WPRiders

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Daniel, and I manage one SaaS in Digital Marketing niche. Outreach. Buzz‘s purpose is to help people connect with influencers and bloggers to publish and promote their content, increase their traffic, and reach the highest ranks in search engines.

For what projects/services did your company hire WPRiders?

Our previous developers team left us at the end of 2019 with an almost dried up budget and a buggy app part done in Laravel part in WordPress. The user and billing was done in Wordpress while the list management and outreach system was done in Laravel. We hired WPRiders to check the code already done, and find a cost effective solution to have a functional app in Wordpress by porting the functionality done in Laravel.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I was checking Clutch for reliable and cost-effective development teams with special attention to developers that can get very technical. Checking the case studies of WPRiders I was impressed with the custom solutions they've created. I decided they can help me find a cost-effective solution to my problem.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project. I contacted the WPRiders team through their project details form explaining to them what I need to be done. The next day I was contacted by Mr. Marius Vetrici which is by my understanding, the company owner and the tech lead and we established a quick call. During the call, I've explained once again my problem with more details pointing out exactly my goals.

Mr. Vetrici said they have an IT consulting service that is designated exactly for people like me that are looking for the best and cost-effective setup with WordPress. I've ordered the service and after filling the project details brief they started working. Next week they came back with the results. WPRiders outlined exactly what the issues are with the current Laravel App. They also confirmed that the best way to continue the project is to port it on WordPress.

Also, they explained to me what plugins they recommend and what custom work needs to be done. I was thrilled to see they found cost-effective solutions. Besides that, they showed me how they used the plugins on past implementations and what the results look like.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Their CEO, Mr. Marius Vetrici was our main point of contact.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

On the project completion, I was able to have a complete picture of how the project looks like, what are the best resources to use, the time frame for completion, and the budget required. Using the report they provided I've acquired the recommended plugins and with my internal team, I was able to complete the project at a fraction of the cost asked by WordPress development teams.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was completed on time. The calls and meetings were always taken on time, too.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I appreciated their expertise and experience in developing platforms and marketplaces on WordPress.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing I can think of at the moment.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the publisher of an online media platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

We had previously spent a lot of money on web development for this platform with another company. We had an audit done in the summer and were told there were some major flaws and problems with our site. The company that did all of the work didn’t seem to understand how to be strategic when thinking about the big picture of a website as complex as ours. We hired WPRiders to retool, improve, and fix the problems we had.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re currently working on the web development process and have completed 2–3 tasks so far. I didn’t give them wireframes but I gave them a lot of documentation. They’re working through a WordPress site. So far, they’ve gone through the plug-ins and recommended that we delete some of them. At some point, they’ll be recoding some of them into simpler, more efficient plug-ins.

What is the team composition?

Marius (CEO, WPRiders) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

Several people recommended them to us and they were also highly rated on Codeable, which is a WordPress vetting site.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $5,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019 and the work is currently ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We ran our site through several metrics before and after their work so far and there’s already a considerable amount of improvement. 

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the best agency developer I’ve ever worked with in that sense. Everything is organized and on target. They have great communication skills.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very smart and have the ability to offer strategic thinking, insight, and are able to see how the whole project fits together. Especially a site like ours being built by someone else, a lot of good developers didn’t even want to take it on because of that, but Marius just jumped right in and he’s doing a great job. He’s not just doing web development; he’s trying to see how the development of this website will contribute to my business objectives and how we can make it sustainable and functional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a managing partner for an HR startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

We hired WPRiders to help define a couple of aspects on our website before we made our first presentation in front of some investors. We needed someone with WordPress expertise to make these changes to the features.

What was the scope of their involvement?

To start, we briefly discussed our functional needs but didn’t go into much technical detail. Our platform allows companies to create profiles to meet with potential clients and essentially serves as a marketplace for recruitment services. WPRiders worked to implement the features we needed to improve the site according to our requirements. 

What is the team composition?

We first interacted with Marius (General Manager & Founder, WPRiders). When the development started, we worked with a technical teammate from WPRiders.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

We looked in our own network and used Upwork, but we didn’t have any results. We got in contact with a few developers and, through some of my partner’s connections, he found WPRiders. He contacted them and briefly informed them about our project. We then started to discuss the requirements with Marius.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $1,800 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August–September 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

WPRiders implemented all the features we wanted and we were thrilled with the results.

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team stayed within the framework we agreed upon. We mostly communicated via email and Skype calls. There were additional small adjustments we asked for and they completed it without any additional cost, which was great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

WPRiders was very helpful in understanding our feedback and implementing all the changes we needed. Their willingness to do it after the initial development phase was impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since they’re based in the same city as us, it would have been nice to have a face-to-face meeting.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a company that manages and promotes various online websites. Lately, we've been busy testing a couple of ideas in the HR industry.

For what projects/services did your company hire WPRiders?

We hired WPRiders to develop the MVP for our new HR marketplace solution. We wanted to validate the hypothesis for our startup by launching a WordPress MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the project was to validate the demand for the services we wanted to offer within our marketplace, as well as to learn as many things from our first customers as possible.

How did you select this vendor?

WPRiders was the top recommendation from our long-term hosting provider. Their past recommendations served us well, and WPRiders former clients said they were pleased with the results they saw. Moreover, their blog featured articles about validating startup hypotheses via a WordPress MPV, which is exactly what we needed to do.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We wanted a two-sided marketplace (based on WordPress and WooCommerce), with local payment services integrated, so we could check if the clients would pay for the services listed on our website. We provided detailed requirements document defining all the functionality we desired, as well as some guides for the design side.

What was the team composition?

We first discussed the business details (requirements, offer, deadlines, other terms and conditions) with Andrei (Business Consultant, WPRiders). Then, we communicated with Carmen (Digital Project Manager, WPRiders) about all the technical aspects of the releases.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We received the MVP we needed and have run different tests, producing valuable insights about our main hypothesis. We've also gotten orders through the site, giving us happy customers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team complied with the deadlines established in the contract. Communication was mostly by email, and the project was first delivered on a dev-site, where we could check all the features and functionality before publishing. After our green light, they moved the code to the live environment. Months later, the website is still running smoothly, despite us including new services and WordPress releasing new plugins and updates.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

One time, we needed a feature implemented with very high priority, and they did indeed prioritize it. The overall impression they gave was one of a high-quality, dedicated, customer-oriented team that’s capable of great results. Also, we found that their blog and case studies to be a useful resource for online entrepreneurs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There’s always room for improvement, but we can’t think of something specific right now.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of See How Support, a web development and web design firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

I was hired to convert an older system that had several Wordpress plugins, and we were experiencing a variety of integration issues. The system itself was very inefficient, and as I was attempting to consolidate different segments, I realized that some of the work was beyond my skill set.

I hired WPRiders to take on the phases of the project that were beyond my capabilities. For example, I needed them to connect a Formidable Forms implementation to WooCommerce, so that actions conducted in Formidable Forms could generate content in WooCommerce.

What was the scope of their involvement?

WPRiders has implemented a variety of integrations for a course registration platform. They’ve focused primarily on e-commerce tools that let users purchase premium courses. The team has connected multiple third-party systems to the platform, occasionally using APIs to facilitate implementation.

Though they’ve dealt with a variety of tools and plugins, much of their work has been with WooCommerce integrations. We’re currently moving into a new phase where they’ll be setting up communication between WooCommerce and a popular accounting tool. We plan to connect the system to Salesforce eventually.

What is the team composition?

We have a business consultant, a project manager, and a developer assigned to our project. The business consultant has more of a macro view of the project, whereas our project manager serves as our direct point of contact.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

I searched on a freelancer site for people that were skilled in Wordpress and Formidable Forms. WPRiders showed up as an organization that had relevant experience, and they responded to me when I reached out.

I knew this particular freelancer site was reliable, and I contacted some people from the site to ask about WPRiders. I’d never heard of WPRiders, but everyone I spoke to said that they came highly recommended. I had a few discussions with their team about how they would approach the project, and we began working together soon after our initial meetings.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started development with them in September 2018, and our work together is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Their team is completing work that is outside of my abilities, and I wouldn’t have been able to do this project without them. WPRiders is an integral part of the success of this product.

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

The freelancer site that I found WPRiders on offers a chat-based forum, and we use that occasionally. We track most project tasks through Google Docs, and my company provides a proprietary project management tool that we use as well. In terms of communication, we have frequent video calls through UberConference and the video tool that they prefer.

For the most part, WPRiders is quick to complete tasks and is on time with every deliverable. The time difference can occasionally be a bit of a problem. There’ve been times when they’ve needed an answer from my client, and they’ve had to wait until the next day because my client is asleep when they’re working. These waiting periods tend to slow down the progress of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate the way that they’ve handled personnel changes. Continuity gaps in coding projects happen often, and they’ve done a terrific job of handing off work to different developers.

WPRiders is also very good at finding the most efficient way to finish project tasks. They’re mindful of our budget, and their team balances efficiency and comprehensiveness with our financial constraints. They’ve been very responsive to our concerns and are willing to make adjustments when necessary.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At times, WPRiders has struggled to understand the needs of our client, especially during the early stages of the project. There were times when I would give them a requirement, and they would return a deliverable that was coded correctly but didn’t make sense from a user perspective. I run into this problem with almost every programmer that I work with, and they’ve been better than some others. Thankfully, we’ve been able to lessen the frequency of miscommunications through screen sharing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As I said before, the time difference is a bit of a factor, so be aware of that when you start a project with them. I try to work with their schedule and am usually available when they’re working. I’ve become more aware of the problem as our partnership has progressed, and I’ve tried my best to compensate for it.

Visualization is very important. Showing concepts with diagrams, videos, and other visual aids will speed up the entire process. Looking back, I wish that we would've prepared for the project with more than just verbal descriptions.

Using video conferences can also be extremely beneficial. Sometimes, explaining your ideas with just a phone call or email can lead to a lot of back and forth.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business development manager at Fred Beans Parts, an automotive parts center.  

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

We had created a first-of-its-kind digital returns program that our customers were hesitant about using. The program was using several services, like Zapier and WebMerge, and a few WordPress plugins. We needed to streamline these into one service to improve performance and cut costs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

My team presented WPRiders with a working example of what we wanted. They updated the format and content of our automatically generated PDF. They also batched our PDF emails. The team added a dashboard to our WordPress page and worked on data formatting.

What is the team composition?

Our project team leader was Alex (Full Stack Developer, WPRiders).

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

Our company put out an RFP on Codeable and received about ten proposals. We ultimately chose WPRiders because of their availability, experience, and cost.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from September 2018–March 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Customers are no longer reticent about the returns program and have expressed satisfaction with the update.

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

Despite the time difference, WPRiders communicated seamlessly and met all of our timeline goals. They were very accommodating of the many modifications my team made to the project as it progressed.

Their team used PHP and JSON. We communicated via Codeable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

WPRiders was extremely responsive. If they could not resolve a problem immediately, they provided a timeframe and adhered to it. Although we are no longer engaged in a partnership with them, they have quickly troubleshot and rectified any issues that have come up since launch.

Their WordPress capabilities were very strong.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there were no blatant things that could be fixed or improved.

Any advice for potential customers?

Go into the project well-prepared and with clear set objectives. This applies to any technical project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re building an online platform that connects teachers to students. It’s an educational website with several services, including homework help and online video classes in different disciplines, including English. I’m the founder.

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

I’d been trying to build the platform since 2016. I had worked with some local companies in Chicago until 2018, but they didn’t work out, so I needed a new partner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a system for students to book teachers, which we’ve been working on for three months. Teachers have full control of their schedules; while students can check those schedules and book the teachers accordingly.

There is a form containing things like class types, levels, and the number of textbook pages the student wants help with. Students can also attach files and after submitting a form, it is sent directly to all teachers with relevant specializations.

They built the system on WordPress, though I took care of the design. I may give them more work in the future because their technical development section is good.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with Marius (General Manager, WPRiders) a project manager, and a full-stack developer.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

I found them on Codeable, after posting a query. We started working together and I haven’t had any challenges with them; they understood mine immediately. It was as though they read my mind.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2018. A new milestone was delivered in November—we’ve had 6–7 thus far.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’re confident about their work, which they do really well. When I ask them for something, they do it one hundred percent. That’s what I was missing with other development companies.

The website is online, but it’s not fully functional yet as I’m still working on its content. There’s been nothing wrong with it so far. I’ve been the one to make mistakes after playing with the deliverables before they were transferred to the live website, but I talked to them and they fixed what I did without saying anything. I liked that, especially because I hadn’t seen it with the other companies I worked with, which left me alone to deal with the problem.

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

I like that Marius keeps in constant touch about changes and milestones. Marius insists I don’t pay until I’m one-hundred-percent satisfied, which is good. We use Codeable's messaging system for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been impressed by their speed and quality. When I ask them for something, they read my mind and even complete my sentences sometimes. I haven’t had any difficulties explaining things to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing against them. Their pricing is also surprisingly good.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Have your ideas ready before placing an order, rather than just throwing things around. It’s helpful to use paper and pen to explain the requirements because even though their English is good, visuals are helpful to explain how certain things should look.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a managing partner of a consulting company specializing in health and safety in parts and services.

What challenge were you trying to address with WPRiders?

We needed help in developing a web-based application to automate some of our internal processes.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I had been working with developers for mobile iOS and Android applications. Many times, the developers wanted a lot of money for the first stage of development and then required more for each update, and none of the versions met our expectations. WPRiders offered us a web-based solution with a highly iterative development process.

They spent a lot of time solidifying exactly what was necessary for the first version of the application, developed it within a month, and I’m now releasing it to the market to gauge the reaction and decide whether or not to move on to the next phases. The application improves our processes and our processes for transferring information to our clients, especially urgent information.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was the project manager and two other team members. I’m sure there were people behind the scenes, but I wasn’t involved with them.

How did you come to work with WPRiders?

We had known the owner of the company for several years and I mentioned my struggles working with mobile app developers to him over the phone. He offered the web-based application solution and his company’s services.

What is the status of this engagement?

This phase of the project lasted for the month of September 2018, and we now have a separate contract with them for ongoing app maintenance.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The application has saved more than 100 hours of routine work per month. In a much more general sense, they helped me gain clarity around the requirements of every development stage, which will ultimately save the company time and money.

How did WPRiders perform from a project management standpoint?

What stood out the most in their project management was the amount of time and focus they put into solidifying all of the technical requirements. We spent a lot of time developing a clear image of what was needed in all of the phases.

At the beginning of the project, I approached the application wanting every feature I could think of, but they really helped me focus on what was necessary during the first stage. They examined our requirements, timeline, and budget to develop the best plan for the project. Every week, we received weekly progress updates and two days before the deadline, they analyzed the app to guarantee it met all or the requirements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

WPRiders valued our relationship and our long-term project goals over making a sale. They took the time to identify exactly what we needed for each phase of the project so that we didn’t spend superfluous money. They were thinking of us first, and because of that, we plan on continuing to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My main advice is to have patience during the process of identifying the technical requirements. As an entrepreneur, it can seem like a lot of unnecessary time spent, but going through the entire process ends up being extremely beneficial in the long-term.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the owner and CEO of Stack. We develop and operate multiple online services, ranging from dating apps to small business startups.

For what projects/services did your company hire WPRiders?

We needed WPRiders to help customize and fix bugs on one of our Wordpress sites.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to solve all of the errors made by the original developer. Additionally, we wanted to have new customizations to increase the speed and overall performance of the site.

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for developers online and considered many Wordpress experts. We chose them because of their excellent reputation and they stood out from the other vendors in their field.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

To begin, our point of contact gathered our requirements and planned their scope and budget for the project. Then, they modified the logic within the Wordpress theme so it would function properly — this required a significant amount of coding on the backend. They fixed our cross-browser compatibility issues. Their team also reconfigured several plug-ins and migrated the entire site to a new hosting service.

What was the team composition?

I interacted with Marius, the head of the company, throughout the project. I worked with one developer for during the development stages of the project.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The site’s performance has increased by 80%, which we hope will lead to an improvement in its ranking on search engines. We’ve seen an increase in traffic and a decrease in bounce rate since the project was completed.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their system for managing the project was very simple yet effective. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a fast response time and communication within their team is strong. We were always on the same page; it was refreshing to work with a company like them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the project manager of RebelCode, a WordPress development team that works on plug-ins for a major blog.

For what projects/services did your company hire WPRiders?

We engaged WPRiders to design and develop a custom WordPress website along with a plug-in.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the final version to reflect our initial designs and be easily navigable. The site also needed to help customers better understand our products.

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed a number of local and international web development agencies. We chose WPRiders because they met our requirements, were thorough in their questions, and provided a quote within our budget.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

WPRiders developed the site on the Genesis framework and created a WordPress plug-in called WP RSS Aggregator, which allows users to easily integrate rich site summary (RSS) feeds into their sites. The team also helped us achieve certain design elements in code, implemented them, and fixed any bug.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two separate developers; the turnover occurred around halfway through the project. We also interacted with 2–3 developers at any one time.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The site was functional and aesthetically pleasing. The bug fixes ironed out any small issues that cropped up. Since its launch, the website has performed well and now helps new users find plug-ins and understand what they do better.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team was always available via Asana and email. The majority of the communication was quick and clear, which allowed us to stay on top of the progress. Skype calls were also productive when needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Asana made the process clear and issues or delays easy to monitor.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

They should better organize the communication flow between email and Asana. In the beginning, we weren’t clear on how they expected us to use the channels. However, we got a better understanding as time went by.