I have seen plenty of site owners who are (unknowingly) harming their own site.
It’s painful particularly as it can be avoided.
It’s not about being the most knowledgeable and highly experienced person in the world.
It’s about following some basic steps which can help you get your site to the next level.
Only if you want to, of course.
If you don’t want to, go ahead and ruin your site :).
And here is how you can do that.
1. By Using Large, Unoptimised Images
This is one of the easiest and most common seen on most sites.
When copying images from other sites, it is easy to forget about the file size.
When uploading a raw photo that you have taken with your camera, phone, DSLR or otherwise, it is very easy to forget about the file size.
They can run into megabytes and if you add all of the images like that, your site will struggle and site speed will be affected.
As a result, your visitor will find themselves waiting and waiting for your site to load.
And they won’t hang around too long either.
Solution: before uploading images, make sure you check the file size. Use photo editors to compress the images or at the very least, use image compression plugins like WP Smush or Imsanity which can compress your images as you upload them.
2. By Not Picking a Reputable Host or the Right Package
It’s so easy to be attracted to the cheap end hosting that you see everywhere.
If you think you can get the best product by paying a few pounds/dollars per month, think again.
I’ve written a blog post recently about the danger of picking free/cheap hosting.
The consequences are not worth it.
Solution: make sure you pick a reputable and well-regarded hosting provider with the right package for your site. If you value your business, you should value the price of having a good host, even if you have to pay for it.
And if hosting a WordPress site, it’s recommended to use a reputable managed WordPress hosting provider.
3. By Not Bothering to Update Software, Plugins and Themes
Most people question why some WordPress sites get hacked.
One of the most common reasons is because they have failed to update to the most recent version of the products they use.
When updates are available, they are not just there to introduce you to new features and possibly designs.
They are also there to help tidy up any security issues too.
You’ve seen before how certain security updates occur urgently because of a loophole.
Well, there is a reason for that, and it’s to protect your site.
Solution: very easy to fix. If there are updates available in your WordPress dashboard, backup your site and carry out the updates. This is especially the case if they are security updates.
4. By Approving All Spammy Comments
I’ve seen how many site owners are accepting spammy comments to make their site look interactive and busy.
Little do they know that they can have a counter effect to that.
Not only will the site contain bad quality and unengaging comments, but it will also have a negative effect in terms of SEO.
Many of the spammy commenters place links within the comments and link to some spammy site.
Would you be happy to link to suspicious looking websites?
No, obviously not.
Then you wouldn’t want your comments to be linking to them either.
You also wouldn’t want Google to see that you are associated with these sites either.
Solution: when you receive comments, make sure you check whether they are genuine or not. If you found that you receive a lot of spammy comments, using spammy plugins such as Akismet can help to block the majority.
5. By Using Manufactured, Generic and Cheesy Stock Images
This is where most people would cringe.
It’s difficult to see how images like the one below can help with your audience and allow them to engage with your site.
But using cheesy and fake looking stock images can go a long way towards ruining your credibility.
And many people would not fall for your picture of everyone sitting around a conference table, smiling and flashing their big white teeth.
Solution: there is nothing wrong with using stock images but within reason.
There are plenty of other stock image providers you can choose from which allow you to use beautiful images.
Some of my favourites include:
- Pixabay
- Unsplash
- Death to the Stock Photo (nice name)
Make sure you use stock images that fit with what you are trying to say.
6. By Not Using Responsive Design
More and more people are using their mobile phones to access the internet and visit websites.
Even Google admitted that the number of people searching on mobile has officially exceeded desktop back in October 2015.
And the trend is growing.
Now let’s look at your site.
If you found that you do not need to use responsive design (which is where a website design can adapt to various devices: desktop, tablet and mobile), then you are falling behind the trend.
And you will further if you continue with that stance.
It’s not something that should cost a lot of money if you use WordPress. Most themes are responsive nowadays.
But it is up to you to make sure that the themes you use are responsive before buying them.
I use the theme (as well as the Genesis framework) from StudioPress. I know that they are well-built, optimised and also responsive.
Solution: when choosing a new WordPress theme, make sure it is fully responsive. Check the demo and try changing the browser size to see how the demo site responds to you making the browser smaller.
It is not a perfect method, but it will give you a very good idea on whether the theme is responsive or not.
7. By Neglecting SEO Entirely
This is another step that most people would feel they are not capable of following, and that is, best practice in SEO.
But some of the most basic recommendations are actually very simple to carry out yourself.
For example, if you are updating your Page Title and Meta Description, make sure you encourage keywords but also encourage people to click on them.
Using a plugin like Yoast SEO Plugin can help with that.
And when it comes to creating content, quality matters over quantity and will be appreciated by Google.
You are wasting your time if you think keyword density is an important factor
Solution: follow the basic best practice by reading Moz’s beginner guide to SEO but also incorporate the basic features using Yoast SEO plugin.
If you want to go to the next level, using a well-regarded SEO professional can help you do that.
But other best practices are also based on the quality of your content, as mentioned below.
8. By Copying and Pasting Content from Other Sites
Plagiarism has always been disapproved of when you are writing your homework, essays or dissertation.
So what makes you think that it’s OK to copy content from other sites?
Many e-commerce sites are also guilty of copying the product description from the main manufacturer’s website.
Also not a good idea if you want to stand out from the crowd.
Solution: write your own unique, engaging and high-quality content that will resonate with your audience.
It doesn’t matter if you have “boring products”. Even those selling torches, yes just a simple torch, can create brilliant content.
9. By Creating Bad Quality Content
This is similar to above as copying and pasting content will obviously mean that you are not offering anything new or different.
But bad quality content could also mean a number of other things:
- Too many grammar or spelling errors
- Writing content for the sake of writing
- Irrelevant to your audience, e.g. would you write about insurance to a fashion-oriented audience, regardless of how amazing that content is?
- Forgetting that you have ‘Lorem Ipsum’ text across the site
- Using low-quality images or stock photos as mentioned above
Solution: create your own content, be unique and stand out by differentiating yourself from everyone else. This could be via using different types of content, e.g. video, audio, interactive. It can also be using your own tone of voice, adding your own opinions and offering different perspectives.
And quality over quantity does matter. But if you can do both, make sure that your audience is happy with the quantity.
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Just to clarify, that I do not want you to ruin your site. But you may be unknowingly doing just that.
The number of small actions you may be doing to your site is actually doing more harm than good.
But if you follow the solutions provided in each point made above, you are going in the right direction.
Can you think of any other actions which can ruin your site?
Ahmed Khalifa
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