WordPress Mistakes to Avoid

9 Critical Mistakes That Will Kill Your WordPress Site in 2022

You’ve put a lot of time and effort into building a beautiful WordPress website for your company, so it only makes sense that you want it to run as smoothly as possible. Even though a few unanticipated problems may arise, there are some that you can foresee and avoid. Let’s go into more detail about a few of these.

1. No Backups

The attitude of “It won’t happen to me” is incorrect.

The last thing you want is to discover that your website has been compromised and that all of the data has been deleted when you awaken one morning. You will experience severe issues whether the server fails or compromises the website.

It’s time to start over from scratch.

That will be your only choice if you need to back up your content adequately. On WordPress website management, you must configure automated backups.

On their website, I’ve seen so many individuals lose everything. This might have been easily averted if they had just prepared backup plans.

Plugins are one of the most acceptable ways to back up your website. Look at my guide to the top WordPress website management backup plugins to find one.

Use cloud storage services at all times. If you’re only backing up content on the hosting server without a remote location, you risk losing everything if the server crashes or is compromised.

2. Excluding Google Analytics

Without data analysis, it is hard for your website to perform at its best.

I’ve advised several website owners who needed to be aware of fundamental facts about their websites, such as traffic sources, conversion rates, top-performing content, user navigation, and similar information.

Using Google Analytics is the most effective technique to learn more about your website.

Installing a Google Analytics plugin on your WordPress website is one of the things you can do. The best plugins provide you with audience reports.

You’ll discover more about their actions, occasions, shopping cart information, and conversion statistics. After that, you may use this data to enhance your website and target visitors appropriately.

3. Rejecting Updates

You may occasionally get an update message when you’re on your WordPress dashboard. This is how it seems.

We frequently receive update messages like these in the digital world.

For sure, you see similar messages on your phone, PC, and tablet. For example, you can receive update notifications on your smart TV or refrigerator.

It might be okay to ignore them in those circumstances. The case for WordPress maintenance service updates, however, is different.

People are reluctant to install updates out of concern that they’ll make their website crash or something similar. But that is a misunderstanding.

If you don’t keep your WordPress version up to date, some themes and plugins will have issues. Therefore, whenever you get that notification, staying current with these updates is in your best interest.

4. Making a Poor Theme Choice

New website owners frequently need help with website design.

It’s understandable why this would be challenging for you if you don’t have design experience. However, the success of your website will be significantly impacted by design.

The user experience will be severely harmed if visitors have trouble finding what they’re looking for. Therefore, you must utilize the themes that WordPress provides.

However, there are many themes, especially when you opt for WordPress website management service. It is overwhelming. There are plenty of free WordPress themes available, which is good news.

That explains why we observe so many people choosing a theme for progress. Then they experiment and switch themes often until they find the best one. This is a difficulty.

Choosing the best theme from the start rather than having to rebuild your site numerous times based on the theme is far better.

Choose a theme that works well on mobile devices and looks well on desktops. Depending on your needs, it must be versatile and adaptable.

Check to see if the plugins you now use or intend to use are compatible with your selected theme. The theme has to be tuned for maximum effectiveness and quick loading times.

5. Using Postings as Opposed to Pages

Knowing the distinction between posts and pages is essential when writing content for your website. We’ve seen a lot of newbies on WordPress website management when using posts to make significant pages for their websites.

But in terms of your website architecture, articles and pages function differently.

If you don’t recognize the differences between the two, things will become complicated and confusing for you as your website grows and you post more content.

What you should know is as follows:

Pages are often used for timeless content. You won’t make regular changes to these pages.

  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Pricing
  • Services
  • About Us 

On the other hand, posts will be for things like news updates, blogs, and articles. These on your website are temporal pieces of content.

For WordPress SEO purposes, you must understand when to use a page instead of a post.

6. Neglecting SEO

You’re doing it badly if all you’re doing is creating your website and adding content without considering SEO. Another typical error made by WordPress newbies is this one.

Without SEO, you won’t initially attract visitors to your website. You should therefore study the best SEO practices.

High search engine results will generate more website visitors.

WordPress has some built-in SEO tools, but you may also add plugins. See my ranking of the top WordPress SEO plugins.

7. Confusing Tags and Categories

Using categories and tags, you may organize your material on WordPress. But so many WordPress users need help executing this step correctly.

I’ve come across web pages that only have a ton of tags. On the other hand, I’ve also seen individuals having about 100 categories, but none had tags. These two methods are both incorrect.

The most versatile approach to organizing information on your WordPress site is through categories. Tags offer a little more detail.

Consequently, a blog post may belong to only one category but contain several tags. Let’s take the scenario where you manage a news website. Some possible categories are

  • Local
  • Politics
  • Weather
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • News

In contrast, tags for a specific post can include “NBA finals,” “basketball,” or “Lakers” for content in the sports category.

8. Not Keeping Track of Performance and Speed

I’ve seen hundreds of plugins installed by WordPress users. Hundreds of photographs, movies, and other interactive pieces are added to their website, along with other features and capabilities.

But they proceed without considering how it affects the functionality of their website.

Your bounce rates will significantly increase if your website takes too long to load.

On the other hand, when your material loads more quickly, website users browse more pages.

Nearly nine pages are viewed every session on websites that load in two seconds or less. For websites that take eight seconds to load, this contrasts with just three page views every session.

Use the tools and resources available to you to keep an eye on the speed and functionality of your WordPress website. Check out my revised article on how to ensure that your website is speed-optimized.

9. Lack of Security

Earlier, we described WordPress as the most popular CMS platform. It only stands to reason that it would also be the most sought-after target for hackers.

You leave your WordPress website open to viruses, brute force attacks, and hackers if you don’t take security precautions.

Any of these issues might hurt your website. Consider the effects of hackers taking customer and company data. Your reputation would be ruined, your SEO value would be destroyed, and you would lose clients.

You should steer clear of this. I advise installing one of the top WordPress website management security plugins because of this.

Conclusion

WordPress is a helpful tool, but it’s also a platform where errors are simple to make, especially if you’re a newbie.

Avoid making these typical blunders. Before using WordPress, read this guide and keep coming back to it to ensure you’re not making any of these mistakes.

Using a WordPress maintenance service to administer your website is a good idea. We at WPNinjas consist of WordPress professionals that are willing to assist you with your every wordpress need. Contact us today to know more!

Andrew Gray

Andrew Gray is the Senior Operations Manager at Vserve Amazon Listing Services, a position he's held since 2021. He is renowned for operational excellence, leading teams to achieve sales growth and enhanced customer service. Andrew's role is crucial in optimizing the company's operations and maintaining its reputation for efficient back-office solutions.

Author

Andrew Gray

Andrew Gray is the Senior Operations Manager at Vserve Amazon Listing Services, a position he's held since 2021. He is renowned for operational excellence, leading teams to achieve sales growth and enhanced customer service. Andrew's role is crucial in optimizing the company's operations and maintaining its reputation for efficient back-office solutions.

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