It is pretty much normal for beginners to worry over a new venture they are exploring, and later on absorb things with a little experience. It’s basic human nature to worry when you’re venturing into uncharted territory.
WordPress is a free open-source content management system released on the 27th of May 2003. Since then, it has grown in popularity making it a favorite of many. It offers both blogging and content management capabilities.
Though WordPress is noted for its simplicity, many beginners get stuck when using this software. This tutorial will answer some of the frequently asked WordPress questions, so you can hit the ground running without hiccups.
Do I need Coding Skills to Build a Website in WordPress?
Yes and no. The basic thing is to understand the fundamental concepts of WordPress and you are good to go.
WordPress is a dual layer platform. It has a front-end and a back-end layer operating on varying web tech. If you intend to customize any or both layers extensively, it is good to school yourself up on some programming.
Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the front-end and SQL, XML, and PHP for the back-end. This way, you can easily achieve customization when you need. Works amazingly well for all WordPressers regardless of skill level.
Conversely, if you intend to work with only themes without customizing anything, you don’t need to learn any code. Furthermore, many WordPress themes ship with extensive theme options allowing you to customize anything with a couple of clicks.
What Is WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
WordPress is available in two flavors. Not forgetting there exists a considerable number of WordPress forks out there, but that’s story for another day.
We have WordPress.com, which is a commercial website ran by a company called Automattic.
Major Pro: It (WP.com) is essentially a web hosting platform offering you a free WordPress-based blog among other things.
Major Cons: This version has restrictions on what you can do. Additionally, it’s also super-costly (circa $5000/mo.) to run a full-blown website on the WordPress.com platform.
WordPress.org is the official community (with ,000s of members) where you get and download the WordPress software. Thereafter, you are free to install it on your own server (local or web) and it’s absolute total control from there.
Major Pro: The native WordPress script (with lots of sweet features) is free and hosting on your own server is relatively cheap nowadays (thanks to budget hosting that starts at $2/mo.). That, and this flavor (WP.org) is indeed flavorful.
What Is a WordPress Child Theme?
Don’t fool yourself, a child theme is not a WordPress theme meant for your kids.On the contrary, it is a theme that inherits design functionality from another theme, known as the parent theme. I bet $2 bucks you can create a child theme in a minute.
WordPress child themes are often used when you want to customize an existing theme without losing the ability to upgrade it. This way, when you upgrade the parent theme, you don’t lose your lovely customization.
A child theme inherits all the features, functionalities and code of the parent theme without changing the parent theme. A good parent them saves you time and offers you a ton of functionalities and customization options. This means, you don’t have to code anything.
Copy – Pasting? Maybe. Coding? No. Over and out Sir. Moving on swiftly…
Is WordPress Secure?
Yes it is. Millions of websites use WordPress, thus problems are quickly found and dealt with. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore security protocols and use simple usernames and passwords. Even with the robust nature of WordPress, weak passwords and usernames make you vulnerable to brute force attacks.
Therefore, don’t wholly depend on WordPress to protect you, make some steps towards security yourself. Yes, we are asking you to remain proactive as far as the security of your WordPress site goes.
Other quick ways to ensure you are secure include keeping your version of WordPress updated and using quality themes and plugins. Also invest in a top-of-the-drawer web host.
Are there Design Limitations in WordPress?
Creating designs using WordPress is very easy. These designs are molded to look like any design of your choice. Your imagination, your limit. Plus there are plenty of page builders such as Visual Composer, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and so much more.
Need to create amazing forms from your website? There’s a plugin for that if Caldera Forms, Contact Form 7, and Gravity Forms is anything to go by. There is absolutely zero limit to the designs you can create with WordPress. This, and you can freely customize any WordPress theme to your heart’s desire.
Who’s got that vuvuzela? It’s getting hot in here.
Should I Upgrade My WordPress Website When Prompted?
No and yes. I know, what a surprising answer. Didn’t you just say it’s important to update WordPress to remain, among others things, secure? Oh yes I did. As a matter of fact, updating WordPress gets you better features that improve the performance and security of your website.
However, you should ensure that you have a backup in place before the upgrade. Also, check to see if the current plugins you are using are compatible with the update. If not, update them as well.
You don’t want your website crashing after an update. Thus, it’s good habit to prepare for any eventuality. The overall takeaway point here, from my judgement, is always keep backups because you never know when the shit hits the fan. Excuse my French.
How Do I translate My Website?
It’s relatively easy to translate your WordPress site into as many languages as possible. In the event that you need to automate translation to different languages, you can use the WPML and Google Translate WordPress among other plugins.
It is also possible to create manual translations using WordPress Multi-site Network for each separate website. Additionally, most WordPress themes are translation ready.
Where Do You Find the Best Photos?
I know what you are thinking. Is it not Google? Well, I need images for this post, my editor says, so I get images from posts such as 21 Amazing Sites With Breathtaking Free Stock Photos.
And no. Sometimes the images on Google are protected by copyright. Using such an image on your website can get you sued. Consider crediting the source of your images, where applicable.
In light of this, the best way is shooting or creating your own images. This way, they will be unique and won’t raise copyright aggression. If you have no time to take or create your own images, here are 25 websites to download free stock photo for your projects.
Why Are Blogs So Vital and Can You Show Me How to Create One?
Blogging is important since it drives traffic to your website. And not just traffic, it presents a platform for you to interact with you users and address issues affecting them. It’s the backbone of content marketing, one of the best forms of marketing but I digress.
To create a blog, you install WordPress on your server. The blogging capabilities are installed by default, so you can start typing away. If you’d like to learn some more, see what Cath says in start a blog with WordPress (free A – Z Mega-Guide).
My Website Is Slow, How Can I Speed It Up?
Slow websites are usually bad for user experience and your rankings on search engines. Speeding up your website goes a long way in generating more and more users. As far as WordPress sites are concerned, speed is good.
To speed things up:
- Choose a good host – When starting out, sharing a host looks like a good idea. It’s cheap and the works. However, during high traffic, such an engagement turns slow with frequent downtime. Invest in proper hosting from the onset.
- Use an efficient caching plugin. Bad boys such as W3 Total Cache or WP SuperCache can reduce your page loading times.
- Make use of a content delivery network. CDNs take your static files and store them on nodes closer to the user. This improves the access time. Examples include StackPath (formerly MaxCDN) and CloudFlare among others.
- Use Smush.it or any other image optimizer plugin.
For more on this, read speed up WordPress tips.
How Do I Back Up My WordPress site?
Having a WordPress site lends you to unpleasantness such as debilitating human errors, server failure and malicious attacks among others. As such, backing up your website acts as a contingency should the worst happen.
You can back up your WordPress site manually using FTP or cPanel. Then we have special backup plugins and services. For a much more detailed approach on backup methods, read backup WordPress site.
How Do I Drive Traffic to My Website?
For a fact, making your content visible to search engines is the easiest and most effective method. Yet, using social media to create buzz also increases the number of people visiting your website.
Main Takeway: The best way to drive traffic to your website is to create amazing content – relevant content that educates, entertains and/or inspires your readers.
How Do I Make Money from My WordPress Website?
Advertising is the most efficient way to earn from your website. Whether it’s through affiliate advertising or use of Google AdSense, you can easily generate income from your website.
Additionally, you can sell e-Books. If you have been blogging for a while, collect some of the posts and turn them into chapters of a book. Combine them into a book, and sell. On top of that, you can sell services and other products on your website
How Do I Install Plugins?
To install a plugin, navigate to Plugins within your WordPress admin menu and select Add New. Next, upload or search for the plugin you want and click install. Finally, click the activate link to start using it.
Conclusion
That’s it for today boys and girls. Have fun resolving some of your questions with the above write up. In case of any other pressing question, write to us. We are always glad to help you out. Cheers!
