When first creating a WordPress site it’s important to remember these tips. They’ll save you future headaches. WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems roaming the internet. Why? It’s easy functionality and custom web design options. Basically, it allows you to fully customize the design and function in order to have a website that can do whatever you need.
At Logic Web Media, we have been building custom WordPress sites for over a decade. We design and develop custom themes from scratch. Generally, we avoid plugins altogether unless we have made them ourselves.
5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Creating a Custom WordPress Website.
1. WordPress.com or WordPress.org
This can be confusing when first starting to build your WordPress site. WordPress.com is more popular for bloggers and artists, who are looking for a place to host your website for free. WordPress.com is the least expensive, however you don’t receive a custom domain name and their themes are not customizable. WordPress.org comes with more responsibility as well as increased control. Additionally, it allows you to fully customize your website or blog, choose your own custom domain name and hosting providers.
Another reason to choose WordPress.org is for marketing. Whether you are invention in SEO or other paid marketing options, WordPress.org allows you the flexibility and control to make sure you’re getting the best ROI possible.
“logicwebmedia.com”
“logicwebmedia.wordpress.com”
2. Using WordPress’s default permalink structure
Out of the box, WordPress websites provide you with a permalink structure that looks like this: www.yoursite.com/?p=123. After installing WordPress, you can go into “Permalinks” and choose between 5 settings. For example, WordPress offers a custom permalink setting so that you can create your own. Proper permalink structures displays professionalism. Additionally, it’s good for search engine optimization.
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www.logicwebmedia.com/?p=123.
3. Forgetting to Update Your Website
WordPress updates are very common and important to ensure the security of your website. Hackers are always trying to get into WordPress because of its popularity and loop holes, failing to update your website causes your site to be more vulnerable.
4. Unchecking The SEO Index Setting
When developing a site, it may make sense to “discourage search engines from indexing site.” This is due to the fact that the website isn’t complete, and you don’t want the unfinished site ending up in the Google index. It’s important once the site is complete to uncheck the option in order to be visible in search results. You want to make sure the homepage design you have worked so hard for can be seen!
5. Failing to Optimize WordPress Images
When adding images to your WordPress website or blog it’s important to choose “save images for web and devices,” option. Saving images for web and devices will compress the size so it’s more suitable for your website. Compressed photos optimized for web will help encourage faster load times.
Furthermore, images need alt tags. The two main reasons is for accessibility and SEO. For accessibility, alt tags provide a textual description of an image. This description is crucial for individuals with visual impairments who use screen readers to navigate websites. Screen readers can read aloud the alt text, allowing visually impaired users to understand the content and context of the images on a webpage. Without alt tags, these users would miss out on valuable information.
For SEO purposes, search engines like Google use alt tags to understand the content of images on a webpage. Alt tags provide additional context and keywords that can improve a webpage’s search engine ranking. Therefore, properly optimized images with descriptive alt tags can help increase a site’s visibility in search engine results, which can drive more organic traffic.
Conclusion
These are just a handful of common mistakes we have seen. However, these can severely impact your website’s SEO value and even compromise its security. As with other web-related activities, it’s best to hire a professional. This will ensure that you are getting the most from your web presence.