How do you get the most out of your WordPress site?
That’s a question that millions of site owners ask themselves on a regular basis. There are a number of reasons why about a third the top websites use WordPress. It’s easy to use, easy to set up, and you have a huge community of developers working to improve the platform.
Since it’s so easy to use, it’s easy to forget that there are things that you can take it to another level. Do you want to turn your WordPress site into a high-performance site? Read these WordPress tips that show you how you can leverage everything the platform has to offer.
Jump ahead to:
1. WordPress Performance Matters
Why do you need these WordPress tips to improve your site? Well, your site’s performance matters. A site that’s slow will turn off users and search engines.
Not only that, a slow website will force users away from your site. They simply will not wait for your site to load. Your site’s visitors expect to see your site load in three seconds or less.
A slow website also means less revenue and few leads. The bottom line is that the longer it takes for your site to load, the more likely someone will leave your site before it loads and go to a competitor’s site.
Since search engines like Google are in the business of providing the most useful search results to their users, they won’t be inclined to display slow loading websites ahead of faster sites.
Don’t be too alarmed, though. With these WordPress tips, you’ll be able to speed up your site in no time.
2. Use Plugins (Sparingly)
One of the amazing things about WordPress is that you don’t need to know how to code to make improvements to your site. If you have a need, there’s a plugin for that.
A plugin is simply a few lines of code that perform a specific function on your site. Some might help with SEO, while others keep your site more secure. Too many plugins, however, can bloat your site and slow it down.
The most important plugins for your site should cover SEO, security, caching, and image compression.
3. Optimize Images
Speaking of image compression, optimizing your images is something that you need to do on your site. Images are often the largest files on a website. They can be so large that they can cause your site to slow down considerably.
What you want to do instead is optimize your images. There are a couple of ways to do this. The first is to install a plugin like ShortPixel Image Optimizer, EWWW Image Optimizer, or WP Smush.
These will make the image files smaller without compromising the quality of the images.
The second thing you want to do is to add alt-tags to your images. An alt-tag is a line of text that helps people with disabilities tell what the image is about. Alt-tags are also indexed by search engines, which will help your site be found in image searches, too.
4. Keep the Users in Mind
You want to drive as much traffic to your website that’s qualified and ready to buy. Basically, you need to drive traffic to your site and have your site set up so your visitors stick around.
Your content and design are really for two audiences: search engines and users. If you focus too much on one or the other, then your site won’t get found in search results or people will leave within seconds of visiting your site.
Here’s the secret to generating traffic. If you keep the users in mind when you write your content and design your site, you’ll be set up for success.
You still need to optimize for SEO and performance, of course, but the hard work of keeping people on your site will be done. You always have to analyze your site from the user’s perspective.
5. Update Software Regularly
Hackers love WordPress because so many people use it and a lot of novice users don’t know enough about WordPress to keep their site secure.
You do want to make sure that you have a security plugin installed. One of the ways that hackers get into your site is because you don’t update your software regularly.
Every time developers release a new version of WordPress or a plugin, they’re patching up security flaws. If you don’t update to the latest version, your site can be exposed.
A security hack can be detrimental to your business and your brand. Some businesses don’t survive after an attack. Keeping software up to date is a simple method to protect your site and your business.
6. Back up Your Site
You always, always, always want to have a backup of your site. On the off chance that your site is hacked or there’s a server issue, you want to make sure that you have a back up of your site.
You may be able to back up your site directly through your web host. You can also install a plugin for backing up your site. We told you there’s a plugin for everything!
7. Install Google Analytics & Search Console
The last WordPress tip is among the most important. Once you start marketing your site and drive traffic to it, you want to have a way to measure what’s working and what’s not.
Reporting tools like Google Analytics and Google’s Search Console are two top tools that you need to utilize.
To set them up, you’ll need to have a Google account and then install a line of code on your site. Of course, you can use Yoast SEO to connect your Google Search Console and Analytics accounts to your site.
WordPress Tips for Better Results
WordPress is widely used by business owners because it’s easy to set up and use. Under the hood of WordPress lies a lot of complex code that you need to optimize to improve performance. It’s also best to create a custom website design to ensure that your business online stands out from the competition.
With the right WordPress tips, you can make sure that your site is set up properly to attract highly targeted traffic, which can increase your leads and sales.
Are you ready to find out more about how our services can help you get higher quality traffic to your site? Contact us today.
