offer good support or maintenance services.
Conclusion
Make sure that you hire someone with good knowledge of SEO for ecommerce development. Someone who has a back catalog of similar sites and projects will have a much better idea about what works and doesn’t work than someone who hasn’t developed ecommerce sites at all. Try to use WordPress as your CMS of choice when hiring an ecommerce developer. You can also hire a reputed WordPress Development Company in India that can provide you experienced developers at affordable prices.
