11 WordPress Website Design Mistakes that Cost 100’s of $$$

When you’re just starting out as a web designer, you might be tempted to dive right in and start building your first website. But there’s so much more to it than just choosing colors and fonts. You have to do research, think about the usability of your site, and make sure it will perform well on all devices — not just desktop computers. And that’s not all! You also have to know how WordPress works (and what makes WordPress different from other platforms). Then you need to decide which theme is right for your website, and finally, choose plugins that will help add extra functionality without adding bloat or slowing down performance too much.

Trying to do it all yourself

Many people think that they have to do everything themselves. They want to design their own website, write their own content and even code their own site. But the truth of the matter is that you don’t have to be an expert in every aspect of running a blog or web business.

You can always hire someone else to take care of things for you. There are many freelancers out there who would love to help you out with any job-related problem (even if it’s just finding a good designer).

There are many resources online as well where people share their knowledge about various topics related to blogging and building websites on WordPress specifically (check out WPBeginner). These guides will help both newbies, as well as experienced bloggers, learn something new every day!

Not carefully choosing a hosting service

Choosing a hosting service is NO JOKE.

If you choose the wrong one, it will cost you money, time, and possibly your website or business.

Cost – You could be paying too much for something that isn’t up to par. Or not enough for something that’s great! If a company offers an unlimited plan for $9/mo (and they really mean unlimited), there’s no way their servers can handle 10 million visitors per month like they say they can… but you might find out after signing up and finding out your site is down constantly because it had been “optimized” by someone who knew better than Google’s webmaster guidelines.

Time – If you aren’t careful about how much traffic the new host can handle or if their service goes down on a regular basis, guess what? Your site will go down regularly as well! And no one has time for that kind of nonsense. It took me several months just to get my site back up and running after switching hosts due to various issues ranging from server crashes every hour (not joking) all the way up through complete loss of data due to some silly error message I wasn’t sure how serious was supposed serious enough at first glance…

Not understanding themes

One of the most important things you can do to ensure that your website is as successful as possible is to choose a theme that fits your brand. WordPress themes are what make a site look good, and they also help it function in ways that will be useful for marketing and promoting your business.

If you’re new to WordPress, then it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the options out there. Fortunately, there are plenty of great themes available on websites like WooCommerce or ThemeForest — but not all of them are right for every business. Some themes allow you to add plug-ins; others don’t allow any customization at all (and those are usually more expensive). Sales pages often use flashy imagery and cutesy copywriting; B2B sites tend toward clean design featuring big blocks of text with minimal distractions. However, no matter what kind of business you run or which industry niche you fall into—there’s bound to be something out there that fits perfectly with what makes up your brand identity!

Not understanding plugins

Plugins are a great way to add functionality to your website. They can also be used to add features. Here are some things you might want to consider when choosing plugins:

If there is something that you want your site to do, chances are there’s already a plugin for it. This means that if you want something like an online store or custom forms on your site, it’s possible with plugins!

You should consider how much time it will take for your developer(s) and/or yourself (if you’re doing the development) to make these features work through the use of plugins instead of just coding them from scratch into WordPress itself (the most common CMS).

Some plugins speed up websites by removing unnecessary code from pages; this helps avoid page load issues because less code takes less time for browsers and servers alike (that said: always test).

Security matters too — did I mention that? Plugins can keep hackers out by scanning incoming data packets before they reach their destination so that malicious content cannot penetrate into databases or otherwise wreak havoc on WordPress installations!

Not thinking about security

Security is important.

Hosting providers should have security measures in place to protect your site from hackers and other threats, but you should also make sure that you’re doing what you can to keep your website secure. Here are some things you can do:

• Install security plugins on the WordPress dashboard. There are many plugins available that will help improve the overall safety of your sites, such as Wordfence and Sucuri Security (check out this article from WPSEO for more information).
• Use a firewall. You can install an app like iThemes Security Pro or Wordfence Firewall that will automatically scan for vulnerabilities or malicious code on your site and fix them if necessary—making it just another thing off of your plate!
• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network). A CDN distributes static assets like images across multiple servers around the world so users won’t experience slow load times when they visit because those assets are being served up closer to where they’re located geographically; they also help prevent DDoS attacks by spreading traffic evenly among various sites rather than concentrating it into one spot where hackers could target them more easily.

Not having a backup plan

Having a backup plan is essential to the success of your website. It’s important to have a strategy in place that will allow you to recover quickly in case something happens to your site, such as hacking or loss of data.

There are two types of backups: automated and manual. Automated backups use software, such as VaultPress or Backup Buddy, which can be set up by WordPress itself or installed via plugins on your website. Manual backups require uploading files manually from cPanel (the control panel for hosting accounts) whenever changes are made on the server level—such as changing themes—and then exporting them again when finished with the changes.

You should also create an off-site backup solution using Dropbox or another similar service so that if anything happens at home where all copies of your work reside there will still be another copy stored somewhere else entirely outside of your home network/location where no one can access it except yourself!

Making usability mistakes

In the same way that a house needs to be structurally sound and have a comfortable interior, your site needs to work well. If it doesn’t, you’ll lose visitors quickly.

There are five principles that determine how easy a website is to use:

• Navigation should be clear and intuitive so people can find what they’re looking for without getting lost or frustrated.
• The design should be consistent throughout the site so users don’t get confused and can rely on common patterns throughout the site (for example, which button they should click).
• Content should be organized logically so users can clearly see where they are and what content surrounds them (like menus).
• Content should also be written clearly with minimal jargon; sites filled with meaningless buzzwords will make visitors feel like high school students who’ve been forced into an adult conversation full of empty words.
• Images should be high resolution so readers don’t have trouble seeing images clearly on their screens–this is especially important if those images are part of navigation buttons or links!

Finally, it’s worth considering how easy it is for people visiting your site to contact you through social media channels such as email addresses or phone numbers listed prominently on each page.

Thinking you’re done after publishing

It’s important to maintain your website on a regular basis.

You should update your content at least once a week. This can be as simple as updating recent blog posts or adding new pages or resources to help keep people coming back for more.

Take regular backups of your website files, database, and theme settings (if possible). These backups will allow you to restore things if they get corrupted or accidentally deleted—an accident that can happen easily when working with WordPress websites!

Conduct regular security checks for malware and viruses in your site’s files and database (again if possible). This is especially important because hackers are getting smarter every day and using new techniques to infiltrate web servers so they can steal valuable information from their victims’ sites.

Ignoring SEO

You might think that SEO is just about keywords, links, content, and images.

But it’s not.

SEO is about all these things AND a lot more:

• Meta tags (meta description, keyword, robots)
• Content length (useful content)
• Keyword density (how often do you use the same words?)

The important thing is to make sure that your site is well designed from the start so that when someone searches for a specific term or phrase on Google or another search engine they find your website at the top of their results page – and thus visit your site instead of someone else’s!

This is because Google’s algorithm is designed to give preference to sites that are well-designed, have good content, and are easy to read. It’s not just about keywords, links, and images.

It’s also about how you format your content, the length of it, and how often you use certain words. It’s important to keep these things in mind when designing your website so that it ranks highly on Google and other search engines.

Here are some tips for designing an SEO-friendly website:

• Use keywords in your content and make sure they’re used in the right places (for example, don’t just use a keyword once and then never mention it again)\

• Make sure that your website is well-designed and easy to read (Google likes this)

• Create links between your pages using keywords (so that when someone searches for a specific term or phrase on Google or another search engine they find your site at the top of their results page)

• Don’t use Flash, JavaScript, or frames as these are not supported by all browsers.

• Make sure your website has a good title, description, and meta tags

• Create content that’s well-written and engaging (Google likes this)

• Make sure that your website is mobile friendly

Choosing the wrong content management system for your needs

Choosing the wrong content management system for your needs is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make when starting a website. This can cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you go with a system that doesn’t work well with your goals.

WordPress is an excellent choice if you want to add features and functionality to your site, but it may not be right for everyone. It’s important to do some research on different CMS systems before deciding which ones would be best suited for your needs. If all you need is a basic blog site, WordPress might be more than enough because it has free themes available (with premium ones available as well) and easy-to-use plugins that allow users to create content without needing any knowledge of code whatsoever.

Understand WordPress before starting to build a new website

If you are thinking of building a website, it might be worth considering using WordPress. It is a great platform for building websites and has become one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world.

However, it is not always the best option for every situation. For example, if you want to build an eCommerce store or create a membership site then it’s worth looking at other alternatives such as Shopify or WooCommerce (a plugin for WordPress). Also, if you have some specific functionality that you need on your site then there may be plugins available to help achieve this rather than building everything yourself inside of WordPress – this can save time and help prevent errors.

Understanding what functionality is required from your website before starting work on any designs will also make things easier since there are many different types of themes available so having an idea about what type of theme would work best can save time later down the line when deciding which theme will work best for your needs.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this list makes you think twice before making these mistakes. And if you’re already making some of them, then we encourage you to take action now rather than later! The best way to avoid costly mistakes is by taking the time upfront to properly plan out your website design process and choose professional help when needed.