8 Basic Tips to Make Your WordPress Website Irresistible
Reading Time: 5 minutes 
Many DIYers are unsure if what they have in place on their WordPress website is “good enough.” As you know, good enough can be subjective. Depending on your goals—subscribers, contacts, SEO, images, mobile, etc.
So, depending on the website’s goals, what we need in place will vary slightly. But we can put a few things in place to help any website reach its goals—much of it involves bringing uniqueness to your website.
This post covers some things I regularly see site owners can improve. It is not the technical or design stuff you read about elsewhere. The little things are often overlooked, not necessarily intentionally, because we are not outside looking in.
The Big Picture
Be prepared not to overlook what we need instead of what we want. What you want may not be what your site visitors or target market need or are looking for.
So, let’s talk about the big picture. Here are topics to consider as you determine your site’s brand, structure, functionality, content, visuals, terminology, and uniqueness.
1. Be You
Are you putting yourself on full display? As of the writing of this post, there are 1.3 billion websites on the Internet. And there is only one of you.
People prefer to do business with those they know, like, and relate to. So, use “you” to your advantage by reflecting your personality and style throughout your online presence. Consistency builds your brand.
Tell your story: why you do what you do, how you got there, and where you want to go. Let site visitors glimpse your passions and priorities. If everything is equal, you want your story to be the deal-breaker.
2. Terminology
Have you investigated which terminology is essential to use when talking to (not at) site visitors? Do you even know what those are?
These sets of terms generally consist of two distinct words or phrases and produce different results. For example, industry terms and jargon rarely resonate with someone unfamiliar with them.
The terms you may use or think you want to be found by may be terms your target market doesn’t use. Investigating and implementing customer terms is critical to your SEO and content efforts.
Talking “at” site visitors tends to be what you want them to know. Talking “to” site visitors is what they want to know. That’s a huge difference. Integrate those “to” terms and phrases every step of the way.
3. First Impressions Matter
Questions to consider when trying to make a positive first impression on visitors to your site…
4. No More Than Two Clicks
Can visitors get the information they seek in one or two clicks? Straightforward, concise navigation and calls to action are critical. The site should be simple, intuitive, and minimal.
Navigation is tricky because we want to cram everything into that limited nav bar real estate. Just accept that everything will not fit. You want to prioritize what site visitors are most likely to look for.
In addition, you want to remember how your navigation will display on mobile platforms. The more navigation you have, the less elegant it will be on mobile. (Use a theme like Kadence to set a separate mobile menu.*)
If you have more than one navbar, you want to stick with a structure that most site visitors expect:
My navigation caters to what I know those who land on my site are looking for. Based on that alone, you wouldn’t know there are almost 80 pages and hundreds of posts within four categories.
Internal linking, linking to pages within your website, is essential for guiding site visitors to related topics. Use every opportunity within your content to link to other apropos content. This directs visitors to similar content and helps with SEO.
5. Endless Scrolling
Is the content worth scrolling more than half a page? Not just because you feel it is important. Be honest — is your content compelling enough for visitors to read and scroll and continue reading and scrolling because they think it is essential and valuable?
Writing for the web is a challenge and a skill developed over time. If an article is important enough to be thousands of words long, think about how to create in-content navigation and structure it to improve readability.
This would include clickable navigation lists (Table of Contents) at the top of the article, subheadings, bulleted lists, short sentences, and paragraphs, with every word necessary to the article’s value.
6. Knowledge is Power
Visitors tend to subscribe, participate, and share when they learn something new and valuable. Think about your website and list the knowledge you can provide visitors that they didn’t know before.
What problem(s) are you solving? Knowing the answer to this question will help you create a site that reaches your target market — and your goals.
Above all, this exercise will help you structure your site to provide the information visitors require to be confident that you are qualified and trustworthy.
7. Never Assume
We shouldn’t assume what site visitors will do based on what we prefer they do. Simple navigation caters to site visitors and guides them to the obvious next step.
For instance, what will make visitors know your site differs from others? There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of websites for every possible search.
Make the answers to these questions clear throughout your website.
8. Challenging the Status Quo
It is natural to be self-focused when it comes to your website’s message.
However, you want to think “outside” the box of creating a website from that one point of view —yours— if it doesn’t connect with site visitors. Nor do you want to play copycat where you are not different from the possibly thousands of competitors online.
Don’t underestimate the power of putting in the work to create a great site that is unique to you and laser-focused on your site visitors. Keeping the above information in mind at every step will help you do just that.
At your service,
*Some of the links on this page are to companies with which I have a professional affiliation.
Read my complete affiliate statement here.
