How To Choose a Joomla Developer
Many web design people claim to specialize in Joomla Development Services. Just do a Google search for Joomla Development Services. You will see a wide array of results with many companies/people positioning themselves as Joomla professionals and promise great results. But what should you look for? What should you be cautious of?
Joomla is a Great Choice
 First, if you are considering an open source content management system like Joomla to use for a website development project, congratulations. You have chosen an excellent platform to build a dynamic, extensible, powerful, fast and easy to manage website. There are many reasons to choose Joomla:
- FREE & Open Source
- Easy to Modify the Code Base
- Thousands of Joomla Addons, Plugins and Templates
- Large Network of Developers
- Works for Corporate, Blogs, E-commerce
- Easy for Website Owner to Update Content
But this is not a "Why Joomla" article. This is all about Joomla Development Services.
Do Your Homework - Be Cautious
Singular Specialization
There are all types of website design/developer services. This is not just in terms of Joomla development, but website design in general. Beware of overly specialized companies.
Designers
There are "designers". These are usually graphic artists who build templates, graphics and design elements. They are not programmers, they don't focus on functionality and they typically don't know anything about search engine optimization (SEO). Or marketing. But they may build gorgeous design. Make sure these people are working with others so that you get a complete solution.
Programmers/Engineers
These folks are code writers that are supremely gifted at PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript etc. They may be able to build custom plugins or scripts, or really optimize website code. They may even be good at low-level code writing for SEO. But they rarely know anything about marketing, design or high level SEO. And with Joomla, they may not be necessary unless you need custom work.
SEO/SEM/Social Media
This can be scary. With the tidal wave of adoption of social media like Twitter and Facebook, there are thousands of new people offering SEO, SEM and Social Media strategies. While SEO is extremely important to a Joomla development project, you should get a baseline of good SEO services and option for advanced services from any good Joomla developer. If not, go elsewhere.
Cheap, Cheap, Cheap - NOT
If it is important to you that your website meet the goals that you have set, and that you get good traffic and build brand, then find a quality, reputable developer and pay for the same. Joomla is free. Time to develop is quick. Cost to develop is low compared to other approaches. Invest in a good developer partnership for the website project and for future support.
Joomla Development Services - What To Look For
- First, look for a development company that has a track record. Not one or two years, but several years. Five or more.
- Review their portfolio. Make sure that you review their Joomla portfolio. Judge design quality.
- Get client references and CALL THEM.
- Execute Due Diligence in the Joomla community. Look at the Joomla Resource Directory and see if they are listed. Search Joomla forums. Search on Twitter.
- Ask the developer if they offer hosting for Joomla and why? If not, where do they recommend that the Joomla site be hosted and why?
- Make sure that this is a full-time business and not a side job. (Not first priority)
- Ask them for a Joomla SEO strategy as part of the proposal process. Compare it to others.
- Ask them who does CSS, HTML, PHP and Javascript editing and customization at there firm.
- Find out how many people will be working on the project at the development firm and as outside sub-contractors.
- Question who will own the rights to the website and all content after the project is completed.
- Ask them if they offer an ongoing site code maintenance plan.
- Find out how much training you will receive.
- Get contact points and understand expectations for services if problems arise such as how quickly will they be resolved and how much will ongoing support cost.
- Ask for a detailed Statement of Work (SOW) or contract detailing your entire project scope before engaging in any project.
The Ultimate
There are precious few firms offering Joomla Development Services that can deliver all around excellence and meet the question criteria above. If you can find a firm that is great at design, can do custom programming/code editing, is excellent at SEO, has a great reputation in the Joomla community and with clients, has good references, has built hundreds of Joomla websites, is a full-time Joomla website developer, understands and offers hosting for Joomla and understands marketing, value propositions, positioning and asks YOU the hard questions, then you are getting close to finding the right development partner.
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