If you’re experiencing common WordPress errors and problems, you might be able to fix them from the comfort of your own home. The reality is that WordPress does have quite a number of common errors and problems. They can be difficult and tricky to fix on your own, but they are fixable (with some technical knowledge). If you do find that the technical aspect of fixing these common problems is out of your range, you might want to just bite the bullet and hire a professional to take a couple of hours to fix them for you.
That being said, if you have a good website hosting service and you have one of the problems we’re about to talk about, it is likely that they will help you fix the issue. Here’s a list of common WordPress problems and how you can fix them. The white screen of death
This typically happens when something is wrong with your website configuration or database. For no apparent reason, you’ll go to your website, and it’s just white. You’ll try to go to the admin login and it’s just white. Typically, this requires correction or some adjustments in your wp-config file or in your database.
Database connection errors
This is usually an issue related to your worker’s website not connecting to the database properly. This is usually because the username or password in your wp-config file is not correct and therefore it can not access the database. You can go into your PHP database manager or wizard and you can reset the usernames and passwords, and if you do that, you can then update your wp config-file to reflect those changes.
403 errors
Usually caused by a problem with the permalinks on your website (found in admin > general > permalinks). This has to be addressed by accessing your database and resetting this. It’s pretty hard to do if you can’t get into your website (sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t depending on your issue).
Privacy warnings
Do not have your SSL license properly configured for the security on your website. This is typically a misconfiguration either with the permalinks or you don’t have an SSL on your website at all and you’re telling Google that it needs to be secured. SSLs are a must and need to be properly configured on your website.
Stuff is just broken on your WordPress website
This happens on its own due to a wide variety of errors. When addressing this, we reflect on what actions were recently taken. Was there an automatic or manual update to WordPress or plugins, and other things? Often times, updating things could create broken things. So, we revert back to a backup and try to redo those updates and figure out what’s breaking and why. With the advent of automatic updates, we do see this more often where random things just get broken. If your page is broken, you can likely just revert back to the previous version. Sometimes, if your server technology updates without you knowing, that could break your website. So, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all when it comes to this specific issue.
Contact forms not working on your website
The SNTP might not be configured correctly. This is typically related to conflict (several form plugins installed and turned on) or, if the form itself is not working at all, you probably have some conflicts with your website and you need to figure out what’s causing the conflict and see if you could fix it.
Updates are not visible
You have updated some content on your webpage and you can’t see. This is because of caching. Contact your website host to empty your cache for you. And if you have a caching plugin turned on, you want to make sure that empty your cache on your website so that your update can show to the user. Also, your own local browser caching, which needs to be emptied as well.
Something is missing, or shortcodes are showing on your webpage
A plugin, theme, or something has been turned off. You want to go back in and make sure all of your plugins are turned on, and everything is compatible, and the like.
Website is gone
A common reason this happens is that you might have let your domain name expire. If you haven’t paid your renewal on your domain name so your domain name is no longer valid. Get that renewal paid and hand that over to your server and you should be good to go. However, sometimes, a hacker might get in there and your website might be gone because a hacker has been able to destroy your website (or someone has accidentally deleted your website). This is why it’s important to have backups.
Your Website has weird codes or redirects to spam or shows some sort of message
This can mess up your online reputation and could get you blacklisted on Google. What you have to do is fix your website, sometimes needing to completely redo the website. A security plugin such as Wordfence would work to fix it. But if you’ve been blacklisted by Google, you actually have to tell Google that your website is clean and to be reconsidered.
Can’t login or find login URL or password
Be sure to check out this article that goes into detail.
If you’re experiencing any of these common WordPress issues, don’t hesitate to reach out to your hosting company immediately. You can also contact a website developer that specializes in WordPress to help you and get this taken care of as soon as possible.