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…plus easy ways to fix each!

Struggling with your wordpress website for writing or blogging? Here are a few wordpress mistakes you’re probably making that will kill your traffic. Fortunately, you can fix them all today! 

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As the de facto manager of our small business websites for the past eight years, I made a lot of wordpress mistakes.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t get the job because I’m an expert. I took on the role because I was the only person who would-could.

Over the years I’ve made tons of wordpress mistakes that–I’m sure–resulted in lost clients, poor user experiences, and first/last time visitors.

But hacking around for eight years you learn a lot. And now I’ll share with you simple issues solopreneurs–bloggers, authors, and small business owners–often make on their own websites.

Perhapsy you’re thinking “I’m a writer! I’m a mom! I’m an athlete! I don’t care about design.”

Trust me. I feel you. I am the world’s most non-visual person and have a touch of facial blindness to prove it.

Still. You still want to make things simple and clean enough so that readers don’t click off before they can even read your great content.

If you’re making some–or all–of these wordpress mistakes, don’t fear. I’ve made most of them, too! The good news is they’re easy to fix.

Let’s dig in.

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seven biggest reasons readers click off your blog in a hurry

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your url or email sends a mixed message

Last year while I was writing 400,000 words, I spent a lot of time researching literary agents. And among the dozens of fancy NYC addresses, there are multiple–ostensibly successful–agents out there who have aol email addresses and no website.

Seriously? How can that be?

Any legit small business needs a website, and there’s no reason not to set up a professional email to go along with it [ie bethany at bethanyrutledge dot com.] If you can’t do that for some reason, then a simple first.last at gmail will suffice. Nix the hotmail, weirdmail, and definitely the aol.

While we’re discussing that, if you’re a blogger you can get away with a wix or wordpress in your title, but if you’re a small business owner you really need to have a url that’s just a straight up dot com.

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The Fix: Use this link to get your new domain, hosting, and email for just $3 to start from Hostgator. You can also have them help you set up a free content migration.

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slow speed

When I was switching up my site in early January, I got an alarming email from Google Console. My site was taking ten plus seconds to load. No wonder my traffic was nil. I can’t even expect family members to wait that long much less strangers or potential customers.

We get bored and click off while your page is loading. I didn’t realize until recently that your google results are affected by google pagespeed insights.

Technically, this isn’t a visual component of your site, but if a reader clicks off before your first post opens, then they won’t even get to the visuals. Also, it’s the speed of your mobile site that’s affected first.

If you’re not sure how your site stacks up, get started at google pagespeed insights.

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it looks like something straight outta 98

I remember my very first website. It was a single page geocities page on pole vaulting that I wrote with my friend Chandra in high school. My first “blog” in the early 2000s was for a personal training business I started. It was a straight up blogger site, with cheesy stock image photos and a self designed logo in paintbrush.

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I’ll never win any visual design awards, but I do know how to pick and use a modern template. And you can too! Get to exploring via themeisle or similar and see how many great themes there are to get excited about!

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your text is too tiny

A good rule of thumb is that 16 pt text roughly equates to 12 pt text on paper. As a blogger, you need to be thinking 16 – 20px plus.

As a point of reference this text is 20px.

If your text is too tiny, a reader’s eyes will strain reading, it will seem like too much work, and they will eventually give up. The same applies to white text on black background, by the way, or anything other than a standard-ish black text on a white background.

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your posted on date is hella old

If you link me to a post from 2017, readers are wondering why you’re still sharing that? Is that really the most relevant thing you’ve written? That question will haunt me to the point I can’t even get through your post.

If your post is evergreen, then consider taking this tag off your posts altogether. OR, change it to show date updated.

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you have tons of random ads

I get that the goal of many sites is to monetize with ads. But you want to make sure those ads look attractive or at least neutral. None of those ones you can’t close out, or that obstruct your entire field of vision. Just no.

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your site isn’t secure

For credibility–not to mention security–you need your site to start with https. Even if you’re not a tech-y person, this is a short job. I promise!

The Fix:Here’s a great primer to learn the ins and outs of getting your security certificate. Your hosting provider probably has it’s own DIY tutorial. If this seems overwhelming, then simply give your hosting provider a call and tell them what you need.

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now that we’ve covered some no-nos, here are a few things you should do to get a request:

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make clean, inviting images- Use a tool like Canva to make beautiful images for your blog and social media accounts.

tell me what I’m opting in for – If you have an opt-in, tell me what to expect. Will I hear from you regularly? What will you write me about?

hook me with your intro –   Start with a story, example, or illustration, something I can’t help but agree with. Raise a question, something I’ll have to keep on reading to find out. Tell me you’ll help solve my problem, then deliver.T

Start with rapport –  A good about page will either make me subscribe or think “nah” and click off. If I’m feeling you as a person, I’m much more likely to stick around.

Invest in a course –  The best investment I made when getting started is the course Ready, Set, Blog for Traffic. Not only does course creator Elna Cain explain the ins and outs of blogging, she providers a bunch of free templates, email scripts, pinterest board references and more.

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What are your best tips for new bloggers’ websites? What’s the worst mistake you’ve made on yours? I’d love to hear! Please leave me a comment below.

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join 1028 writers growing online presence to better reach readers in a digital world.

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Other ideas for your blogging journey:

• Social Media Platforms for Authors
• 21 ways to level up your author website
• Listen to your wip on the go with google docs
• Get Published Podcast- Using Pinterest to Build your Email List
• 21 Online Tools Writers Need to Make an Impact

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