Working on your new website or redesign can be both exciting and scary, especially if you are having to learn something entirely new in the process. WordPress is making web design more accessible and an actual viable option for the most computer-challenged among us, but gaining a really good understanding of its features and capabilities can be a daunting task at times.
With the hundreds of templates and websites promising the “best of the best,” we here at BionicWP wanted to take the time to corral some of the best best-practice tips together for the true beginners out there. Take the time to read and take a few notes, those WordPress newbies that implement these helpful techniques will definitely have a much better chance at success… and suffer less frustration in the process.
Keep It Clean!
This is the most important tip and applies to the customer-facing website itself, your internal Media Library, the website’s permalinks, and even your page titles and descriptions. Clutter in any of these areas is not only unprofessional, it can actually cost you decent search engine ranking, time, and money. Take these tips to the bank and implement them immediately. You’ll be glad you did.
- Website Sidebar – Crowding your sidebar with widgets, ads, links, tweet alerts, social media icons, photos, news clips, etc. etc. is just too much. And you see it everywhere! Just think for a moment – when you visit sites like that, do you click any of that stuff on your first visit? Or if you do, what are you likely checking out? Products, company info, and possibly testimonials or reviews. Successful websites par down their sidebars to the essentials.
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- Solution – In WordPress, navigate to Appearance & Widgets and remove everything other than the items that actually do something for your business. If it doesn’t put money in your bank account, add people to your mailing or newsletter list, or get them to take the desired action, get rid of it.
- Media Library – One default in WordPress that you will want to immediately change is the “Organize my uploads into month-and year-based folders” setting. This feature files your media library in multiple folders, spreading out your content and actually making it much more difficult to manage over time. Creating a single integrated media folder makes it simple to search for what you want at any time – just type in a keyword and you’ll instantly have the file you want.
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- Solution – Set up WordPress so that all media files go into a single folder that you can search by name by going to Settings & Media and uncheck the box next to “Organize my uploads into month- and year-based folders.”
- Permalinks – Trying to stuff your links with keywords or attempting to be overly descriptive can actually work against you with the Search Engines. You need to take the time to eliminate unnecessary words, and utilize the space for keywords that act as directive beacons for the SEs to find your relevant content.
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- Solution – Revise your links before you publish them by using the built-in WordPress permalink field at the top of the editing page. E.G. – www.mysite.com/14-tips-for-wordpress-beginners would be better as something like www.mysite.com/beginner-wordpress-tips.
- Page Titles & Descriptions – Whether you realize it or not, the title and description of each page on your site is some of the most important text on your page! When a search engine returns your page as a result, the title and description are what people immediately see and use to determine whether or not to click on your link.
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- Solution – Keep your target audience in mind when writing titles and descriptions. Make titles enticing and have your descriptions elaborate on that title, using a strong call to action to motivate viewers to click. You can also opt to utilize available SEO optimization software to edit the page title and description and there are many options available with just a quick web search.
Choose The Right WordPress Host
A rather large mistake that those new to WordPress can make is opting to go with “free” hosting for their website, or selecting a WordPress hosting option that doesn’t actually live up to its “promises.” While a host that offers you free services would be tempting to anyone, the truth is you really do get what you pay for. Need support? Good luck finding what you need on the internet, that host isn’t going to help at all. Data suddenly lost due to malware? That discount host probably doesn’t provide off-site backups, let alone malware protection or scans.
This is why you need BionicWP!
- WordPress Experts
- WordPress Support
- Off-site Backups – 90 Days Worth!
- Daily Malware Scans
- Real-time Downtime Monitoring
- Fast SSD Servers
- Cloud Technology
- Money-Back Guarantee
- And Much More
Visit our website today to find out how affordable your new website can really be, along with the support you need when you need it.
