Ten Questions to Ask Your WordPress Website Developer

Before you hire a WordPress website developer, ask ten questions: how long they have worked with WordPress, whether they can show live examples, what you will be able to edit yourself, whether the build is mobile responsive, which plugins are included and why, how they will preserve your existing search rankings, what SEO setup is included, where the site will be hosted, how it will be secured, and what analytics access you get. The answers to those ten questions tell you more than any portfolio. If a developer cannot answer them plainly, you are the one who will pay for the gaps.

Ten Questions to Ask Any WordPress Developer

If you are looking for someone to build a professional WordPress website for your business, you need to know exactly what you are getting. Otherwise you can pay a good price for a substandard site and no support. Work through these in order, and take notes — you will use them to compare quotes.

1. How long have you worked with WordPress?

Developers learn at different rates, but look for at least three years of production WordPress work. Ask what they have broken and how they fixed it. Experience with migrations, plugin conflicts, and recovery cannot be taught in a course.

2. Can you show live examples of previous work?

Good WordPress web developers will hand over live URLs, not screenshots. Visit them on your phone, check the load speed, and see whether the sites are still online a year later.

3. What changes will I be able to make myself?

You should be able to edit text, swap images, add pages, and publish blog posts without a support ticket. Ask for a 15-minute walkthrough of the editor before you sign, and ask whether the build depends on a page builder license you do not own.

4. Will the site be mobile responsive?

Most local searches happen on phones, and Google indexes the mobile version of your site. Ask to see a build on a real phone rather than a resized browser window, and confirm tap targets, forms, and click-to-call all work.

5. Which plugins are included, and why?

Every plugin is code someone else maintains. Ask for the list, the purpose of each one, whether any require paid licenses, and who renews them. A lean stack is faster, safer, and cheaper to keep running.

6. How will you preserve my current search rankings?

If you have an existing site, migration is where rankings die. Ask for a URL inventory, a 301 redirect map from old URLs to new, and a post-launch check in Search Console. Google covers this in Google’s SEO Starter Guide.

7. What SEO work is included in the build?

At minimum: crawlable structure, unique title tags and meta descriptions per page, real heading hierarchy, image alt text, XML sitemap, and analytics plus Search Console connected. Ongoing SEO is a separate service — get the line between the two in writing.

8. Where and how will the site be hosted?

Ask who owns the hosting account, what the renewal cost is, whether backups are included and how often, and what the recovery process looks like. You should own the domain and hosting logins, always.

9. How will the site be secured?

Expect an SSL certificate, a firewall or security plugin, forced strong logins, and a documented update schedule for WordPress core, themes, and plugins. Ask who is responsible for updates after launch and what happens if the site is hacked.

10. What analytics access will I get?

You need admin access to your own analytics and Search Console properties, plus conversion tracking on forms and calls. Without those, nobody can tell whether the new site is actually producing enquiries.

Hiring a WordPress Developer FAQs

What should I ask a WordPress developer before hiring them?

Ask about WordPress experience, live examples, what you can edit yourself, mobile responsiveness, the plugin list, ranking preservation during migration, included SEO setup, hosting ownership, security and updates, and analytics access. Ask each one and write down the answers. The developer who answers all ten specifically, without jargon, is usually the one who will still be reachable six months after launch.

How much does a WordPress website cost?

Pricing varies with page count, custom functionality, and content needs, so any figure quoted without seeing your requirements is a guess. What matters is that the quote itemises design, build, content, SEO setup, and ongoing maintenance separately, and states what happens after launch. Ask for the total first-year cost, including hosting and plugin licenses, not just the build fee.

Who should own my domain and hosting?

You should, in your own name, with your own logins. Developers can manage the accounts for you, but if the domain or hosting is registered under an agency’s account you cannot move, sell, or recover your site without their cooperation. Verify the registrant details before launch, not during a dispute.

Will a redesign hurt my Google rankings?

It can, and the usual cause is missing redirects rather than the design itself. Insist on a full URL inventory, a 301 map from every old URL to its closest new equivalent, preserved page titles and content on your top-performing pages, and a Search Console crawl check in the first week after launch. Done properly, traffic dips briefly and recovers.

How long does a WordPress website take to build?

A straightforward small-business site typically runs four to eight weeks from kickoff, and the schedule usually slips on content, not code. Photos, service descriptions, and approvals are the bottleneck. Agree a content deadline in the project plan and the build will land on time far more often.