WordPress is a great site to create either a website or a blog for your business or personal use. There are some ways to make the most out of WordPress. It’s important to keep these things in mind as you use WordPress to be more successful. There are also many mistakes that people make when they first start using WordPress. By keeping these in mind, you can avoid a lot of headaches later. Consider hiring a WordPress support service to ensure your site always runs smoothly so you don’t miss lead opportunities. Here are the 12 most common mistakes that people make using this service.
It’s important to not only update your website or blog on a regular basis, but you should remember the other pages, such as an About Me page and a contact form.
Contact Matters
This will help readers get to know you and be able to contact you. As soon as you launch your page, you should create a contact page that includes your professional email address. You don’t want to miss out on anyone who wishes to contact you.
The internet is a visual world, and you need to be visual as well. It’s important to have an image that represents you throughout the internet.
Be Credible
This lends credibility to you and your website. People tend to be wary of people that don’t include pictures of themselves. It makes them question whether or not this person truly exists. You want to connect with your site visitors, not turn them away.
Plugins are important, but it’s also important not to overdo it. There are so many plugins available on WordPress, and you can easily get carried away. Installing too many can bring down the overall performance of your website.
Evaluate Carefully Before Installing
You need to evaluate each plugin before installing it. Do you really need it? Do some research on it first and see if it has any developer support. Make sure it’s compatible with your version of WordPress. The must-haves are Google XML Sitemaps, Akismet, Contact Form 7 and All in One SEO Pack. If you’re going to use a theme, it’s important to choose one that’s easy to navigate and will add value to the experience of your visitors. With both themes and plugins, it’s important not to use them from unreliable sources. There are so many options out there, but there are many with malicious code that can do damage to your site and your devices. WordPress has an authenticity checker that you should use to make sure that it’s safe. An even better idea is to only use the themes and plugins from the official WordPress directories.
There is such a thing as too much information or graphics on a website. You need to design your site with your readers in mind. People are busy. They want something that’s easy to read and gets to the point. They shouldn’t have to dig for the information they want. They don’t have the patience or the time.
Info Overload
You don’t want your page to be so busy that it offends the eyes, either. If you have too many ads, widgets, and a cluttered sidebar, visitors will be overwhelmed. It will take too much work for their eyes to sort through it all. No one wants to spend time on a site that makes them tired. A great way to add additional information for your readers is to build an email list. This will allow you to put out more information to a lot of people in a short amount of time. It can go a long way in building trust and creating sales. You can even offer free items to visitors who subscribe to your newsletters.
You want people to be able to find your website or blog easily. It’s important to keep SEO in mind when designing your website.
People Have to Find You
It will be very hard for you to be successful if your website or blog doesn’t appear early on in search results. People don’t generally wade through pages of results and your website will get lost. With WordPress, you can use an SEO plugin, such as All in One SEO pack or Easy WP SEO, to help you with this.
Hackers target WordPress because of how popular it is and how many people use it as a CMS for their websites. Because of this, it’s important to make your website as secure as possible. That starts with picking a complicated password. You don’t want a hacker to be able to guess your password and get into your site.
Make It Complicated
You should also use a more complicated username. “Admin” is a poor choice that people use way too often. If you use “admin” you make it much easier for a hacker to break into and take control over your website.
This is a common mistake that people make when they start using WordPress. There are two choices when it comes to setting up your site.
Consider Specifics
You can either use WordPress.org or WordPress.com. What you choose depends on the specifics of what you’re looking for. If you use WordPress.org, it is downloaded and installed on your own server. This allows you to have complete control over your website. WordPress.com is a hosted version where you don’t need to worry about updates and backups.
This is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make when setting up your website or blog. The majority of people have smartphones and use them to surf the internet. They use their phones more often than a laptop or a desktop computer. If your site doesn’t work on their phone, they won’t take the time to open your website later on their laptop. You’ll have lost a potential reader or customer. Navigating through a website that hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices is pretty awful.
A Great Experience Anywhere
You can provide this optimization by using a plug such as WPtouch or a responsive WordPress theme. This will give people a great experience with your website no matter what medium they are using. Search for responsive themes to find what works best for you.
This is another large mistake. Don’t use the default settings. It is lazy and will make you look lazy. Your website needs to be unique. What is the point of someone visiting it otherwise? If you look just like every other site, it will be boring.
Be Different
You need to set yourself apart and give people a reason to remember you. It also looks unprofessional and isn’t optimized for SEO. If you set yourself apart, you will have a much higher chance of success.
Many people have been using Microsoft Word for years. You may be tempted to create your content in a separate document first before putting it onto your website.
Reformatting is a Hassle
This is a mistake and will only cause more work for you later on. The formatting isn’t compatible. You will have to reformat things when you put the text into the WordPress editor. You will be doubling your work. It’s best to create your texts right in the editor so you won’t have these formatting issues to deal with.
It’s only natural to want to know how many people are visiting your website, but don’t become obsessed with it immediately. Google Analytics is great and can help you tweak your website. This will help you analyze your top keywords. Just don’t be obsessed with checking your stats. This will only make you less productive.
Focus on Greatness
The important thing is making a great website. Spend time on that. Make sure that your content is interesting and free from grammatical errors. It’s also great to spend time promoting your content on social media. This is highly productive and will help drive traffic to your site. Focus more on the user experience and the traffic will follow.
You may back up your documents and pictures on a regular basis, but it’s also important to back up your website or blog.
The Dreaded Crash
Crashes can happen and you don’t want to lose everything because you must start over from scratch. There is a way within WordPress to back your site up manually. You should go to Tools and then Export. You can also use an automatic backup plugin to make it even easier.
By avoiding the above issues, you can create a better website or blog that is sure to generate interest. Your content needs to be up to par as well, but if people have a problem navigating your site or are turned off by the ascetics, you won’t get anywhere. Make sure that you have the right combination between stellar content and appeal and you will be more successful. Consult with a web design pro to make sure your site is fully functional and stands out from the competition.
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