When you have a lot of experience in a specific area, it’s easy to fall into the trap of over-optimization.
After all, if you’ve been doing something since the beginning, it’s natural to want to make it easier, faster, and better than before.
This can lead to all kinds of problems ranging from unnecessary complexity to slow performance.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to avoid overoptimization and make your WordPress site or app better than ever before!
1. Avoid Relying Too Much On JavaScript
JavaScript is great for many things, but I wouldn’t recommend using it just for effects.
If you use JavaScript to enhance your site or app’s functionality, keep the browser console open so you can track any issues that might arise.
Overusing JavaScript can cause many problems ranging from performance issues to unexpected behavior.
2. Be Wary Of Pop-ups
You might be tempted to use a pop-up to encourage the reader to subscribe to your email list or to visit your blog, but they can also be a distraction.
When someone comes across a pop-up while browsing your site, they might think that there’s a virus on the site or an annoying piece of spam.
So, while they’re busy trying to close the pop-up, they won’t be able to participate in the conversation as much as they would have if the popup didn’t exist.
On the other hand, if you have a vital piece of information that you must present as a pop-up, it’s best to find a way to do it without annoying the reader.
3. Considerate Your Clients
Even if you’re a small business owner who just launched a WordPress blog, it’s important to consider your client’s needs.
In the beginning, you’ll certainly want to provide the best possible experience to your readers, but as your blog grows, you have to remember that you’ll need to satisfy your advertisers as well.
After all, they’re the ones who’ll be paying you for your services.
So, make sure that all the content on your site is relevant and interesting to your readers while also being engaging enough to hold their attention and encourage them to keep coming back for more.
4. Use CSS To Resize Images To Fit Any Width
Designing a web page or a blog post with a set width can be really useful when you want to keep the layout consistent across different devices.
However, this can also lead to the issue of the images not fitting the designated width. If you use CSS to set the width of the images on your site, you can prevent this from happening by either:
- Using the <img> tag to specify the width of the image.
- Adding the max-width and min-width CSS properties to your images.
- Choose a smaller width for your blog’s reading room to fit the images.
- Taking advantage of the CSS width and max-width properties to create a media query.
5. Keep Your Design Consistent
When someone comes across your site for the first time, they’ll naturally expect it to look a certain way.
After all, you created it based on a theme or template you followed. If you decide to switch the theme or template, however, your site will break, and all the carefully laid out formatting might be lost.
To avoid this, ensure that every piece of content on your site is formatted consistently.
This means using the same styles for everything from headings to paragraphs to links to images.
It also means using the same colors for elements such as buttons and text boxes so that everything matches.
6. Don’t Re-invent The Wheel
With all the new features added to WordPress over the years, it’s easy to find yourself reinventing the wheel just to make something work.
In cases where you want an effect that isn’t available in existing plugins, creating your own might be a good idea rather than trying to change something you shouldn’t be changing.
Color splash screens, for example, indicate that a plugin you’re using isn’t handling the functionality properly, or if it does, then you should find a different plugin that does what you need.
7. Know When To Use Video And When To Use Images
Depending on your target audience and the content of your blog post, you might want to use images or videos.
For example, suppose you’re writing for a real estate website and showing off property for sale.
In that case, you might want to use images since it’s likely that your audience will be looking at the post on a desktop computer rather than on a mobile device.
However, if you’re writing about an event that your readers will want to keep in mind, you might want to use video since it can provide a better overall experience for your audience.
8. Create Archive Pages For Your Blog
If you write frequently about a certain topic, it’s a good idea to look into creating an archive of your blog posts about that topic.
This can be done easily by creating an archive page for each category or topic that you write about.
For example, if you write about style and fashion, your archive might include all the posts about style and fashion and other subjects you’ve written about.
When someone comes across your archive, they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about without having to click around your blog looking for the appropriate post.
Plus, creating an archive for each category or topic makes it easier to find archived content should you need it later on.
9. Customize Your Blog’s URL
If you have more than one blog or website, it’s a good idea to make the URL for each one easily identifiable.
This could be done by simply adding a number or letter to the end of your domain name to create a unique URL for each blog or website.
If you write about many different topics, creating unique URLs for each blog post might get a little tedious, so you might want to consider using a tool like Google Custom Searches to make your life a little easier.
10. Host On A Hosting Service That Supports WordPress
If you decide to go the self-hosted route, where you install WordPress and configure it to work with your web server, you’ll need to make sure that your web host supports WordPress.
There are many benefits to hosting on a WordPress-supported platform, but the most notable one is that if something goes wrong, you can always contact the technical support staff for assistance.
When you’re using a shared hosting service, this is not possible since they don’t provide this kind of support.
11. Install A Child Theme
A child theme is a piece of software that’s designed to replace the appearance of your parent theme with a more professional and polished look.
The great thing about a child theme is that it doesn’t require any knowledge of HTML or CSS to implement; all you need is a text editor to make changes to the style sheets.
This makes it much easier to make global changes to your site’s appearance without contacting a developer.
12. Use An Image Optimizer To Make Your Images Work Harder
One of the biggest issues that crop up when creating a website or blog for the first time is the problem of the images not quite fitting the layout.
You’ll most likely experience this if you use a fluid or responsive layout, as images are generally designed to fit the size of the space that they’re in.
Using an image optimizer to reduce the file size of the images on your site will make them load faster and create a better overall user experience.
Optimize In Moderation
Over-optimization is a common pitfall for mobile app developers. You’ve seen it. You’ve done it. Maybe you’ve even said it.
But now that you’re reading this, you’re going to rethink that statement.
Because you might not be as clever as you think you are.
Believe it or not, there is an objective way to determine how well your app will perform once live in the App Store.
It’s not a perfect science, but with a bit of effort on your part, you can get pretty close to perfect!
