Why Is WordPress So Hard To Use? (With Steps On How To Fix It)

⚡ Quick Answer

In our opinion, there are two main reasons why WordPress is hard for beginners:

🟡 First, it’s a powerful and flexible CMS, which makes it more complex.

🟡 Second, it was originally built for blogging, so creating a full website can feel a bit more challenging than using a dedicated website platform

For the detailed information, please read below.

🔔 Elementor makes WordPress easier!

Give it a try (a free version is available).

Go to Elementor ➜

Contents

Why Is WordPress So Complicated? – Our Video About This
6 Reasons Why WordPress Seems Hard
6 Ways To Make WordPress Easy To Use
Conclusion
FAQ

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Why Is WordPress So Complicated? – Our Video About This

6 Reasons Why WordPress Seems Hard

We collected 6 reasons why WordPress seems hard:

1. WordPress Requires Initial Installation and Setup

WordPress is open-source software, not a service like website builders (Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Blogger, etc.), and it needs to be installed on a server before it can be launched.

In most cases, you’ll need to continue configuring WordPress further after the installation.

Related ➡️ 9+ Different Web Hosting Types Explained

2. Themes and Plugins Can Be Complicated

After the setup, the themes and plugins can complicate WordPress as the CMS relies on multiple third-party extensions to function properly.

The two types of extensions used on WordPress are themes and plugins:

Themes control all the design elements and general website behavior.
Plugins are add-ons that extend the capabilities of a WordPress website.

Themes and plugins provide flexibility for WordPress, but using too many can cause conflicts, leading to website issues that owners must fix.

3. Categories and Tags Can Be Complicated

WordPress still uses the categories and tags structure that was initially designed for blogs to manage their blog posts.

So if you’re going to use WordPress only for your blog, you’ll be fine. But for other types of websites, you might have to noindex categories to preserve the overall SEO of the website.

Many users make a mistakes with the WordPress structure and use multiple categories with no tags and vice-versa, which results in difficult navigation.

☝ Note: Categories allow you to group blog posts based on the topics, while you can use tags to describe posts in detail. Both categories and tags are a part of default taxonomies, which is a way to organize content on WordPress.

4. WordPress Has Lots of Settings To Configure

The multitude of different settings available makes it hard to use for beginners.

For example, the sidebar in the blog posts is controlled via Widgets in the dashboard, and a custom page should be set as the homepage in reading settings before a website can be launched.

All of this is relatively easy to do and takes only a few minutes to set up, but there’s no universal default step-by-step structure in WordPress that new users can follow.

Plus, all the settings from third-party plugins can quickly add up — resulting in further confusion.

5. There’s No In-Built WordPress SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

With WordPress, you get a strong website foundation, but it’s just not enough to rank in Google.

So once you’re done with the website setup and design, you will have to install an SEO plugin (like Yoast) to make your WordPress website SEO optimized.

Without the right SEO settings, the website is unlikely to be properly visible to search engine crawlers, and you risk receiving no organic visitors.

6. There’s No In-Built Analytics

Analytics is something every website must have. But WordPress has no in-built analytics.

Many third-party (free and paid) Analytics plugins are available, but all of them require initial setup (which adds one more step for beginners).

What may complicate matters further is that there’s no single third-party Analytics solution, and users have to choose from a variety of options.

6 Ways To Make WordPress Easy To Use

Yes, WordPress can have a learning curve, but it’s the ideal CMS for creating powerful websites with minimal cost and limitless possibilities.

So, here are 6 tips you can follow to make your life easy with WordPress:

1. Select Managed WordPress Hosting

To avoid all the initial installation work, go with a top-rated dedicated WordPress managed hosting like Siteground, Kinsta, or Cloudways.

Managed WordPress hostings are specifically optimized for WordPress, and they take care of everything in the backend, like codebase management, performance, security, backups, and the server stack.

2. Use a Lightweight WordPress Theme

Themes control the core functions of a website, and you can only activate one theme at a time. A few good lightweight themes, favored by many users, are GeneratePress and Astra.

All three themes are available for free in the WordPress directory, with a paid version if you need any premium features (for most blogs, free themes are enough).

Alternatively, Divi Theme and Hello Elementor are also good options.

⚡ Check also: How to Edit WordPress Home Page

3. Use WYSIWYG WordPress Page Builders for Design

WordPress doesn’t come with a full front-end WYSIWYG editor by default, unlike website builders like Wix, which makes them easy to use. However, you can still add WYSIWYG functionality to WordPress with page builders.

WordPress WYSIWYG page builders are powerful tools (some are even complete toolkits) that you can use to design and run your WordPress website in a code-free manner.

Most page builders are available with a drag and drop WYSIWYG interface that you can use to create responsive pages visually.

Currently, the two most popular WordPress page builders are Elementor and Divi Builder (live demo is available here).

4. Enable Screen Options for a Cleaner Dashboard

The “Screen Options” tab is found on almost every page of the WordPress dashboard, like the post editor, media library, and plugins page. When you click it, you’ll see checkboxes that let you decide which sections you want to see.

For example, in the post editor, you can hide sections like Excerpt, Discussion, or Slug if you don’t need them. You can also drag and drop sections to arrange them in a way that works best for you.

This feature helps clear up clutter, makes it easier to focus, and lets you set up the dashboard to fit your needs, whether you’re running a simple blog or a bigger site.

5. Install the Classic Editor Plugin

The Classic Editor plugin is perfect for beginners who find the Gutenberg editor a bit confusing as most users reported. Instead of using blocks for everything, it brings back the older, simpler text editor that feels more like writing an email.

You can easily add text, images, and links without dealing with a bunch of extra options. It’s great for those who prefer a basic layout and just want to focus on creating content.

6. Take Courses

Joining WordPress courses can make learning the platform much easier. Many online courses offer simple, step-by-step guides to help you get started.

Websites like Udemy, Coursera, or even WordPress’s own tutorials are great places to learn the basics and more. These courses can help you understand WordPress faster and make the whole process less confusing.

Conclusion

So, is WordPress easy to use? Yes and no.

While many beginners find it difficult due to the learning curve, others manage it just fine with the help of managed hosting and page builders.

You can also hire a freelancer from platforms like Codeable or Toptal if you need extra support.

If you’re also a WordPress user, please share your experience with us!

FAQ

How long does it take to learn WordPress?

After the introduction of the WordPress block editor called Gutenberg, learning WordPress became quite easy. As the name says, to edit WordPress with Gutenberg you use blocks that can be easily customized and edited without any coding. Most of Gutenberg’s features are drag and drop and very user-friendly.

With this in mind, we’d say that learning WordPress would take:

– around a month for the beginner level
– between 6 and 12 months for intermediate level
– more than 12 months for advanced level

What is the easiest way to use WordPress?

In our opinion using WordPress site builders like Divi and Elementor would be the easiest way to go about it.

🛠️ Tools:

Elementor: Drag-and-drop builder for easy website design
Divi: Visual builder to customize websites easily
SiteGround: Fast and secure WordPress hosting
Kinsta: Managed hosting for performance and security
Cloudways: Easy cloud hosting for WordPress sites
GeneratePress: Lightweight theme for fast websites
Astra: Customizable, fast WordPress theme
Codeable: Hire experts for WordPress tasks
Toptal: Top freelancers for WordPress development

📘 Additional Resources:

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Jay Raghu

2 years ago

A system can be complex and useful, powerful, and yet be easily customizable. WordPress now has made it difficult to customize by not using appropriate words to describe an area to customize. Making it difficult for non-developers and forcing them to hire a WordPress developer. It’s just a way to make once simple things more complex and difficult to make changes. One has to go on a hunt to find the appropriate area and name to use to change a particular section. It’s absurd and very frustrating.

Dim

WordPress is hard. You can shape it any way you want but in the end, it’s still hard.