Your WordPress Developers Aren’t Like Socks — You Don’t Need to Change Them Everyday

When you create a website for your business, you have to think ahead. There are many things to consider—one of them is finding a ggood WordPress development agency . After all, your WordPress developers aren’t like socks that you can just swap out when things get uncomfortable. Choosing the right team from the start will save time, money, and frustration.

Now, you might not need one right away. You can write a good website specification and start building a website all on your own using a no-code approach. But once your online business picks up, you will notice the need for professional support and guidance. After all, no entrepreneur wants to live with the fear of their website crashing.

You might think that choosing a WordPress development agency is not that difficult. After all, there are so many seemingly good ones out there and, if you don’t like the results, you can just hire the next one on the list.

Unfortunately, business owners who go this route end up with a messy and unstable WordPress website most of the time.

Here’s why this happens.

A Broken-Down Website Is Like a Broken-Down Car 

Let’s say your car breaks down. You take it to the closest garage you could find and the mechanic there tells you that your car has several issues. The mechanic starts working on your car, but every time you visit the service shop, you don’t see any significant improvement.

You decide to take your car to a different service shop. Your new mechanic doesn’t know what was initially wrong with your car and what the other mechanic did to it. Similarly, a new developer fixes the problems he sees but overlooks the issues the first one left unfinished. And let’s face it—developers aren’t like interchangeable tools—you can’t just swap them without losing context, progress, and valuable insight.

You take your car home and it breaks down again after one week. By now, you’re probably frustrated and angry with the first two mechanics. So, you go to a third one. But again, he just patches things up without solving the real problem. The exact same thing can happen with a website if you keep patching it.

The symptoms of a website that has gone through too many developers’ hands are:

• Errors appear when you try to change the smallest thing.
• Random errors popping up.
• A long loading time.

What Happens When You Treat Developers Like Socks and Keep Switching Them?

So, the question remains —what happens when you work with multiple developers over a short period of time?

From our experience, these are the most common issues that clients have when working with a multitude of developers:

• The developers don’t follow the same plan or structure; therefore, there’s no cohesive approach to the website.
• The developers keep trying to reinvent features that already work because they don’t know they exist and, hence, don’t reuse them, which leads to redundancy and bloat.
• Websites become full of patched-up work. This tends to happen because developers think they are working on a short, one-time project. They don’t see the full picture and they’d rather apply a hasty patch to deliver the job.
• There will be unused code on the website because the next developers don’t have time to read the old code, adjust it and reuse it or clean it up. The code that is left behind will slow down the website.
• There is no strategic master plan to which everyone should adhere to. This leads to a lot of wasted time.

And that’s exactly why your WordPress developers aren’t like socks—you can’t keep changing them and expect consistency.

The Solution: Build Long-Term Relationships—Because Developers Aren’t Like Socks

You might think that the solution is simple. You pick a good website developer and you stick with them through thick and thin. But unexpected things can happen when you least expect them to. You can wake up one day with a website half done and no developer.

To avoid this, we suggest you hire a WordPress development agency instead. But even this decision does not guarantee the success of your website.

You need to get involved. After all, you can’t just hire your developers and call it a day.

To-Do List

Here’s what you should find on your to-do list:

1. Steal an agency: A smart thing to do when researching for a new team of developers is to go to a website that looks similar to what you would want and check to see if it was done by a certain agency.
2. Perform a background check: You should also do a background check on all of the possible candidates. Ask your candidate agencies to put you in touch with one of their clients and have a short meeting with those clients.
3. Look for thoroughness: When you have a solid list of candidates, ask for a quote from your target agencies. If the quote they offer is detailed and includes all the features you want, it shows they clearly understand your needs.
4. Compile a strategic master plan: Work with your agency to compile a strategic website master plan for the next six to 12 months. Having a clear direction will help you navigate important strategic decisions.
5. Maintain constant communication with your development team: You and your team should agree to have periodical meetings so you can get informed on the process and development of your website. You should never lose contact with your team of developers.
6. Articulate the right website requirements: Knowing what you want and how you want it done is not enough for your web developers. If you want a job well done, you should also focus on why your clients need the new features of your website and when they are going to use them.

Your WordPress developers aren’t like socks you toss aside—if they trust you, they’re not likely to leave.

Conclusion: Developers Aren’t Like Socks, So Choose Carefully and Commit Long Term

Finding a good WordPress development agency might not be easy, but it’s a must. And the sooner you do it, the better. Whether you’re just starting your WordPress journey or looking to improve your site’s quality, you need a dependable team of developers—and you need to stick with them. After all, your WordPress developers aren’t like socks that you replace every time something feels off. A long-term team brings consistency, deep project knowledge, and better results.

Article originally published on Forbes.com

Need help starting or maintaining a WordPress-powered business? Check our complete guide on how to hire the best WordPress maintenance agency for your business.