WordPress has so many options and features once in the dashboard. And once we add a theme and various widgets: presto, there’s even more. But no matter what you are using WordPress for—if you have one site or a hundred— there are features you might want to understand more clearly.
When in WordPress, think before you…
…leave that meta widget on your sidebar.
I know. It makes it easier for you to log in to your dashboard without having to type in the URL. And often it’s there by default, which is a good thing, right? No, the meta widget is confusing to your readers and most will wonder what the heck it is. And yes, it’s nice to have the RSS for your posts, but do people really understand what it means when it says “Entries RSS” instead? If you want an RSS for your comments, find a better place. And finally, most people care less about a link to WordPress.org.
…backup your database with the Export Tool.
Some WordPress peeps actually recommend using the Export Tool to keep your database backed up. Sure, if you select “all content,” you can export all of your posts and custom posts, pages, comments, custom fields, terms, and navigation menus. But chances are your theme and plugins store information in the database as well. So, you are better off using a plugin to back up your database. I recommend either WP-DB-Backup for just your database, or BackupBuddy for the full backed (that latter being an affiliate link, but also my preferred backup plugin — use the discount code ITMEMBER35 through September 30, 2012 and get 35% off this plugin).
…apply full justification to the text on your posts and pages.
Honestly, I wish they would just remove the full justification button in the editing window. You know, the one that lets your text line up evenly on the left and right, like the text in newspapers and magazines? Because it sucks on the web. It’s horrible, it’s hard to read, and it can place horrendous spaces between words. Avoid it at all costs!
…change themes without some preparation.
Uploading and choosing a new theme is easy, and activating it, even easier. And with 3.4, you can now preview the new theme before activating it. But beware, because your site may explode or go terribly sideways. Depending on the theme you are using—or planning to use—you could be talking about a redesign. Changing themes can be easy, but can also be a nightmare. So click the preview to see what might happen before you do any changes.
…before you go live, check your Privacy Settinggs.
In your settings there is an option to allow search engines to index this site, or ask search engines not to index this site. I have found this set differently as a default, so it’s best to check. It’s better when designing your site to choose to not index it. You don’t want Google indexing half-written pages or possibly even junk text.
But when you go live, remember to change it. Write it somewhere, put it on your whiteboard, do whatever you need to. Because, damn, if you have chosen to not let it index your site, chances are Google won’t find you. And if you call me after 6 months and say you aren’t showing up on Google, and I ask you to check your privacy settings, I’d better not hear you say,”Oh, shit”.
…add those shiny social media buttons just because everyone else has them.
This happens all the time. A client will ask me to put Twitter, Facebook, and other icons in their sidebar because so-and-so has them. If you are not active on a platform, don’t invite people there. It’s pointless. Those buggers are for connecting, not to look pretty. If I click on your Twitter icon, and the last tweet you did was two months ago that said “My cat just peed on the kitchen floor”, well, do you really think that I will want to come back to your blog?
…push that publish button until you are ready.
I saved the most essential one for last. There is a reason you can save your post as a draft. And that’s because once it’s published, it’s out there and you can’t take it back. Sure you can delete, but that’s like an after-thought. This is especially important to think about when you are pissed off at someone or, perhaps, you have just returned from a long happy hour. You get thinking stupid things and bam, you write a rant about someone. You go to sleep feeling good about it, but when morning time and that clear head hits you, you realize that you blew it. But the damage has already been done.
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All great points! This i probably one of the most useful posts i’ve read on best practices using WordPress in quite some time. I will be subscribing!
Hey Chris, thanks much and welcome as a new subscriber.
Yeah, i found with WordPress, it’s the little things : )
Bob Dunn recently posted..7 Things To Be Careful With When Using WordPress
No kidding, make sure WordPress isn’t stopping Google from indexing your site!
Yeah, I have gone as far as telling them to put a sticky note about that setting on their computer in case they forget when they go live : )
Bob Dunn recently posted..Why I Moved to CommentLuv Pro
Thanks for this great article Bob. Especially the section about adding social media buttons just to have them. There are many sites that need to read that and follow your advice
Ben, you are very welcome. And those social media buttons, that one is a biggie. I am asked that so much and half of the time it turns out they just think “it’s the thing to do and have on your blog”. I’ve even found people who have felt forced to join some platform to simply have those icons like everyone else : (
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Hi Bob
Having changed themes several times i would like to give a warning about this.
Be very careful of theme lock as you may find changing themes causes a big mess that takes some time to fix.
I would recommend you install WordPress on your local pc using instantwp and import your content to test what the changes will do before making such a big move. Take your time.
I know its easy to change themes and preview the changes in WordPress but you want to make sure its not going to cause you a big headache.
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Thanks Brad, yeah, that’s what I meant when I mentioned explosions and things going sideways : )
Typically I find that theme changes are redesigns. There are a few simpler themes that make it a bit easier, but expect some serious rework.
And you are right, and I so agree, they make it “easy” to change the theme with a single click, but the results are not going to be what you expect.
Thanks for clarifying : )
Bob Dunn recently posted..Why You Need a Gravatar
Last point is not true. You can always go back and edit the “post status” to draft.
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It’s true you can go back and set to draft mode, but…
Say you do that post, hit publish and decide even 15 minutes later to set it back to draft mode. In that fifteen minutes it could have easily been delivered to your RSS readers, and if they see your full post in their RSS reader, damage is done
. And if its hours, google could have picked it up and who knows how many eyes could see it before you set it back to draft. Better safe than sorry.
Hi Bob,
Good list. Webmasters should also remember to setup their Gravatar as well. There’s nothing worse than a plain avatar photo.
David Moloney recently posted..Here’s A Very Bad Magazine Ad. Grrr…
No kidding, nothing worse then having the “mystery man” or some wonky gravatar represent you, especially as a webmaster…
Bob Dunn recently posted..How to put a link in your navigation bar to an external website or blog
Oh well, I’m a kind of an expert when it comes down to changing theme and messing things with plugins appearing or disappearing. But I guess this is also due to the fact that wp guys don’t have a standardized set of rules for both themes and plugins to avoid crashes. Imho.
And the last thing that drives me more or less crazy is the author link which shows the username to the world, and peace to your excellente advice to change admin to something else. If it comes out anyway it’s a real bummer, imho. Sometimes it seems wp guys are not that into privacy and safety on the net right?
Andrea H. recently posted..The 3 S of Stress: Sex
Hey Andrea, yes, you have confirmed the challenges of changing themes: ) One thing I have found, since I have changed themes 3 times in the last 12 months, is I use Genesis and a child theme, and when having switched out the child theme, even though I have had to work at the redesign, it did make things a little easier…
Also, the author link is flexible. One thing most people don’t take advantage of in their profile is the “nickname”. You can set that to whatever you want and if you choose it from the drop down of choices for your display name in your profile, the nickname can be whatever you want… make sense?
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Nice post, Bob. Congrats on this post being the 11th most clicked-on blog post in the esteemed wpMail.me “Top 100 Most Clicked Links in 2012.” We just subscribed! We’re looking forward to learning more and more about all this each day from you, and as we blog about Our WordPress Beginners Learning Curve in our nascent websites for work and home. As proof of our raw Noobness, our first ever WordPress post (sort of)…
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Thanks, if it hadn’t been a tweet I saw where someone mentioned that list, I would have never known.
I appreciate your subscribing and I’ll go check out your first post… cheers!
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