How do I effectively defeat the Wall of Flesh?

It sounds like you have the right idea, but here's some tips or suggestions. Buff potions definitely help, and also you will want to make sure you are using the Greater Health Potions, not the lesser ones of course.

If you haven't done so already, I suggest you try making a very long bridge. It doesn't have to be completely flat but at least enough that it's very easily traverse-able and you won't get stuck somewhere by accident or fall into lava. You'll want to focus more on the battle than trying to get around down there.

My weapon of choice for this battle would be one of the flails (Or any big Sword such as Night's Edge) for the numerous mini enemies attached to the wall. Flails take them out easily and quite efficiently since you can hit almost all of them at once. Once those are all done for, this is when switching to the minishark is a good idea. It puts out lots of damage very quickly, obviously, plus the bonus ability to save ammo every-time you shoot it. If you have the Goblin Tinkerer I suggest you put some money in reforging weapons for better stats, not necessary but makes a very noticeable impact when you get a good one.

As for your accessories, you might want rocket/specter boots to get around easier; a cobalt/obsidian shield so you aren't knocked around or into lava, and also in case there any exposed hellstone you could accidentally walk onto; and a Band of Regeneration to quickly recover lost HP. The other two are up to your preference really. I would also suggest reforging these to try and get the Warding prefix (+4 defense). Again not necessary but it will help tremendously in the long run. Especially since having 5 warding accessories means +20 defense.

You can also try to focus on magic items to defeat it. A Vilethorn also makes quick work of the smaller enemies while a space gun (with full meteor armor) will constantly damage the actual Wall without ever using mana. A Demon Scythe is definitely my favorite weapon to use against it though. It will hit everything it passes through, and while it's "charging up", the boss can be directly over it getting hit 3-5 times guaranteed. The only problem is how hard is can sometimes be to find.

If you do decide to use magic items make sure you have a full 200 Max Mana and some Mana potions as well. Restoration potions can also help here as they give back both mana and HP but will give the "Potion Sickness" debuff on use, unlike regular Mana potions. You can also get a Mana Flower to equip. This will automatically use mana potions for you so that you won't have to worry about how much mana you currently have.

Once you do manage to defeat it the first time, beating it again will just get easier since you will have access to higher tier items.

You can kill the wall of flesh in under a minute with...Beenades...Ok so go off into the jungle and kill the queen bee a couple time (she is a easymode boss) Or just build a couple Abeeminations Which are quite easy to make (On the console at least) here's the link http://terraria.gamepedia.com/Abeemination. If you kill her about 4 or 5 times (It should be easy with A flame lash or molten fury), you should get 70-85 Beenades. I had molten armor when I did this but it can be done with platinum. so once you awaken The Wall Of Flesh, take out a couple of the hungry with a sword, throw those Beenades like a mad man, upon Contact they send out a swarm of bee's which do like 30 damage each, After about 45 seconds they eat the wall away!

Without repeating what has already been said, my fool proof way is to use the Phoenix Blaster with Meteorite Shots. It's an absolute life saver as you can take out the Wall of Flesh without any buffs at all, in as little as a 500 block runway (though give yourself some breathing space) and only lose around 5 or 6 hearts (with Molten Armour).

You can craft the phoenix blaster with a handgun (found in locked gold chests in the dungeon) and 20 Hellstone bars. Then combine regular ammo with Meteorite bars to create Meteorite Shots.

As far as strategy goes, use a big blade (Night's Edge makes it easy) to deal with all of The Hungry first. Then lay into the Wall's eye with the blaster - on average I expend around 250 shots though they are really easy to stock up on so I wouldn't worry about being trigger happy.