Running a successful WordPress website that attracts thousands of visits a month is something that comes with a lot of challenges. As a business owner, you might be aware of many of them because lots of online businesses face various consequences of making mistakes while dealing with WordPress.
Even those considering themselves tech-savvy entrepreneurs make mistakes because their attention is drawn to so many things that require their attention. So, regardless of how good your tech skills are, make sure you read the list of the top 10 mistakes that online entrepreneurs make in WordPress.
Mistake #1. Installing Too Many Plugins
Plugins are great and they can help you to enhance the functionality of your website. At the time this article was written, WordPress had 55,470 plugin options, so it’s safe to assume that they cover pretty much everything.
Many business owners try to make sure that their website’s functionality is high by installing a lot of plugins. While more functionality certainly sounds good, having too many plugins has the opposite effect: your website becomes slow and more vulnerable to security problems.
Avoid this mistake by:
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- Remove any plugins that you don’t really need
- Remove inactive plugins
- Only install plugins developed by credible sources.
Mistake #2. Ignoring SEO Settings
This is a common mistake made by beginner users. For example, they read an article where someone says that installing an SEO plugin such as Yoast is everything they need for SEO. Well, the truth is, SEO requires a careful strategy, attention to details, and constant measurement and adjustment.
In terms of WordPress, you should go to SEO settings and see that settings of all installed plugins fit your goals and then uncheck the option to discourage Google from crawling your website.
Mistake #3. Neglecting Updates
WordPress users ignore updates because of many reasons; for example, they think that their site won’t work properly or they are just too busy doing other business-related things. However, developers of the platform advise to install updates because they provide security enhancements. If these security solutions are lacking, it would be easier for hackers to hack your website.
Mistake #4. Not Backing Up Regularly
As it was mentioned in the previous section, business owners ignore updates because they can potentially break the website. This outcome, however, can be easily fixed using a backup plugin or service.
If you fail to back up and something disrupts your website, restoring it back to the usable version may be very difficult. The worst case scenario is when you get hacked getting a WordPress site restored. In this case, getting back to the usable version will be extremely difficult.
Mistake #5: Using Weak Passwords
Hundreds of thousands of WordPress websites are hacked every year. In fact, WP Template wrote that a weak password was the reason why 8 percent of WordPress were hacked.
So, take a second look at your password. Is it strong enough to protect your site from hackers? If you’re in doubt, you don’t have to have an experience in a professional writing service to write a password with fancy words no one will ever guess. Just use free online tools such as Strong Password Generator.
Mistake #6: Not Checking for Broken Links
Although there are no actual statistics, too many online businesses forget to check their sites for broken links. As the result, they damage user experience by not taking visitors where they want to go.
No one likes to see that “404 Page not Found” page, right? To find and fix broken links on your own WordPress site, you can use Broken Link Checker tool.
Mistake #7: Failing to Change Default Social Media Links
Many WordPress themes come with social media links to accounts of the developers. If left unchanged, the visitors will encounter them instead of the accounts of the business. To avoid that, these social media buttons should redirect users to social media accounts of your business. There, they can connect with you and follow your news.
Mistake #8: Not Using Google Analytics
Knowing how your visitors interact with the site is critically important for your business. The best way to get the information along with a bunch of other useful data is to install Google Analytics. This is the well-known tool that shows how many people visited your site and what they were doing while they were there (what content they interacted with etc.).
Signing up for Google Analytics is easy: just visit the signup page and select “Website” when presented with a choice (website or mobile app). There are, however, more complex third-party plugins such as Google Analytics by MonsterInsights that you can check out as well.
Mistake #9: Choosing an Unresponsive Theme
A responsive theme is not optional anymore because Google will punish those providing awful browsing experience for mobile users. Since 2015, the search giant has been using mobile-friendliness as one of the main ranking factors, so selecting a theme that doesn’t comply with this requirement is a very bad idea.
Take the Mobile-Friendly Test to see if your site provides a pleasant experience for mobile users.
Mistake #10: Choosing a Domain Nobody Will Remember
Sure, most of your visitors will find you using Google and other search engines but having a memorable and catchy domain helps with remembering plus works on establishing a brand.
Conclusion: Avoid These Mistakes!
Do your best to avoid these costly mistakes as you build your WordPress site or improve upon it.
Author's bio; Tom Jager is a professional blogger. He works at A-writer. He has a degree in Law and English literature. Tom has written numerous articles/online journals. You can reach him at G+ or Facebook.