WordPress is one of those things that many people assume they can wrangle on their own without any external help.
And while that may be true for smaller projects where you don’t need that much control over the way your site works, if you need more advanced customization or run into a deeper problem, you will definitely want to get in touch with someone knowledgeable who can get the job done properly.
It’s Not Just Code
WordPress is a lot more than the code under the hood. The platform has evolved a lot over the years, and it’s reached a point where it has its own entire ecosystem of plug-ins, developers, and much more that you need to keep in your head.
Even if you are a good coder, the chances are that you won’t have the specific domain knowledge required to get the job done right. And if you do, it might turn out that you are behind the times with what you know.
There Is a Lot to Follow
And that brings us to our next important point. It can be challenging to follow the whole market around WordPress and know that you are up to date with everything going on with the platform.
A good WordPress expert will know exactly where to look, who to talk to, and what the current situation on the market is like. And they will offer you that knowledge as part of the whole package by default. You won’t have to keep anything in your own mind, and you will have to let the specialist know the issue and leave them to work on it.
A Sensible Price
One of the reasons people often bring up to justify the DIY approach is the price. After all, it’s essentially free if you do it yourself instead of paying a specialist. Wrong. Think about your hourly rate.
Even if you don’t work with one, you can probably still estimate a number to value your work with. Now be realistic – how many hours will this likely take you? If you compare these figures and draw the bottom line, you will often realize that attempting to solve the problem yourself is actually the more expensive approach, even if it doesn’t cost you any money out of your pocket.
There’s a reason sensible entrepreneurs will often prefer to spend money on something rather than deal with it on their own. And it’s not because they have extra money to throw around – quite the opposite, they understand the implications this has on their finances better than the average person.
The Importance of Building Relationships with Experts
Working with a good WordPress expert will also benefit you in another important way – it will allow you to build a relationship with them, which can be very beneficial in the long run.
Having a competent specialist handy is one of the best things that can happen to you in the long run, especially if they are already familiar with your own website and its specific requirements. And the more you work with that specialist, the better that relationship will be in the long run.
A Stable Approach
Last but not least, try to think a few steps ahead. Let’s assume that you actually have the skills to pull off whatever fix you had in mind and have enough time to do it without interrupting your work as a whole.
Can you guarantee that your changes won’t break anything down the road? This is an important consideration that people often neglect when they are still inexperienced, only to run into severe problems down the road. Working with a competent WordPress specialist is about more than getting the job done once.
It will also give you some guarantee for the long-term validity of the implementation. Worst case, even if something does break, it won’t be your responsibility to fix it. You can contact the developer who made the original change and let them take care of it.
This is another major reason companies prefer working with contractors for issues like these instead of addressing them in-house. And when big businesses think this way, what’s left for a smaller entrepreneur without access to so many resources?
As you can see, there are many reasons you might want to go with a professional WordPress developer rather than doing things on your own. The only valid exception is if you have aspirations to work with WordPress yourself and want the practice.
Then, by all means, go crazy and learn as much as you can. But if it’s a commercial project and not an educational one, you will always want to prioritize getting the job done right over everything else.