Building my personal website, domingocelso.site, has been an exciting and challenging learning experience. I started the website to introduce myself, share my interests, publish technology articles, and practice the skills I have learned as an IT student.
Before starting this project, I thought building a website was mainly about choosing colors, adding pictures, and writing content. As I continued working on it, I discovered that running a website also involves hosting, security, search engine optimization, troubleshooting, content quality, privacy, and regular maintenance.
Here are the most important lessons I learned while building my personal website with WordPress.
1. WordPress Makes Website Building More Accessible
WordPress helped me create pages and publish posts without coding everything from the beginning. I could manage my homepage, blog posts, images, menus, and plugins through the WordPress dashboard.
I created pages for my profile, autobiography, gallery, favorite things, news articles, and contact information. I also experimented with custom HTML and CSS to make parts of my homepage look more personal.
Although WordPress makes the process easier, I learned that I still need to understand how a website is organized. Pages, posts, categories, menus, themes, and plugins have different purposes. Learning how these parts work together helped me manage my website more effectively.
2. A Clear Website Structure Is Important
One of my early goals was to place all my content on the website. However, I learned that visitors need a clear way to find information.
A website should have an organized navigation menu, readable page titles, and working links. Personal information belongs on pages such as Profile and Autobiography, while regularly updated articles are better published as posts.
I also added links to my Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, and Disclaimer. These pages are available in the footer so visitors can access them from different parts of the website.
This taught me that website structure is not only about appearance. It also affects usability, trust, and how easily search engines understand the site.
3. Plugins Are Helpful, but They Can Cause Problems
WordPress plugins can add useful features without requiring a developer to build them manually. During this project, I worked with plugins for search engine optimization, caching, forms, security, cookie consent, and adding code snippets.
However, I also experienced a critical WordPress error. My homepage stopped loading and displayed a message saying there had been a critical error on the website.
At first, I suspected that the SEO plugin was responsible. I used the WordPress tools in my hosting control panel to deactivate plugins individually and test the website after every change. This process helped me identify that a plugin conflict was likely causing the problem.
This experience taught me several important troubleshooting practices:
- Change only one setting or plugin at a time.
- Test the homepage and important pages after every change.
- Update plugins carefully.
- Remove plugins that are no longer necessary.
- Keep a backup before making major changes.
- Do not install multiple plugins that perform the same function.
Plugins are useful, but having too many can make a website slower, less secure, and more difficult to troubleshoot.
4. cPanel and WP Toolkit Are Valuable Tools
Before this project, most of my attention was focused on the WordPress dashboard. When my website developed an error, I learned how useful cPanel and WP Toolkit could be.
WP Toolkit allowed me to view my WordPress installation and manage plugins even when the public website was not working correctly. I also learned how to check maintenance mode, plugin status, updates, and other WordPress settings.
This gave me a better understanding of the difference between WordPress and web hosting. WordPress manages the website’s content, while the hosting control panel manages the files, databases, domains, security settings, and server tools behind the website.
Learning these tools made me more confident when dealing with website problems.
5. Maintenance Mode Should Be Used Carefully
While making changes, my website displayed a scheduled maintenance page. Maintenance mode is useful when a website owner needs to perform updates without allowing visitors to see unfinished work.
However, leaving maintenance mode active prevents regular visitors and search engines from viewing the website. It may also affect an advertising review if the reviewer cannot access the content.
I learned to check whether maintenance mode is disabled after completing my changes. I also test the website in a private browser window to see what regular visitors can access.
6. Original Content Is More Valuable Than Short Posts
Another important lesson was that publishing many short posts does not automatically make a website valuable.
Some of my earlier posts were brief updates about entertainment and personal interests. While those topics are meaningful to me, several posts did not contain enough information to help other readers. I decided to save some of those posts as drafts while improving the overall direction of my website.
I am now focusing more on technology, education, artificial intelligence, website development, and my experiences as an IT student. When I discuss a news report, I write the explanation in my own words, identify the original source, and add my own observations.
I also want to publish more first-hand articles about the projects I complete, the problems I encounter, and the solutions I discover. These articles can demonstrate my progress while helping other beginners facing similar challenges.
7. Images Must Be Used Responsibly
Images can make an article easier and more enjoyable to read, but website owners cannot simply copy any picture they find online.
I learned that it is safer to use my own photographs, screenshots, and original graphics. When I use an image from another source, I need to check its license and provide proper credit when required.
Images should also have descriptive alternative text. Alternative text helps visitors who use screen readers and helps search engines understand what the image represents.
Large images may slow down a website, so compressing them before uploading is also important.
8. Privacy and Transparency Build Trust
Preparing my website for advertising taught me about privacy and transparency.
My Privacy Policy explains that the website may use cookies, analytics, IP addresses, Google AdSense, personalized advertising, and services from third-party vendors. I also created Terms and Conditions and a Disclaimer.
These pages do not replace high-quality content, but they help visitors understand how the website operates. A website should be honest about the information it collects and the external services it uses.
I also learned not to publish sensitive personal information, such as a complete home address. A contact form or general email address is a safer way for visitors to communicate with a website owner.
9. SEO Is More Than Adding Keywords
I originally thought search engine optimization was mainly about entering a focus keyphrase and meta description into an SEO plugin. These fields are useful, but they are only a small part of SEO.
A useful article should have a clear title, descriptive headings, original information, readable paragraphs, relevant images, and links that work. The content must answer the question suggested by its title.
Search engines may choose their own description for a page, so a meta description cannot guarantee rankings. The quality and usefulness of the page remain more important than receiving a perfect score from an SEO plugin.
10. Website Development Requires Patience
The biggest lesson I learned is that building a website is an ongoing process. Problems will happen. A plugin may conflict with another plugin, a page may not display correctly, or a setting may produce an unexpected result.
Instead of changing many things at once, I learned to slow down, identify the most likely cause, and test one solution at a time. Every problem became an opportunity to understand WordPress better.
Conclusion
Building my personal website has taught me much more than how to publish pages and posts. I have learned about WordPress, HTML, CSS, hosting, plugin management, troubleshooting, website security, privacy, SEO, and content quality.
My website is still developing, and there are many improvements I want to make. I plan to continue publishing original articles about technology and my experiences as an IT student. I also want to document the projects I create and share practical lessons that may help other beginners.
This experience showed me that a personal website is not just an online profile. It can also be a record of learning, creativity, problem-solving, and personal growth.
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