We’ve been using WordPress since it was just used exclusively for blogs, but now it’s used to create every kind of website imaginable. And over those seven or so years, we’ve developed a list of best practices—steps we take every time we set up a new WordPress site. For many people, WordPress is the first website application they’ve ever used, and certainly there are a lot of opportunities to make a mistake. Read on to learn about some easy things you can do to prevent headaches down the road.
Mistake #1: Not Using Permalinks
With a fresh installation of WordPress, the default link structure looks something like this: http://youramazingsite.com/?p=22. But it’s so easy to change those URLs so that they make sense to human users, like http://youeamazingsite.com/about-us or http://youramazingsite.com/contact. Even more importantly, these permalinks are relevant to Google and are therefore good for SEO purposes. Just go to Settings > Permalinks in the back end of your WordPress website. Instead of “Plain,” switch the permalink structure to one that’s more useful; we like “Post Name.”
Mistake #2: Leaving the Admin Junk on Your Front Page
On some WordPress websites, you’ll see a section in a sidebar or in the footer that houses links to log in or links to WordPress. Why anyone would want that on their site, who knows? To us, it’s an immediate signal that the WordPress user doesn’t know what he’s doing. Do yourself a favor, go into the back end, go to Appearance > Widgets. Then drag the META widget to the Inactive Widgets section.
Mistake #3: Uncategorized Posts
Often, we’ll be looking at a blog and see this unappetizing category applied to a post: “Uncategorized.” Why?! It takes just a few minutes to set up categories for your posts, and assigning categories to your posts is a great thing for SEO. The purpose of categories and tags is to sort your content to improve its usability for visitors to your site. By clicking a category or tag, they can easily browse your content by topic.
Categories are meant to be broad classifications for your posts—the main topic. Tags can be assigned to cover any topic you touch upon in your post. So while this post’s category might be “WordPress,” the tags might be “mistakes” or “usability” or even “permalinks.” It’s so easy to do that there’s really no excuse.
Mistake #4: Way Too Much Formatting
Too many fonts, too many colors, just TOO much. We’re all used to writing with tools like Microsoft Word, where it’s easy to go overboard with formatting choices. Dialling back the formatting lets your content shine. Your WordPress theme lets you choose fonts, colors, and sizes for your post content, headlines, etc. Make a decision about that formatting and trust it. Being inconsistent in your formatting of posts makes singles you out as an amateur—and it makes it a nightmare to migrate your posts to a new theme or platform down the line.
Mistake #5: Not Deleting Blank Pages
Or filling them in with content. A lot of times, users will install a theme, which then creates a bunch of pages. If you don’t fill them in with content or delete them, they WILL get indexed by Google (as long as you haven’t checked the option for “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”… which we will talk about next). That can be embarrassing. Who needs an “About Us” page filled with lorem ipsum text? If you don’t need the page, click the “Trash” link in the back end. You can actually retrieve that page from the trash later if you do decide you need it, so long as you haven’t permanently deleted it from the trash itself.
Mistake #6: Forgetting to Turn off Deindexing!
When you’re building your site, you might choose to go to Settings > Reading, and choosing to check “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.” It’s a great way to keep people from seeing your website while it’s still under construction. But don’t forget to turn that option off after you launch! Otherwise, your Google Analytics stats will be looking pretty sad.
We have to admit this post was strangely cathartic to write! Should we do some more like this? Let us know in the comments or contact us.
