4 Tips for a Successful WordPress Site

WordPress is now the most popular business-class CMS platform available and has some great advantages. If done right, your WordPress website could have an indefinite life-span. WordPress is in continuous development, improving its platform with stronger security and better performance, all while using the world as its test environment.

As with anything there can be "bumps in the road" as you build and manage your WordPress site, but there are ways to not only make these obstacles easy to overcome, but to avoid them completely. Here are 4 Tips for a Successful WordPress Site!

1.  WordPress Theme & Plugins

Presumably the most common (and easy to prevent) WordPress issue would be the foundation of your site, the Theme and Plugins. While WordPress makes every attempt to make web design and development fool-proof, there are pitfalls if the functionality and compatibility of your Theme and Plugins is unclear. Before purchasing and implementing any type of customization, it is important to evaluate the features, details and peer reviews. You may find that your seemingly simple solution is not designed to work with your version of WordPress, your Child Theme customization, or your existing plugins.

2. Website Speed, Hosting & Security

So, you have worked hard and managed to create the most beautiful and impressive website that you've ever seen. Congratulations! However, your hard work isn't done! It is so important to protect your investment by continuously monitoring your website's speed, hosting and security. Though your site may be visually appealing and technically functional, your viewers will bounce, literally, when your site takes too much time to load. Website users want instant access to your information, not a spinning cursor.

As if that wasn't bad enough, WordPress has become a target for dreaded hackers, and if you don't take the proper steps to secure your website, like Secure hosting, encryption and SSL, you will inevitably fall victim to hackers and malware. Scared yet?

3. Search Engine Optimization

Website content development is pretty simple at its core. You want to deliver concise information to educate and/or convert your audience. What you may not realize is that your Human audience is not the only one that matters. Search Engines operate using algorithms, not emotion, so they are often harder to please. Without knowledge and understanding of what popular Search Engines, like Google, are looking to "crawl", you may never get visibility from the searched on keywords related to your business. Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is not a "set it and forget it" task, it's a meticulous strategy that needs frequent attention and updates.

4. Responsive Website Design

When your website is Responsive, it will automatically resize/format in response to the device that you are using. Because of the increase in use of cell phones, tablets and other mobile devices, Responsive Design is no longer optional, and while WordPress does a great job of auto-formatting for mobile devices, it is important to test all pages and functions, like forms, sliders and parallax features, to ensure that they format properly. But what happens when your site's features don't respond properly?

What is the Solution?

Webmaster Support from Rhino Web Group! The Rhino team has years of experience in Website Design & Development, specializing in WordPress and its affiliated applications. Whether we are starting from scratch to create your unique site, or you bring us in after the fact, we have the knowledge and capabilities to set your WordPress site up for success and keep it performing optimally.