4 Important Things Every WordPress User Should Know About
There are thousands of WordPress sites and blogs but only a few sites/blogs are able to perform. Why? I found four reasons for some WP sites working well while others are lagging behind.
1. Selecting Plugins
WordPress plugin directory has over 50,000 plugins and all are necessary but you should install the plugins with care. First of all, installing all the 50K plugins to a site isn’t recommended as it could adversely affect the site. The best practice is to use the plugins that are important and also to keep their number to a few.
Problems with plugins
Adding too many plugins could be a problem for your site. For instance take site speed. Plugins could reduce speed of your site and also become a reason for shutdown of your site. Another problem with many plugins is compatibility. When you have too many plugins on your site, there could be issues with compatibility between the plugins.
How to choose plugins?
It’s all about quality and not quantity. A few useful plugins are much better than making your site a dumping ground of plugins. Look at the following factors before downloading a plugin.
Know the source of plugin and download it only when you have info about its author
When was the plugin updated last time? It is necessary for a plugin to get regular updates. But if it isn’t been updated since long time then its better, you leave the plugin
How many times the plugin is used? If you find that not many people are using the plugin then you should also not use the plugin
What is the star rating of that plugin? More stars means more reliability
2. Use a premium theme
Look and feel of your site depends on its theme. WordPress offers thousands of free themes but free things have their limitations. There could be limitations with security features and functionality of the site. But when you go for premium themes, you escape these hassles. Free themes look tempting but premium themes are much better.
3. Choose the best hosting service for WordPress site
Hosting could make a big difference to your site; its reliability and functionality. If you are really serious about making your site different from others then be careful with your web host. Look at the following factors before making an opinion on a hosting service provider.
Server type: There are many types of servers including shared, managed, cloud, dictated and virtual private servers. While most servers are beneficial for small and medium size sites, bigger sites need different servers.
Disk space: It is where your website data will be stored. Before you make an opinion on a web host, make sure that you are provided enough disk space or the space should be adjustable according to needs.
Bandwidth: How much traffic your site can handle depends on its bandwidth. You should be careful with bandwidth provided by the host.
SSL + Security: Security of your data and data of your visitors should be price concern. The web host should keep you free from the hassles of security.
Free hosting could save money but it will full your site to the brim with advertisements. You should avoid choosing free hosting, if you are doing serious business.
4. Dare to explore
WordPress is a free CMS platform or building block for websites and blogs. It is full of features but you should be able to explore and master those features. Do whatever you can but always backup your site to prevent data loss.
Conclusion
WordPress is an ideal CMS to work with as you can improve look, theme, functionality and security of site with the help of many plugins and other features that can help in digital marketing in the long run. One thing you should remember is to keep getting knowledge and staying updated about WordPress.
