I'd also recommend at least looking through job postings with similar keywords. To what you're looking for on oDesk.com and freelancer.com, to get an idea of what things you want to specify for the job itself, and to get an idea for the going rate for similar work… You may even find a contractor or three worth speaking with further, and be able to (at least on oDesk) get some pretty immediate feedback on how much experience they have via their test results, total hours/jobs worked, and portfolio, and whether or not other outsourcers are happy with their prior work via ratings and comments/feedback on actual jobs.
Category: Q & A
Questions, and Answers, from the man himself
Deano’s answer to: “Is there a benefit to WordPress specific (i.e., Page.ly, WP Engine, Zippykid, KahunaHost) hosting?”
By definition, all WP-specific hosting options would offer the features required to run WordPress safely and securely.
And, unlike generalized hosts, such WP-specific hosts would be more likely keep things in better "sync" between versions of SQL/PHP/Apache/etc and the latest/stable releases of WP, to react quickly and preemptively when vulnerabilities are discovered, etc.
The main reason to use general webhosting OVER WP-specific hosting is the desire to run multiple disparate web platforms/services on the same hardware… And these days there are fewer and fewer reasons to do that, apart from potential cost savings through consolidation of storage/bandwidth across sites/services. And that advantage is certainly something that WP-specific hosting could negate through dramatically higher value service, and/or competitive pricing (especially at the lower-end of the scale where cost is the number one concern).
Is there a benefit to WordPress specific (i.e., Page.ly, WP Engine, Zippykid, KahunaHost) hosting?
Deano’s answer to: “Can i use 2 .com domains for the same WordPress.com blog?”
Generally: yes, you can point an unlimited number of domains at the same web site.
Whether or not this is possible will largely depend on your web host's setup, and what they allow their clients to do.
A concern you may also have in so doing, is the "duplicate content penalty", wherein two websites would look, to search engines, to possess identical content, and therefore one of the sites would be penalized for the duplication… Since you could not necessarily CHOOSE which domain would carry the penalty, it's worth thinking things through thoroughly before pursuing this course.
Alternately, you may set one domain to point at a certain part of your site (a particular subcategory, for example), and then prevent search engines coming to the second domain from searching that subcategory.
Deano’s answer to: “Would putting a purchased domain on a WordPress.com blog help maintain SEO later if I decide to self-host?”
A quick point not yet covered: After some personal experimentation, I've discovered quite a few hindrances to establishing and tracking all "best practices" for SEO via WordPress.com. The lack of plugins prevents all manner of SEO extensions… WordPress.com does not make use of certain ranking factors, like the page Meta Description, for example.
Thus, I'll say this: it's possible to transfer the SEO benefits of a wp.com site that uses a custom domain to a self-hosted WP install, or other WP hosting provider – in fact, wordpress.com offers a specific premium option ($120) to assist with such a migration. What is not possible, is achieving optimally SEO'd pages using wordpress.com to begin with.
Deano’s answer to: “How do I choose between Drupal, WordPress and Joomla?”
One issue with any site is finding appropriate development resources, or developing them in-house. Since all three CMSes are built on top of venerable PHP and SQL, the barriers to entry at the simplest level are the same.
As an experiment, I compiled a list of freelance development sites, and queried the numbers of developers and jobs available for each platform, arriving at an "competition ratio" – the number of available jobs, divided by the number of available contract developers:
- Drupal: 0.014 jobs/developer (374 jobs, 25808 devs)
- Joomla!: 0.011 jobs/developer (1004 jobs, 91518 devs)
- WordPress: 0.035 jobs/developer (2609 jobs, 75416 devs)
Note: while WordPress wins the ratio test, which may be a good indicator for a budding developer choosing the least competitive/most vibrant market to pursue, the absolute population of Joomla! developers is significantly higher.
The above numbers are by no means a scientific proof of anything, but the general anecdotal implication that Joomla! is slower/clunkier/less SEO friendly than the alternatives, despite a healthy margin of developers, may indicate that average developer quality may be lower than that of the Drupal or WordPress community (and thus, in many ways, harder to find a good developer amongst the crowd).
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