{"id":6250,"date":"2019-01-22T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/?p=6250"},"modified":"2024-01-23T14:48:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T19:48:10","slug":"5-common-mistakes-wordpress-beginners-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/5-common-mistakes-wordpress-beginners-make\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Common Mistakes WordPress Beginners Make"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/WPmistakes.jpg\" alt=\"5 Common Mistakes WordPress Beginners Make\" class=\"wp-image-6268 skip_lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/WPmistakes.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/WPmistakes-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/WPmistakes-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/WPmistakes-560x373.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With about 19 million users worldwide, WordPress is by far the most popular website creation tool out there. People love the quick and easy installation and setup and the near endless customization options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite it\u2019s ease-of-use, though, if you\u2019re to it, you\u2019re bound to make some mistakes. &nbsp;It doesn\u2019t have anything to do with your level of skill or your competence \u2013 there\u2019s a learning curve to everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To help you get started on the right foot, we\u2019ve put together a list of the mistakes we see most frequently. Take a look <em>before<\/em>&nbsp;you set up your first website and go into the process armed with some serious knowledge.<br>Let\u2019s get going!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Confusing WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you know that there are two different iterations of WordPress? Many people don\u2019t, and as a result, end up choosing the wrong platform. Here\u2019s the difference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>WordPress.org is a free, open source content management system. You have to download the software and set it up with your own hosting provider.<\/li><li>WordPress.com is a hosted website platform. You don\u2019t have to download any software or manage a web server. But it comes with a loss of certain freedoms.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both have pros and cons, depending on what you\u2019re looking for. They include (but are certainly not limited to):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WordPress.org Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You have more control and flexibility and create absolutely any kind of website you want<\/li><li>You can create and use your own domain name<\/li><li>You can upload custom themes and plugins and use custom code<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WordPress.org Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You have to download the software and install it on your server<\/li><li>Domain registration and hosting plans mean it will never be completely free to use<\/li><li>You are responsible for your site\u2019s security and maintenance<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WordPress.com Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You don\u2019t have to find or pay for your own hosting<\/li><li>No need to manage your own web server<\/li><li>User-friendly and easy-to-use<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WordPress.com Cons:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Your domain will, by default, include \u201cwordpress.com\u201d unless you purchase a domain<\/li><li>You can\u2019t upload custom themes or plugins, or modify the PHP code behind your site<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Adding Plugin After Plugin After Plugin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You may assume that because plugins add to the functionality of your site, having more plugins is a good thing \u2013 but that\u2019s not necessarily true. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most plugins are good and will improve your site, but before you go adding anything all willy-nilly, it\u2019s important to do a little research. Take a look at when the plugin was last updated, whether it works with the latest version of WordPress, and read the customer reviews. If any red flags pop up, it\u2019s best to avoid that plugin and find another. There are so many options available, it just doesn\u2019t make sense to settle for a subpar product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not Having a Backup Plan <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to your website, nothing is more important than running regular backups. In the event that you lose all of your data for some reason (like a virus or server failure), a backup will ensure that you can get back up and running again quickly, with little downtime. There are dozens of free backup plugins available through WordPress, but we put together a list of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/looking-for-a-free-wordpress-backup-plugin\/\">favorites<\/a>&nbsp;so you don\u2019t have to do the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ignoring Updates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We get it: updates can seem overwhelming. When you\u2019re running a business and you have a million things going on, the last thing you want is another notification that something needs to be updated. But when it comes to your website, it\u2019s worth it. WordPress updates usually provide patches to fix known security errors or bugs and if you ignore them, you\u2019re leaving your site vulnerable to hackers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If it\u2019s something you truly don\u2019t think you\u2019ll be able to keep up with on your own, consider using a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/customizing-your-blog\/\">plugin<\/a>&nbsp;that will do it for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not Having a Contact Form <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This one seems simple, but it\u2019s SO important. The entire point of creating a business website is to attract new customers, right? Well, how are those potential customers supposed to reach you if you don\u2019t have a contact form? Internet users are impatient, and they don\u2019t want to dig around looking for information: if you don\u2019t make your contact information clear, they\u2019ll go find someone that does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you\u2019re aware of a few of the basic mistakes newbies make, hopefully you can avoid them when creating your own WordPress site. If you\u2019re still feeling iffy, or you\u2019d just rather leave your site design to the pros, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/web-design\">our design experts<\/a>&nbsp;can have a new site up and running for you within a matter of days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"alert alert-warning\">\nCorrection: \nInMotion Hosting no longer offers free backups. \nHowever, you can now get the feature-rich <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/backups-and-restorations\/\">backup manager<\/a> service for an additional $2\/month.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With about 19 million users worldwide, WordPress is by far the most popular website creation tool out there. People love the quick and easy installation and setup and the near endless customization options. Despite it\u2019s ease-of-use, though, if you\u2019re to it, you\u2019re bound to make some mistakes. &nbsp;It doesn\u2019t have anything to do with your<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/5-common-mistakes-wordpress-beginners-make\/\"> Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,211],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-and-advice","category-wordpress"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Common Mistakes WordPress Beginners Make | InMotion Hosting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you&#039;re just getting started on WordPress, click here to read about five common mistakes that you&#039;ll want to avoid. Our team can help through the process!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/5-common-mistakes-wordpress-beginners-make\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Common Mistakes WordPress Beginners Make | InMotion Hosting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you&#039;re just getting started on WordPress, click here to read about five common mistakes that you&#039;ll want to avoid. 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