Table of Contents
It dawned on me recently when chatting to someone at a blogger event that I’ve not written any posts about my top WordPress tips for beginners like I did for Blogger many moons ago. I have posted about my first impressions of the new Gutenberg Editor (it’s still love btw) but this is a different style of post for me.
This massive post covers all the things you need to know if you’ve just setup/migrated your blog to WordPress (.org and self-hosted to be clear). Again, it’s a post that so long that it needs its own table of contents. There are also affiliate links within this post and they are clearly marked.
Create Drop-Down Menus
I love my drop-down menus on my WordPress site. They make the main menu look much less cluttered than if I didn’t use one. They work on a drag and drop principal and all you have to do is arrange the menu items under the main heading and then drag them so they sit with an indent. It really is that simple.
Install Yoast
While there are other SEO plugins available and believe me I’ve tried a fair few, Yoast is always the one I go nack to. I’ve written a full guide on Yoast and how to make the most of it for your WordPress site.
Plugins
I can’t emphasise enough how much I love plugins. The fact that I don’t need to do much code any more really is a blessing. My only warning is, check what your theme already offers and make sure you’re not doubling up on features. I’ve some sites where they’ve installed a plugin to make something work, their theme already offers it and they then have the featured image displaying twice (as an example). It’s an easy fix and juts takes an extra few minutes of reading to make sure all is ok.
Photos
Look up the recommended sizes for your blog theme is a must. I’m lucky that my site resizes images but I would always suggest a plugin to compress your images too. Also, make sure that you’re adjusting the sizes when you add them to blog posts. Sometimes I change my sizes to medium to make sure that screenshots don’t appear too large on smaller screens.
Themes
Always read the small print before you buy a theme as they are an investment. Check how many customise options you’ll have and how much freedom you’ve got. I love this theme I’m using but can’t change the fonts. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a minor annoyance as the rest of my blog looks amazing.
Child themes that require Genesis area lot of work but can make your site look amazing. For a beginner, however, I would recommend a more basic theme that you can customise as it will be easier.
Security
Security is a hugely important part of WordPress. There are security plugins that are really helpful and feature in my list of plugins I love for WordPress. I’ll be honest when I admit that my site has been hacked in the past and if I’d followed the steps I recommend to others now then I wouldn’t have been in that position. Thankfully I’ve learnt from it and can tell you what not to do.
Hosting
Pick the right one! I’ve been with some hosts that don’t care about you or your site but only the money coming in. Lyrical Host are the only hosting firm I’ve found that genuinely care about their customers. I moved to them on a stressful Friday night when social media and the web world was thrown into chaos. Since then I’ve raised several support tickets where I’ve found myself stuck and they’ve been answered quickly and with so much help that I can’t thank them enough.
For 10% off your first payment to Lyrical Host use code FROMFIONA10 at checkout (affiliate).
Google Is Your Friend
Honestly, if there is something that you don’t know how to do then Google is your friend. I regularly find myself searching for hints and tips on how to do things within WordPress.
Google Analytics
Get this setup as soon as you have your WordPress dashboard created. I’ve written a full piece on how to set up Google Analytics for your blog. This means you’re tracking your visitors as soon as you set up and can keep an eye on your popular posts, where your readers are coming from and so much more.
Updates
Plugin makers release updates fairly regularly so even if you don’t post or write anything, I would recommend logging in every couple of days and checking for updates. If you put them off then it can make things more difficult later and even impact the front end of your site that your readers see.
Well, there you have it, my mega-post with all my WordPress tips for beginners. If you want more to learn about WordPress then I wrote an Ultimate Guide for Grow & Glow. Also if you want to sign up to Grow & Glow then here is a direct link (affiliate).
