Everybody makes mistakes. Maybe some of them might be small, like buying the wrong kind of milk, while others can be more serious, like forgetting to bring your gift to someone’s birthday party. Bottom line is that every single one of us makes mistakes.
And to be honest, mistakes are not entirely bad. More often than not, they can teach you a lot if you’re smart enough to pay attention. But do you know what the smarter move is?
Learning from others’ mistakes.
Because we want your website to be successful from the get-go, here are some of the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to their website.
1. Nobody Wanted to Get the Windows 10 Update
Do you remember when Windows 10 came out? Literally, nobody wanted to update their older version, and some people were even outraged when their system performed the update automatically. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the older version was better (although in many situations that’s the case). It might just mean that people are more comfortable with the old version and they aren’t ready to move on.
Now, does this mean that you should never update your WordPress website? No, of course not! It just means that you should be a bit more careful with your updates. Let us teach you a useful trick.
Whenever you see a new update, be it for your WordPress theme or plugin, don’t just go pressing update and think you’re done with it.
“Why not?” you might ask. Because this will result in a broken website 90% of the time.
Instead, what we’d like you to do is to update a copy of your website, a so-called staging site, and check how the update looks there. If all is good, then you can go ahead with the actual website. And if you feel a bit confused about this part and need help, let us know.
2. Never Forget about Backups
Let’s say you have this really important exam today. You only take one pen, because you’ve just bought it, and it worked fine in the store. But halfway through the exam, it stops working. So because that’s the only pen you have, you can do nothing more than accept the fact that you’ve failed this time around.
Is this an unlikely situation? Maybe. But it sure puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?
The thing is, you always need a backup. And this also includes your website. Never run a website that’s not regularly backed up.
A lot of things might happen – websites get hacked, you might press the wrong button, or your developer messes it up. You never know what could happen.
And then you need to find a way to restore the website, which let me tell you, isn’t always easy!
Also, don’t make the rookie mistake of assuming that hosting backups are enough, because more often than not, they aren’t. So the best thing that you should do is back up your website personally, and store the backups off-site. For this, we recommend using Blogvault.
Want somebody to take care of backups and the security of your website? Check our WordPress maintenance service.
3. Less is More
We definitely get the appeal of having as many plugins as possible. You take a look at what’s new on the market and you see all these awesome plugins and of course, you’re tempted to install them. After all, they can only make your website work better, right?
Wrong. Just because you have plenty of options doesn’t mean that you have to pick them all. And the thing is, you never know how a new plugging will interact with the pre-existing plugins on your website.
Will it integrate perfectly and run smoothly or will it ruin everything you’ve built so far?
The most probable answer is that the plugins will slow down your website and make it unstable due to conflicts and various other problems. So our professional advice is to install a max of 20 plugins, but don’t go over that.
If you’re uncertain about the plugins you should install for your website, then check our article about our top 10 plugins and see which one fits your website.
4. Pick a Favourite
Picking favorites is definitely not seen as a good thing. After all, think about how awkward it is for parents when they are asked which child is their favorite. Nobody wants to be in the position of making that kind of choice or, any kind of difficult decision, but it’s something that we must all do at least once in our lives. And when it comes to developers, picking favorites is a must.
So, don’t work with too many developers at once on your website. Check all of your developers’ work history and portfolios and pick the ones that you are most compatible with. Also, make sure that your developers are professionally compatible with each other.
You might be thinking, the more the merrier, right? Not all the time. Let’s say you have a big group of developers working on your website at the same time. Something goes wrong, and because nobody keeps track of their work anymore, nobody is going to take responsibility and everyone will end up blaming each other. Not a fun scenario, right?
If you ever get there, read our article on How to overcome 2 of the hardest moments in working with a WordPress agency and get better results.
5. It’s Ride or Die
When picking a developer to work with, you have to think long-term. Developers should not be seen as outfits that you need to change every day. So we strongly advise you to pick somebody with whom you are professionally compatible, and roll with them.
But for curiosity’s sake, what do you think would happen if you were to change your developers all the time? We can tell you for sure that you would end up with redundant code that’s hard to modify, and a patched-up website.
And honestly, after you spend all that time and money on your website, would you like it to look like Frankenstein’s monster? Maybe the rugged look is your style, but bad code doesn’t just make your website look bad, it also makes it less stable. And ultimately, that just means that it’ll cost more every time you want to fix something on your website or add something new to it.
Now, if you’re uncertain about choosing a technical partner, then we have the thing for you! Our article will give you a few pointers that could spare you a lot of trouble when picking your next partner in crime. Check it out here. Also, take a look at our support offer or read our complete guide on how to hire the best WordPress maintenance agency for your business.
