How do you choose a WordPress Consultant that you will be able to trust and rely on for something as important as your online success? By doing your due diligence.
After decades of horror stories from onliners who were taken advantage of, I wanted to create a list of benchmarks you need to look for to ensure you are in good hands — whether it be another consultant or me.
10 Questions You Need to Ask
Below are criteria that should be scrutinized when you find you need WordPress Consulting, Help, and Support. The last thing you want to do is make your decision on price alone and end up with unreliable off-shore availability.
These are also the issues and questions that over the years I've found potential clients are most concerned about (or made the mistake of not considering) when determining who to partner with:
WordPress Consultant Checklist
- Does their site reflect a command of WordPress customization and plugin integration? Please do a thorough review of the consultant's website to see how they are using WordPress. How they use WordPress to market their services will give you a good idea of what to expect.
- How long have they been working with WordPress? How long has their site been using WordPress? This will be key to determining if their experience reflects a solid understanding of how best to use the advantages of WordPress for your program.
- How long have they been in business and doing business online? The longer, the better so that you can take advantage of their experience.
- Is location important to you? Most folks I talk to within the United States prefer to work with someone who is stateside. Timezone differences and the ability to contact your WordPress Consultant during your business hours when you need them are significant from a support perspective.
- What is their response time? Email potential partners to see how they respond and how quickly. This will give you a clear view of what you can expect when you submit your WordPress help or support requests.
- Are they available for after-launch WordPress support and maintenance, or do they launch your site and you are on your own?
- Do they offer WordPress training or orientation as part of their services? If you are new to WordPress, this level of additional support will be invaluable!
- Do they have a FAQ you can review covering the questions you have about their WordPress Consulting Services? How about a Code of Ethics? Or is their site lean on this level of information and content overall?
- Are you provided their Terms of Service in writing for you to refer to at your convenience? Do they take the time to detail their fee schedule and billing policies? This information should be discussed and included in your initial communications to know exactly what to expect before any work is commissioned.
- Do they have a Blog that reflects their breadth of knowledge and experience? If not, why not?
In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product and profits. Unless you've got a good team, you can't do much with the other two.
~ Lee Iacocca
Never “Settle”…
While TV commercials showing settlers settling are entertaining, settling when it comes to your business's online presence can literally be fatal. All too often, folks decide who to work with based on cost alone.
Do not decide based on a WordPress Consultant's hourly rate by itself without also considering the above. It would be best to get specific answers to all these important questions to make an informed cost/benefit decision.
If the above information is available on your potential WordPress Consultant's site and you can get prompt and courteous answers to all your concerns to your satisfaction, you will know you have found a partner you can count on.
You want your WordPress website to thrive, so that means nothing less than a person/company that is committed to offering the customer service and ongoing WordPress support you'll need to rely on will suffice.
At your service,
