How to Hire a Wix Expert: The 7 Questions That Actually Matter
Updated: Aug 25
Most people hiring a Wix developer are comparing portfolios. Portfolios are close to useless for this decision — everyone shows their best five projects, and a good-looking site tells you nothing about whether it was painful to build or whether the person can be reached in six months.
Here's what I'd actually ask. I'm on the receiving end of these calls constantly, and the questions below are the ones where the answers genuinely separate people.
1. "Do you build on other platforms too?"
This one is counterintuitive, because the answer most people think they want is "yes, we do everything."
I'd argue the opposite. In 2016 I chose to master one platform completely instead of spreading across WordPress, Shopify, and custom frameworks. Eight years and 200+ Wix sites later, that depth is the reason I can build things on Wix that generalists tell clients are impossible.
A developer who does a little of everything has, by definition, spent less time on the platform you're actually using.
2. "Have you used Velo?"
If they don't know what Velo is, they are a designer, not a developer. That may be completely fine for your project — but you should know which one you're hiring.
Velo is what separates "I can arrange your pages nicely" from "I can build you a member system with a custom database."
3. "Can I update this myself after launch?"
The single most common complaint I hear from clients coming off WordPress is that every small change required a developer.
Peace Church Middleville came to me for exactly this. They're one of the fastest-growing churches in the country, serving over 2,600 people across two locations, and their staff needed to update sermons and events constantly. Their WordPress site made every update a battle.
Ask specifically: after launch, can your team change text, swap photos, and add events without calling anyone? Get a real answer, not "yes, it's easy."
4. "What happens to my site if we stop working together?"
You should own your site, your domain, and your content outright. You should be able to hand it to another developer without drama.
Any hesitation here is disqualifying. I don't care how good the portfolio is.
5. "Have you migrated a site off WordPress before?"
If you're moving from WordPress — and most of my clients are — this is not a routine task. Content structure, URL redirects, and SEO equity all have to survive the move. Done carelessly, you lose rankings you spent years earning.
Every one of the case studies on my site is a WordPress migration: Age Management of West Michigan, West Michigan Kitchen Studio, Peace Church Middleville. Village Custom Interiors came off a flooring-industry platform called FloorZap running on WordPress underneath.
Ask what their redirect plan is. If they don't have one, they haven't done this before.
6. "What's included, and what's extra?"
Not the number — the structure. Ask what a quote covers and what gets billed separately.
The things that most often turn out to be extra: content writing, photography, ongoing maintenance, hosting and app subscriptions, and post-launch changes after some cutoff date. None of those are unreasonable to charge for. What's unreasonable is finding out about them after you've signed.
Ask specifically: what would make this project cost more than quoted? Someone who's done a few hundred of these can answer immediately, because they know exactly where scope creeps. Someone who says "nothing, it's all included" either hasn't thought about it or is planning to absorb it and resent you later.
7. "Are you a Wix Partner?"
Wix runs a partner program with tiers. Legendary is the top one. It's not a paid badge — it reflects the volume and quality of work actually delivered on the platform.
I'm a Wix Legendary Partner, which puts Resolution in the top tier of Wix developers worldwide. It's a fast way to check that someone's platform experience is real rather than claimed.
Where to look
The Wix Marketplace filters by service and partner tier, which is the most reliable signal available.
Google, with local intent. Searching "Wix developer" plus your city surfaces people who can meet you. Whether that matters depends on the project — I work with clients across the country, but some people genuinely want someone local.
Referrals from businesses like yours. The strongest signal is a business in your industry, at your size, that has been happy for more than a year. Ask specifically how responsive the developer was after launch.
Where I'd be careful: the low end of general freelance marketplaces. There is real talent there, but sorting for it takes more effort than most people put in, and the failure mode — an unmaintainable site you can't hand to anyone — is expensive.
The thing nobody asks
How responsive is this person a year from now, when you have a small problem and no active project?
You can't fully verify it upfront. But you can ask for a reference from a client they finished with over a year ago — not their newest, happiest project. How someone treats a client who isn't currently paying them tells you most of what you need.
I'm Jarod Dykstra. I started Resolution Web Development in 2016 while still in high school, went all-in on Wix after graduating, and have built 200+ sites since. I'm based in Grand Rapids and work nationwide.
If you want a straight conversation about your project, get in touch.
