I have a lot of experience helping those that are new to WordPress. This post explains 10 absolutely essential things that people really should know and setup when starting. When I say absolutely essential, I mean that you are likely to run into issues if you do not understand these concepts and implement the correct setup. However, if you are on top these factors, then you are less likely to run into issues.

I plan to write a blog post on each of the following points in the future.

1) Understand which version of WordPress you are using

Many start using wordpress and are not aware that there are 2 versions, the setups are completely different. Research these and choose the version most appropriate for you.

1. The wordpress .com version and
2. The wordpress .org version

2) Backups

Keep your own backups. Many think that their host will keep backups, and this is true. But you must keep your own 2nd source of backups because there are many instances where their host’s backups failed – in which case there is no recovery if your site requires a restore.

3) Keep Software Up To Date

It is essential to keep your theme, plugins and wordpress core up to to date with the latest versions. This to ensure everything is running as it should, but even more importantly to ensure that the site is not vulnerable to malware. Keeping it up to date manually every month is a good frequency.

4) Spam

Form spam: Sooner or later your site will begin to attract spam submitted via your form and you will need a spam filter. Best to set it up at the start, so you don’t need to deal with it in the future.

Email spam: if you display your email address on your website, expect an increased amount of spam directly to your email. Many website owners are ok with this, and trust their spam filter to do a good job.

5) SMTP

This is the factor that is implemented the least and is the biggest mystery to people new to WordPress. If you have a form on your website it will use the “mail php function” to send the email, which is not reliable due a wide range of factors. Instead you need to setup an SMTP protocol which guarantees email delivery.

6) Caching

Caching is where the page saves a static version. This allows for faster load time of your pages. However sometimes when you make an update to the site, the change will not be reflected on the frontend, due to serving the old static version. So sometimes you need to clear the cache, to serve the newest version of the page.

6) Don’t Build Individual Posts in the Builder

Many of those who blog create blog posts in the website builder they are using, instead of the default WordPress editor. And you should not do this. Always create your posts in the default WordPress editor (it is called Gutenberg). This is because in the future you change your mind and move to a different website builder, you not need to recreate each post layout from scratch again.  This applies only to “posts”, and not “pages”.

7) The Best Way To Learn WordPress

This point is specific for those who are developing / designing a site (not for those who are just updating content)

Most people learning and using WordPress focus on the visual design, and the first thing they do after installing WordPress, is install the theme and builder (3 separate systems) and begin from there.

Instead they should start with an older default theme for the sole purpose to learn WordPress core first. You will familiarise yourself with wordpress basics: pages, posts, media, menus, widgets, plugins, theme, general settings and Gutenberg.

Then once you are familiar with WordPress core, then install the theme and the builder (ideally separately) to learn how each work – and do so by reading its documentation and watch their video tutorials if available. This will make it easier to learn WordPress, the 3rd party tools and how they all work together.

8) Use Practices that Ensure Fast Page Loading.

There are a few practices I have seen beginners do, that result is a very slow loading website.  The following some best practices to ensure your pages don’t lag.

a) Don’t add unnecessary plugins   I have seen some beginners add large numbers of plugins with the attitude of trying to add lots of plugins to add lots of new functionality. The usually slows down the site. Only add plugins that are absolutely necessary

b) Compress images  Images with large file sizes will invariable make the pages load slowly.  Beginners sometimes think that that higher the file size, the higher the quality, so the file size should be quite high.   However if you reduce to the slowest file size you can get it to without compromising the quality, this happy medium is actually quite low in file size and the page load as a result will be fast.

9) Permissions

Make sure you have permissions for all content on the site.  Keep it original or if you use stock images, check the terms of the licence.  Don’t copy text or images from other website unless you have explicit permission or a licence from that source. The owner of any stolen content may engage in a lawyer and demand that you pay them for copyright infringement.  Demands like this are becoming more common.

I have seen “professional” designers and with university degrees steal images. I have also seem them defend their practice. So you should check with your designer where they source their images from. They should be able to provide the specifics of the source of the images and the license terms. Ultimately you are responsible, as the website owner, even if your designer did sourcing of content.

10) Choose a good domain registrar and host

The domain registrar is where you purchase your website address.   The host is where your files and database are stored, where your code runs and all sits on a server that allows your site to be accessed on the internet.   Most people who are new this, choose a domain registrar based on cost,   but there are many other factors that need to be considered.   You need to also understand that when you read reviews online,  a very large number of them are being paid to promote the host, so choose based on unbiased research.

Overview

Once you understand the above concepts and implement the correct setup, then about 99.9% of issues people initially discover with WordPress are resolved.

In the ideal world, the above points should be mentioned in your WordPress interface when you first use the software.  I beleive that that WordPress marketshare would lift from 43.1% (already extremely high) to a much higher if users know about the above points.

Feel free make contact if you have questions about the above.