Over a third of all websites are powered by WordPress.

WordPress is a popular, powerful, and user-friendly platform to set up your website.  

But, of course, we all make mistakes. That’s why we’ve put together some of the most common WordPress mistakes to avoid, to help get your website up and running.

1. It's Much More Difficult Than You Thought

While setting up your Wordpress website, you thought it would be super easy and fast and came to realize it can be quite the task to create a website. Although Wordpress is a fantastic platform to use for creating a website, it isn't magic and doesn't remove the work that can be involved in creating a website.

Our advice is to be patient, and start with the basics. 

Get yourself and domain name, you will need it.  Your domain name is the website address that people will type into their web browser or URL bar to find your website. Here is the URL of the our blog you are reading. This is a great place to research a great domain name: https://envisionitsolutions.com/domains  

Find a website host for your Wordpress website. Your web host is where you website will live and where the files and database will be "hosted". There are literally hundreds of hosts to choose from, we recommend Dreamhost or Godaddy or Digital Ocean. Digital Ocean is a little more advanced (if you are more experienced) the others are a great place to start for beginners. 

2. You Didn’t Choose the Right WordPress Theme

When you choose a WordPress Theme, you choose the design for your website. This is an extremely important decision.

Choose a theme that represents you, your business, or your brand – but that isn’t too overwhelming or unclear. Also, make sure you choose a theme that has good reviews and is from a reputable developer. The last thing you want to happen is for the developer of the Wordpress theme disappear a year after you purchased the theme. You will then need to purchase a new, supported theme. 

You also want it to work on desktop as well as mobile and tablet, be easy to use and work with, and be compatible with popular WordPress plugins. Most themes will fit into this criteria. 

Try to choose a theme at the beginning of the design process, and stick with it. That way, your audience will become familiar with your design and brand, making it more recognizable and portraying your company as reliable.

3. You Didn’t Set up Automatic Back-Ups

Every website could have fatal issues, have information stolen, or be the victim of hacking.

That’s why it’s important to back up data, to keep your website – and the information on it – safe and secure. You can easily set up automatic back-ups on WordPress. 

Remember to store your back-ups on a remote location. That way, if something happens to your WordPress website, your back-ups will be protected in another location.

4. You Didn’t Install A Security Plugin

Although Wordpress is a fantastic platform, due to its popularity, it can be prone to hacking. This can be remedied by installing a solid security plugin. We recommend Wordfence. 

5. You Didn’t Set up a Contact Form

A contact page is one of the most important parts of your website. That’s why almost all popular and successful websites have one.

A contact page means that people who visit your website will be able to get in touch with you, which could lead to exciting opportunities.

6. You Ignored WordPress Updates

WordPress updates are clearly displayed on your dashboard, making it quick and easy for you to update whatever is needed.

It’s important that you don’t ignore these. If your WordPress is not up-to-date, themes and plugins may not work correctly and could impact the performance of your website.

Try to stay on top of your updates!

7. You Ignored SEO

Whenever you’re working on your website, you need to think about SEO.

SEO means that your website will be more visible on web search engines, increasing the number of people who visit.

There are some SEO tools already built into WordPress, and many plugins that you can add.

Avoid Common WordPress Mistakes

Setting up your own website can be exciting, fun, and hugely rewarding.

To make the process as enjoyable as possible, avoid these common WordPress mistakes and you’ll be able to quickly and easily build a successful website.

Once you’ve set up your WordPress website, find out more about how you can make it more successful.