A CMS developer can make a lot of difference in how good your website will be. Regardless of whether you are using Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce as your e-commerce development platform, hiring a CMS developer can help you do a lot of things more effectively.
But what should you look for in a CMS developer? Here is a list of qualities that your CMS developer must-have.
#1 E-commerce experience
If you want to build an online store, you must hire only those CMS developers who do have experience in e-commerce website development.
A professional CMS developer can always help you to build an e-commerce website that looks professional & appealing and at the same time has all the required features to generate revenue.
#2 Understanding Customers' Mindset
All the CMS developers know how to create a website but very few of them knows exactly how to convert visitors into buying customers.
There are several ways in which a CMS developer can help you to grow your online sales, some of them being below:
- Quick loading webpages
- Interlink among webpages
- Placement of call-to-action elements
To sum up, your CMS developer must know how to provide your users a rich browsing experience.
#3 Experience
Having experience in your chosen CMS platform is perhaps one of the important pre-requisites that your developer must have.
For instance, if you choose WordPress to build your e-commerce store, your CMS developer must have at least three years of experience in working with WordPress & WooCommerce.
Only an experienced WordPress developer can help you to create a user-intuitive & fully-functional website.
#4 Customization Skills
When you use any CMS platform like WordPress or Shopify to build your e-commerce store, you must be prepared for several customizations too.
Since not all the plugins or modules may meet your specific business requirements, you do need the help of your CMS developer to customize them in order to match your expectations.
It is therefore, a mandatory requirement for your CMS developer to have skills & abilities to customize the plugins, modules & themes.
#5 Basic development skills
No matter whichever CMS platform you use to build your website, the core scripting language of your website will still remain as HTML, CSS & JavaScript.
So, just playing around with CMS platforms is not enough. Your website developer must also know how to work with the core scripting languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX & JQuery.
#6 Third-party Integration
At times you may need your website to sync with an external platform or channel for which your website builder may be required to integrate & customize APIs. Therefore, before hiring a CMS developer, you must check with him or her if they have the ability & experience to work with APIs.
For instance, you may need your e-commerce store to integrate with an accounting software for synchronizing the orders and sales. In this case, your website developer should be able to work with APIs to ensure that all the related information is being pulled and pushed seamlessly.
#7 Maintenance plans
eCommerce web development is not a one-time process. As the volume of customers increases, you will face issues that will require website repair and optimization.
A reliable CMS web developer would understand the importance of regular maintenance and should be prepared to constantly work on the improvement of your website.
#8 Security skills
If you have an e-commerce website, it’s likely that you need to take some sensitive and confidential information from your customers. Thus, security of your website is of utmost importance to prevent your customer data from falling into the wrong hands.
Your CMS developer must know about the best practices to ensure privacy and security.
Setup up SSL, data encryption, testing the website and plugins for exploits etc. are some of the critical things that must be take care of.
#9 Knowledge of your domain
A CMS developer who knows your domain & business industry will be able to build your requirements in a better way than someone who don’t.
For instance, if you are starting a clothing store, then someone who understands the online fashion market or has some experience in it may be a better choice. Similarly, for starting a store for car accessories, look for a developer who is an automobile enthusiast or at least has some knowledge about the field.
#10 Problem solving attitude
How does the developer approach a challenging problem? Do they take time to understand the problem and evaluate before suggesting a solution?
Talk to them about a few common challenges to figure out their approach. How does the developer plan to handle a sudden surge in traffic? Or what are the backup mechanisms to handle any unexplained outages?
See what solutions you are presented, how well-thought-out are they, and if they align with your business.