Are you new to the world of WordPress? Are you trying to create a website for your business or learn the ropes to work as a WordPress developer?
Whatever your goals are, you may find it quite helpful to use the services of a white label WordPress development agency, at least in the beginning. Along with reaching out to the pros, you can also learn some tips and best practices on your own.
Use the Site/Home URLs on WordPress
With WordPress, you have to configure your website’s domain by using either a home URL() or a site URL(). Even though WordPress offers the wp-config.php file where it is possible to hardcode the URL for the website, it is much easier to do this in a native manner.
Go to the Admin Dashboard and then navigate to Settings-General, and then edit the WordPress Address and the Site Address fields.
Follow the Coding Standards Set by WordPress
People who use WordPress have formed a unique community. These individuals have found through trial and error what works and what doesn’t. With all of this testing and learning that has come before you, this community has developed coding standards to ensure the highest security possible, along with the best chance for success.
If you plan to create a theme or plug-in through PHP, a good place to start is with the PHP Coding Standards for WordPress. If you plan to do your development with JavaScript, read the JavaScript Coding Standards written for WordPress. When you do this, it will help to set you up for success down the road as you continue to build and improve your development skills.
Find Theme and Plug-In Developers Who Care
When you first start creating and setting up your site, you need to figure out what third-party plug-ins and themes you will use. It is a good idea to choose ones that are current, regularly updated and that have high satisfaction ratings from other users.
If regular updates are being made, it means that the person who developed the theme and plug-in is interested in making sure that it is compatible with the latest WordPress versions. It also means they will be available to help if issues occur with the code. You can also use the Smart Plugin Manager offered by WordPress to make sure that automatic updates are applied to what you have chosen.
Always Update
Usually, WordPress will release a few updates a year. In some cases, in between these major updates, there will be security and maintenance updates as well. Also, plug-in and theme developers are going to regularly release security, maintenance, and improvement updates. You need to make sure all of these updates are installed, as this is crucial to your site’s integrity.
Be sure that you login to your dashboard at least once a month to see if there are any updates available. If there are, run them. To play it safe, it is a good idea to create a staging or development instance to test it out first. In this environment, the updates can be run in this testing mode to ensure there are no major issues before you update for real.
Developing the WordPress Site You Want
As you develop your WordPress site, be sure to keep the tips and information mentioned above in mind. Doing so is going to help ensure you get the results you are looking for and that your site does not have any operational or functional issues.
In the long run, having a quality website will pay off. A professional and well-functioning site will help minimize issues and ensure you enjoy a well-designed and properly performing WordPress site now, and in the future.