It doesn’t really matter if you are new to WordPress or are an experienced blogger – everyone makes mistakes. This is the most popular platform, making it very versatile and rich in terms of design, widgets, plugins, updates, and themes. As a result, committing mistakes is very common.
Of course, this is neither a crime, nor something irrecoverable. Those who haven’t made any mistake are very rare and perhaps even non-existent. Each mistake you make is another experience and thing to learn from. The good thing is, you can utilize the knowledge of people who made mistakes to avoid making the same ones on your WordPress site or blog.
To assist you a bit and reduce the number of mistakes you will make, we have created a list of the most common mistakes made on the platform. Here is what you should definitely try not to do:
01. Choose the Wrong Platform
Are you aware of the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? People often confuse the two and select the wrong platform for their website or blog.
The cost of the self-hosted WordPress is much higher, so many remain with the WordPress.com platform and its limited features. Of course, both options have their own advantages and disadvantages, but if you fail to check the features beforehand, you may be stuck trying to create a website on the wrong platform.
‘’The rule of thumb here is – if you are new to blogging and still trying to learn your way around the process, choose the cheaper option before you move to the more expensive one. But, if you are aiming to make a career or boost sales through WordPress, you will probably enjoy the features of WordPress.org more.’’ – advices Zack Mere, expert blogger for an essay writing service.
02. Fail to Back Up the Website
No one can guarantee that your site will never crash, so should you just let it all go to waste? Crashes do happen online, but they happen much less if you back up the website.
Many make the mistake and fail to back up their website. The moment they realize this mistake is usually when there is no way to retrieve the information or use backup to rescue the site.
WordPress has many options for backup, as well as backup plugins you can install and use.
03. Forget About the Comments
Just reading the comments you get on your website is not enough. You need to screen them to see if they are spam and accept only the ones that are real. But, it still doesn’t end here.
The most important thing you can do to maintain the audience that has already found your blog and commented on it is to communicate with them. Reply to their comments and build relationships to boost your brand and website and keep them interested. If you don’t keep track of the comments and make your website a friendly one, you cannot build a healthy and long-lasting relationship with the followers.
04. Use Images Without Permission
We all want quality photos for our website, but does this give us permission to use anything we find online? No, it does not. If you are planning to use multimedia on your WordPress website (or any website for that matter), you need permission to do so.
If you download an image from a source that hasn’t given a permission to use their photos, give them credit on your blog post. Many bloggers forget about this part and as a result suffer bad consequences. Google does not like website owners who steal photos from others.
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Before you use any image or video on your website, make sure you are allowed to use it. You will find free websites with high-resolution photos very helpful, but you can also opt to purchase a membership to such websites to get more access to high-quality images.
05. Ignore the Updates
There is a reason why WordPress has so many updates. The contributors and creators of the platform work tirelessly to improve the efficiency, speed and interface in general, so you should definitely not ignore their updates.
When a user ignores an important update, they are more exposed to security breaches. Look at it this way – when you avoid the changes WordPress makes to improve your website, you are giving hackers a free reign over your site.
If you think your site may break when you download an update, you are wrong. If your plug-ins and theme are coded properly, this cannot happen.
06. Not Use an Analytics Program
Programs like Google Analytics are popular for a reason, and a very good one. If you want your website to succeed on the Web, you must keep track on how well it is performing.
Such programs will help you monitor the traffic, learn about SEO and keywords and keep track of the behavior of your visitors. In return, you can use this information to generate more traffic and get more followers.
07. Ignore the Mobile Users
Almost everyone owns a mobile device nowadays. And that’s not even the biggest reason why you should not ignore mobile users. In the past decade, people started accessing websites on their phones as often as they do on the desktop, and even more. This makes it essential for you to make the website mobile-friendly.
This is definitely the most annoying mistake of them all. Smartphones are today’s mini computers people use to browse and even buy from the Web. If you ignore this fact, you are about to lose a very big audience before you even start building your site.
Start adopting this trend and start it fast. Use a responsive theme that adapts to all sizes and devices and make the website compatible by using good plugins for mobile-friendly sites.
Do you want to attract more audience and surprise the visitors you already have with good posts and website design? If you do, don’t make these mistakes! Mistakes are experiences and can be fixed, but it is better to avoid them than fix them afterwards.
