Website Blunders

Hey There,

Hope you're doing well!

A couple of years ago I started teaching my kids chess.

It's an amazing game, with so many life lessons you can apply.

One of the first things you learn is to avoid making blunders.

A blunder is an easily-avoided, bone-headed mistake that costs you material.

So, one of the first things you do before each move is to make sure you're not committing a blunder.

Well, when it comes to your next website project, there are some common blunders that people make all the time that can easily be avoided.

What follows are some classic blunders to avoid on your next website project.

By the way, I'm proud to say, my son, Kingston ended up winning first place in the Marin Scholastic Chess tournament this time last year. (My daughter Aria won 2 matches even though she wasn't in Kindergarten yet.)

1. Auto-renew your domain registration

I had a client once that failed to have their domain set to auto-renew. Their domain was a three-letter domain name. Very valuable. And they ended up having to buy it back from a poacher for over 6 figures. Ouch!

Pro-tip. Even better than auto-renewing your domain is to pre-purchase the registration for 10 years in advance. There is evidence that this slightly helps with your SEO ranking on Google.

2. Backup your website regularly

If you read the news at all, I'm sure you're well-aware of all the major sites that are getting hacked all the time. The truth is, it's a big bad world out there and you need to backup your website on a regular basis. At least once a month, but daily is even better.

3. Get good hosting

Not sure your site is being backed up? Here is a hint. Get good hosting.

Back in the day, I used to recommend companies like Bluehost with their $5/month hosting plan.

I've since changed my mind. Crappy hosting is just not worth it and you are vulnerable to attack.

When you use shared hosting, when any site on the server is hacked, all the websites on the shared environment are vulnerable. 

The flip side is, that good hosting will usually provide you with daily backups of your site along with daily scans of any malware attacks.

4. Don't break any links

If you're getting your site redesigned, one of the most important things is to not screw up your existing SEO (search engine optimization).

This is done primarily by not breaking any links on your site. Meaning, you either want to keep your URL structure the same as much as possible. Or you want to set up redirects from the old URLs to the new ones.

Curious if you currently have any broken links on your site? You can use a third-party tool like this one to see if you any broken links: https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/

5. Check your email hosting

A common blunder I've run into is when clients don't take into account where their email is currently being hosted. Most people don't realize that website hosting and email hosting are two entirely separate things.

What happens is, when someone launches a new site they don't take into account how their email is set up, and when they switch things over, the email setup can get completely screwed up. 

Long story short, be sure that whoever is setting up your site for you takes into account your current email setup and doesn't screw anything up.

6. Uncheck the de-index box in WordPress

Typically, when you develop a new WordPress website, you do so in a 'test' environment. This is done so you can see the 'new' website on the web before it officially goes 'live'. 

To make sure the new test site is not being indexed on the web, by default, WordPress sets the site as being de-indexed by Google. 

The problem occurs when it comes time to launch the new site where developers often forget to uncheck this box. The result being your new site becomes invisible to Google and you lose all of your search rankings instantly.

7. Don't make more than one major change at a time

Sometimes people want to change the name of their company, website URL and website design all on the same day. I don't recommend it. Especially if you don't want to lose any of your Google rankings.

If you know you are going to change your domain name, I recommend doing it at least a month before or after you launch the new site. This gives Google time to register the change and for you to make any needed adjustments.

When you change everything at once and something bad happens, it's impossible to isolate what the issue was and to fix it.

8. Check Copyscape for duplicate content

If you ever hire a writer, be sure to check their work on Copyscape. This will tell you if any of it is duplicate content found anywhere else on the web. Google doesn't like duplicate content and if you use it, it will lower your rankings in the search results. You also want to check Copyscape in case anyone else on the web is using your content on their website.

9. Make sure the www version of your site is working

This happens more often than you may think. Did you know that the www version of your website is technically a sub-domain? Usually, most people just redirect one URL to go to the other. But every once in a while, the www version is left unchecked and doesn't redirect anywhere. So make sure to double-check the www version of the site to make sure it is pointed properly.

10. Make sure your site is HTTPS secure

About a year ago, Google started giving visitors warnings if they try to visit a site and is not https secure.

Google has also lowered websites on the search results if your site is not secure. So make sure your website has a properly configured SSL certificate to avoid this issue.

11. Accessibility / ADA Compliant

Having your website be accessible to people with disabilities is no longer optional.

The simplest solution we have found is to use the third-party tool called Userway. This plugin gives people with disabilities increased accessibility to websites and complies with all ADA guidelines.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Some simple blunders to avoid with your current or next website project.

Let me know if I'm missing anything and I'll add it to a future list.

Talk soon,

Victor

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