Tony Zeoli presentation on June 1st 2014 on how to find and hire a WordPress Designer/Developer. This presentation covers the general basic, but does not include every use case. It is meant as a broad overview. @wordcampavl #wcavl

1. 10 steps to finding The Right Fit for your projectHow to Hire a
Wordpress Designer &
Developer

2. About Me
• Digital Strategist @dswks & @tonyzeoli
• Agile/Scrum Product Development
• Information Architect
• 19 years in digital; first startup in ’95
• 9-years Wordpress
• Organizer, WordPress Chapel Hill
@wordpresschill
• House Music DJ: @netmix @djtonyz
• Blogs: netmix.com, tonyzeoli.com
• Startups: 8tracks.com, neighborbee.com
• Hometown: Boston
• Lived in NYC 15-years
• NC since July 2010; Asheville in January
• Working on open adoption w/ my wife, Missy

3. 1.Define The Need
• Can a template do this?
• Can a plugin do this?
• Requirements
• Wireframes
• Examples
• Schedule
• Process
• Launch Plan
• Content

4. 2. Define The Budget
• What’s realistic?
• Set by location, experience
• Hourly rates
• Cheap is $10 an hour
• Mid low is $20 - $65
• Mid high is $65 to $95
• Expensive is over $95
• Per project rate, +/- 20%

5. 3. Look Inside your network
• Personal recommendations
• Local WordPress or Design Meetup
• Network in the WordPress.org Forums
• Get WordPress.org user profile!
• LinkedIn WordPress or Graphic Design Groups
• Get a LinkedIn business profile!
• Facebook, Twitter, Google+
• Friends of friends know a WordPress designer or developer!

6. Twitter Search

7. 4. Outside your network
• WordCamps like this one or WordPress Job Boards
• jobs.wordpress.net (official jobs board) or Woo Jobs,
WPHired
• Google, Blogs, Social Media (Twitter, Pinterest)
• SlideShare
• Look in the footer!
• Craigslist is the LAST place you should look!

8. Blogs

9. Google Search

10. 5. Developers vs Designers

11. 5. Developers vs Designers
• Developers:
• http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/
• elance.com, freelancer.com, jobs.smashingmagazine.com,
jobs.freelanceswitch.com
• ThemeForest and Code Canyon developers or developers of other themes and
plugins
• Designers:
• behance.com, dribble.com or professional designer websites
• Competitions
• 99Designs.com, DesignCrowd.com, DesignContest.com, CrowdSpring.com

12. Onshore vs Offshore
• Price - Does cheaper mean better?
• Culture - Working across cultures is a challenge.
• Language - Just because someone speaks English, doesn’t
mean they get you
• Time - Working across time zones and delays
• Project Management - Can you work directly with the
developer?
• Quality - Do they really know what they are doing?

13. But my friend’s son is a web designer

14. 6.Qualifications

15. 6. Qualifications
• Without experience, you don’t, so look for:
• Portfolio
• Valid Testimonials
• At least 3 recent references
• Ability to understand your needs and COMMUNICATE
• Offshore developers will send long link lists
• some will be broken, poor content
• many will look like cheap templates done by others
• Good shops will have a formal agreement, statement of work and a professional process
• Bad developers will say just send me the money and I’ll get started…on what?
• Use your common sense. Reputation is almost everything.

16. 7. Negotiation & Payment
• Check references
• Know your developer/designer
• Get an estimate
• Estimates are difficult
• Based on wish list
• Be prepared for overage due to scope creep
• Ask for accurate record of hours spent if project is hourly
• Get a signed agreement. Handshakes and friendships end badly.
• When everyone agrees and signs off on statement of work, the work gets done.
• Payments usually half up front, then half on delivery. Some will do half then weekly payments after
hours are burned.

17. 8. Communication
• Responsibility. Take ownership!
• Use project management tools like Basecamp or Trello to communicate,
assign tasks and keep project files
• Set realistic goals
• I need it tomorrow is not realistic
• Every project has its challenges
• Strong communication is critical - DON’T BE AFRAID, OVER
COMMUNICATE
• Transparency is also critical, think of everything you can for every
conversation so nothing gets missed

18. 9. Scope Creep
• Defined a “Minimum Viable Product” or MVP. That’s what you build. Nothing more,
nothing less.
• Stick to the plan you set out with. You wouldn’t build a house without ensuring the
architect and builder are on the same page. Websites are no different.
• What Joe and Suzy are doing down the street is not important.
• Your execution and your ability to produce content sets you apart, not all the bells
and whistles you think you need.
• Burning hours and hours of the developers time to discuss things that weren’t in the
original plan wastes precious time and money.
• If you add to the project scope, expect to be billed.
• Review everything and sign off by email that you approve, so there are no
miscommunications.

19. 10. Project Completion
• Set aside a week to two weeks for QA testing to identify issues and fix bugs.
• Check off your statement of work to make sure everything included is
completed.
• Is all your launch content in the site?
• By now, you should have a launch plan. Execute the plan.
• Pay your developer.
• Give a recommendation if they did a good job.
• Sometimes projects will have a phase 2 or 3 or 4 ongoing, so you should be
prepared to execute the plan again and again and again. In each phase, stating
the requirements, getting statement of work, signing off on phases and
completing the project.