WordPress is a popular and widely used CMS platform that hosts more than 33.6% of websites and controls over 60.5% of the entire CMS market globally. Being this popular, it is natural that you might be running your online store or blog on the WordPress platform. However, despite being user-friendly, creating a WordPress website for beginners and experts, at times, may prove challenging. This is why businesses highly benefit from working with WordPress web design experts.
Nonetheless, the current WordPress platform has several web design tools that make setting up a functional website easy. However, before you start creating your website, take note of the following common WordPress web design mistakes.
Choosing the Wrong Platform
The first hurdle that web designers come across when planning to use WordPress is choosing between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Typically, both are WordPress platforms and can be used in website creation. However, knowing which platform suits your specific design needs is quite daunting, and most people end up choosing the wrong platform for their websites.
Even though both platforms can be used, the choice of a .com or .org platform boils down to your specific requirements. WordPress.org is preferred by users who want to enjoy basic and advanced WordPress features. As such, if you want to build an eCommerce store, a WordPress.org platform is a good option. On the other hand, a blogging website will excel on a WordPress.com platform.
Overpaying
For your WordPress website to become functional, you should choose a domain name and hosting provider. Website domain and hosting are crucial for any website to get off the ground. While choosing your hosting provider or domain name may not be challenging, the mistake here is paying excessively for these services. Most beginners fall prey to domain registrars who upsell other unnecessary services.
Most beginner web designers are not versed with key services, and end up paying for unnecessary services, thinking it will improve their website performance. For instance, domain registrars may offer services, such as enhanced privacy, security services, privacy protection, and extra email accounts. While this may seem essential, you don’t need such provisions during the initial stages.
Selecting Unclear Fonts
Using unclear fonts is another commonly overlooked web design mistake. Your web design may be appealing and very attractive, but it’s typography may be the reason behind its downfall. Using fonts such as hand-drawn scripts, cursive, and symbols may be confusing, especially to users who don’t interact with such letter fonts daily.
As such, regardless of how attractive your site may look with this typography, prospects will easily abandon your site because of how difficult it is to find the desired information. When selecting your website typography, ensure that your customers and online visitors can easily read them. Apart from fonts, other web design principles to consider in your website typography include:
- Use appropriate space – You should check on the spacing between characters as it determines the readability of website content.
- Avoid mixing many fonts – Whether it’s a blog page or an article, don’t use too many fonts on your content. This can easily confuse website visitors.
- Don’t use conflicting fonts – If your content requires more than one font, make sure that they don’t conflict. Conflicting fonts easily divert the readers’ attention.
Not Backing Up Your Website
Unfortunately, most WordPress website owners lose their sites and important data to malicious individuals. Thinking that your website won’t be vulnerable to cyber threats is a huge mistake, especially in the current unpredictable world. Websites and eCommerce stores are very vulnerable and prone to attacks from cybercriminals. Hacking attempts and data breaches are increasingly becoming common.
You should have an up-to-date backup of your website, regardless of how small your website or eCommerce store is. Having a backup is like having a defense system that comes in handy in case of cyber threats and other unforeseen accidents.
However, updating your WordPress website manually is challenging and very tedious. Fortunately, you can take advantage of various WordPress plugins or consider hiring web designers who offer website maintenance packages.
Testing a New Product on Live Website
Another common mistake made by beginner and expert web designers is testing new website products and features on live sites. For instance, installing a new backup plugin or adding a feature to your website on a functional website. Even though WordPress makes it easy for website owners to make changes from the dashboard without necessarily changing the codes, this is risky if something wrong happens as you make these changes.
If this happens, you will have to take your website offline for hours or days to correct the mistake. Going offline brings forth many consequences, including missed organic traffic, direct referrals, leads, and advertisement clicks. By the time you repair the damage, you will have lost valuable traffic and revenue.
The best way to test new themes, features, plugins, and other products is by creating a staging website, which is like a copy of your original website. A staging site replicates your website elements, design, and every other aspect, allowing you to experiment with the impacts of various themes and plugins on your website.
Installing Many Plugins
WordPress plugins are essential as they make your website responsive and enhance its functioning. However, installing many plugins to your site can impair its functioning and speed. While WordPress packs thousands of free plugins that can easily be integrated into your WordPress website, not all plugins available are optimized and beneficial to your site.
Some plugins can affect your website’s speed, performance, and security. Avoid downloading random plugins without understanding how it benefits your WordPress site. Some plugins have hidden malware that can compromise your site. Always ensure that you download reputable plugins from well-known companies. In addition, prioritize plugins developed by WordPress, such as Yoast SEO, WooCommerce, and WP-Cache.
Endnote
Even though WordPress is a powerful platform, making these mistakes as a beginner is very easy. Unfortunately, these mistakes can significantly hurt your website performance, but you can avoid all these by working with web design experts. Get in touch with WordPress web design Sydney experts for a flawless web design.
