As a new WordPress website owner, committing a few mistakes is common. Most of these mistakes can land you in trouble or hurt your website, so it makes sense to know the possible WordPress mistakes to avoid them.
Are you ready to get started? Here are five common WordPress mistakes to avoid.
Installing Many Plugins
It’s easy to get carried away when browsing the WordPress Plugin Directory and decide to install every plugin you see. There are many great plugins out there that will make your site more useful, but there are also some that could cause performance problems and slow down your site.
So before you start installing plugins randomly, make sure to review the stats and information displayed under each plugin. Also, ask yourself whether you actually need the plugin or not. You should check when the plugin was last updated and if it is compatible with the most recent version of WordPress.
Do not forget to read the documentation, if any. A plugin is probably worth installing if the developer updates it timely and it has millions of downloads.
Ignoring Updates
Let’s be honest – it can be challenging to keep track of all the updates on your website concerning the plugins and the theme. Even if everything works perfectly, it can be difficult to determine which plugins need to be updated.
However, these updates are crucial for security reasons, and you must not ignore this aspect. A WordPress site is often compromised because the owner did not update the WordPress version to the latest one or failed to update a plugin.
Ask any developer about the importance of updates, and they will tell you exactly what we have mentioned above – do not ignore them!
Incorrect Customization
Let’s say you have found a perfect WordPress theme. But that’s not the end of the job. Even if you don’t have many changes in mind for the theme, you would probably want to modify its code first.
Although this method may work temporarily, there is a problem. Once an update for the theme is released, your customizations will be overwritten. As we have discussed above, you must not ignore an update.
You can avoid this by creating a child theme. Child themes use parent themes as a starting point and enhance the website’s functionality with proper customizations. In simpler words, the correct approach is to update your parent them through the child theme to ensure that the customization isn’t affected.
Not Changing the Default Settings
It’s easy to develop a WordPress site and start creating pages, posts and do other website customization. But wait, do not undermine the importance of changing the default WordPress settings for security purposes.
WordPress is one of the widely used platforms for website development. So, chances are the hackers know the default settings (most importantly, accessing your website’s login page) and use that information to access your website.
So, the first order of business should be changing the default settings like allowing the search engines to index your web pages, date and time settings, and permalink settings.
Live Updates
Understand this – it’s okay to update your live website. However, one small change in code could possibly shut down your entire website (Ouch!).
So, it’s better to update your site on a local server or using a development copy. Moreover, a staging site allows you to make changes, test code, and do whatever you like without having to worry about the live site. Also, it’s a good idea to have a backup of your site if you need to make any changes to it later.
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