So, you just downloaded WordPress and you’re in the process of setting up your new website. The only problem? You don’t know much about WordPress, or even web design in general, so you’re having a hard time. 

Well, getting started with WordPress is an overwhelming process, to say the least. But once you pick a few key areas to focus on, you’ll have a better chance of getting the results you’re looking for, which is what you want. 

So, what are the basic ideas that you need to keep in mind when first designing your website? And how can you improve your chances of getting your website off the ground faster?

If you’re asking yourself questions like these, wonder no longer, because we’re here to help! In this article, we’ll tell you how to set up your WordPress website, including a few things you can do to stand out amongst the crowd early on.

Now then, let’s get started!

Build Everything with SEO in Mind

There are a lot of WordPress tips out there, but knowing which ones to pay attention to, especially early on, is key. And when building your website, especially during the early stages, it’s important to make every decision with SEO in mind. By building from the ground up for SEO, you give yourself a better chance to rank high on search engines, which of course, is what you want.

Picking an SEO-friendly theme is especially important when first building your WordPress website. So, when you purchase your first theme, make sure it checks all the right SEO boxes before you pay any money for it. 

Format Your Content the Right Way

Another thing that you should focus on, especially during the early stages of designing your website, is formatting. Formatting your content the right way can increase your chances of getting your website off the ground fast, which of course, is a good thing. 

Paragraphs, headings, and media are key elements to formatting content the right way. So before you sit down and start churning out content, research and practice the format first to get an idea of how to write the proper way.

Use Whitespace Design

A huge part of making a successful website is making decisions with your users in mind. By focussing on user experience, you usually end up checking other important boxes, like SEO, too, which is ideal.

A big thing that you can do that will improve your user experience is to utilize whitespace design. The best part? Whitespace design is simple and easy to implement, just use the color white as your website’s background color!

Whitespace design makes your content flow together more smoothly, as well as makes it easier to read. This is a feature that your users will enjoy, keeping them around longer and encouraging them to come back again for more.

Use Legible and Bold Fonts

Along with proper formatting and whitespace design, another thing you can do to improve your readability is to use legible and bold fonts. Making your content as easy to read as possible sets you and your website up for success, especially early on, which is key.

While it may be tempting to use unique and creative fonts to grab users’ attention, making your content easy to read should always be the main goal. Larger font sizes, in particular, have grown in popularity over the past year, making them worth considering.

Don’t Forget About Navigation

When designing your website, the overall layout and structure of the pages and content are extremely important. And making it easy to navigate your website, in particular, is a must if you want your website to thrive on the web.

A basic guideline to navigation is simple: if it takes more than three clicks to get to a page or article, your navigation is too complicated. Keep the three-click rule in mind and you should be able to easily create a website that users will enjoy using and exploring.

Check Your Website Downloading Speeds

Again, it’s important to keep your users in mind when making any sort of decision about your website. And if there’s one thing that will turn off a user quicker than anything else, it’s slow download speeds.

So, once you have your website set up, run a few pages through Google’s website speed checker. And if you don’t get a bad score, don’t worry, Google will give you a few tips on how you can speed up your site.

Getting Started with WordPress

Well, there you have it! Those are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind when getting started with WordPress. And by using these ideas, you should increase your chances of getting your website off the ground faster!

Once you set up your website, start making the decisions with SEO in mind. Picking an SEO-friendly website template, in particular, is incredibly important and should be one of the first things you do.

Keeping user experience in mind, too, is also a good idea. Things like formatting your content the right way, and using whitespace design and larger fonts, can help make your website better for users.

Also, navigation is extremely important and one of the biggest reasons why people exit a website within a few seconds. That, and download speeds, are areas you should pay close attention to when designing your website early on.

Looking for more ways to make your website better? Check out our blog!