<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/WordPress-Cupcake.jpg" alt="WordPress Cupcake" width="270" height="180" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-8906" />Did you know simply adding and removing certain things on your site will increase its look immensely? When you build your WordPress site, it’s important to build it to align with your business or personal goals in mind. It should represent your goals and objectives to its best ability which means you will need to customize it to make it accomplish this. 

By removing or adding a few default settings, you could make your WordPress site truly unique to you and your needs. Those developers that are knowledgeable on its capabilities have a list of things they will automatically want to tweak when they set up their site. here is a look of a handy collection of things you may want to update on your site too. 

<h2>Remove the tagline “Just another WordPress site”</h2>

Not only does this phrase look tacky, but everyone has it on their site. It’s a simple thing to take care of and yet many have left theirs in place. When you have great content and you update regularly but you’ve still got this tagline on your site, it just looks bad. Change it by going to your settings, hit “general” and then in the box next to Tagline, you can remove the phrase and make your own custom one. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/JustAnotherWordPressSite.png" alt="Just Another WordPress Site" width="611" height="184" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-8907" />

Some people opt to just remove it altogether but at least you have the option to edit it and make it customized. 

<h2>Remove the Word “Howdy”</h2>

The word “Howdy” is the first thing you see when you login and look at your dashboard. It’s in the upper right hand corner with your name. It’s the default setting and it’s easy to remove. It’s cute at first but you really may want to change it to be more professional. 

Imagine your viewers pulling up your site to see the word “Howdy” by their name. They may think you did that and feel insulted or hurt your business relationship in some sort. Swap it out by inserting this code into your functions.php file: 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/HowdyImage.png" alt="Remove Howdy" width="314" height="236" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-8908" />

<h2>Add a Logo and a Favicon</h2>

Things you should be adding to your site include logos and favicons. When you install a theme, you can customize it after working with the initial settings by adding a custom logo. It’ll be easy for your visitors to recognize when tis in your header. Just go to “appearance” and then “customize” to upload your logo. Consider adding it to your dashboard and remove the WordPress logo by adding some code. 

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Favicon.png" alt="Favicon" width="740" height="229" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-8909" />

The favicon is a great way to change by using the theme customizer too. Most people forget to change this. It’s located right next to your site’s URL in the browser window and it’s an easy way to customize the site to your brand. It also a good way to show your viewers that you pay attention to details. Go to “appearance” and “customize” for this too. Just upload the favicon in the theme customizer and use <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/favicon-by-realfavicongenerator/">Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator </a>if needed.

<h2>Cleanup the Sidebar and Dashboard</h2>

Before you finish up your customizations, be sure to work on your sidebar and dashboard. The sidebar is part of your default installation and usually has widgets or “archives” for a blog theme. You can remove this altogether if it doesn’t fit with your vision. 

Just go to “appearance” and “widgets” to drag them off the screen. Then, cleanup your dashboard by removing widgets, adding plugins to have more control of what’s displayed and make your dashboard look clean and simple.

If you add or remove these simple fixes, you will look like an experienced WordPress user and your viewers will enjoy your site that much more. 