6 WordPress Mistakes to Avoid
WordPress is a user-friendly blogging tool. It offers gorgeous themes for every kind of content-driven purpose. You can make your WordPress blog or website as interesting as you want. However for that, you have to make some smart choices to be able to make your WordPress website one of the best things to ever happen to the internet. Let’s take a look at top six mistakes that WordPress users always make.
1. Not updating WordPress regularly: Believe it or not, a large section of bloggers, especially beginners, don’t update their respective WordPress websites! Most of them still hang on to older themes and plugins which don’t improve either the look of the blog or its security. Every time you upgrade your blog or website, WordPress offers new features, themes and a stronger security system. Remember: If you’re not operating your website on WordPress 3.9.1 or higher, you’re asking to be hacked.
2. Not keeping a backup: You have to backup your WordPress blog. It’s something that a lot of users, especially beginners, ignore. If you don’t have the time to remember to do it on a regular basis, then make use of WordPress backup plugins or device that will do the work for you. Keeping a backup is most useful if your website gets hacked. Trust me. You don’t want your hard work go to waste.
3. Not moderating comments: Be the boss of your WordPress blog. Control the comments being uploaded on it. You certainly don’t want comments carrying explicit or unprofessional words disturbing the polite tone of your website. In addition to this, you also have to tackle spam comments that can really harm your SEO. You also have the option of disabling comments. For that go to “Settings” >> “Discussion” >> Default Article Settings. Using the “Disable Comments” Plugin is another option.
4. Downloading malicious “free” WordPress themes: “Free” WordPress themes are easy to find on the web and download. The unfortunate part is that these themes are not exactly free and often carry virus with them. If you end up using a defective WordPress theme, then it’s going to cause you lot of technical troubles and reduce your readership. The best sites to download quality WordPress themes are Genesis, Elegant Themes and Themify!
5. Keeping the default Fevicon: Fevicons are those tiny icons located on the tab in the browser window next to your page title. Most of the beginners don’t pay attention to them. Little do they know that Fevicons are a great way of adding your personal touch to the website.
6. WordPress.com Vs. WordPress.org: Beginners always get confused between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. In the case of WordPress.org, you host your own website or blog. Here, you can download and install the free WordPress software on your web server. But in the case of Wordpress.com, you don’t need to worry about WordPress hosting. You also don’t have to download or upload any software, manage a web server or pay for web hosting. So choose whatever you think is more convenient.