Launching a WordPress site is an exciting endeavor, but it comes with its own set of challenges, especially for new users. Among the myriad of tasks involved, making the right choices in hosting, security, optimization, and maintenance can significantly impact the success of your website. However, it’s common for beginners to overlook crucial aspects, leading to potential security risks, performance issues, and missed opportunities for growth.

In this guide, we’ll explore some of the most common mistakes new WordPress users make and provide actionable tips to avoid them. From selecting the appropriate hosting plan to optimizing images and leveraging content delivery networks (CDNs), we’ll cover essential practices that will help you build a secure, high-performing WordPress site.

Launching a WordPress Site: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

1. Choosing the Wrong Hosting Plan

Choosing the right hosting plan is one of the most important decisions when launching a new WordPress site. Many new users make the mistake of going with the cheapest shared hosting plan, not realizing the limitations this can cause.

Shared hosting plans place your site on a server with hundreds or even thousands of other sites. This leads to slow page speeds and potential downtime when there is a spike in traffic across sites. For a new WordPress site, it’s better to start with a plan that gives your site dedicated resources.

Some hosting recommendations for new WordPress users:

• Go with managed WordPress hosting like WP Engine or Kinsta. These plans are optimized specifically for WordPress.
• Choose a VPS (virtual private server) plan to get guaranteed RAM and CPU. DigitalOcean and Linode are good options.
• Look for at least 2 GB of RAM to allow for caching plugins and growth.
• Make sure your plan has auto-scaling capabilities, so resources can increase as needed.
• Pick a data center location close to your audience for faster speeds.

The extra cost of a robust hosting plan is well worth it for the performance and reliability it provides. With the right hosting, your WordPress site will be able to handle traffic fluctuations and rank better in search engines.

2. Not Installing Updates

One of the biggest mistakes new WordPress users make is neglecting to install updates for plugins, themes, and WordPress core. This poses major security risks, as outdated software is vulnerable to exploits from hackers. Failing to update leaves the door wide open for malware infections, site hijackings, and data theft.

It’s critical to enable automatic background updates in WordPress to ensure your site stays secure. By default, WordPress won’t automatically update itself or plugins/themes. You have to manually enable this feature.

Here’s how to turn on auto-updates:

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Settings > General.
3. Under “Automatic Updates”, check the boxes for “WordPress Core”, “Plugins”, and “Themes” to enable auto-updates for each.

With this enabled, WordPress will automatically download and install updates in the background without any effort on your part. This keeps your site running on the most recent, secure software versions.

The benefits of auto-updates include:

• Improved security – Outdated software is risky, auto-updates prevent this.
• Convenience – Updates install without you having to do anything.
• Time savings – No need to manually apply updates yourself.
• Reliability – Auto-updates ensure your site is always up-to-date.

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring updates. Enable auto-updates right away to lock down the security of your WordPress site.

3. Using a Weak Password

Choosing a weak, easy-to-guess password is one of the biggest mistakes new WordPress users make. It leaves your site extremely vulnerable to being hacked.

Here’s why you need a strong password and how to create one:

Risks of Easy-to-Guess Passwords

The most common passwords are easy for hackers to guess through brute force attacks. These include passwords like “password123”, “admin”, and “letmein”. Using common words, names, dates or sequences leaves you at risk.

With an easy password, hackers can break in and take over your site. They may delete content, install malware, or use your site for spam. A weak password puts your whole site at risk.

Best Practices for Strong Passwords

The best passwords use a random mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Avoid dictionary words and personal info.

Some tips:

• Use at least 12 characters, the longer the better
• Include numbers, symbols, and capital letters
• Avoid personal info like names or dates
• Don’t use dictionary words
• Avoid sequences like “12345”

You can use a password generator to create a random, secure password.

Using a Password Manager

A password manager allows you to use extremely strong unique passwords without having to remember them. The manager stores and encrypts your passwords securely.

Popular options like LastPass and 1Password make it easy to create, store, and log in with strong passwords. This gives you high security without the hassle of remembering passwords.

With a strong password and a password manager, you can avoid one of the most common WordPress security risks. Taking a few minutes to improve your password hygiene is one of the best things any new WordPress user can do.

4. Not Backing Up Your Site

One of the biggest mistakes new WordPress users make is not backing up their site. Without proper backups, you risk losing all your hard work if something goes wrong.

The risk of losing content is very real. Your site could get hacked, your web host could suffer an outage, or a plugin update could cause things to break. Without backups, recovering from these types of scenarios ranges from difficult to impossible.

To avoid this headache, it’s essential to implement a comprehensive WordPress backup solution. Here are some recommended options:

• Backup plugins – Plugins like UpdraftPlus and BackWPup make it easy to schedule and store backups. They can save copies of your WordPress files and database to the cloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or your own server.
• Web host backups – Many managed WordPress hosts like Kinsta and WPEngine have built-in backups as part of their plans. This takes the work out of manually configuring backups.
• Manual backups – You can manually back up WordPress by copying all files via FTP and exporting the database. This takes more effort but can supplement automated backups.

Experts recommend backing up your WordPress site at least once per week. Daily or twice weekly backups are ideal for sites that are updated frequently.

Taking the time to set up reliable backups will save you from many headaches down the road. Don’t put this critical task off!

5. Not Customizing Permalinks

One of the most common mistakes new WordPress users make is leaving their permalinks as the default setting. The default permalink structure in WordPress is numeric, like example.com/?p=123. While this works, it has some major downsides:

SEO Benefits of Descriptive Permalinks

Using descriptive permalinks, like example.com/sample-post/ can significantly improve your SEO. Descriptive permalinks are more human-readable and provide keywords right in the URL. This helps search engines understand what the page is about. Additionally, unique URLs are better for SEO than dynamic URLs.

How to Enable Custom Permalinks

Enabling custom permalinks is easy in the WordPress settings. Go to Settings > Permalinks and select one of the common structures:

– Post name – example.com/sample-post/

– Day and name – example.com/2021/06/01/sample-post/

– Month and name – example.com/2021/06/sample-post/

– Numeric – example.com/?p=123

The post name or day and name structures are recommended for SEO. Just make sure to click “Save Changes” after selecting your preferred structure.

Common Permalink Structures

The post name structure creates URLs using the post title slug, which is great for SEO. The day and name or month and name structures add dates to the URL, providing more context. Either of these options are better for SEO than numeric.

Customizing your permalinks is a quick, easy way to improve SEO and create cleaner URLs for your WordPress site. Don’t make the mistake of leaving them as the default!

6. Using a Generic Theme

One mistake new WordPress users often make is using a generic free theme without customizing it. While free themes seem appealing, they come with some significant drawbacks:

Limited design options – Generic free themes tend to look very basic and template-like. They offer little ability to tailor the design to your brand.

Overused layouts – Many free themes have been used on millions of sites, so your site will end up looking like countless others. This makes it harder to stand out.

Poor performance – Generic free themes often have bloated code and lack speed optimizations. This can slow down your site’s loading time.

Minimal support – Don’t expect much help from the theme developers if issues arise. Support for free themes is very limited.

Security vulnerabilities – Free themes with lots of users are common targets for hackers. Vulnerabilities may go unpatched for long periods.

Instead of a generic free theme, consider investing in a premium theme tailored specifically for your industry or site type. The benefits include:

Custom design – Premium themes offer extensive customization options to match your brand identity. You can tweak colors, fonts, layouts and more.

Quality code – Paid themes from reputable developers tend to adhere to best coding practices for speed and security.

Ongoing support – Most premium theme sellers provide active customer support and continued theme updates.

Latest features – Paid themes give you access to all the newest WordPress functionality and site-building tools.

When evaluating premium themes, look for modern designs, positive customer reviews, detailed documentation, and developers who provide regular updates and support. The higher initial cost will pay off in the long run with a site that stands out and functions flawlessly.

7. Not Installing Essential Plugins

One of the biggest mistakes new WordPress users make is not installing essential plugins. The core WordPress platform is quite powerful, but plugins allow you to extend its functionality for security, SEO, forms, caching, and more. Here are some tips for utilizing plugins effectively as a beginner:

Must-Have Plugin Categories

These plugins should be installed on any new WordPress site:

Security – A security plugin like Wordfence or iThemes Security provides firewall protection, blocks malicious traffic, and helps prevent hacking. This is crucial for any website.

SEO – An SEO plugin like Yoast SEO allows you to optimize pages and posts for search engines. It also provides readability analysis. This is key for traffic.

Caching – A caching plugin like WP Rocket stores static page data in memory for faster load times. Dramatically improves site performance.

Forms – Installing a form builder like Contact Form 7 or Gravity Forms allows you to easily create contact forms, surveys, online orders, and more.

Backups – A backup plugin like UpdraftPlus provides easy automated backups to cloud storage on a schedule. Critical for protecting your content.

Finding Reputable Plugins

Stick to plugins that are well-established and well-maintained. Sort by popularity and search for recognizable names. Read the descriptions, reviews, and support forums to evaluate quality. Avoid plugins with lots of negative feedback.

The WordPress repository has the best variety of free plugins. Premium plugins from trusted developers can also be worthwhile for added features and support.

Configuring Plugins

Read the documentation before installing plugins. Follow the installation instructions. Many plugins will require settings configurations and placing shortcodes or widgets. Make sure to enable features that are relevant for your site.

Keep plugins up to date for security and compatibility. Don’t install too many plugins at once; add them gradually so any issues are easy to troubleshoot.

8. Not Optimizing Images

Images can significantly slow down your site’s page load times if they are not properly optimized. When it comes to WordPress performance, image optimization should be a top priority.

One of the easiest ways to optimize images is to compress them. Compression reduces the file size of images without sacrificing visual quality. This makes them faster to load on your site. Plugins like Smush can losslessly compress your images with one click. It also optimizes images as you upload them to your media library.

In addition to compression, you’ll want to pay attention to image sizing. Images that are much larger than needed can bloat page size. For responsive design, you’ll need multiple image sizes to serve smaller or larger images depending on screen size. Using the correct image sizes for your theme’s design ensures fast page loading.

The key is finding a balance between image quality and file size. With the right optimization settings, you can serve crisp, beautiful images that don’t slow down your site. Your visitors will appreciate the fast load times.

9. Not Using a CDN

A content delivery network (CDN) is a geographically distributed network of servers that speeds up the delivery of website content. CDNs store cached versions of your website files in locations closest to your visitors. This allows the content to be delivered faster by reducing the physical distance it has to travel.

Some benefits of using a CDN include:

• Faster page load times – Content is served from a server closest to the user.
• Reduced bandwidth usage – Static files are served from the CDN rather than your main server.
• Improved website performance – Less strain on your main server.
• Enhanced security – CDNs provide DDoS protection and SSL encryption.

Popular CDN services to consider include:

• Cloudflare
• Amazon CloudFront
• Fastly
• Akamai

Setting up a CDN is relatively easy. Most CDN providers offer simple signup processes and walkthroughs to get your site connected. Generally, you will point your DNS records to the CDN provider’s servers. Then you can configure settings like caching rules and security options.

Using a CDN is a great way to make your WordPress site faster for visitors around the world. It takes some of the traffic burden off your main server. With just a few tweaks to your DNS, you can start serving cached static files through a CDN’s global network. This optimization can significantly improve performance.

10. Not Learning WordPress Best Practices

WordPress has a bit of a learning curve, and it’s easy for new users to feel overwhelmed. However, taking the time to learn WordPress best practices will pay off tremendously in the long run.

Here are some tips for getting up to speed:

• Utilize the WordPress Codex. The Codex contains a wealth of documentation on all things WordPress, from basic usage to theme development. It should be your first stop when you have a WordPress question.
• Take a WordPress course. There are many high-quality, affordable courses available online that will teach you WordPress fundamentals and more advanced topics. Look for courses on sites like Udemy or LinkedIn Learning.
• Get your hands dirty. Don’t just read about WordPress – start using it. Set up a test site, experiment with plugins and themes, and learn by doing. The more you work with WordPress, the faster you’ll pick things up.
• Read WordPress books. Books like WordPress All-in-One For Dummies provide extensive tutorials and reference material to level up your skills.
• Join the WordPress community. Follow WordPress news sites like WPTavern, subscribe to related YouTube channels and podcasts, and consider attending a local WordCamp event. Surrounding yourself with the community will expose you to new information.
• Stay up to date on web development news. While not strictly WordPress-related, keeping up with the latest in web design, security, SEO, and more will make you a better overall web developer.

Following these tips will ensure you adopt WordPress best practices much faster. Don’t be afraid to invest some time upfront mastering WordPress – it will pay dividends down the road as you build better, more successful sites.

Launching and maintaining a WordPress site requires attention to detail and a commitment to best practices. By avoiding common mistakes such as choosing the wrong hosting plan, neglecting updates, using weak passwords, and overlooking essential plugins, you can build a website that not only performs well but also remains secure against potential threats.

Furthermore, by embracing practices like optimizing images, leveraging CDNs, and continually learning WordPress best practices, you can ensure that your website stays ahead of the curve and delivers an exceptional user experience.

Remember, investing time and effort into understanding and implementing these practices early on will pay off in the long run, allowing you to create and manage WordPress sites that stand out in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

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