22 Aug 4 Tips WordPress Webmasters Must Know

There’s no question that WordPress is the number one content management system (CMS) in the world today. Every day, hundreds of new WordPress websites join the worldwide web. This popularity isn’t accidental. WordPress has a depth and breadth that makes it suitable for everything from simple personal blogs to the sophisticated portals of multi-billion dollar corporations.

So if you’ve chosen to build your site on WordPress, you’ve certainly made a good decision. Nevertheless, WordPress doesn’t of itself guarantee a successful site. You can, however, make WordPress work for you by applying the following practical tips.

Choose the Right Web Host and Hosting Plan

WordPress is a tool for building and managing websites. It isn’t a web host. That said, thanks to its versatility, virtually every major web host does provide for and facilitate the installation and use of WordPress for their customers. All web hosts are not created equal, though. Ergo, the success of your WordPress site will depend on the host and the particular hosting plan you opt for.

Go for a host that has a stellar reputation for reliability, customer service, and reasonable pricing. For hosting plans, you can choose between shared hosting, virtual private servers (VPS) and dedicated servers. Dedicated servers deliver the best performance but are also the most expensive. You have to strike the right balance between cost and performance in line with your own website’s needs.

Choose the Right WordPress Designer

WordPress is an easy to use CMS. You don’t need to have a background in IT to create a WordPress site. In addition, no other CMS comes close to WordPress in terms of the scale of free tutorials, guides and developer forums on the web that address almost any question you may have.

Nevertheless, not everyone has the time and patience to embark on online research in order to raise their competence enough to build a high-quality site. This is where WordPress designers come in. They leverage their experience and skills to create a professional site that would be a worthy platform for your cause.

As much as possible, choose a web designer that can demonstrate experience in building not just similar websites but sites within the same industry or focus area as you. So, if you are creating a site for an addiction treatment center, leadtorecovery.com would be a viable designer choice thanks to their portfolio.

Choose an Appropriate Theme

With tens of thousands of WordPress themes to choose from out there, the decision on what theme to go with can feel a tad overwhelming. Nevertheless, the one thing you don’t want to do is rush your decision. Since this isn’t something you want to change regularly, think through it and make sure your choice is one you are ready to live with over the medium to long-term.

Some themes are available for free, while others you have to pay for. A free theme may seem like a prudent financial decision, but you could be missing out on the features and functions that are often only available on premium themes.

A theme should also be aligned with the purpose of the website. For instance, a theme that’s perfect for a photography website won’t necessarily work for a financial services site. Most importantly, don’t pick a theme before you’ve seen a live demo of it. That gives you a real feel of how it will look like once you apply it to your site.

Install an SEO Plugin

Given how dominant the Google search engine is, a Google Analytics plugin is essential for your WordPress site. It provides invaluable insights on who comes to your website, what they do and how long they stay. Once installed, the plugin feeds this information to your WordPress admin dashboard.

But while Google Analytics gives you SEO information, you will need a different tool to actually optimize your WordPress site for search engines. Few tools are as effective in this regard as the Yoast SEO plugin. It evaluates your content’s keyword density, meta description, title length, readability, image alt text and more, prior to publishing. That way, your content is SEO-ready from the get-go.

WordPress is versatile and a near-perfect match for almost any type of website. However, if you want WordPress to work for you, don’t treat it as plug-and-play. You must take active, deliberate actions to manage your site well. These tips can get you moving in the right direction.