WordPress website redesign services

There are at least two options to pick from in selecting a WordPress website redesign location. I usually base the choice on whether or not it is a WordPress rebuild, and/or if the new site will be hosted in a new location. Clients often choose the rebuild timing as an opportunity to opt for a better hosting platform, such as one that includes an Annual Website Maintenance Plan…

1.) Build in a Subdirectory

If it’s a WordPress site that is being worked on, the least time-consuming option might be to complete the redesign in a subdirectory of that site. When it’s completed, all that’s required to go live is to edit the index.php file in the root directory and amend the path to the WordPress source files. Once that’s done, simply delete the original version of WordPress in the root directory, if that’s where it was. See: Giving WordPress its own Directory

2.) Build in Temporary Hosting

If the client would like the site to go live on new hosting, I offer to provide managed hosting or an annual WordPress Website Maintenance Plan that includes managed hosting. Running my own VPS server allows me the flexibility to add a hosting account in a couple of minutes. I can immediately install WordPress and get the rebuild process underway without any fuss or bother. Having total control over the hosting aspect is helpful, especially when there’s the need to create MySQL databases and upload files.

PREVENT INDEXING OF THE TEMPORARY SITE

There’s no merit in allowing search engines to index a site under construction if it’s going to be relocated to a client’s hosting account later. If it’s in a subdirectory of the client’s site, that site will be credited with all the 404 page not found errors when the new version’s location changes. That’s always be avoided if possible.

• Install the “Password Protected” plugin, because that prevents prying eyes and search engines from seeing anything that’s not ready for prime time.

When you are ready to go live with the new sites it’s crucial that you UNINSTALL and delete the  Password Protect plugin, and check that the Privacy settings allow indexing…

Manually add a real robots.txt, and insert a reference to the sitemap.xml generated by the Google XML Sitemap plugin…

As my grandfather was overly fond of pointing out – “There are more ways to kill a cat than drowning it in cream…”  This was more illustrative of the availability of multiple tools and methodologies for almost any task, albeit somewhat alarming to any feline within earshot, rather than any malevolent intent towards the aforementioned cat…

• Run a Full BackupDownload it to your PC

• Install a fresh iteration of WordPress on the destination, including Updraftplus

• Upload the files to the destination website’s /uploads/updraft/ directory via FTP or file manager

• Run the Restore/Migration process in Updraftplus

In my opinion, it’s always best to buy a Premium WordPress CMS theme platform for any WordPress custom website redesign project! Pick one from a reputable theme platform design company, preferably one with an upgrade path and community support built in, such as Generatepress, StudioPress “Genesis” Themes, Astra etc.  Using a design theme platform which supports the “child theme” concept is ideal. There are sound reasons for this – not least of which is standards compliance, security, functionality and support for the full WordPress feature set.

As you learn how to rebuild a WordPress website, be aware that “Free” themes often have little or no provenance and no comeback. There are no assurances of adherence to HTML or CSS standards or compliance with best practices in coding for security. Some themes from dubious sources can even come bundled with your very own malware already built in!

Page Speed & Core Web Vitals

Page load speed and UX (user experience) should be mission-critical factors in your choice! Not least because Google now says all of that is going to be baked into ranking algorithms from mid-June 2021.

US$60  is not a big price to pay for such an important component!

Mobile Responsive

You absolutely must use a theme that is tagged as ‘mobile responsive design‘ because this will future-proof your site for the next couple of years. This type of theme dynamically resizes depending on the device it’s being displayed on; desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone, allowing you to reach out and welcome all manner of visitors!

Smart New WordPress

One of the many cool features of the later versions of WordPress is that it retains a copy of your inactive Sidebar Widgets. Previously, if you forgot to copy the content of those, they’d simply vanish if the new theme did not have corresponding slots for them to mesh into.

SEO benefits and eases the pain of creating and publishing content.

SEO Plugins

Here’s the list of tried and true SEO tools I use

• Yoast SEO – it’s possibly got more free features than AIOSEO…
• All In One SEO Pack – add the Branding element in all locations e.g.;  Post / Page Title Format: %post_title% | Website Redesign Co. This saves you from having to add it to individual pages and posts across the site.
• WP Simple Sitemap – auto-generates an HTML sitemap on a page for the convenience of visitors
  

Other Redesign Topics

WP Security

This has been the subject of a couple of other extensive WordPress security services posts I’ve written, and I urge you to implement a security plugin!

• Wordfence – This was the easiest to use and most robust security plugin for WordPress available. It grew like Topsy… I no longer use it at all on any new sites and am replacing it on all sites I manage as time permits.
• Block Bad Queries – firewall
• Limit Logins or Loginizer – prevents Brute Force Login attacks
• Block Bad Bots – self-explanatory, it keeps the trash bots out
• XML RPC – one of the most serious threats is exploitation of the remote publishing functions – most people never need it turned on.
• REST API – another threat area – disabling for not-logged-in users makes sense

301 Permanent Redirection

Where page file names are being amended to verbose, keyword-rich URLs, redirection of old page names to new page names is crucial to prevent de-indexing and loss of rankings.

• Redirection Plugin is a fine solution to the 301 redirection challenge. Activate the automatic redirection function settings and never forget to add a redirect again… Every NZ website designer should use this tool.

CMS Plugins for a WordPress Website Redesign

How to rebuild a WordPress website to look more like a CMS (Content Management System) for search engines and visitors. You need to gain better leverage from Categories and Tags… Categories and Tags can generate great landing pages, with pathways into your important content. By default, they lack accurate descriptive Header tags and have no introductory text paragraphs that can be engineered to improve rankings.

• WP-No-Tag-Base – Make your tag pages look more like real pages by removing the “tag” element from the URL
  
• WP No Category Base – WPML compatible – Make your Category pages look more like real pages by removing the “category” element from the URL
• Category SEO Meta Tags – if your design theme does not support this, you can generate custom Title and Description meta-tags for each Category and Tag. Add a proper page Heading, and introductory paragraphs for the individual Category pages. Specially designed to be compatible with All In One SEO Pack. This plugin can make a huge difference to the perceived value of auto-generated Category and Tag pages. Some themes have similar functionality, in which case you won’t need a plugin.

For a website that has very large volumes of content on multiple topics, pages can become deeply nested and the conventional menu structure becomes unwieldy. There are some very good plugins available to automate the appearance of Section sub-menus in sidebars, to provide better access to subpages. These include;

• Hierarchical Pages – Adds sidebar widgets to display a context-based list of “nearby” pages, and to display nested categories.
  
• List Sub Categories (LSC) – This plugin enables a widget that lists only subcategories for the current category page.
  

Generating conventional .HTML or any such page file name extensions is also possible but not at all necessary.

•  Custom Page Extensions – Allows you to add a custom extension to your page URLs. This only affects pages created under the Pages menu

Used incorrectly in a WordPress website redesign, both Categories and Tags can have a severe negative impact on your search engine rankings due to excessive content duplication. The biggest problem is that most people use the “shotgun” approach to both Categories and Tags!

Keep in mind that;

• Every Category creates a new ‘page’
• Every Tag creates a new ‘page’

There are some fundamental constraints that should be applied to Categories & Tags.

• Most sites should use Categories only!!! Never both – unless you have a comprehensive understanding of content cross-indexing!!!
• A Category should never have the same name as a Page, Post or Tag. Conflicts may create issues with mod_rewite, resulting in an inability to open one or other of the conflicting URLs.
• Conversely, a Tag should never have the same name as a Page, Post or Category
• Categories should be minimised to only those for which you’d like to build search engine rankings.
• Tags should be minimised to only those for which you’d like to build search engine rankings  AND you don’t have a relevant page or Category.
• Tags & Categories should have unique Header tags, and introductory headings and paragraphs…
• A post should not be assigned to multiple Categories unless there’s a very specific reason for doing so.
• A post can obviously be assigned to a Category AND a Tag, so judicious use is important. When you have lots of posts, it’s easier to ensure Tag pages generate a very different snapshot of content.
• Never show the full post / page content in a Tag or Category page, only an excerpt/summary. Many themes have settings to display the featured image thumbnail and a set number of words or characters in archive pages – use this option!

Think more about  ‘either/or’ and less about ‘as well as’ and aim for a broader spread of “relevant keyword search phrases in current use.  The problem is that injudicious use of tags and categories facilitates duplicated content.

• Some say you should use either Categories OR tags, but I think that if you are careful, you can use both effectively.
• Some say you should add “noindex” to categories and/or tags, but if you implement them properly, noindex should be unnecessary.

To get optimal results, you should build an outline of all the important keyword search phrases you want your site to target.

• Pages: List page names and primary keyword phrase
• Posts: List post names and primary keyword phrase
• Categories: List category name and primary keyword phrase
• Tags: list tag name and primary keyword phrase

The goal of every WordPress website redesign should be a broad spread or carefully targeted keyword search phrases, with minimal duplication… ask your website designer for advice!

In deciding how to redesign a WordPress website, the underlying success factor is how to write high-quality content! Spitting out dinky 100-word blog posts containing generic trivia is not going to advance your cause over at Google HQ. My sense of it is that to be taken seriously, a page or post needs to be in the order of at least 600-800 words. How on earth can you prosecute a credible contention with a 200-word, 2-paragraph? Stating your position, providing a viable defence for it, and explaining why it works is not a 5-minute task…

Personally, I choose to write infrequently, but in a verbose fashion. The word count on this little essay has gone well past the 2,000-word mark, and it’s the second one for the week…  🙂

The concept of content quality is a difficult baton to grasp and run with, but making the effort will immediately lift you above the ranks of the mediocre…

Regardless of the industry in which you work, the mere fact that you are employed there indicates that you know more about it than people who are employed elsewhere. Therefore, you are indeed uniquely qualified to express an opinion!

Any time you are asked a question via email, save it with its answer. That’s a potential blog post, a kernel that can blossom into a fruit-bearing tree! Many of my article inspirations germinate in this way, or via real-world problem-solving situations on a client’s business website rebuild project.

Write as you speak, and use a spell-checker… ask a friend to proofread. Start off with a list of headings that help clarify your direction and purpose, then arrange those in a coherent logical sequence. Fill those headings in with content one by one.