We all make mistakes; it doesn’t matter if it’s mistakenly saying the wrong name of a friend when introducing someone in a group, or forgetting your mum’s birthday, we’re all human, and we’re all fallible. One of the best parts about The Internet (apart from GIFs and Tumbler) is that people are very happy to share their ‘experience’ (or mistakes) with other people – and will often document their processes thoroughly. That means that when you go to attempt something, there’s going to be a huge amount of YouTube videos, blog posts, info graphics and other information scattered around for you to learn from.

When it comes to WordPress there is a lot that you can do right: It’s such an easy to use platform that it’s hard to make huge mistakes, but of course there is always room for error! It’s so much more efficient to learn from the mistakes of others – and that’s why we’ve compiled this handy little list of the top ten WordPress mistakes to avoid! Read on and avoid the rookie errors!

Mistake Number One: Choosing the Wrong Platform

Surprisingly, there’s a bit of confusion about self hosted WordPress versus Free WordPress. Sometime people confuse the two, and it is actually quite a common mistake. Sometimes people set up what is just to be a personal blog but accidentally sign up for more than they need and end up with the paid version. The other side of this is that people create a free WordPress site and want to control the site, add plugins etc, but don’t know why they can’t do so. The handy hint is here that WordPress.org is the free version and can be customized, and WordPress.com is the paid version and comes with limited capabilities. It doesn’t matter if you’re setting up a site for mobile app developers or if you’re making an ecommerce store for yourself, make sure you get the right platform from the get-go.

Mistake Number Two: Buying More than what You Need

If you’re just starting out and want to get started with a website, all you really need is a domain name and some web hosting. That said, a lot of domain registrars try to up sell the hell out of every other service under the sun – when you really don’t need them! It can be very confusing as well, so make sure you ask the advice of someone who knows what’s up when you’re getting started. You certainly don’t need private registration, emails, 5 year registration etc… If you want branded emails just go with Google, and if you’re getting into a 5 year domain registration you need to be damn sure it’s going to last for 5 years – otherwise you lose all that money.

Mistake Three: Not Making a WordPress Backup

Ah the old backup… We’re all guilty of not doing this one. Think about your Mac – have you backed it up lately?If you’re anything like me, probably not. The easiest thing to do with WordPress is to back it up! There are some really easy to use programs that will make backing up so easy – and a quick web search will give you a range of free and paid options for you to utilise. People have had their sites hacked and lost everything because a backup wasn’t provided. The bottom line is: back up now, or forever hold your peace.

Mistake Four: Ignoring All Those WordPress Updates

Updates are the most common thing we see in our digital space, and sometimes we get to the point where we’re a little gun shy about updating for whatever reason. Maybe you got stung with a bad iPhone update at some point, but with WordPress you don’t need to be afraid! The biggest concern will be security issues, and the longer you leave it the harder it gets.