How To Really Screw Up Your WordPress Blog

Posted by Jeff

on January 17, 2010

I get a lot of requests for help with WordPress blogs that are not working properly, look terrible or worse don’t show up at all. I have seen and have had to backward engineer some really interesting things for some people. So in my typical sarcastic style here is what to do if you really want to screw up your WordPress blog.

Load up as many plugins as possible.
Yeah this is always a good thing to do, I mean grab every conceivable plugin you think is cool. Don’t know what a plugin does? No problem, just activate it, oh and don’t bother reading the instructions to see if any special code needs embedded into your theme, or if it is incompatible with other plugins or your version of WordPress. Don’t bother to see if there is menu in the dashboard to configure or use the plugin either. Just load up the plugins, active them and scratch your head when the blog doesn’t load.

Use a plugin required theme without using the required plugins.
This one is always fun, you have seen the themes with the tabs on the top sidebar or special sections on the navigation bar for Recent Post, Popular Post or Popular Comments. Well they probably require specific plugins to work because there is usually code embedded into the theme. Using a theme like this without the plugins can really screw up your blog and may cause it not to display correctly or at all. Don’t bother reading the instructions with the theme, just load er’ up and let er’ rip!

Add or paste as much crap as possible into the themes files.
Another all time favorite is seeing pop-ups, scripts, and banner ads placed all over the theme so much so that the content is blocked or worse. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that you should monetize your blog but you need to be careful loading it up with crap. I see many pop-ups that are floating off borders, or ads that are too big for the area they are in. The more scripts and HTML code you paste into the actual theme, the more chances of a tag left open and screwing up your blog. The more crap that needs to load takes more time and, sorry I don’t have time to wait for all that to load on your blog, I’ll find the information elsewhere. Then there is the fun involved troubleshooting issues when you have a full static HTML page complete with newsletter opt-in scripts, feeds from other blogs, banner ads, AdSense ads and any other piece of code you can possibly paste into your index.php file. My point here is to keep the theme files as clean as possible.

Use images, graphics and scripts that pull content from another site.
Like an image or banner ad? Don’t bother hosting it on your site, just point to it on your theme or blog and when the other site is down, hey you will just see a big open spot or worse on yours! Too lazy to post any new content on your blog? No problem, just paste a script on the index.php file that pulls feeds from other blogs or sites. When the other sites go down or your hosting account blocks the scripts, no problem you will just have a big empty space on your blog now. I know there are instances like AdSense that you can’t get around this but try to keep your blog as self-sufficient as possible.

Make sure you write your posts in MS Word or copy them from another site.
Yep just use MS Word and paste your posts directly into the visual editor. Or copy from another website and paste them directly into the visual editor. Then scratch your head when the formatting from Word or the other site completely destroys your WordPress blog. Don’t bother using the small W icon on the visual toolbar editor to paste it into. Don’t bother to paste the text into the HTML editor, and whatever you do don’t bother to see if any HTML tags are left open. No just leave that <b> HTML tag open and look at amazement while all the text under it and on the sidebar is now bold.

Make sure you change the Blog or WordPress address.
You see that setting in the general settings menu that tells you you can change the home address of the blog? Oh yeah just do that and contact me to fix it when you can’t login anymore. Same with the WordPress address, go ahead change it without reading what needs done before or after. You will be in a panic when your WordPress blog disappears. Fixing one of these is always a fun way to spend an evening!

So there you have just a few simple ways to really screw up your WordPress blog. There are many more and I am sure if you use your imagination and lack of knowledge you can find them!

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Tags: Rant, WordPress, WordPress Guide

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Comments

Comment by Tom - StandOutBlogger.com on December 23, 2008 @ 10:36 am

I hate blogs with too many plugins. It always just looks messy.

Comment by John @ Curious Cat Investing Blog on December 23, 2008 @ 1:37 pm

Very nice advice. Lots of people seem to follow it

Comment by Free Xbox 360 on December 24, 2008 @ 10:44 am

I did that “change all your links”…

in the end, it meant all my links went to the same place, and that page never existed…

I had to reinstall wordpress

http://www.free-xbox-360.co.uk

Comment by SEO tutorials on December 25, 2008 @ 2:30 am

wow..

great tips !!

Comment by Tara @ Affiliate Marketing Prodigy on December 25, 2008 @ 4:39 am

Great post! I can not help but to laugh becuase I know MANY bloggers who format posts in MW then copy them over and sit and wonder what the issue is. Not to mention all of the crap code that is copied over!

Comment by Alex on December 25, 2008 @ 7:15 am

Really enjoy the “typical sarcastic style”!
I get the feeling you like reverse engineering. What would you do with all your spare time if people didn’t screw up their blogs, then come to you for help?
Merry Christmas…..

Alex

Comment by Joanne on December 25, 2008 @ 7:20 pm

I remember when i created all my pages in MS word before i uploaded onto wordpress.
What a mess that was

Comment by Pig Milk on December 26, 2008 @ 9:18 pm

I dont like blogs with too many plugins. It always just looks messy.

Comment by Kha Ton on December 26, 2008 @ 9:50 pm

Hi Jeff,
I remember after wordpress installed then I tried to click everything on wordpress to check and don’t know which one that caused the mess. Now I know I have to read instruction before doing it. By the way I have a question that how to install Digg on blog?

Thanks
Kha
http://www.khaony.com/blog

Comment by James on December 27, 2008 @ 12:39 am

I love wordpress, lots of nice plugins, but don’t turn them all on!

WebMasters, this is your business

Comment by gautam on December 27, 2008 @ 3:38 am

I think the tonnes of mails must have screwed your brains that’s the reason you came up with such sarcastic post but anyways it was a real light hearted post and on reading it I couldn’t stop smiling!!

Comment by Free Xbox 360 Elite on December 27, 2008 @ 7:50 am

I’m pretty sure I’ve done all those hehe

Comment by Jeff on December 27, 2008 @ 8:03 am

Another way to screw up your blog is to answer questions asked in the comment section that has absolutely, positively nothing to do with the subject of the post…

Kha, adding Digg can be done many different ways, with social bookmarking plugins like Share This, or actually going to Digg.com getting an account and finding the Digg tools and start reading.

Comment by McMutt on December 27, 2008 @ 11:12 pm

Yeah this may have come in handy about 3 months ago…. Oh well XD

Comment by Mark on December 28, 2008 @ 3:10 am

Excellent tips, and I have already seen a lot of people follow them.

I think if you took a look at http://www.knrdesigns.com then they could really help you out in the long run.

Good luck!

Comment by The Hottest News on December 28, 2008 @ 3:37 am

I love wordpress, lots of nice plugins

Comment by Durga Chalisa on December 28, 2008 @ 4:37 am

I totally agree… Core message – keep your blog simple and user friendly and posts interesting and good original content

Comment by BncApps on December 28, 2008 @ 2:43 pm

“Add or paste as much crap as possible into the themes files.”

I have actually seen a site that had 1 “sidebar” of content followed by 4 bars of ads. It was crazy, yet they are still making almost $8000/week and their alexa is 2.2k!

Comment by Spot Cool Stuff on December 28, 2008 @ 5:18 pm

And yet, it is amazing how often I run across blogs that manage to do every single one of these. You have to be impressed with that consistency.

Comment by Jeff on December 28, 2008 @ 7:52 pm

“yet they are still making almost $8000/week”

How do you know this? DId they tell you that? How are “they” doing it please enlighten us.

Comment by Acai girl on December 28, 2008 @ 11:29 pm

I agree I dont like my blogs looking all messy either… is there anyway we can avoid this?

Comment by Jaz on December 29, 2008 @ 5:57 am

I think this is a wonderful explanation of what not to do with Wordpress. I really enjoyed it

Comment by Andy on December 29, 2008 @ 6:19 am

Great article, thanks for the information. It’s definitely easy to overload WordPress and grind it to a halt.

Comment by Clemence @ Mole Removal on December 29, 2008 @ 8:38 am

i for one is guilty off adding too much plugin. Now my site looks congested. Time for a totally new blog for a new year I guess =D

Comment by wordpress duplicate content on December 30, 2008 @ 4:00 am

You could try changing the permalink structure every now and then as well. That’ll help.

Comment by Jeff on December 30, 2008 @ 8:17 am

Oh yeah change the permalinks so all your posts URL’s will be different and all your backlinks will be gone. Good one.

Comment by Wesley on December 31, 2008 @ 6:24 am

Love the one about loading up too many wordpress plugins. Having more than 15+ plugins can really bring your site to a screeching halt.

Comment by free ps3 on December 31, 2008 @ 6:55 am

Great tips thanks. I’m sure that at 1 time or another i have done all of those things.

I suppose you don’t know until your told eh!?

Thanks again.

Comment by Cruise Travel Tips on January 11, 2009 @ 3:46 pm

Welldone with this tips mate… thank you

Comment by Tina xbox 360 on February 14, 2009 @ 3:21 am

Thanks mate,

All that is extremely helpful. I have done most “in fact all” of the above at one time or another.

Now to get to work putting it right

Comment by Mike Laughter on April 24, 2009 @ 5:25 pm

I thing that even with lots of plugins there can be a balance if you know how to use them.

Comment by andy martin on May 29, 2009 @ 5:28 pm

yes loading many plugins does make the website slower.The plugins should be activated only when it is supposed to be used.

Comment by Blog Marketing on July 19, 2009 @ 5:02 pm

Funny I always wondered why there are so many “I need help” posts with wordpress installations. It always seemed simple to me. Install a blog, find a theme, install the theme and required plugins for it,. check blog. Add a plugin or two, check blog again etc…

Comment by Solar Mole Repeller on July 23, 2009 @ 11:57 am

Copy and pasting into my theme has really messed mine up. Fortunetly I saved a copy and was able to revert but one has to still be carefull about what they do.

Comment by Jason Chalky on August 15, 2009 @ 2:55 am

I like this…Im sure i have done some of this.Im still new to wordpress.So this help me out…lol Thanks!

Comment by Amy @ Free Xbox 360 on August 20, 2009 @ 2:26 pm

Lol. I’m glad I read this before I started! Thanks for the tips, and I love the sarcasm!

Comment by Have the Relationship You Want Review on August 30, 2009 @ 7:52 pm

I think a big part of the problem is that wordpress is constantly updating and its just so versatile. I still feel like an amateur to wordpress

Comment by Palos on September 12, 2009 @ 9:40 am

Great insights, I had no Idea how damaging MS Word formatting could be! to my posts.That’s one less mistake I’ll make in this lifetime!

Comment by FreebieHunter on October 25, 2009 @ 12:29 am

Good article. When I first started my blog, I had too many banners and addons. I decided to keep it simple, took most of the banners off.

Comment by BeautyAdvice on October 25, 2009 @ 2:59 pm

You’re totally right, I’ve experienced what a blog full of plugins is or learned it’s better hosting the images yourself than pointing them to other sites.

Comment by Computer Tech Tips on October 29, 2009 @ 1:48 am

Great points and quite humourous. Here is one more: Change your blog layout (number, position and width of columns)and the number and functioning of your plugins frequently so that visitors can never get used to knowing where things are located on your blog or how they work.

Comment by fiberglass exterior door on November 20, 2009 @ 10:58 pm

Ok, I’m jumping on this bandwagon. Here’s another tip. Leave everything in the ‘uncategorized’ category, migrate it from one host to another, and have as many entries showing as possible so it overloads the SQL database.

Comment by speediezz on December 7, 2009 @ 11:24 am

surely the most screw up thing is activate hello dolly plugin.. (ups sorry)

Jeff Replied:
December 7th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

Yeah really. Has anyone ever figured out why that plugin actually exists?

Comment by Hire SEO Expert on January 18, 2010 @ 5:50 am

To sum it up, flexibility and presentation are the two important features of any blog and wordpress is the only blogging solution that proides these features easily and quickly.

Comment by Michelle on January 18, 2010 @ 6:34 am

Nice post. When I first started writing blogs I had encountered a similar problem. After all they were plug ins. I loved reading your post. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Comment by abdurrahman on January 18, 2010 @ 12:23 pm

great post, specially for the newbie blogger like me. Nice. Thanks.

Trackback by uberVU - social comments on January 18, 2010 @ 6:38 pm

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by wprocker: How To Really Screw Up Your #WordPress Blog : WordPress Max http://www.ubervu.com/conversations/www.wordpressmax.com/wordpress/screw-up-wordpress

Comment by allergic children on January 18, 2010 @ 8:17 pm

Thank You! I can’t tell you how happy I am with wordpress. I’d be lost without wordpress.

Comment by Andrew@BloggingGuide on January 19, 2010 @ 10:29 pm

This is so much fun! It is really a great way to tell people what not to do. It is important to remember to read instructions and to follow instructions

Comment by Birmingham Movers on January 22, 2010 @ 7:19 pm

Nice, I always hate it when people try to overstuff their blogs with plugins, ads and sidebars. I’ve even seen blogs that have sidebars on all 4 sides! lol and if you don’t know what you’re doing that’s a great way to mess up your blog. Even if you do know what you’re doing, all those scripts are going to decrease the load time of every page, not to mention they just make your site look busy and unattractive. And very true about pasting from Word, most people don’t realize the issues that causes.

Comment by Keyboard Reviews on January 22, 2010 @ 7:58 pm

I love it when I come across a blog that says “Activate So and So plugin to…”. These are usually the same ones that still have a lot of “Lorem Ipsum” text on it.

Comment by Colocation on January 22, 2010 @ 9:08 pm

You mentioned that write the content in MS Word or copy it from some other site. Where should we write the content directly in the Wordpress?

Jeff Replied:
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Yes write in the WP editors. But if you MUST use another method make sure to paste the text into the HTML editor as plain text.

Comment by kitchenaid parts on January 24, 2010 @ 1:54 am

Lots of advice here. In my opinion, using plugin is nice but don’t too much. And also, use an attractive theme.

Comment by Goldberg@reverse phone lookup on January 24, 2010 @ 2:32 am

Title of this post made me laugh.Nice way to put your idea across other people.I bet that if the title would be a traditional one like ‘How to speed up your Wordpress blog’ then it would have gathered less attention.

Comment by JOCKpost on January 24, 2010 @ 4:08 am

How about using a PHP hack on my permalinks on IIS instead of hosting with Apache? That’s a good way to screw up your WP too. Hahaha.

Comment by malcolm johnston on January 24, 2010 @ 7:17 pm

Hey, I have done everything you have outlined in the above article and my WordPress blog STILL doesn’t work properly.

Comment by stop panic attacks on January 25, 2010 @ 9:09 am

I have totally messed up many a wordpress blog and did s lot of the things you mention. Been trying to control my plugin addiction.

Comment by Danielle on January 25, 2010 @ 3:43 pm

Oh my goodness that is so true! I have messed up my share of wordpress blogs!

Comment by Jom on January 26, 2010 @ 5:24 am

I must confess that I was guilty of more than one points that you have pointed out. Especially the MS Word one. I really lost many hours pondering why the article written in Word was not working here. Ditto for the use of excessive plug in.

Thanks for the article

Comment by carol burnett on January 27, 2010 @ 10:36 am

I love reading this post. Lots of tips and guidelines. Thanks for sharing this. Thanks also for the resources.

Comment by J32 on January 28, 2010 @ 12:37 am

The first thing I thought when I read this blog post was “Wow, somebody is in a crappy mood”. But I like the irony and sarcasm in it.

As for the point of “Not using the required Plugins for a theme”, well this often not so easy. I have seen a lot of themes that have caught my interest and decided not to use them, because they do not offer the required plugins in their downloads files or even mention what plugins are required in the readme files.

Comment by Outsourcing on January 28, 2010 @ 10:51 am

Guilty for using excessive plugins

Comment by Max @ Computer Financing on January 28, 2010 @ 7:25 pm

I love it. This had me in stitches. It sounds like the old paper user manuals that people just toss. “Oh, I can figure it out no problem, I mean if it’s available it must be a good thing, right?”

Great post. So much so I just had to link to it from my current post.

Can’t wait to read some more of your blog.

Comment by CJ @ Online Technical Writing on January 28, 2010 @ 7:28 pm

Stumbled across this post a few days ago. This is priceless.

Since I am a technical writer, I sooooo understand where you are coming from. I can’t be sarcastic in my writing, but I can get close to it in my blog.

Love your tone and the way you impart the information. Got me hooked, can’t wait to see what you write in the future. You’re on my watch list. If nothing else, when I’m frustrated I know where to come for a good laugh.

Thanks much.

Comment by all inclusive packages on January 29, 2010 @ 2:27 pm

Very nice advice. Lots of people seem to follow it How about using a PHP hack on my permalinks on IIS instead of hosting with Apache? That’s a good way to screw up your WP too.

Comment by Los Angeles Printing Service on January 30, 2010 @ 2:51 am

I think wordpress needs a little more extra internet knowledge than most. It still has some extra features that make up for it though. Good post on how to make our lives easier.

Comment by What the bleep on January 30, 2010 @ 7:14 am

If you don’t know what you’re doing that’s a great way to mess up your blog. Even if you do know what you’re doing, all those scripts are going to decrease the load time of every page, not to mention they just make your site look busy and unattractive. Thanks for the nice post.

Comment by dstarlight on February 1, 2010 @ 12:09 am

yeaah … I do these things perfectly, and to my blog right now – a real mess.

still learning
Ace dstarlight

Comment by Webranes on February 1, 2010 @ 8:08 am

I hate lots of plugins, it makes my site annoying but I love wordpress. I love this post, the tips and ideas posted here is very hlepful for wordpress users like me.

Comment by avoid bankruptcy on February 1, 2010 @ 9:01 am

Even if you do know what you’re doing, all those scripts are going to decrease the load time of every page, not to mention they just make your site look busy and unattractive.

Comment by Alberta Business Plans on February 1, 2010 @ 12:22 pm

I am a newbie on wordpress and really struggling to get started, thanks for your useful tips, really helped me a lot, thanks.

Comment by Rachel ray diet on February 2, 2010 @ 3:56 am

Very nice advice. I must confess that I was guilty of more than one points that you have pointed out. Especially the MS Word one. I still feel like an amateur to word pres

Comment by Sera@Repair Credit Online on February 2, 2010 @ 8:58 am

Jeff

Thanks for the advice about hosting images. I am afraid I am guilty of doing this, plus overloading with the plugins

Kind regards

Sera

Comment by Car Hire France on February 2, 2010 @ 2:48 pm

Wordpress says that any code that isn’t permitted will not be shown via the text widget but how am I supposed to put ads or widgets on my blog if I can’t put the code for the ads/widget on my blog. Do you know a special code that I can out in the text box with my widget/ad code to make it show up on my blog? Please help!

Jeff Replied:
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:05 pm

Those rules are for the free blogs hosted on WordPress.com. You can do and add anything you want on your self-hosted WordPress blog.

Comment by Keith B on February 4, 2010 @ 12:32 am

Good to know about copying stuff into wordpress, I’ve never done it before but now I know not to, thanks.

Comment by Chefs Shoes on February 4, 2010 @ 2:50 am

I know MANY bloggers who format posts in MW then copy them over and sit and wonder what the issue. all those scripts are going to decrease the load time of every page, not to mention they just make your site look busy and unattractive. Thanks for the nice post.

Comment by SEO SERVICES COMPANY on February 4, 2010 @ 3:29 am

haha,, i love your post, pretty tempting. anyway how did you come p with these experimental ideas??

Jeff Replied:
February 4th, 2010 at 9:57 am

From people wanting me to fix them.

Comment by lose weight on February 4, 2010 @ 1:05 pm

Really enjoy the “typical sarcastic style”! I get the feeling you like reverse engineering. What would you do with all your spare time if people didn’t screw up their blogs, then come to you for help?

Comment by Air medical transport on February 5, 2010 @ 2:45 am

Really enjoy the “typical sarcastic style”!all those scripts are going to decrease the load time of every page, not to mention they just make your site look busy and unattractive. Thanks for the nice post.

Comment by Depotvergleich on February 5, 2010 @ 3:30 am

You make a good point, at first I was wondering what this post was about…but I guess simplicity has its benefits.

BUT…Hello dolly! That song is just so adorable, how can you not use that plugin!

Comment by Justin, from Printable Subway Coupons on February 5, 2010 @ 11:26 pm

I find simple Wordpress templates like the INove template work best and convert into sales and ad revenue more than any other blog I own. You don’t really need a gazillion plugin gadgets; some are useful but to much will just add clutter to your website. This will prevent your page from loading up fast, something Google likes.

Of course you want to make it appealing, but man, make it easy on the eyes too, and you will prosper!

Comment by acai berry diets on February 6, 2010 @ 9:01 am

I can not help but to laugh becuase I know MANY bloggers who format posts in MW then copy them over and sit and wonder what the issue is. Not to mention all of the crap code that is copied over!

Comment by Miami Criminal Lawyer on February 6, 2010 @ 9:53 am

I get the feeling you like reverse engineering. What would you do with all your spare time if people didn’t screw up their blogs, then come to you for help?

Comment by Andrew Keir on February 8, 2010 @ 8:37 am

only 9 plugins for me at the moment, better get some more.

Comment by brandon on February 8, 2010 @ 11:52 am

my friend use 30 plugin and the result
to much plugin = kill our visitor

Comment by Dr Delaram Hanookai on February 8, 2010 @ 1:34 pm

I have seen a lot of themes that have caught my interest and decided not to use them, because they do not offer the required plugins in their downloads files or even mention what plugins are required in the readme files.

Comment by Mike on February 9, 2010 @ 3:53 pm

Too many plugins will make your blog load slower. I only got 6 plugins at the moment.

Comment by Web Hosting Unlimited on February 10, 2010 @ 5:01 pm

Great post Jeff. I love the title, however. Plugins are cool but if you overload your site with them, you are heading downhill for sure. Thanks for this helpful suggestions.

Comment by River Oaks real estate on February 11, 2010 @ 5:23 am

I got a question regarding the text. I encoded my content in MS Word. But when I post it, there are special characters appearing everywhere. What might be the problem?

Jeff Replied:
February 11th, 2010 at 9:08 am

Oh it supposed to look like that, don’t worry about it.

Comment by SJL Web Design on February 11, 2010 @ 8:33 am

Nice post, I enjoyed the sarcasm. Great tips not to follow!
Thanks.

Comment by horoscope on February 11, 2010 @ 2:54 pm

i just read an similar article a few minutes ago,they where saying something about : inactivity and duplicate content

Comment by Carson Rose and Associates on February 13, 2010 @ 9:50 am

Now I know I have to read instruction before doing it, I tried to click everything on wordpress to check and don’t know which one that caused the mess, thanks for the post.

Comment by greg on February 15, 2010 @ 12:31 am

Lol, funny post to read because it is exaclty what I used to do! Well we all have to learn , so each day is a proccess!

Comment by Vinod Kumar on February 15, 2010 @ 8:52 am

Hey Jeff
Great article, Guess what I did two of them…

1. Installed lot of pluggins, messed my featured content gallery plugin (Studiopress, church theme)

2. MS article editing and windows live writer (created table) and it was a mess in the blog article.

Thanks for the advise.

Comment by Aweber Review on February 16, 2010 @ 10:48 pm

Hi Jeff, its an honor for me to read high quality content related to wordpress handling. I am working on a blog using wordpress platform, your suggestions are very helpful for me. Thanks

Comment by Tom - marketing tips on February 17, 2010 @ 8:34 am

Hi Jeff, thanks for taking this up.Many people have misunderstood the point of blogging (Your point #3.)They blog only for money and have no interest in the readers.Blogs that look like “super markets” look cheap.The less ads you have, the more professional the blog looks and you will often make more money as well.

You mentioned scripts that pull content from another site.
There is one blog in particular who steals my content and leaves a “trackback” to my blog. (cash-bandit.com) Is there any way to stop this behaviour?

Jeff Replied:
February 17th, 2010 at 8:54 am

Its hard to stop content theft, I did this: http://www.wordpressmax.com/blogging/stop-blog-content-theft

Comment by khatim on February 18, 2010 @ 10:09 am

Now I know what I’ve been doing wrong for so long I had included waaay too many plugins and fancy bits in the hope of it impressing folks… but now I see KISS: Keep it simple, stupid – is the way to go!

Comment by Wedding Music on February 18, 2010 @ 9:36 pm

The “load up as many plugins” comment made me laugh. I haven’t been guilty of that in as bad a way described in the article, but I certainly did install a lot more plugins than I needed. Now, I’m afraid to remove some because everything is working. Some may add some amount of functionality that I’m overlooking. I’m afraid if I bulk-remove a bunch of plugins without careful thought, it all might come crashing down. Oh, if I had just known then what I know now…

Comment by Hairstyles Design For Cool Men Haircuts on February 19, 2010 @ 11:57 pm

Comment by Logo Design Services on February 20, 2010 @ 1:24 am

LOL! Great post, especially for those like me just starting out! Love the writing style by the way!

Comment by cell phone accessories on February 23, 2010 @ 11:34 am

I’m afraid to remove some because everything is working. Some may add some amount of functionality that I’m overlooking. I’m afraid if I bulk-remove a bunch of plugins without careful thought, it all might come crashing down. Oh, if I had just known then what I know now…

Comment by Ted Werth on February 23, 2010 @ 7:50 pm

Good stuff! When I first started I made the mistake of not only using MSWord but using the edit tracking feature. OMG… At least I had the sense to take a look at the HTML tab after I posted.

I won’t be making that mistake again!

Comment by stock market software on February 24, 2010 @ 2:48 am

I’m afraid if I bulk-remove a bunch of plugins without careful thought, it all might come crashing down. Oh, if I had just known then what I know now…

Comment by Travels Time on February 24, 2010 @ 5:55 pm

Comment by get back your ex boyfriend on February 24, 2010 @ 6:06 pm

Very nice advice. I must confess that I was guilty of more than one points that you have pointed out. Especially the MS Word one. I still feel like an amateur to word pres

Comment by Engagement Rings on February 24, 2010 @ 6:45 pm

I had to learn the plugin part the hard way. I still love looking and adding new plugins to my blog but I have to remember that people (including myself) HATE slow load times.

Another dumb thing I can relate to is copying everything from Word and then trying to figure out for 3 hours what I had done wrong.

Well you live and you learn. Great post, wish I would have read it before I started my blog.

Comment by Massage Therapy Utah Provo on February 25, 2010 @ 3:12 am

I’m guilty of using too many plugins. They just seem to add a little more functionality that you think you need to use. I’ve had my share of conflicts and other problems. The worst problem to fix is when your wordpress goes completely white screened and you don’t know what happened or how to fix it (btw you have to go into the database to fix the issue in case anyone runs into this problem).

Comment by Granite Countertop on February 25, 2010 @ 4:50 am

Very helpful tips. I will try to remove the unnecessary plugins.

Comment by landscape design raleigh on February 25, 2010 @ 2:06 pm

I have the same problem with plugins, I have a few but seem to fall by the way side. The real question I have is there a plugin, well I know there is a plugin, but a good plugin for displaying design concepts like portfolios and projects?
If anyone has a good Idea please let me know, Thanks!

Comment by Kent Office Property on March 1, 2010 @ 11:58 am

Hi Jeff, I almost took your comments as good advices have I not read your introductory paragraph with the phrase that you are writing in your “typical sarcastic style”. I see plug-ins to be helpful in coming up with a dynamic blog page. So how many is too many?

Thanks a lot for the tips. Reading through your sarcasms really drive the message home. I’m glad that I compose my posts directly on the message box and click the HTML view before clicking the “post” button. However, I go crazy trying to fix a scattered display of my posts because I missed placing the appropriate codes or the usual mistake of not closing the code.

Jeff Replied:
March 1st, 2010 at 7:10 pm

“How many plugins are too many”?
One more than you really need!

Comment by Tech Guy on March 3, 2010 @ 12:17 am

I wisth I read this weeks ago

thanks

Comment by Full Time Dedicated PHP Developer on March 4, 2010 @ 6:10 am

Hey I am having the same problem…but after following the steps suggested by you I resolved my problem…thanks a lot for your help.

Comment by Ava on March 10, 2010 @ 4:57 am

Thanks for that hilarious rant!
When I first started using Wordpress, I was guilty of
doing many of these things…especially loading up on
plugins and pasting copy directly from Word.

Ah, but I’m a better person after learning from those
stupid mistakes.

Comment by Ryan on March 11, 2010 @ 1:11 am

Great tips for Wordpress users here. I especially agree with the “keeping the plugins minimal”. Nice and clean interface usually works wonders as well.:D

Comment by Adam on March 14, 2010 @ 7:34 pm

I couldn’t stop laughing after reading your post. I had a client that saw your post the other day and thought you were serious about loading every possible plugin. I had to fix this for her, and she was kinda embarrased. I thought it was good though, because I made some money from it. thanks

Portable Universe Reviews Replied:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:37 am

Oh yes, Adam! And I must say, such people lacking sense of humour are not rare! I am surfing the net a lot and not once I bumped into blogs sooo much overloaded with plugins, features and other stuff, that even though it there might be something interesting to read, you give that all mess up for a more agreeable looking one.

Comment by gry on March 15, 2010 @ 9:39 am

Very interesting article Jeff, thanks for it!!! good job man:)

Comment by Parking Solutions on March 15, 2010 @ 1:08 pm

Common sense prevails, but it easy to make a critical blog mistake. Thanks for the tips.

Comment by Andres on March 15, 2010 @ 10:27 pm

Too much clutter with different plugins looks horrible on any web site. It’s an easy way to drive faithful visitors away for good. Many blogs also use themes where different areas don’t even work and the links are dead. Think simple and you can’t go wrong.

Drive-By comments will be deleted! Like "Thanks for sharing", "Nice post", or any other text that doesn't contribute to the discussion. If you ask a very specific question about your particular WordPress theme, it will probably be deleted. I can fix your WordPress site but for a price. If you ask a question like "Why don't my blog work right", it will be deleted. If you ask a question about your WordPress site without a leaving a link to it, it will be deleted. The point is to ask questions and or comment on the the actual content of the post, and to please use some common sense. All comments are moderated and will appear when approved. Thank you.