Designing a successful, interesting, and attractive WordPress site is not an easy task to do as assumed by many web developers. Actually, a wide range of new technologies for the Internet is being developed and tested these days. So, due to the advancements in the Internet, web designing also witnesses a lot of changes every now and then.
As a result, web designers often find it difficult to cope up with the changing trends and come up with websites that could meet the expectations of their clients. They commit several mistakes while creating new WordPress sites.
So, do you want to get rid of your mistakes and design high-quality websites? If yes, then you should be aware of some WordPress tricks described below:
1. Use Free WordPress themes carefully
There are thousands of free WordPress themes available on the official WordPress repository and at other places. Most web designers use free WordPress themes to create websites because they don’t have to spend money on buying premium WordPress themes. There are some other advantages of using free themes such as easy installation, availability of themes in different designs, easy customization, etc.
However, free WordPress themes have some downsides as well. If not all, but in most cases, they have limited features, lack the required support from the theme developers, code complexity, availability of bugs & malicious programs, and vague documentation. If you use free themes on your WordPress site, it is possible that your site may be highly vulnerable to different online security challenges. Hackers and cybercriminals can hack your site easily and bring it down if you are careless about the security of your site.
Therefore, if you want to create professional WordPress websites, you should either choose free WordPress themes only after evaluating them from all parameters or go for premium themes. By using premium WordPress themes, you can easily create stunning and appealing WordPress sites and make them match the brand/business/company/firm they represent.
2. Restrict The Use Of WordPress Plugins
Both premium and free plugins are the main reasons why WordPress is a popular CMS among millions of tech-savvy people. The good thing about WordPress plugins is that they allow technical and Non-technical individuals to add different useful features to their WordPress sites and automate several important tasks carried out by WordPress bloggers.
However, when you use too many plugins on your WordPress site, they make your site slow. This may start to erode your site’s search engine rankings and business as well. If you use free plugins, your website may be prone to various security challenges. Sometimes, plugins conflict with other plugins/themes, which may cause significant damage to your site.
That is why you must install only the necessary plugins on your site. If you have a decent knowledge of different programming languages, you should write clean codes and add different features to your site. Alternatively, you can also use WordPress shortcodes for this purpose.
3. Use Widgets With Ultimate Care
Web developers use widgets (self-contained bits of website code) to add a number of features and functionalities to WordPress sidebars to avoid coding. It may be a boon for non-programmers (who own and operate WordPress sites), but they can make your website look complicated and cluttered. Visitors don’t like to browse websites that contain lots of distractions.
So, you must use widgets only when they are necessary to promote your site’s readability and usability. Strictly avoid the use of needless widgets.
4. Be creative! Don’t steal Images
High-quality and appealing images complement your site’s text content and attract visitors. The majority of web designers use the custom images available on the World Wide Web to create new websites.
As a matter of fact, it’s an unfair practice. You should click your images yourself, edit them as per your needs, and use them on your site. This will help you to make your website stand out from others and create a solid presence on the web.
5. Capitalize Child Themes
A child theme inherits its functionality from the parent theme and has all the programming & style. You can use it to customize/tweak your existing theme without losing its programming or ability to upgrade the theme in the future. It gives you some respite when you have to create a number of WordPress sites for your clients.
6. Remove Inaccurate Content From Your Site
Visitors who land on your site, look for fresh, useful and informative content. If your website has inaccurate content, expired offers, or campaigns, it will frustrate users and they will leave your site immediately. Such dissatisfied users never come back to your outdated site and look for a similar option on the web.
So, you should remove outdated content from your website regularly and design your site in such a way that users easily find interesting and valuable content. Make sure that your site is not confusing or ugly. It must provide easy navigation to visitors.
7. Make use of WordPress roles
WordPress has a user role management system, using which you can what a specific user can and can’t do when he/she visits your website. This helps you to keep your site safe and allows users to use the site as per their roles.
WordPress has 5 default user roles-
- Administrator
- Editor
- Author
- Contributor
- Subscriber
In general, most of the websites allow visitors to go through pages and posts without any registration/sign-up. For any other request (such as signing up newsletters, purchasing products/services, communication, commenting, submitting Guest posts, etc,), you can ask them to register on your website.
8. Make Your Site Unique And Different
There are millions of WordPress sites and several others join the list every day. As a zealous designer, you should design your site in such a way that it should look completely different from other sites in your niche.
For this, you can have a look at your competitors’ sites to make sure that you did copy-paste a similar design. In case your site resembles your competitors, it will confuse potential customers and you will not be able to make the most use of your site. Don’t create just another WordPress site. Come up with a website that is fresh and has something new to offer to visitors.
Final Words
The basic WordPress tricks described above can help designers create appealing and professional WordPress sites easily. It also allows them to revamp their sites as per the changing design trends and meet users’ growing demands fully.
Brandon Graves
Brandon Graves is a proficient web developer, prolific blogger and something of a geek. Right now, he is working with HireWPGeeks, a leading WordPress web design and development firm globally. He loves to share his in-depth knowledge in the form of tips and tricks. Follow Brandon on twitter.