So you think you would be developing a website using the WordPress CMS and would be able to engage the audience without being a pro? Wait a minute, give a pause to your thoughts and go through this post precisely to get a magnum-opus out of your efforts!
Since WordPress is the most reliable CMS that can reduce your development efforts to around 80 percent but that simply doesn’t mean you can’t make flaws. Factors like the website loading speed and bounce rate entirely depend on the way you optimize your website.
Feeling quite stressed after reading the above-mentioned aspects? Don’t worry; we have coupled some common blunders along with the right solution to help you out!
Table of Contents
Avoid These Common WordPress Development Mistakes
Plugins Plugins Plugins all way around!
If you too are surrounded by a myth that installing a bunch of plugins would enhance the functionality of your website without affecting the overall performance; think again! Functionality is the necessity of your website, right? What about the performance of your business website? Well, a lot of plugins on your website could slow down the loading time of your website, which eventually increases the bounce rate.
Make sure that you actually need a particular plugin or you just found it fancy to include in your website. Go through the stats, reviews, and ratings of a plugin before you offer them a place in your business website that is intended to generate business revenues.
It would be great to check whether the plugin is updated and do you critically need it. Thus; it is necessarily important for you to do some research before just blindly installing plugins in a queue.
Don’t just Settle for the Default Settings
Most beginners just create a WordPress website and start posting their posts without thinking about the settings. It isn’t bad to customize your website and update it as soon as you create it but adequate emphasis should be given to the default settings.
The default permalink and tagline would be enough annoying when your acquaintances point out the same. Sounds really nasty, isn’t it? Make sure you have a look at these aspects before you just randomly start flooding your website with content.
We are not saying the default settings aren’t good but they just need adequate optimization for your website. Spare some time in analyzing your business requirements and the way by which you can engage your audience, which would be surely beneficial for you to decide the settings and functionalities.
Not Considering Updates
One of the biggest blunders that you can make is to ignore the importance of updates for plugins, WordPress versions, and themes. There is a purpose why an update is launched, which you need not understand or pay attention to; just install the updates as soon as they are available!
In some certain updates, you would be witnessing no change in the overall functionality of your website, which could be obvious but not worthless. Sometimes a minor fix in the plugin or the theme could be quite beneficial in the long run. For security reasons, you should never miss an update as suggested by most online security specialists.
Make sure you manually check for the available updates and install them on a priority basis as these updates augment the performance, security, and functionality of your website.
Ignoring the Importance of Backup
Developing a WordPress website without creating a copy could be related to storing your precious pictures on a volatile memory! Yes, it’s that unsafe! Keeping a backup of your WordPress should be your biggest priority when you are expecting a great website that is available for you and users all the time.
Sometimes a glitch may cause your entire website to sink without any hint. To avoid such conditions, it would be better to install a plugin that helps to create a backup of your WordPress website. There is no need to make a backup manually when the same can be done in a couple of seconds with a plugin.
Downloading Themes From any Untrusted Sources
If you are getting attracted by just any theme available on the internet and you think it would be the next for your website; think twice! There is no point you can blindly use any theme for your website if you wish to engage the audience with the finest user experience and user interface. Sometimes you may get free themes from untrusted sources that could put you in trouble.
The free themes available on the internet are actually not free but would tend to charge after a while and may lack certain functionalities that are necessarily crucial for your website. Thus; one needs to precisely choose a theme from a trusted source so as to be sure enough that their efforts in creating an engaging website don’t go in vain.
Sometimes these free themes contain additional codes that can impact your website abruptly. One can expect security-related threats from these additional codes that are intended to impact your online presence. There are people who aren’t sure where they should get the right theme for their website.
Not Testing the Responsiveness of the Website
So, you would be aware of the term “responsive website”, if not, it is a website layout design that adjusts automatically as per the screen size. Since the number of users on mobile devices is around 75 percent of the total internet users, adequate emphasis should be given to responsive website development.
Though WordPress is known for its responsive website themes; you still need to ensure adequate testing at your end whenever you are developing your business website. One should use different devices and different web browsers to test their website so as to be sure enough that their website is properly optimized and offers a smooth user experience.
As per a survey, the bounce rate of a website mostly depends on the type of design, which if isn’t adequate, the users would surely leave. One can customize the same if there are any issues with the design.
Not Including the Contact us Form
If you are expecting organic leads from your website and forgot to include the contact us form on the website, make sure you do the same as soon as possible. Imagine how a user would be able to get in touch with you if you haven’t included the contact us page on your website. In addition to this, you have to be sure enough to make the form simple with minimum fields.
Your contact form should be compact and must be included on every page at a perfect place from where it is clearly visible. This would augment the lead generation for which you are building a website in WordPress.
Hope you are now aware of some common mistakes that most people usually repeat and how to get the best out of your WordPress development.
