Are you thinking of starting a small business blog for passive income but the thought of designing it is weighing you down? Most of us can relate to that! After all, the first step tends to be the hardest especially when we are talking about small business blogs for making money.
I am sure many of your friends would have already suggested checking out WordPress. However, you are bound to make some mistakes there as well if it is your first time.
So what is the secret behind a good website design?
Sit back, grab snacks, and read through the 14 common mistakes you DON’T want to make next time you are on WordPress.
What to Watch out for in a Small Business Blog?
You have done all the homework on how to design a website for almost any niche. But, are those tricks applicable here as well?
Let’s have a look at some of the aspects you should check out next time.
Visuals are very important! When presenting facts and figures related to the business blog, it is always a nice touch to include photographs. The more the merrier!
Also, it is best to include all the important information about the individual listing. Do not make your reader scour the website in order to find ways to contact you for business inquiries. The contact information such as email IDs and phone numbers should be loud and clear. Another great top-up is to add a button to the website for booking business appointments online. Such a feature would help get rid of excessive phone calls.
Is WordPress any Good for Your Small Business Blog?
You know there are over 570 million blogs over the internet and 7 million blog posts are published every day. Luckily, WordPress is considered the most trending platform for blog designs. It’s the best choice for professional bloggers and still loved by millions. If you want something more sophisticated, you can always go for the large range of plugins that are available.
Fun-Fact! Close your eyes and think of a famous website. What was the first one that came to your mind? TechCrunch or maybe Spotify? Now, did you know that those major sites rely on WordPress? In fact, over 30% of the total sites on the internet use this platform.
The ease of quick setup works as a huge advantage here. On top of that, WordPress makes content management seem like a breeze. You can look into community events, change blog posts, and manage hot sheets without much technical training.
Now, continue reading to find out how you can finish a business blog on WordPress without making the 14 common mistakes that most new-comers do!
3 Easy Steps To Create a Small Business Blog on WordPress
There is not just one factor that you have to keep in mind if you want an amazing website over WordPress. Have you ever tried to start a blog on WordPress? Gladly, the process aligns— for an attractive website on WP, the best design needs to be a mixture of suitable themes, a reliable web hosting platform, necessary plugins, and an equally catchy domain name.
I would recommend you always keep these three easy steps in mind.
- Step #1
Software installed and you are good to go? The first step in customization is to choose a theme that complements your business blog?
I would suggest you perform a thorough search for the best theme available in the market. It should be enriched with features that’ll generally cater to all your needs. - Step #2
You need to make sure your blog looks more attractive. The best option is using pretty pictures and catchy descriptions that make visitors stay. - Step #3
Don’t leave your readers without a roadmap. If they came here looking for a service, there are solid chances they would need to reach out to you. Make sure the contact information you provide is loud and clear. Also, there should be a button to book online business appointments. You can do this by adding a free plugin, such as Easy Appointments, to the WordPress site.
14 common mistakes you must avoid while developing a small business blog.
1. Paying Less Attention to Business Blog SEO
Are you publishing content without paying much attention to search engine optimization? Red Flag!
In order to rank with Google algorithm, keep a few factors in mind next time:
- Use a good combination of H2 and H3 headings
- Make small paragraphs
- Ensure good readability
- Tip! Install the Yoast plugin that provides a checklist for fixing content SEO.
2. Not Using High-Quality Plugins
More than 50,000 WordPress plugins are there for a reason! I am not suggesting you try all of these but, in any case, make sure you don’t end up using the bad ones. Cheap plugins can often pull down the quality of your website therefore you need to make a smart choice. You have to be more careful while choosing the plugins for an e-commerce website. In this case, I have seen that premium plugins with monthly licenses are more reliable.
It is good practice to go through user reviews and look into the company that has launched the plugin before trying it.
3. Filling Posts Without Categorization
You can assign different categories to your post to improve user experience by providing easy navigation. Failing to do so will cause them all to pile up together in the uncategorized section. This leaves your content looking a bit unprofessional. The same is the case with many creators who leave the “Just Another Blog” tagline unchanged. This one-line description is important in terms of giving identity to your post.
If a certain content does not fit in any category then it is better to make a section “others” and leave it there instead of keeping it uncategorized.
4. Not Working on Permalink Structure Properly
The golden rule is that most things that come without any effort are not very fruitful. The same goes for your post’s default permalink that will not score many points when it comes to SEO. Selecting SEO-friendly permalink is not a daunting task. Just click on the settings and move to the permalink option. Here choose the post of the name and you are good to go. If you want to assign the permalink URLs quickly, look into related plugins, most of these are available for free.
5. Taking No Backups of the Business Blog
Losing the important assignment because you never hit the save button used to be a college nightmare. Unfortunately, WordPress works the same way, and being a newbie to WordPress, if you don’t want to face any inconvenience make sure you always create a backup for the content.
Additionally, instead of getting separate plugins, you can choose a hosting company that provides automatic backup. It will take care of the database, themes, and all the uploaded files.
6. Keep Your Themes Updated
The purpose of updating themes and plugins collection on WordPress is not always to add new features. Sometimes, it is also helpful in getting rid of the bugs that might be weighing down your website. Therefore, it is important to stay up to date with the latest changes. A keep check on the dashboard will also help you decide if there are any useless themes taking up free space that you can delete.
7. Making Use of Subdomain Carelessly
Before we get down to explaining how this is a mistake, many readers still need to know what a subdomain is? Ever noticed the “www” that precedes a website name? That’s it! However, if every page seems to have this addition, then how come it is a mistake that you should make when making a small business blog? Here’s why!
Your actual website will be considered a separate entity if written with a subdomain. That is why it is extremely important to not include this in business listings.
8. Updating Blog URL After Publication
We are often tempted to update our documents from time to time. Although it is a great practice, changing URL after publication is not a good idea. If you have made such a change, Google algorithms will categorize it as a new page. Consequently, this would mean all the previous links and traffic would be lost. Furthermore, it is suggested you skip the parts in the slug that might need editing later. For example, instead of making it best-wp-plugins-2021, just stick to best-wp-plugins.
9. Not Improving Visuals of Content Pages
Images can say a thousand words. That is exactly why visuals are very important even when you are working on something as technical as a business blog site. The human brain is typically quicker to process pictures than words. Therefore, if you want to make sure the readers have the best user experience, work hard on visuals.
Canva is a free tool that can be of big help when creating interesting visuals for your website.
10. Posting Images Without Resizing
Heavy images can make your site work slower. There are two ways to fix this issue. You can simply use a tool of your liking from readily available plugins that fix image properties before posting. Secondly, you can also do it manually using apps such as Preview or Photoshop. If you are using photoshop for this task, I would suggest resizing the resolution of the image to 72 for the best results.
11. Relying on Low-Quality IDX
The IDX solution seems like the best buddy you need for finishing a good website. It will provide you with Map search, allow the use of financial tools, and gives you access to business listings. However, out-dated IDX often comes with subdomains and we have already explained why that should be avoided at any cost.
12. Giving Out Blog Admin Privileges Thoughtlessly
Handing out the keys for your main door to just about anyone is never a good idea. This is how keenly you should guard WordPress access too. Only provide temporary access if you are working with a team. WordPress dashboard lets you review permissions given to each user. Install a plugin to limit access if needed.
13. Saving Site With a Weak Password
Most of us choose weak passwords as they are easy to remember. However, it also implies that your site can be easily compromised. Too lazy to think of a password yourself? Management tools got you covered! Try your hands on one that can generate an ideal, strong password.
14. Relying on Low-Quality Web Hosts
It makes sense that you are trying to keep the expenses as low as possible. However, web hosts are not a service where you should be saving money. A poor web host will never let your site reach a good rank even if it has an amazing domain name. So, my final advice is to choose the best hosting for your business.
Final Thoughts
Designing a WordPress site is easy, making mistakes while doing so… is easier, especially if you have just set out on the online business venture. The website that you are aiming for— needs plugins, updated themes, great visuals, and an amazing overall layout. WordPress is a reliable platform to get this job done by simply tweaking with the basic website settings.
