WordPress. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s simple, attainable and everyone can use it, right? Wrong. This is one of the most common misnomers regarding WordPress and its functionality. WordPress is designed to be a user-friendly platform for web design and development, however, that most certainly doesn’t mean everyone knows how to use WordPress correctly. Although WordPress makes it possible for more people than ever to develop and maintain sites, there are still a lot of common errors that can be made if you don’t understand or educate yourself on the use of WordPress.
Here are 5 common mistakes beginners to WordPress often make:
Not Deleting the Sample Page
Part of WordPress’ user-friendly platform is its sample pages and posts, designed to help a beginner see what a page looks like and how to add and edit content. Often times, these are left by beginners to WordPress, mostly because new users don’t even know about it. There are currently millions of WP sites that still contain a sample page, don’t be one of them!
Not Changing the Site’s Title (and Ignoring SEO Meta and Title Tagging Altogether)
It is an all to common occurrence to see “Just Another WordPress Blog” as a website’s title. Not only does this look inexperienced, but it can affect the SEO of a website. With that said, it’s important to understand that title and meta tagging of each page is one of the most basic SEO tasks that can benefit your website and how search users find you. Loading an SEO plugin, such as WordPress SEO by Yoast, is an easy step to start optimizing your website.
Pushing Back or Ignoring WordPress Updates Altogether
We all have those moments when you get a notification that you have an update available, but you push it back or completely ignore it. WordPress updates are important to function properly, and fear not, it won’t hurt your site. Next time it pops up, be sure to “update” right away.
Not Creating a Backup of Your WordPress Site
You’ve spent all this time and energy perfecting your website and making it yours, so why aren’t you insuring it? Don’t get stuck in a situation where there isn’t an undo button. From hackers, to server crashes, to just good ol’ fashion human error, don’t find yourself unprotected and devastated to lose your site.
Not Continuing to Learn More and Educate Yourself on WordPress, Web Design and Web Development
Probably the biggest mistake, and the easiest to avoid, it not taking the time to continually research and learn more about WordPress, web design and development. Plugins are created regularly that streamline WordPress design and function, and the more you understand about HTML and CSS, the easier it is to make design edits and changes to your site. There are a loads of Blogs and online resources designed to help beginners and experienced WordPress users, don’t hesitate to use this resources, even if you think you don’t need to!
And if you still just aren’t getting it…
51Blocks specializes in Web Design and Development, and can help make your dream website a reality. To start your next web design project, contact us here or call (303) 900-9119.
