Before You Hire a WordPress Developer: A Business Owner’s Checklist

Describe the customer task first.

A useful project brief explains what someone should be able to do on the website. “A modern website” does not tell a developer whether the priority is booking an appointment, requesting a quote, finding a store or buying a product.

Write one sentence: “Our customer should be able to understand [service], check [important detail] and complete [next step].” Then list the information needed to support that task. For a service business in General Santos, this may include service areas, scope, business hours, examples and a clear contact route.

Our WordPress development service uses the business requirements to define the pages and features.

Agree the pages and content responsibilities.

Create a page list with a purpose for each page. A service page should explain a specific offer; an About page should identify the business; a contact page or section should make the next step easy to understand.

• Which services need separate pages?
• Who writes and checks the text?
• Who supplies photographs and confirms permission to use them?
• What genuine project examples can be published?
• Who approves changes, and how will feedback be collected?

Keep examples accurate. Demonstration work can show how something functions, but it should be labelled so that readers do not mistake it for a client result.

Know which accounts you own.

Record the domain registrar, hosting provider, WordPress administrator account and any tools connected to the site. Confirm that the business can retain access after the engagement.

Use named accounts or delegated roles where supported. Keep passwords out of ordinary project documents. Agree how access will be granted, how backups will be kept and who handles renewals after launch.

For an existing website, identify the live site and any test environment before editing. Ask how the affected files and content will be backed up and how an unsuccessful change would be restored.

Ask what “SEO included” actually covers.

A developer may include basic indexing settings and metadata without providing ongoing search content or local listing work. Ask for the exact deliverables.

Useful launch foundations include a working XML sitemap, accurate canonical URLs, readable headings, unique page descriptions and links between relevant pages. Review the WordPress SEO checklist and our SEO implementation service to separate these tasks from broader marketing.

Define what will be checked before launch.

1. Open important pages on a phone and desktop.
2. Follow the route from a service explanation to the contact action.
3. Arrange an authorised form test and confirm that the intended recipient receives it.
4. Check internal links, redirects and missing pages.
5. Check indexing directives and sitemap entries for public pages.
6. Confirm image sizes and inspect obvious layout movement.
7. Confirm administrator access and receive the agreed handover information.

A visible success message confirms the form’s response, but receipt must also be checked. Our guide to website visits without inquiries explains why the whole route matters.

Compare proposals with the same scope.

Ask providers to distinguish the build, software and hosting renewals, maintenance and optional future changes. Record assumptions about content, revisions and integrations. Use the WordPress website quote guide to make a fair comparison.

When the brief is ready, discuss your WordPress project with Lokal Tayo. Share the customer task and the pages or issues that matter most.