How to Make Your WordPress Look Like a Website
Once you’ve installed WordPress, the most basic level of customization is already at your fingertips. You can change the look of your website by editing the style sheet (also known as the theme of your site) of your installed WordPress.
That’s pretty easy, right?
Well, it is, but there are a few tricks to making the most of this feature.
Personalized Fonts
For the best user experience, it’s important to select a font that suits your taste. One of the simplest ways to achieve this is to use the Google Custom Fonts feature that’s available for free on Google Fonts. With this option, you can upload any font you wish to use on your website and Google will provide you with a fully compatible version, as well as a number of optional features that can enhance the appearance of your website.
One of the optional features that Google Fonts provides is the selection of a particular paper size. This size will then be applied to all the text on your site, which means your site will display in a standard font size on any device.
Content Spacing
This is mostly relevant if you have more than one article or post on your site. If you’ve used the default look of WordPress, you’ll notice that the content seems to be placed very close together. Well, with the Content Spacing plugin — available for free on WordPress.org — you can actually adjust how much space the content is going to occupy on your site.
You can choose from the available options: Full Width, Half Width, Third Width, and Fourth Width. Experiment with different options to see which one works best for your site.
Add Media
Even if your site has only one article or post, you can still use the Add Media button (found at the top of the editor) to add more content to your story. Simply click on this button and a media library will appear.
As mentioned, this feature is available for WordPress users for free. So, even if you don’t have a premium account, you can still use it to add media to your site. This way, you can keep your content flexible while still maintaining a certain level of design. To add media, simply click on the Add Media button and select the images or videos you wish to use from your device’s memory.
Use Shortcodes
Shortcodes are basically HTML snippets with designated characters (usually <b>, <strong>, <h1>, <p>, <ul>, <li>, and <img>) that you can embed in your site. Once you’ve installed the Shortcodes (free) plugin, you can start using this feature. Simply click on the Insert Shortcode button to add a shortcode to your site. For instance, if you wish to add a bulleted list to your site, you can use this feature to insert <ul> or <li> tags into your content.
Redesigned Menus
One of the things that make WordPress so flexible is the array of options and possibilities that it provides. While some may see this as a feature, others may see it as a major drawback. So, if you’re one of the people who see the perk of this feature, you can experiment with different menu structures to see which one works best for your blog or website.
You can use any menu structure you like, but there are a few proven ways to make your WordPress menu more versatile. To start, you can use the Vertical Menu plugin (available for free on WordPress.org). This plugin will allow you to create a vertical menu that spans across the entire width of your website’s page. Additionally, you can choose from a couple of different styles: Light or Dark. If you’re curious, you can give it a try.
Adjust Headers And Footers
The headers and footers of a website are the bits of information at the top and bottom of the page: the title, the description, and the copyright. Unless you have a particularly long page, you can leave the headers and footers as-is. However, if you have a page that stretches across two or more screens, you can use this feature to create flexible headers and footers.
With the Flexible Page Header plugin (also available for free on WordPress.org) you can actually adjust the position of the header on the page. This way you can continue to add more content to the point where the header starts to become untidy. If you wish, you can display your social media platforms as well as a link to your email newsletter in your header. Additionally, you can choose from a number of different styles (including clean, classic, busy, or simple) to give it a custom look.
Improve Seo (Search Engine Optimization)
If you use Google Analytics (the free version is sufficient) to track the performance of your website, you’ll be able to see which pages are the most visited and which pages have the highest bounce rate (i.e., the number of visitors who only visit that page and then leave).
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a page performs poorly and has a very low bounce rate. When this happens, it can be a sign that there’s something wrong with the page’s content (e.g., spelling errors, confusing or unhelpful information, or an overload of words). In these cases, you can try and improve the page’s SEO by making the necessary changes to the content.
In other cases, the low bounce rate may simply be a result of the poor usability of the page. In these instances, the design of the page may be the issue. For example, if the page contains a large amount of text and no readable features (e.g., pictures or videos), the text may be the primary focus and the page may appear dull and uninteresting to users.
To find out what’s causing the poor performance of a particular page, you can use the Long Tail Pro (available for purchase on WordPress.org) to view keywords and search volumes.
Increase Developer Flexibility
The last thing anyone wants is a developer who is only comfortable working with one software package (usually that package’s publisher’s product). But if you do happen to work with a developer who is only comfortable using one application or piece of software, you can use this feature to increase your developer’s flexibility. Simply use one of the CMSes (content management systems) to organize your website’s content.
Most CMSes are extremely user-friendly, and with a little bit of training, even developers who have little to no experience can easily master them. This, in turn, will allow them to become much more versatile in terms of the applications and websites they can build. As a result, you’ll be able to find a much more capable developer who is willing to work within your budget.
If you use a CMS to manage the content of your website, you can also use it to create a mobile-friendly version of your site. This way, if a visitor comes from a mobile device, they will be able to easily navigate your content. Additionally, as mentioned, the content can be updated and curated from anywhere, at any time, which makes it much more flexible.