Beyond the Basics: 9 Advanced WordPress Features for Power Users

The transition from a WordPress user to a WordPress specialist is defined by one thing: control.

While the average user is dependent on the limitations of their theme or the settings of a plugin, the developer manipulates the underlying engine to suit their specific needs.

To master WordPress at a higher level, you’d want to be exposed to how WordPress works, it’s most advanced functions, and how to integrate it with other applications & infrastructure.

Here is a primer into nine advanced WordPress features to get started.

Most WordPress users know that the default installation of WordPress can be quite limiting – with only the standard posts, pages, categories, etc to work with, trying to build any segmentation, workflows, or automation is simply not possible out of the box.

Advanced Custom Fields takes your site to the next level. It acts as the bridge between “standard content” and “structured data”, allowing you to set data variables which can be replicated across hundreds of pages instantly.

This ensures data consistency & integrity and allows you to display that data anywhere on the site using dynamic data fields. Build & manage WordPress sites in a truly scalable way after you get acquainted with this skill.

One of the advanced WordPress features which provide the most time leverage is its templating function. Whether you’re using Elementor, Divi, Visual Composer, or Breakdance, templates are a common function available in WordPress builders.

Imagine this – having the ability to direct & render data from hundreds of pages all in one single chosen page design. One edit made, and all 100 pages follow your instruction.

No longer do you need to spend hours micro-managing hundreds of page designs & inputs.

Understanding its hierarchy is what allows you to create surgical design & template changes. WordPress follows a “waterfall” logic to decide which file/data to use for a specific page.

Having & working with a decent web builder is all well & good, but even having basic knowledge of front end languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript can really open up a new playing field for web development.

Although WordPress is built on PHP, it still renders out code on browsers with front end languages. Knowing some basics gives you “tools” to not have to rely 100% on website builders for designs and edits.

Augment your website’s look & feel by tapping into CSS & JavaScript, and even give it new features like dropdown options & elements that work for you. While not as inbuilt as some advanced WordPress features, its still pretty easy to implement in your website!

Go deep enough and you can even integrate libraries like React, Tailwind, and others to boost your website’s form. Remember to add the CSS code in a CSS classes file which can be accessed across the site!

Speed is no longer just about user experience; it is a core SEO ranking factor. Lets crack down on the basics.

On-page optimization. The goal here is to reduce the “weight” of your page so the browser can render it faster. Use next-gen image formats like WebP or AVIF. Implement Lazy Loading so images only load as the user scrolls down.

Ensure critical CSS loads first, while non-essential JavaScript is “deferred” or loaded “asynchronously” so it doesn’t delay the page load.

Caching stores copies of your files so the server doesn’t have to “rebuild” the page every time a visitor clicks.

Set up caching function on your website’s admin panel to allow guests to receive a cached copy upon request, while allowing the remainder of the page to update via JavaScript. Tap on object cache to speed up processing time for database queries too.

Server. The engine. Even the cleanest code will lag on a slow server. Physical distance matters. Choose a data centre close to your primary audience to reduce latency. Ensure your host provides enough RAM and CPU. If you’re on shared hosting, a single heavy user on the same IP can hog resources and slow you down.

Ideally, you’d want to have a dedicated fixed IP for your site so that traffic doesn’t need to go through multiple hops to reach the server.

Because WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet, its sheer popularity makes it an attractive target for hackers.

It isn’t that WordPress is “weak” by design, but rather that its huge market share makes it a high-frequency target for bots & automated scripts (many hackers use bots to look for weak points in your website).

When it comes to website security, some best practices to follow would be; use Wordfence or WP 2FA to provide Multi-factor Authentication. This protects against brute-force attacks and ensures only someone with an approved physical device can log in to access your admin panel and effect changes.

Remove unused plugins. Every plugin if not properly updated, is essentially an entry point into your backend system. The main culprits are input & submit fields which if not properly tested, can send malicious JavaScript code from the front end to your server.

Web application firewalls like Cloudflare or Sucuri can offer even greater perimeter protection in the form of traffic filtering and malware scanning, giving your website much needed protection against DDoS attacks, offering IP cloaking, & seeking out malicious code installs.

Finally, backups. Always use a backup function such as All-in-one WP migration or a backup service from your hosting provider to create and store backups of the current website files. This is the nuclear option should your site get hit by an unrecoverable security incident.