WordPress Mistakes That You Can Avoid
Tips that every WordPress user should watch out for
Updated: October 28, 2020
By: RSH Web Editorial Staff
Listing a few of the more common WordPress mistakes that most beginners make. Use this guide to help avoid making the same WordPress Mistakes that the large majority of WP Admin's do
Stay Updated. It is often a good idea to set up WordPress to update automatically. But always keep it updated to the latest version. Hackers and malicious attackers scans the Internet looking for Software installations that have not been properly updated. Do not let you be the one they find!
The Admin user-name is created when you install WordPress. That account name has "Administrative Privileges". Hackers know this. It is easy for someone who wants unauthorized access to your site to run a "Brute Force" attack targeting the admin username. It is especially important that it not continue to display the generic title that comes "Out of the Box". Make it a priority to change this user-name when you are installing, it just makes sense to change it right then
Also see WordPress Codex on the "Default Admin Name"
"The Weakest Link" to any website is a weak password. This is right up there with not changing the “admin” username. When you choose a password it needs to be strong. We feel this is important enough we have written several articles on this
Creative Password Ideas You Will Remember
How do I Create a Strong Password
You should always have your WordPress backed up regularly. Failure to create a backup may seem like a rookie mistake to those who perform those backups. But it is something far to easy to forget. There are many Plugins you can use
One east way for Backups is with cPanel Admin interface's "Backup Wizard"
WordPress Backup Plugins
UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin
BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin
WordPress Backup and Migrate Plugin – Backup Guard
WP STAGING – Backup Duplicator & Migration
With the thousands of WordPress Themes available. You should be careful because many are poorly coded and constructed. And many are totally unsupported and not regularly updated. Some things to look for in a theme are
Is the theme from a reputable developer?
Is the theme supported at all?
Is the theme regular updated?
Is the theme Responsive?
Is the theme complete?
With thousands of WordPress Plugins available. You really want to have as few plugins as possible on your site. If you can run your entire WordPress website with zero plugins then congrats you are officially a "WordPress Wizard”. Too many plugins can slow your website and can increase the likelihood that you will encounter conflict issues within the site itself. Also there are often security vulnerabilities. So be carefully, and always make sure that your plugins have been tested with the latest WordPress release. And most important get rid of unused plugins, See our article on WordPress Hacked and Website Backdoors
Given how obsessive the Internet has become with consistent posting through blogs and social media. We suggest just slowing it down. Google updates have increasingly prioritized how user friendly and valuable your content is. Specifically any posts should be carefully revised and edited prior to publishing. Beyond your search engine results, it will also help you from a user experience perspective
Ever look at your browser window and see a small icon next to the title of the page? Bing has a "B". Google has a "G"
The problem with neglecting favicons is that your custom site will begin to look like all the rest. Plus do you want to advertise your "Theme Company" through its favicon. Your favicon should be part of your identity and your brand
More information on creating a Favicon
Another common WordPress mistakes is not having a contact form available. You go through the process of building your WordPress site. But with no way for visitors to contact you. Most people want to know who you are and be able to interact with whoever is behind the website. You will want a contact form somewhere (or multiple places) on your website
WordPress Contact Form Plugins
Contact Form by WPForms Drag and Drop Form Builder for WordPress
Forminator Contact Form, Payment Form and Custom Form Builder
Ninja Forms The Drag and Drop Form Builder for WordPress
Form Maker by 10Web Mobile Friendly Drag and Drop Contact Form Builder
The permalink is a static hyper-link referring to one of your blog posts that look something like
"https://www.this_is_your_site.com/?p=325"
That type of link can hurt your Search Engine ranking. The link can be made much better both for user engagement and for the Search Engines. You will want to change it. You can change your permalink structure through Settings > Permalinks
For more on Changing Permalinks see WordPress.org
While you are building your WordPress website, you should also be optimization for SEO purposes. This can include a number of things such as installing analytics, making good use of keywords and phrases. And making sure your site speed and structure are in good order. This is a common WordPress mistake that if overlooked can have serious consequences in the long run. These is no sense to create the "Best WordPress Website" if no one can find you
SEO Optimization Plugins
All in One SEO The original WordPress SEO plugin
Yoast SEO Improve your WordPress SEO
Rank Math SEO Best SEO Plugin for WordPress
SmartCrawl WordPress SEO checker, SEO analyzer, SEO optimizer
The SEO Framework the ad-free WordPress SEO plugin. Secure, fast, automated
There is simply no good reason why you should not be using a "Cache Plugin". These plugins can help you with speed and optimization. There are a lot of great WordPress cache plugins out there and setting one up is very easy and will have a lot of benefits for your website
WordPress Cache Plugins
Hummingbird Optimize Speed, Enable Cache, Minify CSS & Defer Critical JS
LiteSpeed Cache All-in-one unbeatable acceleration & PageSpeed improvement: caching, image/CSS/JS optimization
WP Fastest Cache The simplest and fastest WP Cache system
WP Super Cache A very fast caching engine for WordPress that produces static html files
WP-Optimize Clean, Compress, Cache
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