Most Common WordPress Typos and How to Avoid Them

WordPress is a powerful tool that is extraordinarily flexible and, like any tool, offers several options (Know Common WordPress Mistakes). However, these can also lead to mistakes. If you are a WordPress beginner trying to create a website on this popular CMS platform for the first time, some difficulties are almost inevitable. Nevertheless, if you manage to avoid some of the most common WordPress mistakes, you can save yourself a lot more time and money than you expected, and set up a decent online presence much faster.  

Since all of these mistakes will affect your website, and some can even be devastating. Only you can make your WordPress website as strong or weak as you want it to be. That’s why it’s so important to know what these mistakes are so you can avoid them. 

To help you achieve these goals, this article provides a list of the most common WordPress mistakes and suggestions on how to avoid them.

1) Overlooked Website Backups – 

The security post carefully outlined the measures needed to strengthen the security of your WordPress website. The main feature was – backing up your WordPress website.

Maybe you forget to back up your website. Maybe it’s tedious, and you have nothing for everyday tasks. Or maybe you do not have the time. Well, your WordPress does not need to be backed up manually. You can automatically backup your website regularly using WordPress backup plugins or commercial services. (Common WordPress Mistakes)

Top Service Backup

• WPEngine – the highest level of WordPress Managed Provider hosting. They offer built-in backup functionality.
• VaultPress – Backup, and security for WordPress. They offer easy restoration of automatic backups.
• Contact your web hosting provider. Some web hosts have regular backups.

WordPress Backup Plugins

• Backup to Dropbox
• BackUpWordPress
• BackWPUp
• Backup Buddy

2) WordPress updates are unacceptable –

Many WordPress users run their websites with outdated WordPress versions. Even worse, most of these users believe that updating their websites to the latest version of WordPress will not work. So they stick with old plugins and themes simply because the developers did not make the upgrade difficult enough. 

Therefore, WordPress keeps getting new and exciting security features and becomes more difficult. New versions of WordPress add new security and performance improvements, and occasionally new features. It is very important to upgrade your WordPress website as this not only prevents hacking and other intrusions but also ensures that your website works quickly and is compatible with the latest themes and plugins of WordPress. (Common WordPress Mistakes)

3) Optimising the SEO of your website –

It’s safe to say that your website is practically non-existent if you do not optimize it for the search engines. If your website cannot be found by the search engines, it cannot be found by your future customers. Therefore, it is necessary to implement certain SEO basics on your WordPress website if you want to succeed with your online business.

Many proven SEO techniques as well as various free SEO tools suitable for both novices and professionals can be used to improve the search engine ranking of your website.

Free SEO Tools –

1. Google Keyword Planner

1. Google Analytics

1. Google Search Console

1. Google Data Studio

1. Google PageSpeed Insights

1. Keywords Everywhere

1. WMS-Everywhere

1. Moz Free Tools

1. Open Admin Tools

1. SimilarWeb

1.  SEO Minion

1. NitroPack

1. GTmetrix

1. Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator

1. SERProbot

1. Answer the Public

1. Ubersuggest

1. WooRank

1. Headline Analyzer from IsItWP

1. Ardor Metadata Length Checker

4) Too many plugins installed  –

The ease of adding features by simply installing one or more plugins is one of the things that makes WordPress so powerful. Plugins can add a lot of brilliant features to your website, so you do not need to overdo it and install too many. There are a few bad apples in every barrel, and this rule applies to certain plugins as well. One bad plugin can affect your entire website, slowing it down and, in the worst case, compromising your security.

The other problem is that these plugins have a wide range of development qualities. For themes, there are so many plugins which are poorly coded and causes decrease in  loading speeds and HTML errors on your site. These plugins often load several scripts, CSS files, images, and fonts, further reducing speed and creating an inadequate user experience.

You need to seek quality over quantity. Make sure the plugins you choose are from the official WordPress.org plugin repository or other reputable online sources. Always check user reviews and see how other WordPress admirers have to conclude about a plugin before finally using the plugin. (Common WordPress Mistakes)

5) Use of poorly- coded themes –

The first and most important thing you should consider is because it forms the foundation of your SEO work, and most themes naturally succeed here. Whether your theme is custom-built, purchased from the theme provider, or downloaded for free from the WordPress repository, there are some critical details to evaluate so it does not hurt you.

• Validation of HTML

Invalid HTML code can cause rendering issues that affect both search engines and users. You can lose visitors because your website does not display or function properly. And because search engines can not display your site properly or understand the content, you can rank poorly.

There is a simple, free HTML validation tool via Markup Validation Service from the W3C, and also caveat – to have valid HTML. It’s also important to know that you can not fix certain errors because they stem from something you can not edit, such as core functionality in some themes or plugins. In such cases, it may make more sense to start from scratch and rebuild the page from scratch for serious errors that cause rendering issues.

• Applications for HTTP

Many themes load a ridiculous number of scripts, images, fonts, and other file types that slow down the loading of your pages. Worst of all, many themes load these files unnecessarily. Instead of loading files only on the pages you use, many themes simply load them on every page, resulting in significantly slower loading speeds. 

For both users and search engine optimization, page speed is critical. There is no number to aim for, but fewer performance measures are always better, especially if your site is loading slowly.

• Excessive DOM size

This may sound incredibly technical, but it’s actually quite simple. It simply means that we need to make HTML for our WordPress website as efficient as possible. Efficient HTML can play a huge role in a website’s performance, even though it may seem insignificant because every element affects memory usage, style calculations, and layout reflow. 

Many themes use many HTML elements, often nestled deep in different layers, which quickly destroy performance. We see this with page constructors, but also with the theme because most developers focus on visual appearance with little regard for code efficiency.

6) Using Page Builders (Common WordPress Mistakes) –

Believe it or not, using page builders is a big mistake. Some people might be in favor of it. It makes adding and editing content easier for users. The problem, however, is that you also create a lot of bloated code, add unnecessary HTTP calls, and often make HTML mistakes that you can not fix. No page builder has ever produced smooth, efficient code.

7) No Google Analytics installation –

You need to better understand your website visitors to make the most of your business and ensure more sales and conversions. This includes who they are, where they come from, their preferences, how they trade, their online habits, etc. 

By working with Google Analytics, you can gain all the insights you need to know your demographics and ultimately grow and develop your business in the right way. You should use one of our tools like MonsterIndices or Analytify to add these revolutionary analytics to your WordPress website.

8) Too many categories, not enough tags –

WordPress allows you to easily create tags and categories. This can help you improve accessibility by grouping related posts. Often people get carried away with creating categories for each new post. Unfortunately, many people do not categorize their posts to the extent that they do. They end up creating hundreds and few tags (whenever). This is not good for search engine optimization or website creator. Moreover, you can swap categories and tags. Even tags like categories can be used in navigation menus.

9)  Using Default Usernames –

The first username of WordPress installation is usually “admin” with default username, which should be changed because it first tries username hackers. You probably have a weak password and hackers can not expect to break your site. 

It’s easy – change it during the installation process when you set up a brand new website. However, you can log into your hosting’s PhpMyAdmin account and edit the WordPress database directly if you have an existing site. You should also change the display name of your user profile so you do not send every post out into the world with your username. 

• Lock down your administration area-

There are several ways to restrict your administration area to a specific IP so that most hacking attempts are avoided.

Server for Linux (most web servers) –

This is a simple process of creating an .htaccess file with the appropriate content and uploading it to your wp-admin folder. Simply launch a text editor, create a new file and paste the code below it. Please make sure to replace xx.xx.xx.xx with your IP address, which you can find at Google Search under “what is my ip.” can be found.

            # ALLOW USER BY IP

            <Limit GET POST>

            order deny,allow

            deny from all

            # Replace with your IP address

             allow from xx.xx.xx.xx

• Windows Server – 

If you are using a Windows server, you should find the appropriate procedure for your version of Windows in the Microsoft support documents.

• Plugins – 

This option is probably the last to be considered, as it is the least effective method of restricting access to a particular IP. The problem is also that you will not be able to update the plugin to your new IP if your IP changes. At that point, you will only be able to FTP in and delete the plugin to access your admin area. If you want to get around all this, you should use .htaccess in the first place.