20+ WordPress Tips & Tricks

Choose a Reliable Hosting Provider: Select a reputable hosting provider to ensure your website’s performance and security. Popular options include our recommended Hosting Providers.

Use a Mobile-Friendly Theme: Ensure your chosen theme is responsive to provide a seamless user experience on mobile devices.

Utilize the Block Editor: Get familiar and take advantage of the new block editor (Gutenberg) for easy content creation and layout customization.

Create a Child Theme: If you want to make significant design changes, create a child theme to preserve your modifications when the main theme updates.

Use SEO practices and Install an SEO Plugin: Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). There are a number of great SEO plugins available for WordPress. We also have a WordPress SEO (Step by Step Beginner’s Guide).

Implement Good Security Practices: Use strong passwords, Two Factor Authentication and change your wp-admin link.

Implement SSL encryption. SSL encryption protects your website’s visitors’ data by encrypting it in transit. You can implement SSL encryption by installing an SSL certificate on your website.

Create regular backups. It’s important to create regular backups of your website in case something goes wrong. You can use a plugin like UpdraftPlus or BackWPup to automate your backups.

Keep WordPress, themes and plugins updated. WordPress releases new security updates and bug fixes on a regular basis. It’s important to keep your WordPress installation, theme and all plugins up to date to avoid security vulnerabilities and ensure compatibility.

Customize Permalinks: Set up user-friendly permalinks to improve the readability and SEO-friendliness of your URLs.

Enable Caching: Speed up your website by enabling caching through a plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache.

Install Google Analytics: Track your website’s performance by integrating Google Analytics to gain insights into your audience and traffic sources.

Optimize Images: Images can slow down your website if they’re not optimized properly. Be sure to compress your images before uploading them to your website. You can also use a lazy loading plugin to defer loading images until they’re needed.

Utilize Widgets: Widgets allow you to add additional content and functionality to your sidebars or footer areas. Experiment with them to enhance your website.

Set Up a Custom Favicon: Make your website look more professional by adding a custom favicon in the site identity settings.

Create a contact form. A contact form makes it easy for visitors to get in touch with you. You can use a plugin like Contact Form 7 or Gravity Forms to create a contact form for your website.

Create a custom 404 page. A 404 page is what visitors see when they try to access a page on your website that doesn’t exist. You can create a custom 404 page to help visitors find the information they’re looking for or to promote other content on your website.

Understand Categories and Tags: Categories and tags are a great way to organize your content and make it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for.

Monitor Comments: Regularly review and moderate comments on your blog to ensure a positive and engaging community.

Utilize featured images. Featured images are the images that are displayed on your website’s homepage, blog posts, and other pages. Choose featured images that are relevant and engaging to attract visitors’ attention.

Integrate Social Sharing Buttons: Encourage social sharing by adding share buttons to your posts, making it easier for visitors to spread your content.

Utilize Shortcodes: Shortcodes can add dynamic content and functionality to your posts. Learn how to use them and implement them when possible.

Customize permalinks. Permalinks are the permanent URLs of your website’s pages and posts. By default, WordPress uses ugly permalinks like https://example.com/?p=123. You can customize your permalinks to make them more readable and SEO-friendly.

Monitor website speed. Website speed is an important factor in SEO and user experience. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to monitor your website’s speed and identify areas for improvement.

Learn basic HTML and CSS. Knowing some basic HTML and CSS can help you customize your WordPress website without having to rely on plugins or themes.

Learn from WordPress Communities: Join WordPress forums and communities like the official WordPress.org support forums or the WordPress subreddit to seek help and share experiences with other WordPress enthusiasts.