WordPress is an impressively popular online tool. According to Hosting Tribunal, WordPress has powered about 34% of the internet in 2019 with around 400 million visitors to these sites every month.
However, this doesn’t mean that these visits are spread evenly across every WordPress-powered website. To gain traffic, these sites still have to be carefully thought out and well-made. The success of a popular tool is directly linked to how well that tool is used by the developers.
This is why the design and development process is so important. Before your company can profit off of WordPress, it needs a strong footing to get their site off of the ground. These tips will help increase the chance of success.
Nail Down a Concept
To start the development process, companies need a basic concept to go off of. This concept will determine the main idea of the website and some of the features it will eventually include.
There are two central processes that can be used to determine the main idea. First, consider what consumers want. What do they expect out of your company and what do you want to promote to them?
Secondly, don’t be afraid to look around other WordPress websites. Don’t directly steal what they have, but this will help to demonstrate what the platform is capable of.
Differentiate the Website
WordPress is so popular, in part, because it’s an easy tool to use. Unfortunately, easy-to-use tools can sometimes breed basic concepts and similar designs. It’ll take some extra work, but make sure to be original enough in the design and development process that the site doesn’t look like every other WordPress output.
Once again, research comes in handy here. Looking around at what other WordPress designers do can give you an idea of the standard and the common design facets of these sites. Consulting a WordPress web development company can also help you come up with something that is high-quality and stands out from the crowd.
Don’t Overdo It with Plugins
Plugins in WordPress work to extend the functionality of a website. They’re essentially a way to add new features to the site and expand what it can do.
While it’s tempting, the last thing you want to do is add a plethora of unnecessary plugins when it comes time to add them. This is true for a few reasons. For one, not every plugin that WordPress and its community develops is high-quality. So, a little research can go a long way. In addition, unnecessary and infrequently used plugins can crowd the site and cause unwanted clutter.
Take Advantage of Caching
Caching is a popular technique in website design because it decreases latency and bandwidth consumption. Not only does this make for better performance for consumers, but this better performance also leads to higher SEO rankings. This will make the website easier to find in internet searches.
There are WordPress optimized hosting services available through companies like Siteground and Wpengine but there are other hosts that have WordPress-specific caching offered to users.
Be Careful with Security
Security is a major concern as technology advances. This is where WordPress’ popularity works against it. High use and a high public profile make it particularly susceptible to security attacks. Certain aspects such as frequent or automatic updates are a common way to leave yourself open to risk. It’s best to invest in a security plugin and opt for manual rather than automatic updates.
WordPress is as commonly used as it is for good reason. It offers a lot of versatility and doesn’t come with a steep learning curve to get started. To achieve something great, though, your company needs to use tips to ensure that the end result isn’t only functional but profitable as well.
