Before starting a new website, every user makes a few common WordPress mistakes. Nowadays, more and more people are inclined towards WordPress because of its convenience and support.
Every time someone asks to have the proper guidance about building an error-free website with WordPress, they find tons of tutorials on the web. But only a few of them mention WordPress mistakes everyone makes after starting out.
I am sure; you may have also made tons of mistakes as I did in my starting days. When I was a newbie, I chose the wrong platform and spent so much money that I could have three websites instead of one.
In this article, you’re going to learn about WordPress mistakes you can avoid before starting out or after. I know it can be intimidating to talk about mistakes, but we all learn from them. Don’t we?
Let Me Mention the WordPress Mistakes You Have Been Curious to Know About
1). Choosing a Wrong WordPress Theme
As we all know, the design of a WordPress website is decided by a WordPress theme you choose, and more people go for the wrong theme.
Now and then people complain about how hideous their website look, and they don’t have the features they always wanted. Sometimes, they break their website using a null theme.
A null theme is that you download a premium theme for free from any third party website. Well, it’s a cracked version and may contain malicious code.
2). Install Every Plugin They Find
For a WordPress website, plugins are the assets to build the infrastructure and enhance the overall functionality. The problem occurs when people install every plugin they see.
You should know third-party companies or individuals develop most plugins. It means there’s no guarantee that every plugin works fine with your existing plugins.
One poorly-coded plugin can break your whole website. So, it’s vital to be sure by testing a local server.
3). Not Having a Backup Plugin
You may have seen many people complaining about breaking their website and losing the data. It happens because they don’t back up their website and its database regularly.
If you’re a tech-savvy person, you can use cPanel or FTP to back up your WordPress website. If you don’t want to deal with technical things, you should always install a backup plugin.
UpdraftPlus can be a safe choice because it allows you to automatically back up the data and uploads it to Dropbox or other online cloud services.
4). Not Updating WordPress
The first rule to keep a WordPress website safe is to keep WordPress updated. Some people don’t care to open their website and update it. As a result, their website becomes vulnerable, and someone hacks it.
It’s not only about WordPress, but you should also always keep your WordPress themes and plugins updated. An old version of a plugin can cost you the whole website in no time.
It’s one of the most common WordPress mistakes people make after starting out.
5). Choosing the Wrong Permalinks URL
You should know that if you have your website on WordPress.org, you can choose a custom permalink URL. Some experts call it an SEO-friendly permalink URL structure.
You should always use the permalink consisting of the domain name followed by the post name. Some people confuse WordPress.org with WordPress.com and use the wrong permalink URL structure.
6). Having a Poor Loading Website
According to Google, the page loading time of a website should be less than three seconds. And most WordPress users ignore it.
Some may have multiple plugins installed or not picking a fast loading theme. There may be many reasons for having a slow website.
If you’re starting out, you should always think of having a fast loading website, so your visitors don’t close it as soon as they try to open your site.
7). Not Installing a Security Plugin
Millions of websites get hacked every year, and people blame WordPress for it. Well, securing your website is your duty. There are tons of ways to secure a WordPress website in no time.
The first step is to install a security plugin. You can use All In One Security, Wordfence, Sucuri, iThemes Security, or Bulletproof Security.
If you can spend some money, you can always buy the premium security features that come with 27/4 site monitoring and customer support.
8). Not Deleting the Demo Content
If you’re a new WordPress user, you should know that every time you install WordPress, you get a demo blog post and a few plugins.
It’s vital to delete the demo content and plugins before adding more blog posts and plugins. Because if you don’t delete the HELLO WORLD post, it gets indexed into Google.
And it’s really important to practice safe SEO techniques.
9). Copying and Pasting Code from Anywhere
I can understand how exciting it is to have our first website, and you want it to be the best. Most users copy and paste the code snippet from an untrusted website and break their site.
This is one of the WordPress mistakes everyone makes after starting out. It’s crucial to understand that if you’re not a technical person, you shouldn’t play with editing WordPress coding files.
10). Not Creating a Responsive Website
In an era of mobiles, more and more people have started to use mobile phones for their daily Google searches. So, it’s your primary duty to design your website for all screen sizes.
If you hire a web designer, you ask them if they can optimise your website for every device available in the market. The website should look beautiful on a MacBook as well as on a small phone.
What’re the WordPress Mistakes You Have Made So far?
We all make mistakes. But the most important thing is whether we learn from those mistakes or not. Everyone is different, and so do their perspective towards handling mistakes.
Managing a WordPress website can be tricky for non-techie people. Once in a while, we all hear some terrible stories about using WordPress.
It happens because of the poor plugin decision and not securing their websites. There’s a lot of WordPress mistakes we all make after starting out. Don’t we?
From the list mentioned above, what’re the WordPress mistakes you have made so far? Is there anything you would like to suggest?
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