I once installed a WordPress plugin to add concertina-style sections to my articles. It did what I wanted: readers could click a heading to expand or hide the text beneath it. Unfortunately, the website also became noticeably slower. When I removed the plugin, the speed improved significantly. I never established whether it conflicted with something … Read more
A beginner does not need to find the perfect WordPress theme. You need a maintained theme that makes your content easy to read, works properly on a phone and provides the few layouts your website will actually use. Once a theme reaches that standard, the productive next step is usually to stop comparing designs and … Read more
Once WordPress is installed, it is tempting to open every settings screen and start changing things. That is not necessary. Some choices matter immediately because they affect your website’s name, URLs, search visibility and visitor interaction. Others can safely remain at their defaults. A few technical fields are worth recognising mainly so that you know … Read more
Website owners have traditionally tested Google’s understanding of their content by searching for keywords and seeing whether their pages appeared. If you published an article about choosing a domain name, you might search for: how to choose a domain name for a hobby website Finding your page would show that Google considered it relevant to … Read more
Installing WordPress is often described as a one-click job. It can be—but only after you find the correct button for the hosting product you actually bought. One company may sell managed WordPress hosting, ordinary web hosting, a separate website builder and a virtual private server. Each can have a different setup process. It is therefore … Read more
One of my earlier websites was called WhatIsSprayPaintArt.com. The site was intended to promote spray-paint affiliate products while showcasing artists’ work and giving visitors ideas. The name described the general subject, but it was also constructed around something I imagined people might search for. Looking back, the “what is” part feels clumsy. It makes the … Read more
I once broke one of my own websites while using FileZilla. FileZilla allowed me to access the website files stored on the hosting server. I was following a tutorial about removing folders left behind by plugins that had not deleted properly. The idea was to remove a few unwanted folders. Instead, I deleted important plugin … Read more
Seeing your website receive more impressions in Google Search Console usually feels like progress. An impression means that one of your pages has appeared somewhere in Google’s search results. Even if nobody clicks immediately, rising impressions can suggest that Google is discovering more of your content and beginning to test it for different searches. That … Read more
An all-in-one website platform is often the easier starting point for a complete beginner. It reduces the number of accounts, services and support teams you must coordinate while you are still learning how a website works. Separate WordPress hosting can cost much less and give you more choice and control. The difficulty is that you … Read more
Starting a hobby website can sound far more technical than it really is. You hear about domains, hosting, WordPress, themes, plugins, email, security, backups, SEO and analytics. Then someone mentions FTP or SMTP and it begins to feel as though you need an IT qualification before you can write about gardening, fishing, model railways or … Read more