Many of our clients present the same questions and concerns to us, ranging from simple formatting issues to complex SEO problems. All of these concerns or questions, in some way, stem from a detrimental effect causing a decrease in a website’s traffic capabilities. And we figured, since so many people are affected by various WordPress problems, it was time to compile a list of WordPress tips and tricks designed to alleviate common issues.
WordPress tips and tricks to make your site run smoother:
- Create a password with at least nine randomly combined numbers and characters, both capitalized and lowercase. Change the password on a monthly basis.
- Change your login username from the default “admin.” This is the first thing hackers try when attempting to access a WordPress site.
- Use any of the 2013 WordPress SEO plug-ins to enhance your site’s search engine results.
- Use widgets that empower a user’s experience, not because they look cool.
- Delete all unused plug-ins, themes, and photos, as they take up space and increase the site’s load times.
- Hitting the Enter key on a keyboard creates a double space in WordPress’ visual text editor. If you want a single space, hold the Shift key and then hit Enter.
- Display your contact information (address, email, phone number) in an obvious location. Hiding this information drives away impatient users.
- Always include an ALT tag when inserting a photo into a post or page. This tells search engines what the image is and how to index it.
- Many designers and developers block a search engine’s ability to crawl a site while it’s being constructed. Make sure to check the site’s privacy settings to disable this block. No search engines = no search rankings.
- Keep both your WordPress software and your WordPress plug-ins up to date.
- Back up all of your files on a regular basis, especially if your site is self-hosted. No seriously, back up your data. Are you listening? Back it up.
- Turn off comments on static pages. It looks unprofessional and gives bots another opportunity to drop spam onto your site.
- You can expand the text editor by grabbing the lower right, ridged corner and dragging it.
- Change the default WordPress tagline found under general settings. The default one says, “Just Another WordPress Site,” and that’s a huge turn-off for users, as it’s unprofessional.
- Lastly, think long and hard about the final web design for your site. Visuals convey trust, emotional engagement, and information, all of which is crucial for converting users into customers.
If you have a question or concern not addressed by the above list, please contact us. We’re always available to help quell any issues.