People choose WordPress for its easy setups and functionality. In just a few clicks you could have a beautiful blog or an e-commerce store. But with all simplicity, WordPress beginners can make some common yet frustrating mistakes.
Experience is the best teacher so that it’s better to learn on someone’s mistakes than your own. Read this quick guide with 17 basic WordPress mistakes and get to know beforehand how to avoid them.
1. Not Creating a WordPress Backup
We tend not to appreciate something until we didn’t have it anymore. The same thing with WordPress backup. You don’t realize you need it until you lose all your content.
Don’t make this mistake, use one of numerous WordPress backup plugins. For example, BackWPup and Duplicator. They automatically save your content and push them on external backup service like Dropbox.
2. No Cache Plugin
A proper cache plugin is an essential part of WordPress website. It works pretty simply. A plugin maintains a copy of website pages which speeds up loading time.
And, as a result, affects your search engine ranking and improves SEO. One of the best free cache plugins is WP Super Cache.
3. Ignoring Mobile Version of Your Website
Since most people browse the web with their smartphones these days, don’t make their life difficult. It has become a must to have a responsive and mobile-friendly design, and optimize your website for mobile users.
Great news for WordPress users is that you can use a responsive theme which adapts to any screen size itself. If this option is not for you, then you can also use a useful WordPress plugin WPtouch. It adds a minimalist and modern mobile version of your site.
4. Using No Paragraphs
Have you ever read the text without paragraphs? A text without paragraphs is difficult to read and understand. Besides, on the internet, it’s better to add paragraph every 2-3 sentences since people don’t read, but rather ‘scar’ articles on the web.
5. Not Doing Stress Test
In some cases, big traffic can make your website down. Ensure your site is prepared for a lot of loads and make it a stress test.
There is a range of tools allowing you to simulate the load on your WordPress resources and test them for real-world traffic.
6. Being Not Specific
You can’t be an expert in too many fields at one. So, it is better to choose one niche and try to stick to it on your blog or site.
This rule applies especially to those who run one man’s blog. Besides, your audience would be more likely to come back if they get proper answers to their questions.
7. Using Admin as a Default WordPress Name
Forgetting to change a default username ‘admin’ to any other is one more common mistake for a newbie. When you install WordPress, it creates username ‘admin’ automatically. This username is predictable for spammers and hackers.
By knowing your username, hackers can make huge harm to your site. They could perform force attack, change your login and take full control over your site. Change the username and create a strong password for your WordPress dashboard with special symbols and numbers.
8. Slow Loading Website
Waiting over 2 seconds is quite long. However, some sites may load over 5 seconds. Most visitors do not tend to wait until your page loads and they leave you for good.
Moreover, page loading speed is one of Google algorithms which define your ranking. Site speed plays a major role in getting higher rankings in search engines.
9. Disable Comments Under Blog Posts
There are some blogs on the internet which disable comments under their posts. In this situation, the question is – how should your readers share their feedback or get in touch with the blogger?
Yes, the only thing is contact form which definitely works. If you have a lot of time to answer all emails you get, you can go ahead and disable comments.
10. Not Having Contact Form
The contact form is an integral part of any site. But still, numerous sites are offering no contact form for their visitors, it is luck to find an email address there.
The contact form will never go out of fashion, it’s the simplest way for visitors to send you a message. Don’t take away from them this opportunity. Wpforms is one of the most popular and easy solutions when it comes to integrating contact form to your site.
11. Ignoring WordPress Updates
You may simply forget to install updates. Or, people often are afraid of updates. Most of them think that the dashboard interface or tools would never look the same again after updates. Yes, some brands change their interface from time to time.
But, they do it to make it look modern and functional. However, in most cases, updates don’t damage your site or change your custom settings. They improve your WordPress security and makes it perform better.
Also, remember, if you update your WordPress version from 2.9.2 to 2.9.3, it will take one click literally. But if you update really old version to a new one, everything may happen, even your content may disappear. (So, get your backups).
12. Complicated Tags and Categories
WordPress allows you to add tags and categories to your content which is amazing. Many people take advantage of these cool features and overuse it. They create too many tags and categories trying to structure everything.
It may seem like they help their visitors to find content, but in fact, they affect their blog or site negatively. A lot of tags and categories not only make the site difficult to navigate but also affect SEO.
13. Too Much Advertising
Yes, I know, we all want to make money. Most beginner bloggers add advertising on their blogs in the sidebar, under each post, in the header, footer, and so on.
As a result, they get a page which is flashes and looms with different advertising. For people who do not use AdBlock, it would be a real pain. And, believe me, they would leave your website immediately.
14. Not Using Google Analytics
Not using Google Analytics for your site is like using a computer without buttons, or driving a car without steering wheel. Google Analytics gives you a detailed insight about your visitor’s behavior, interest, most popular pages on your site, and best keywords.
Moreover, there is one more useful tool by Google called Webmasters which helps you track your site health.
15. Ignoring Your Target Audience
People may forget what you say, but they would never forget how you made them feel. It means you should not neglect people’s emails or comments on your website. If you ever ignored your audience, you either make too much money or simply don’t care about your readers.
16. Too Many Affiliate Links
Affiliate links help bloggers to make money on a blog. However, you need to learn to useзеруь properly. When you link directly to a product, you will find out that people click on these links, but don’t buy the product.
It happens because you need to pre-sale it first so that it is better to link on a product review first. This way a person would know about cons and pros beforehand.
17. Using Tiny Font Size
Make your content easy to read and understand. When you use a tiny font which is difficult to read, there is a big chance people leave without reading.
You can change the font size with ease on the WordPress dashboard.
Wrapping Up
Everything in the world changes and continuously grow, including WordPress. One of the worst mistakes you can make stops learning about the platform you use. New plugins and solutions pop up every day. There are new ways to solve old problems faster. You need to stay up-to-date about the latest trends and options in the industry.
What mistakes have you done as a newbie? Maybe there are mistakes you see other bloggers do? Share with us in the comments.
