So, you have decided to join the WordPress clan and you need advice on improving your site?
You have come to the right place!
Powering almost 30% of the internet, WordPress is an influential platform that allows you to design your own website. You have full freedom in designing and adding any feature. WordPress welcomes all kinds of bloggers, businesses and online sellers.
To join the family of WordPress, the first and foremost thing is to build and publish your website. With this, you will enter the world of hosting, coding, plugins, SEO and more. We are sure these handy tips and tricks will help you on your website journey.
1. Choosing the right hosting for your website
As we all know, without hosting your website cannot go live on the internet. Hence finding the best hosting is absolutely crucial for your site’s success.
That is not all, your hosting provider essentially equips you with the necessary resources needed to manage your site traffic. Giving you fast site speeds by avoiding crashes and downtime is the next thing your hosting provider needs to do.
Go ahead and find the most suitable hosting plan for your site – different plans have different levels of features
2. Go theme!
The basis of your site’s design is the theme. You must choose the theme that you like and suits your project.
While choosing your theme, make sure you use the theme demos. This way, you will get an idea of how your site would look.
Even though WordPress is customizable, it is better to start out with an apt theme, unless you are working with a web developer. Don’t hesitate to pay for a premium theme.
Be careful with the themes that come with pre-packed features as it can slow your site down- be critical and minimal.
Lastly, choose a theme that you enjoy using and don’t forget to pick a mobile- responsive theme- you don’t want to give your mobile users poor experience.
3. Rank high with an SEO plugin
People conduct more 2 million searches just on Google every day.
Hence, showing up on the front page of any web search engine could be a deciding factor on how your website will fare. ‘If you ever need to hide a dead body, hide it in the second page of google’
Search engine optimization(SEO) optimizes your site so that a search engine likes to show it as the top results for a specific keyword.
Go to the WordPress Plugin Directory, find a suitable SEO plugin and install it.
Yoast is the best WordPress plugin and recommended SEO tool.
4. Don’t plugin your site down
Plugins add performance and functionality to your site. To add features like contact or live chats you will need plugins unless your theme has built-in features.
On the other hand, having too many plugins can slow down your site and risk your site’s security.
Install plugins that you really need and which will benefit your site – do not pick as many cool plugins as you can find.
Since plugins can be made by anyone, there is a lot of choices with varying quality. Make sure you go through the user reviews of the plugins you are to install.
5. Safety comes first
Security should be one of your site’s main priorities.
Go through our post on WordPress security to keep your website safe and secure.
https://hostingspell.com/blog/how-to-completely-secure-wordpress-website/
6. Managing your images
Images make up a website. They keep visitors engaged by drawing attention to the key points. Let’s just agree that it makes your website look good. Make sure you add a title and alt text to your images.
- Image compression
Save your precious storage space by compressing your images. Your site will also run faster with the reduced file size.
What is better than having a fast site speed! Both site visitors and search engines prefer fast loading sites. So you must always compress your videos and images.
There are lots of online tools where you can compress your images for free. All you have to is upload and download.
- Featured images
The featured image is the picture that accompanies the links to articles. It makes your post more visually attractive to readers.
It is a great idea to set featured images for your blog posts.
All you have to do is look into the right sidebar of your new post draft in WordPress and upload the image in the ‘Set featured image’ section. Don’t forget to add a title and text for your featured image!
7. Ideal WordPress Permalinks
Permalinks or permanent links are just the addresses of your website and blog posts. WordPress automatically creates permalinks for your new posts. These default permalinks are klutzy and not SEO friendly.
Change your permalink settings in your dashboard, in Permalinks included in the Settings section. Choose a new permalink structure that is most SEO friendly. Remember to save the changes!
8. Staying up-to-date
WordPress updates its software frequently to secure its platform.
Regularly check for updates so that you are not left behind, an outdated and bug infected site is not very useful.
Your WordPress dashboard will tell you if your themes, plugins or versions needs an update.
Ensure that your site is backed up before and after updating.
9. A clutter-free site
As attractive as it looks fancy widgets and banners distract the visitors from accessing your content. Always visualize your site from the visitors’ point of view.
Use widgets that contribute to keeping your customers engaged. Keep your sidebar and footer clutter-free. Keep in mind that less is more!
10. Explore!
Last but not least, explore WordPress. WordPress is constantly changing and growing, this means you are always evolving with it.
Found a theme you really like? Go ahead and try it out. Play with the resources you have in hand and you will be a part of WordPress in no time.
Use these simple tips for a smooth beginner experience!
“Your website is the window of your business. Keep it fresh, keep it exciting!”
Share Your Comments & Feedback