WordPress is among the most widely used platforms to create websites with ease. Whether a professional or a newbie, almost everyone can set up professional websites in a matter of minutes.
That allows students to keep up with the modern technology-oriented world by creating websites to highlight their portfolios, network with people, and share ideas. Moreover, they can work on their business ideas and give them a professional look by having a website.
If you are a student and you are thinking about building a website with zero knowledge of coding, WordPress is a great way to get started. You just need a reliable internet connection such as HughesNet internet, which is available all across the US, and a computer (though the mobile phone will work too but having a computer would allow you to do everything easily).
Once you have both of these, follow these simple steps to start on the right foot with WordPress.
Pick the Right Theme
WordPress allows its users to access and choose from hundreds of themes that are available for free. Also, choosing the wrong theme could mean not having everything you need. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges of WordPress is to pick a theme that goes well with your objectives.
For that, you can rely on live demos to get a look into how your website will look with that theme and the features it will offer. Once you go through a few of the demos, it will be easier for you to decide what you need on your website.
Avoid Too Many Widgets & Plugins
Plugins are additional features that you can add to your website to get things done. These can be related to anything from creating contact forms to converting your website into an online store. Similarly, widgets are content blocks that can allow users to access content directly from the sidebar, main menu, or footer.
Both of these add functionality to your website without writing any code. However, using too many of these plugins and widgets might also impact the performance of your website. So, only add plugins that you need and avoid downloading unnecessary stuff.
Focus on Security
While building your website with WordPress, security should be your primary concern. Though you are just starting, putting in efforts towards that would mean you and your users remain safe. Obviously, you don’t want your site to get hacked after working on improving it for months.
So, follow the simple steps below and keep your site safe from major online threats.
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Move to HTTPS
Moving to HTTPS means securing your site connection by using additional security protocols often referred to as SSL and TLS. These security protocols encrypt the connection between the server and the user and ensure the safety of information.
If your website is not on HTTPS, even search engines such as Google might not consider it worth ranking among the top results despite how good your content is. Moreover, most of the users don’t trust sites without an SSL certificate (and they are right).
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Limit Login Attempts
One way hackers get control of a website is by using brute force. That means trying out thousands of passwords until they get the right one. That’s why always use a plugin that can limit login attempts and save yourself from trouble.
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Add Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication adds an extra security layer to your site, making it difficult for hackers to get into. Doing so is good in terms that hackers usually attack websites with lower security rather than spending more time on hacking a site with additional security measures.
Use Lazy Load or Other Such Plugins
One of the important factors in website performance is its loading time. If a site takes time in loading content, the users might move to the better one.
Using plugins such as Lazy Load will mean that your images will only load when the user will scroll down to them. As a result, the content on top will load faster and be visible to users instantly. That enhances the user experience and keeps them connected to the site.
Use Child Theme for Customization
Students with knowledge of coding, love to customize their WordPress websites. However, whenever the theme gets updated by the developer, they lose all the custom code and the changes they made. That’s where a child theme comes in.
A child theme is a copy of the selected theme, however, it doesn’t get affected by the developer updates. That means, if you use a child theme for customization, you will not lose your custom changes even after the update.
The Bottom Line
Using WordPress means having access to an abundance of resources, themes, plugins, and features. If you are not familiar, going too deep might mean messing up your beautiful and functional website. So, take things one step at a time and follow the tips above to get started on the right foot.