As of July 2022, WooCommerce was the largest eCommerce platform globally, holding nearly 37% of the market share. With so many businesses looking to WooCommerce, it's natural that the number of experts entering the field of WooCommerce development is on the rise as well.
If you aren't tech-savvy yourself, the responses you receive for your job ads may feel overwhelming. After all, it's hard to know which technical knowledge your developer needs if you don't have that knowledge yourself. That's why it's a good idea to hire WooCommerce developers through a freelance platform.
It isn't just about technical knowledge, though. It's also important to understand what you should expect as deliverables from your developer, how much you can expect to pay them, and how to write job descriptions that bring in the best applicants.
What Does a WooCommerce Developer Do?
Simply put, WooCommerce developers design, build, and modify websites that use the WooCommerce platform to operate. Occupation Dictionary takes that definition a bit further by stating, "They are responsible for a website's technical aspects, such as performance and capacity, which are measures of a website's speed and how much traffic the site can handle."
WooCommerce experts have a strong understanding of WooCommerce and the programming languages CSS3, HTML5/XHTML, AJAX, XML, and JavaScript/jQuery. They perform many different tasks, including:
- Producing data-driven web applications
- Creating responsive designs without using frameworks
- Utilizing various techniques for front-end optimization
- Designing custom themes for websites, applications, widgets, and plugins
- Integrating WooCommerce with popular payment systems
An excellent WooCommerce developer will work well with your team and have a good eye for up-and-coming trends in design, branding, and eCommerce technology.
Why Hire Dedicated WooCommerce Developers?
There are several good reasons to hire WooCommerce developers. Improved eCommerce functionality, customization, and flexibility are among the top of them. A developer can implement new payment gateways, shipping options, and other functionality features that increase sales and improve the experience for your customers. Customization is important for ensuring your website is on brand and meeting your company's individual needs.
A lot of technical knowledge is also required to design and implement WooCommerce features, which is why it's important to hire a freelance developer who knows the system inside and out.
| What is WooCommerce development used for? | WordPress is the most widely used content management system for websites, and WooCommerce is a powerful extension to turn WordPress sites into fully functioning e-commerce stores. |
| Advantages: | 1. WooCommerce includes popular secure payment options. For additional security, you can add a malware plugin. 2. You can adapt WooCommerce to sell products of all kinds, including digital and physical items. 3. WooCommerce is highly scalable and provides limitless options for customizations, including free or paid plugins and customizable themes. 4. This solution is free and open source. |
| Disadvantages: | 1. You can only use WooCommerce on WordPress sites. 2. You may incur additional expenses to purchase and renew some extensions. 3. With the wide variety of available extensions, there isn’t a central support channel. 4. Adding too many plugins decreases performance and download speeds. |
| Related programming languages: | PHP, HTML, CSS |
| Freelance average hourly rate: | Around $37 per hour |
| Where to hire? | Toptal, Upwork, Codeable, and the other top sites in this guide. |
What a WooCommerce Developer Can Do For Your Business
A WooCommerce developer can transform your online store into a powerful e-commerce platform tailored to your business needs. They bring expertise in WordPress and WooCommerce setup, enabling integration and optimal performance.
From custom theme and plugin development to secure payment gateway integration, these professionals enhance functionality, improve user experience, and streamline operations. By leveraging a WooCommerce developer's skills, your business can offer a unique, efficient, and user-friendly online shopping experience that drives sales and customer satisfaction.
WordPress Proficiency
A skilled WooCommerce developer brings extensive proficiency in WordPress, ensuring seamless integration with your existing or new website. This includes a thorough understanding of the WordPress core, themes, and plugins. Their expertise ensures that your WooCommerce store operates smoothly within the WordPress environment, leveraging the platform's strengths to enhance site performance, security, and scalability.
Developers proficient in WordPress can also optimize the site's speed, ensure responsive design, and maintain compatibility with the latest updates and plugins, providing a robust foundation for your e-commerce store.
WooCommerce Setup and Configuration
Setting up and configuring WooCommerce involves more than just installing the plugin. A WooCommerce developer customizes the setup to match your business requirements, from configuring product categories, attributes, and tags to setting up shipping methods and tax rates.
They ensure that your store is ready to handle various product types, including physical, digital, and variable products. Proper setup and configuration are crucial for a user-friendly shopping experience, efficient inventory management, and streamlined order processing. By tailoring the WooCommerce setup to your needs, developers enhance the functionality and user experience of your online store.
Custom Theme Development
Custom themes are essential for businesses looking to differentiate their e-commerce store from competitors. WooCommerce developers create bespoke themes that align with your brand identity, offering a unique look and feel. This includes designing user-friendly navigation, eye-catching product pages, and engaging checkout experiences.
Custom themes also ensure your website is optimized for performance and responsive across all devices, providing a seamless experience for users on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. With a custom theme, your store can stand out visually and functionally, attracting and retaining more customers.
Custom Plugin Development
Off-the-shelf plugins may not always meet the specific needs of your business. WooCommerce developers can create custom plugins tailored to your unique requirements, improving the functionality of your store. Whether you need advanced product filters, personalized shopping experiences, or custom shipping options, custom plugins can address these needs.
Developers ensure these plugins integrate seamlessly with your existing setup, providing additional features without compromising site performance. Custom plugins can also streamline backend processes, improve site management, and offer innovative solutions to enhance customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Payment Gateway Integration
A big part of any e-commerce store is the payment gateway. WooCommerce developers integrate secure and reliable payment gateways that suit your business model and customer preferences. This integration can include popular gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Square, as well as regional and industry-specific options.
Proper payment gateway integration enables secure transactions, supports various currencies, and provides customers with multiple payment options, thereby improving the checkout experience and reducing cart abandonment rates. Developers also help maintain compliance with industry standards and regulations, protecting both your business and your customers' sensitive information.
How To Hire WooCommerce Developers
Every project is different. You may need a developer to build your e-commerce store from scratch or you might just need updating or maintenance. The number and nature of the products you sell may be vastly different from what other online stores advertise.
Before you begin searching for developers, you must first determine the answers to questions such as:
- Will I sell physical, downloadable, or digital products?
- Will I list a few products or a vast inventory?
- Am I building a new site, completely overhauling an existing site, or making minor modifications?
- Can one WooCommerce developer handle all my needs, or do I need a team?
- Is this a short- or long-term project?
- Should I utilize the same people for regularly adding products and maintaining my site?
- What is my desired start date?
- What is a reasonable budget?
- Do I have special needs that require a senior-level developer?
All of these questions and their answers help you create a job or project description and listing.
Unfortunately, your budget often determines how many developers you can hire and their skill levels. Enthusiastic, skilled junior-level developers may produce excellent work. Skill levels typically describe the years of experience a developer has. You may hire senior developers to manage your project while utilizing junior and mid-level developers for other tasks.
If you’re hiring an individual developer, they should be proficient with all aspects of WooCommerce projects. Teams usually have several people with various specialties. Regardless, each developer should:
- Recognize your goals
- Have the right skills to realize those goals
- Have in-depth WooCommerce knowledge
- Keep up with current marketing trends
- Be able to express your brand accurately
- Have experience with similar products and industry
- Communicate clearly with you and team members
The right candidate will listen to your ideas and be enthusiastic and knowledgeable about how to bring them into reality.
Should I Hire a Freelance WooCommerce Developer?
When you hire WooCommerce developers, you can choose to do so on a full-time, part-time, or freelance basis. While you might think full- or part-time developers are a good idea, consider that you may not need the services that often. This means you could end up paying a salary, benefits, and insurance for a full-time employee that doesn't actually work that many hours.The better idea is to hire freelance WooCommerce developers. Hiring remote and freelance workers gives you scalability that helps to achieve your company's goals on time.
What Skills To Look For When Hiring WooCommerce Developers
When you hire freelance WooCommerce developers, you should look for someone with a complete working knowledge of WooCommerce and WordPress. These are a few other key hard skills to look for during the hiring process.
- Knowledgeable about the operation of web servers
- Adept at developing and implementing widgets
- Able to integrate websites with popular methods of payment
- Able to convert Photoshop files to XHTML files
- Knowledgeable about the proper way to implement front-end changes
- Skilled at fixing bugs and installing security patches
It isn't just hard skills that you should focus on, though. Your WooCommerce developer needs the right soft skills as well. First, they need to be creative. Their creativity is necessary for designing and implementing a website that makes your brand easy to recognize. It's also important that your developer has strong communication skills. They'll be working directly with you, other developers, and other people at your company to ensure everything runs smoothly.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire WooCommerce Developers?
The cost of hiring WooCommerce developers depends on a variety of factors, including how many years of experience they have, where they're based, and the size and duration of your project. Someone with more experience may be able to work faster or have special skill sets, but they'll also cost more to hire. Someone who is just starting their career may need a little more direction but often prices their services more competitively as well. Typically, you can expect to pay about $20 an hour for a beginner developer, $43 per hour for an intermediate one, and $125 or more per hour for someone who has an advanced skill set.
Tips For Writing a WooCommerce Developer Job Description
Clear writing is essential when you're creating a job description for your WooCommerce developer position. Use a paragraph or two to talk about the type of company you run, what the project entails, and one or two key elements that you're looking for in a developer. Then, use bullet points to list specific skill sets that you're looking for. Remember to focus on both hard skills and soft skills.
Common Interview Questions To Ask When You Are Looking To Hire a WooCommerce Developer
If an applicant makes it to your shortlist, they probably have the required technical skills. It’s still a good idea to require each candidate to complete a short WooCommerce project. Give the same project to everyone you interview, then compare the results.
Technical skills are vital, but so are soft skills. Interviews are when and how you can assess intangibles such as:
- Critical thinking and problem-solving
- Personality, attitude, confidence, and level of interest
- Written and spoken communications
- Team mentality and fit
- Coping with pressure
A great way to gauge soft skills is to prepare a vague, open-ended situational question. Candidates should ask for clarifications since you don’t provide some relevant details. The questions they ask are as important as their solutions to the problem.
Other interview questions might include:
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What recent project is your favorite, and why? You’ll learn about interests and specific tasks, along with motivations.
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What are your weaknesses and strengths? Answers should be straightforward and confident, but not cocky.
Choosing the right candidates is challenging. Fortunately, when you use sites like Toptal, you’re able to release freelance developers who aren’t a good fit during a risk-free trial period.
How To Find Freelance WooCommerce Developers For Hire
Hiring the right freelance WooCommerce developer is essential for creating a user-friendly, on-brand website for your business. When choosing which platform to find your developer on, consider how fast its services are, how much it will cost, whether you'll have to go through applicants on your own, and whether you want someone who is new to the industry or well-established in it. Many people choose Toptal because it does all the work for you, matching you with world-class talent that is fast and affordable.
| Freelance platform | Trustpilot Score | Key Point | Vetting | Guarantee | Free to post projects | Talent status | Rate & Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toptal | 4.8 | High-profile clients | Top 3% Talent. Rigorous Vetting | Pay only if satisfied | $500 as a credit for the first project | Freelancers | Yes |
| 2 | Upwork | 3.9 | Large freelancer marketplace | Additional Expert-Vetted program | Payment protection (escrow) | None, client pays commission | Freelancers | Yes |
| 3 | Codeable | 4.9 | Wordpress developers platform | Vetting process in place | Risk-free | None, client pays commission | Freelancers | Yes |
Use this guide to learn what WooCommerce developers do and other pertinent information, then hire the best candidates sourced through the listed sites. Launch your new store and be ready to fill orders!
Hiring WooCommerce Developers - FAQs
- Where can I find WooCommerce developers for hire?
- Toptal
- Virtina
- Upwork
- Codeable
- WisdmLabs
Explore more sites in our comprehensive list of top companies.
- Why Should You Hire a WooCommerce Developer?
Online shopping is at an all-time high, with almost 290 million expected e-commerce users in the U.S. by 2027. WooCommerce is a widely-used plugin for sites using WordPress, supporting almost 4 million online stores. WooCommerce transforms regular websites into fully functioning e-commerce stores with features such as:
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Hundreds of available themes and extensions
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Advanced selling features for enterprise-level stores
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Customization tools
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A robust mobile app for sellers
You can scale your online store easily with WooCommerce, making it a favorite for sellers and developers alike. A skilled WooCommerce developer can help increase your brand awareness, customer satisfaction and sales.
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- What's the demand for WooCommerce development?
With 80% of the American population shopping online, e-commerce competition is fierce. The demand for talented WooCommerce developers will continue to rise as much as 23% by 2031 as more consumers patronize e-commerce stores.
- How do you hire a WooCommerce developer?
You’ll need to consider these questions before searching for a WooCommerce developer:
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Do you need to hire WooCommerce developers to build a new e-commerce store from scratch, update, expand or maintain your existing store?
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How many products or services do you sell?
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How detailed do you want item descriptions and store information to be?
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What is your budget?
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Will you hire one or a team of part-time, full-time or freelance developers?
Whether you plan to search developer profiles, use a talent-matching service or post a job description, you can use top sites to find qualified candidates.
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- How much does a WooCommerce developer cost?
- The U.S. national average annual salary for WooCommerce developers is $104,840 or $50 hourly. Yearly compensation can range from $18,000 to $180,000 depending on location, years of experience and skill level. You can typically save money by hiring freelancers.
- What is a WooCommerce developer?
- A WooCommerce developer is responsible for designing and implementing purchasing options for products and services on a website, ensuring they're customized to meet the industry's needs.