Websites are critical for businesses. These are what represent your brand online and so you need to create unique sites that can offer great user experiences. But developing websites for business or eCommerce is not an easy task.
That’s where professional web developers came in. You can hire our Houston web development company and have them create a remarkable website for you. Since your website is a valuable asset, you can’t just hire anyone to develop it.
In this article, we’ll help you understand how you can hire website developers and discuss several platforms where you can find web developers. We trust that once you’re done reading this post, you’ll have no trouble finding a web developer according to your requirements.
How to Hire a Website Developer?
Hiring a web developer for a business website or shopify ecommerce store is a multi-stage process, with each step being critical for hiring top talent. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can hire a web developer. We’ll elaborate on some points later in the article so keep reading:
1. Identify Your Website Goals
Web development projects differ widely based on your requirements. An eCommerce website will be different from a startup website which will be different from an enterprise website. So, the first step is to chalk down your objectives and goals for the website.
These could include the scope of the website, meaning how big is the website? Are you building it from scratch or modifying it to suit your business growth? Do you also need designers? Do you also need an eCommerce store? How big a store are you looking for? And so on.
You should also determine the challenges and problems that your business is facing that you hope to resolve with your website. If you have a vision for how it should be, then write that down as well. Creating a thorough goals and problems list will not only help you but also streamline the hiring process because then the web developers will know exactly what they are applying for.
2. Post a Well-Defined Job Description
A well-defined job description is great for both you and the applicant. It helps the applicants by helping them understand if they are a good fit for the job based on the details provided. And it’s great for you because it saves your time having to sort through hundreds of irrelevant applications.
We’ll discuss where you can post the job description in a later section in this article. For now, let’s look at what you need to include in your job post:
- Any specific skills you need in a web developer. These could be front-end development, full-stack development and designer and so on.
- Duration of project: This helps the applicant know the kind of commitment they’ll have to make should you hire them. Also mention if it’s a one-time project or ongoing and whether you’re looking for individual freelancers or agencies.
- Estimated budget: Talking about money in the job description is usually a good practice. You should mention a range here so that you only attract the web developers that are okay with your rate.
- Expectations or scope of work: This topic should always be included in your job description for a web developer. Mention the project summary to give your applicants an idea of what the project is about. You can also introduce yourself here and explain the factors limiting you from developing your website, these will be the issues you expect them to resolve.
- The resources you can provide: Although it’s not a necessity to add this point, it can certainly be useful. This will help the web developer decide if they can take on your project given the resources they have and the ones you’ll provide. Some resources or assets might be office space, access to specific development tools, logo designs, wireframes, and so on.
Everything you include in your job description should be intended to help the applicants decide if they should apply or not. For more clarity, you can add links to certain examples that match your vision of your business website. The web developers can look them over and understand the web development project even better.
3. Evaluate Applications and Hire
Once the applications are in, then you’ll start to sort through them to see which web developer to hire. Usually, the entire process of finding and hiring web developers is long and expensive, because you invest your time and money into it. So, make sure not to rush the application evaluation phase even if you’re hiring a Laravel development company or a freelancer for a one-time job.
Certain things that you should look for in the applications include their professional portfolio, the experience of working on projects similar to yours and references from past clients. There are few more things that you should look for in potential hires for web development which we will expand on later.
After you’ve narrowed down your top web developers, it’s time to interview them. This is a stage that some business owners mess up.
You shouldn’t ask them general questions about programming and web development. Although those have a place and the developer needs to know them but since you’re interviewing for a specific role, it’s best to ask questions specific to what your project needs.
If you don’t know anything about the technical terms, then you could try running a quick Google search to see what a project like yours needs. Then ask the web developers questions about them and have them explain them to you simplistically. A person who is well-versed in development should have no trouble with this.
4. Do a Test Project First
Doing a test run with your newly hired web developer is especially important if you have massive projects or long-term contracts. You don’t want to be stuck with someone that can’t do what you need from them, or someone that isn’t a team player or a fit for your company culture.
Once you’ve picked out your web developers you could either test them by having them develop one component of your business or eCommerce website. Or you could give them a smaller project to complete from start to finish.
Here, you should observe how they take instructions, manage time and resources, communicate and the quality of their work.
5. Finalize the Contract
This is the last stage of hiring a web developer. Here, you decide on the project model such as project-based or team-based, the payment details and NDAs. You have to do this with individual web developers as well as web development agencies.
Once that is done, you’ll have a web developer that’s ready to get started on your business or eCommerce website.
Where to Find Web Developers?
Step two of the web developer hiring guide above is about posting a clear and well-defined job description. The platform where you look for web developers will largely decide the kind of talent you’ll attract. Here are some online platforms where you can find web developers:
Web Development Agencies
Web development companies like Clickysoft have dedicated developers and development teams. You can hire them for a one-time job or long-term web development projects. Check this article about awesome laravel projects to inspire your next laravel development.
The best feature of hiring web developers through agencies is that you get to have qualified web developers without having to assess them yourselves. You can also ask for a project manager to keep you updated. These web development companies have research teams that can improve your website idea and conduct market research for you.
All in all, hiring web developers through agencies takes the hassle out of the hiring process and offers you a great return on your investment.
Freelance Marketplace
Freelance platforms are great places to find top talent with incredible variety. These marketplaces have individual web developers as well as agencies ready to take on a project of any scope.
Three of the top places to find freelance web developers include:
Hire Web Developers from Upwork
This is ideal for hiring remote web developers. You can start work on a project basis or set up per-hour contracts. Upwork makes it easy to display portfolios on the website so you can view them to check the skills of web developers. You can also read reviews left by previous clients and the overall response time of the freelancer. All in all, it’s one of the best platforms to hire web developers.
Web Developers from Guru
Guru is a massive platform with over three million freelancers. You can post detailed job descriptions and receive many applications within minutes. It offers multiple payment options and contract types which makes it ideal for all kinds of business owners. You’ll find freelancers here with decades of web development experience so it’s ideal for hiring web developers.
Hire Web Developers with Freelancer.com
This website has grown a lot since it was launched in 2009. Today, it’s one of the top platforms to hire a web developer and other freelancers. It’s completely legit and the applicants are screened by the website, so you don’t have to worry about getting scammed.
Software Development Platforms to Find Web Developers
Here are some platforms that only have web developers or people in related fields such as designers and app developers. These are great because these cater to only web development jobs and so have highly skilled applicants:
Find Web Developers with Codeable
This platform is only for WordPress developers. You can post a job here if you want your business or eCommerce website to be developed on WordPress. The great feature of Codeable is that it has remote workers available for all kinds of web development jobs, from small edits to entire website development.
Reach Web Developers from 99designs
99designs started off as a place for graphic designers but now you can find highly qualified web developers here. But mostly, this site is still used by designers.
How to Hire Web Developers from Stack Overflow
This is a platform that’s specifically for website and iOS application developers. The great thing about Stack Overflow is that you can view the reputation of developers in the form of a score. There are a ton of jobs posted on this platform every day so make sure that your job post stands out. But no matter what, you are sure to find proficient web developers here.
Platforms for Specific Web-Development Software
Certain website development applications or software have created their own job boards. This makes it easy for business owners to go to these specific platforms and find web developers with the exact skills they need.
Hire Web Developers from WordPress
This is the official WordPress job board launched by WordPress itself. Here, you can find web developers, writers, designers and other experts that offer WordPress related services.Â
You can even post jobs for highly specific tasks such as migration, theme customizations and translation. To post a job, all you have to do is define the job type in your description and mention the location of work.
Web Developers from Shopify Experts
This platform is great for business owners looking to develop an eCommerce store. Shopify is undoubtedly the  , startups and enterprises. So, this is where you’ll find web developers that are highly skilled in eCommerce website development.
Please interlink the blog with the same title. I can’t because it’s not uploaded on ClickySoft yet.
Web Developers from Squarespace Specialists
This is another great platform for small businesses and eCommerce stores. No one creates more mobile-friendly websites than Squarespace, so this is the place to be if you need your website to do well with mobile users. The best thing is that all the experts here are verified by the platform, so you don’t have to worry about finding web developers with high-level skills.
In addition to these specific platforms, LinkedIn is also a professional platform where you’ll find web developers. You can also just use Google to search for agencies and hire their web developers.
5 Things to Check Before Hiring Web Developers
The third step of our guide to hiring web developers requires you to evaluate the applications that come in once you post your job. Here are the five things that should tell you if a web developer is competent enough and a good fit for you:
1.     Does S/He Check Most of the Boxes?
It might not be possible for a web developer to match all of the requirements that you post in your job description. So, the first thing to do is to see if the web developer checks most of the boxes, at least more than other candidates.
2.     Their Portfolio
The portfolio of past projects is an important component to check. Here, you’re not looking for a project that’s an exact match of what you want from your website. Rather, you’re simply looking for similar projects to get an idea of the expertise of the developer. Some web developers and agencies highlight the key requirements that their past clients asked for, then show you how they resolved them.
That’s what you need to focus on. It’ll tell you all about whether the web developer can solve the problems you’re facing with website development.
3.     Required technical expertise for your project
Next, go through their application and see if they have the technical expertise for your project. While writing the applications, most web developers take the opportunity to position themselves as a solution to your project requirements that you mention in the job description.
Pay attention to that because it’ll give you an idea of whether or not the web developer understood all the requirements properly.
4.     Assess Their Soft Skills
Soft skills such as time management, communication and response time are just as important as their expertise in web development. If you’re going to be working with them for a long time, then you need to get along. This is even more important if you’re hiring for a full-time position.
you can message the web developer back and forth a few times to check their response time. You can either ask them about the other soft skills such as time management or read through client testimonials.
5.     References and Testimonials
Lastly, check the reviews left by previous clients. Some of the platforms we’ve discussed above have the reviews and customer ratings mentioned on the freelancer’s profiles. You can also visit the website of the web developer if you have access to it and read the testimonials there.
How To Find a Website Developer – In a Nutshell
Finding a web developer for your business or eCommerce website is a straightforward process, as you’ve seen above. The catch is that you need to know where to look. There are several online platforms where you can find web developers within a day or even quicker.
You can also reach out to us to avail our web development services. We have years of experience in creating remarkable and robust websites for different businesses.
