WordPress happens to be the most popular platform for people for making a website and is even cost-effective. Apart from being cost-effective, it is also functional and hence many people straightaway choose WordPress for the features it offers.
For WordPress, there is a high level of customization available which makes the platform have more features than offered as a stock and can make the website look quite great. Running a website is not an easy task and you can make some minor mistakes while you are setting up the website or during any kind of process. Today, we will talk about 10 mistakes one can do on WordPress and you can easily avoid the same, hence starting with the list and then will talk about each in detail:
- Choosing the wrong platform
- Not Changing the Default Admin Username
- Not using the right Theme
- Change of tagline
- Not changing the favicon
- Many tags and categories
- Using default permalink structure
- Contact form is optional
- Cache Plugins are of no help
- Choosing the wrong platform
You must know about the self-hosted WordPress.org and the free WordPress.com both the platforms are different and have their own set of pros and cons. Hence you will have to look if you want to have a blog on WordPress.com or on WordPress.org. You have to decide this on your own after having a look at their set of pros and cons. You must properly research and get to a conclusion before starting with any of the WordPress platforms.
- Not changing the default Admin username
Many people have a habit of forgetting things and hence keeping things in stock is somewhat people like to do. But during a brute force attack, the first username one would try will be admin which is the default account with administrator privilege. During installation, you must change the password of the administrator user and keep the same in the same place. For username in WordPress, you must see a combination of numbers, letters, and special characters.
Not using the right Theme
The theme is the best option for WordPress to make the website look quite great. The better your website looks, and the better the structure of the website, the better will be the ranking. Hence you must use the best of the theme you get and not to use inappropriate themes. If you are looking for something out of the box or something which must be premium or commercial then either you must hire a developer to make one or purchase one from the WordPress Themes Directory.
- Change of Tag Line
When you install WordPress onto your hosting or open account onto the WordPress.com the default tagline which you get is “Just another Blog” which is the most common tagline you will find on the blog of many starters, but this is something which you must change as soon as possible. Apart from changing the tagline, you must also delete the default pages which come with WordPress.
- Not changing the Favicon
Favicon is something which can also be said as the visiting card of your website and is equally important as an URL. Favicon is something which must be done just after setting the URL and the website. But most of the new people keep the Favicon unchanged as mostly don’t know how to do the same, and the actual importance of a favicon.
- Many Tags and Categories
Categories and tags are the most important factors of WordPress website. They help the admin to categorize the website and make the surfing through the website quite easy. But mostly newbies make plenty of tags and threads to organize the website but indeed result in making the website look ugly and not so healthy for SEO and Search Engine Needs.
- Using Default Permalink Structure
If you have different blog posts and pages then you must have a good permalink structure. The default permalink structure has p=123 at the end which makes the URL look quite awkward, and is equally bad for SEO and even for the admins and users. The first thing after setting up the website you must do is changing the default permalink structure to one which you like. You can easily find the same under the settings tab in the Permalinks section.
- Contact Form is optional
Getting a Contact Form might sometimes be a hectic task but with a number of plugins, it is quite easy now. Still, people try not to include a contact form so their things can be made easier. Making a contact page with a Contact Mail ID is not the right way and you must get a form for the same otherwise you might be flooded with a large amount of spam. You must get a form for your website and start using the same for customer support.
- Cache Plugins are of no Help
Speed is the most important thing which matters for a website, and there are a number of cache plugins which play a major role in making the website faster and hence making the website visible in the limelight. Most people ignore using a cache plugins thinking that it is aof no use but it does practically, you can see the effects of using a cache plugin. Some popular cache plugins happen to be W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache.
- Ignoring WordPress Updates
Updating WordPress is one of the most important jobs because it includes bug fixes and loophole fixes with which people can either hack the website or inject some of the other codes for web jacking. Hence you must not ignore the WordPress updates and must update the very same day the update comes.
CONCLUSION
These are the top 10 mistakes which the new WordPress users do, and can easily be avoided if one pay attention while installing the WordPress software on to the website. If you have done any other common mistake and think must have been on the list then do let us know in the comment section below.
Author Bio:
Maggie sawyer is working for a web development company as a Sr. WordPress Developer. She provides best psd to wordpress service with 100% client satisfaction guarantee. She is also a writer and loves to write technical articles on various topics.