Moving to Wordpress - Any tips?

cambsno

cambsno

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Simon
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Looking at moving from Squarespace to WP - mainly for SEO, different themes and more options. Lots out there and drowning in information! Any tips from people here who have been there and done that? Best places for themes etc...
 
Not directly answering your request but if you do use WP I would strongly suggest installing the Wordfence plugin as WP is often a target for would-be hackers.
I am always amazed at how many attacks my site gets and Wordfence deals with them effectively, either 'out of the box' or with adjustments by me ... there is a free version as well as a paid version.
As a theme/template I currently use Photocrati.
 
Lot's and lots of people will be trying to get in. You need to avoid "admin" or any other obvious user names, use dual login, and even block entire countries and IP addresses from backend. That should do the trick.

The imagination is really the limit there. Just get something out quickly and keep it evolving based on feedback.
 
cambsno said:
Looking at moving from Squarespace to WP - mainly for SEO, different themes and more options. Lots out there and drowning in information! Any tips from people here who have been there and done that? Best places for themes etc...
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Look at Divi and The Design Space. I build a lot of websites for photographers, happy to have a chat and point you in the right direction :)
 
KitsuneAndy said:
Look at Divi and The Design Space. I build a lot of websites for photographers, happy to have a chat and point you in the right direction :)
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Thanks Andy - I am not hugely disappointed with Squarespace but just find it a bit flat and want to refresh things. The SEO appears to be better with WP (appreciate that has a lot to do with content too) - its just there are thousands of themes and it appears there is no way of trialling them like you do on squarespace, you need to purchase and then play.
 
cambsno said:
Thanks Andy - I am not hugely disappointed with Squarespace but just find it a bit flat and want to refresh things. The SEO appears to be better with WP (appreciate that has a lot to do with content too) - its just there are thousands of themes and it appears there is no way of trialling them like you do on squarespace, you need to purchase and then play.
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Certainly better SEO tools on WordPress, plus you can make sure your site is hosted in the UK rather than the USA.

Most the photography specific themes are a bit pants compared to the generic themes like Divi, which can build anything. The Design Space then offers options that are laid out ready for photographers.

@T_J_G has a new site using one of their layouts and it looks great.
 
I’ve been doing it for a while. Learning curve is not too bad. The biggest issue I’ve found is plugin problems with themes. It is much more temperamental that Squarespace.

SEO is better, I use Yoast for this. In terms of themes I am using Flo Themes. Pricey but great looking and great support. I got my theme in a 40% off offer. They have these time to time.

In terms of plugins Yoast for SEO. I’m using SiteGround for hosting so use their speed booster. WP Rocket gets mentioned a lot if you aren’t on SiteGround. Updraft Plus handles backups to Dropbox even on free version.

I’be been working on my site for 5 months as a background process and am about there now. That’s more due to me being a teacher and running a photography business than how hard WordPress is. I am now just a photographer (finished this year) so will have more time to give to it and get it finished.
 
My biggest tip is to find a theme which gives you the bare bones then build your pages with Elementor. It's a great free page builder and once you learn it your skills are transferable to any other theme (as long as you use elementor on those too).

It took me 3 rebuilds to get a site which I like as I found a working within the themes exclusively quite restricting.
 
cambsno said:
Thanks Andy - I am not hugely disappointed with Squarespace but just find it a bit flat and want to refresh things. The SEO appears to be better with WP (appreciate that has a lot to do with content too) - its just there are thousands of themes and it appears there is no way of trialling them like you do on squarespace, you need to purchase and then play.
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You may want to consider the work involved in moving platforms. If your current site doesn't have much content it's not a big issue, if however you have a lot of content on your squarespace site it all needs to be transferred across to the new site and it is not a simple process.

In terms of the S.E.O side of things yes wordpress is easier to rank because of all of the tools available. However if you don't move all of your content across properly you will get a huge amount of search console errors. Those are very bad for S.E.O and you could easily find yourself in a position where your site sinks like a stone because of the move.

Quite a lot of people that move from Squarespace to wordpress do a full rebrand with a new domain name because of the issues with moving as that is the easiest option.
 
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Use the free plugin "Photography Management", if you want to deliver photos to your clients via your website. It integrates into your theme and provides a professional look and feel.
 
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