After you’ve found the perfect script and hosting for your website, you might find that you need just a little bit more than what the default script comes with. Maybe you even need a lot more changed or added to it. That means you’ll be in search of a third party developer (unless you can do your own coding) to do some customizations for you.
Most scripts have lists of developers that work on customizations, plugins or apps. Many of these lists allow users to post reviews and feedback.
The following tips should help you with your search for the right developer.
Tip #1 – Read Reviews and Ratings
In many cases, you’ll be able to read reviews and ratings that clients have posted after dealing with developers at various script marketplaces or freelancer sites such as Upworks, Fiverr, etc. Take advantage of this valuable feedback and use it to help you narrow down which developer(s) to choose to contact.
We don’t recommend only relying on reviews though as there could be some great, new developers without many ratings. Also, not every client will be happy with work done so they might rate it bad based on criteria that may be unrealistic.
Tip #2 – Go to the Source
It’s a good idea to check at the marketplace or forums of the script you’ve chosen and see which developers might have products in the marketplace or are active in the forum. Those developers should know that script better than someone who’s never worked on it, in many cases.
If looking at the script sources, don’t be shy to post in the forum to ask how other clients find a developer’s work to be. In most cases, you’ll get some good feedback. Again, take it with a grain of salt and focus on what’s important to your project. Use what you find to help you narrow down your list of possibilities.
Tip #3 – Shop Safely and Wisely
When looking, you might find a lot of places via search engines that bring you to “nulled” script sites. These are sites with illegal products. As the products are illegal, many on those sites are not so trustworthy and can even damage your site by hacking it. If they can null a script, they can easily put a back door in to steal your user data.
It’s best to stay on safe sites that have good reputations such as the main script site for the script you choose, ScriptTechs (our sister site), well known freelancer sites such as Fiverr, etc. We have a few blogs at our ScriptTechs site that tell you more about the dangers of pirate (nulled script) sites. Generally, if a script is a paid script and a site offers it “free and nulled for educational purposes”, it’s not a safe place to be. You don’t want to trust your site and valuable user info to those that frequent pirate sites. Not to mention the possible viruses you can get.
Tip #4 – Get an NDA
Our tips we linked earlier from ScriptTechs mention to have an NDA signed. This helps protect your idea that you are discussing with developers so they don’t take it and run with it. If you want your idea to only be for your site, you need an NDA. If you don’t mind the developer making your idea available as a plugin, app, etc and sold in the open market, then you don’t really need an NDA for the product itself. In some cases, letting the developer re-sell the product he or she makes for you can get you a discount. It never hurts to ask.
Tip #5 – Ask the Developer
Before finalizing which developer you want to contract for your custom work, you should contact them and get any questions answered ahead of time. Some questions you might want to ask:
- Do they support their custom work in case of issues?
- If they do, how long is the support term and what is the support response time?
- What is covered in the support and what is not covered?
- Is there a refund if you are not satisfied?
- Will there be a demo on a development site of the product in action before you have to pay the final payment?
- What are the payment terms? **For this one, you should not pay in full up front unless the project is a small amount.
- Do they have a portfolio or testimonials?
- Will the product overwrite source code? **It is never recommended to overwrite a script’s source code unless there is no alternative
- Will the product need to be remade on new releases of the script (upgrades)?
- Are updates to the custom work free if it’s for bugs? **No developers we know of make updates for free in any case other than for bugs
These basic tips should help you on your way to choosing the right developer for customzing your site. If not, please feel free to drop us a line at our forum at ScriptTechs .
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