Table of contents
You can easily avoid these typical WordPress mistakes
WordPress is popular and widespread. Just as common are basic mistakes that especially WordPress newbies make (but not only them!). To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, we’ve compiled the most common bloopers here.
Standard settings not changed
- Permalinks not set
“Talking” URLs contain the most important keywords of the post instead of just the ID of the post. It’s true that this doesn’t play such a big role in search engine optimization anymore. But it looks nicer, is more understandable for users and it definitely can’t hurt. You can find it under Settings -> Permalinks. - Comment moderation not switched on
You can set a checkmark so that new comments always have to be activated first. This is recommended to prevent spam entries from appearing on the page in the first place. See: Settings -> Discussion. As a supplement you can use a plugin like Antispam Bee. - Demo entries not deleted
WordPress would like to show you immediately how a finished website can look like. Therefore, right after the installation you already have the first post, the first comment and a sample page. You should delete or adjust all of them. - Placeholder texts not removed
Also, your site has the default subtitle “Another WordPress site”. Some people overlook this and leave it like this. In GREYD.SUITE these and other things can be adjusted very easily in the Customizer or in GREYD.Hub! - Leave “Admin” as username
If you use this name for your main user, you make it unnecessarily easy for attackers. Choose something unique and make sure you have a long password. - Default category “General” not modified
Categories, along with keywords, are an ideal way to sort your content in a meaningful way and make it findable. More about this below! By default, WordPress creates a category with the meaningless title “General”. You can and should rename it appropriately.
Forget optimizations
- Not thought about SEO
WordPress is already quite well optimized for search engines by default. But if you want to be at the forefront of Google & Co, you need to do more. Suitable plugins for this task also help you to think of all elements in your content. Examples: Yoast SEO, All in 1 SEO Pack, Rank Math. Tip: In GREYD.SUITE there is an optimized integration for Yoast SEO with practical presets. - Loading time ignored
Those who are not so experienced with web development are usually more happy about technical gimmicks and additional features and hardly pay attention to the page loading time. A major factor for lame WordPress pages: Too many plugins (see below), which are also not optimized. At GREYD.SUITE, we provide you with everything from a single source and are constantly working to improve performance. Because we know: If you want to be successful with your site in the long run, you have to score here! - Database overfilled
And if you try many plugins, you will notice: Even if they are deactivated and deleted, their database tables often remain behind. But what layman wants to mess around in a tool like MySQL? In GREYD.Hub, we have therefore integrated a function that allows you to easily delete database contents that are no longer needed.
User guidance not implemented sensibly
- Categories and keywords used without system
WordPress offers you two ways to sort your content with categories and keywords. Think about how you want to use this as early as possible. Rule of thumb: Categories are suitable to create an overall order. Keywords are more suitable for fine tuning. - “Posts” and “Pages” not used correctly
Similarly, for the two standard content formats, “Posts” and “Pages”: Again, you should understand what’s for what. Posts are assigned to categories and tagged with keywords as needed. By default, they can be found as a reverse chronological list on the home page. They are suitable for current content like a news section or a blog. Pages, on the other hand, are meant for permanent information that you can sort hierarchically. And if you use GREYD.SUITE, you can create custom content types with Dynamic Post Types, making your site even more usable and manageable. - Not thought of a contact form
If you want to attract customers, you have to be approachable. And that means: make it as easy as possible for your prospects to reach you. A contact form is part of the standard of every site, but not the basic equipment of WordPress. You’ll find that too in GREYD.SUITE! With GREYD.Forms you can implement forms of all kinds.
Ignoring the technical side
- Too many plugins installed
You can fulfill almost any WordPress wish without any programming knowledge – simply with plugins. Problem: The more plugins you have, the more likely they are to interfere with each other (“plugin conflicts”), the more likely you are to catch security holes and the more likely your page load times will go down the tubes. It is therefore better if the essential functions all come from one source. That’s why we at GREYD.SUITE make sure that everything works in harmony and your site continues to load lightning fast. - Forgotten backups
A backup system should be part of the basic equipment of every professionally operated site. Sometimes your web host offers you something like that. But it’s not always helpful to restore your entire website to last week’s state. GREYD.Hub makes it easy for you: backups at the push of a button. - Updates ignored
WordPress and its plugins are constantly evolving and last but not least, the developers close security gaps with the updates. In any case, you should always be up to date.
Meanwhile, WordPress offers automated updates to make your work easier. Here’s a little warning: It can happen that an update cripples your site or leads to plugin conflicts – especially if you have a lot of plugins (see above). So use the automation sparingly or consider utilizing tools that offer Safe Updates for WordPress, keep an eye on your site and think of a back-up. - Security issues not fixed
We have already mentioned forgotten updates and the default user “admin” as possible security problems. There is more you should be aware of, and a plugin like Wordfence already helps you keep track of it in its free version. - Tinkering with the live website
And last but not least, a tip from the developer practice: never experiment on your live website. If something goes wrong, your users may be confronted with cryptic error messages or the site may suddenly stop working altogether. Professionals work on a development environment (also called “clone” or “staging”). There are also suitable plugins for this, such as WP-Staging or UpdraftPlus. In the GREYD.SUITE you can implement the whole thing without an extra plugin.
Conclusion
WordPress advertises that you can easily set up a website with it. And that’s true: The basic installation is done in the famous three steps. But that doesn’t mean that your work is done. As we hopefully could show you here, there are some more points you should consider.
GREYD.SUITE is the perfect partner for you. We have integrated the most important functions and help you to keep your site up to date and optimized.
