When starting your WordPress journey it is easy to feel like you don’t know what you are doing or if what you are doing is the right thing. It can be hard to figure out what exactly is the right thing to do as there are a lot of advice out there and it can be a bit difficult to get a clear picture of everything.

We have gathered some of the most common mistakes that people tend to make that end up negatively affecting their site, so you can avoid making them.

Not keeping WordPress up to date

This is one of the most common mistakes and it can end up affecting all of your site. WordPress makes sure to keep their software updated regularly to fix bugs, security patches and add new features. This means it is very important to keep it fixed as everything on your site depends on your WordPress functioning the best it can.

It is important to regularly check for WordPress updates, so everything else can run smoothly.

Not using a custom domain

Using a custom domain can be a great way to establish your website’s brand and credibility at the very beginning of your users encounter with your site.  This will at times make or break if a user decides to interact with you and your content, so it is very important.

A great custom domain is something like ‘yourbrandname.com’. Keeping it simple makes it look a whole lot better.

Don’t use a free domain like ‘yourbrandname.wordpress.com, since it will make you look less professional and unserious. It will also negatively impact your search engine rankings as SEO’s tend to favor the custom domains.

Installing too many plugins

There are an excess of great plugins out there that can help you with pretty much everything you could need them to, so it can be very tempting to take advantage of that. But having to many plugins can easily end up slowing down your site or end up creating conflicts between the plugins.

This is why it is a good idea to only choose the plugins that you know you need and regularly review the ones you use to make sure that they are needed and updated to make sure that they keep running as they are supposed to. 

Ignoring WordPress security

There are a lot of information out on websites and hackers are aware of this. So, to avoid becoming an easy target then it is a good idea to make sure to keep both yourself and your users it can be important to look into WordPress security measures to keep your site safe.

This can avoid attacks that lead to data loss or site downtown or keep your users data safe, which is especially important if your site works with or keeps a hold of sensitive user information.

Some of the most common ways to keep your security on your WordPress site up is by regularly updating your WordPress, as they will end up doing a lot of the security work for you, having strong passwords and installing a security plugin that can help protect your site.

Not regularly backing up your site

If you want to save yourself a lot of trouble down the line then it is important to take preventative measures to problems that might come up. Saving yourself from having to spend a lot of time and deal with the stress of data loss or similar issues can be done by simply backing up your site regularly.

Don’t wait until it is already too late. Make sure to make a habit out of backing up your site. Things might never end up actually going wrong but the day it does you will be glad that you have taken the time to do it.

Using the default settings

WordPress comes with a set of default settings for when you have to create your site. If you don’t know much about how to set up a website then it can be a good idea to some extent use these setting for your site. But there are many different types of websites out there and the default settings might not be the best option for all of them.

Therefore, it might be a good idea to look up the specific type of site you want to create – is it a store, a service site or do you just want to display information. Some of them might require a little different of a setup, but it should be simple enough to find what needs changing in order to fit better with your site.

Getting better settings might end up getting your site to run better and more smoothly in the end.

Not optimizing your images

One big mistake many people make when setting up their site is not spending enough time on their pictures. This doesn’t mean just spending more time taking or finding the pictures you want for your site. Having good quality pictures that look good and fit with your site and brand is important, but it can only do so much.

It is also important to make sure that the more technical site of your images. One of the most important technical aspects are the size of your image files. Too large image files might end up slowing down your site and negatively impact your SEO ranking.  Compressing your images is a good way to reduce their file size whilst keeping as much of the quality as possible.

Conclusion

In conclusion, avoiding these common WordPress mistakes can help you to build a successful and secure website. By regularly updating your WordPress site, using a custom domain, only installing necessary plugins, prioritizing WordPress security, backing up your site, customizing your WordPress settings, and optimizing your images, you can ensure that your site is fast, secure, and optimized for your specific needs.

Don’t let these common mistakes impact your WordPress site – take action today to avoid them!