Having WordPress errors? Let’s fix it!
WordPress is a popular platform that runs the majority of the web. Many small businesses and organization sites run the open source code platform.
Here at SkyPoint Studios we specialize in WordPress and provide the platform both as a finished product as well as a repair service for websites developed by others. With all the work that we do with the platform, we see a lot of different versions of WordPress errors.
WordPress errors are very common. WordPress is known as a technology stack, which means it has four different layers of technology that are required to make it run. You can think of these as a cake, a base layer, inner and topping layers. This is just the base requirement to run WordPress software.
Most WordPress websites will use a theme and many plugins for different functions. Things can become very complicated with the more plugins required for a site to run. Websites that offer many different functionalities and use lots of different plugins or custom coding to do these can be more prone to have errors.
Some of the common WordPress errors are “500 server error” / “loss of connection to database error” / “404 not found error” etc, these errors all have different meanings. The best way to figure out the exact issue your site is facing is to Google the error, for example “wordpress 500 server error”
Today I’m going to cover a little bit of how to deal with all of them. First of all, you’ll want to have backups in place. I recommend having 30 days of backups if you can get that from your server provider. All of our website hosting packages here at SkyPoint Studios have 30 days of backups.
Whenever there’s an issue, we can always roll the website back to a prior version that worked properly. The next thing you want to do is make sure that you update all plugins, themes and WordPress core software regularly. It’s super crucial to make sure that all of the WordPress versions and the plugins are up-to-date and do not have any vulnerable code in them. These updates are often times critical patches to vulnerabilities that will crash the website.
A Crucial Layer of the Cake
PHP is a code language that runs the WordPress website. It’s kind of like the engine that does the work on the website. Remember when I mentioned the 4-layer cake that WordPress is made of? PHP is one of the layers of the cake. 
If your version of PHP doesn’t match up with the required PHP version of a plugin or theme, that will crash the website.
This is a pretty easy fix because all you have to do is go into the server settings and change the PHP version either up or down to match what the plugin requires. PHP is something that needs to be updated on a regular basis as there are new versions coming out somewhat frequently throughout the year.
WordPress core also offers several updates throughout the year that you’ll want to update as soon as possible. If you keep up the PHP version, the software updating and make sure you have backups, that eliminates most issues. You also want to make sure that you have some type of a security or firewall product in place that prevents outside threats from getting in.
With all of these different elements taken care of, you can rest assured that any type of errors that come up can be addressed. One thing I want to recommend is having a few plugins as possible and really knowing the plugins that you’re working with.
Ideally, only choose plugins that you actually know and have used priorly and that you know are reliable. More often than not, I find that crashes and errors occur after trying out some new plugin that I’m not familiar with. Keep track of the plugins you use and also use reliable plugins & themes by professional developers.
Themeforest.net is a great place to find professional themes or plugins that are reliable and tested and have support teams behind them. That is all I have right now on WordPress errors, let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
Read next: WordPress on Footer Website Vulnerability
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I love the analogy of wordpress and cake, you explained that very easily, and I’ve been using WordPress for over 10 years and I still learned things I never knew!
I used to get the “error establishing database connection” all the time on WordPress, but I’m much more familiar with database errors and MySQL. I think you kinda learn more as you go. I also learned a long time ago to save your database files and make sure you name them appropriately.. don’t just use the default database_9, etc.
Totally agree, Riley! Downloading the database file locally and having 30 days of backups is a great way to prevent loss on the website.
I guess the things that come easy usually have a catch to them… like WordPress being very user friendly but often has common errors especially theme incompatibilities/plugins causing issues. I still love WordPress and wouldn’t use anything else these days. It’s gotten me much higher in search results vs websites I’ve built from scratch… but I am not incredibly advanced so I’m probably doing something in error on my custom built sites in regards to SEO.
WordPress can be a blessing and a curse. The open-ness of the platform allows for many developers to make plugins that work great for free and also makes it possible for hackers to attack those same plugins. The fact that WordPress is the most popular website design platform in the World makes it a very big target for hackers.
I love themeforest! They have quality wordpress themes and I like that I can message the theme creator for assistance if I have an issue.
Totally agree, Ella! Themeforest is the best website to get premium WordPress themes and plugins as well as a bunch of other great web design software.
I don’t think I’ve ever even upgraded the PHP version… I feel like I’m neglecting some of my WordPress duties. I just built my first WordPress site last year, after watching Youtube tutorials. I built my first site, which is an amazon affiliate site, just for fun, but now I’m really loving WordPress, so I downloaded the WooCommerce plugin and have been tinkering around with creating an actual online store, I just need to find the products.
PHP updating is really important. If your hosting has never upgraded the PHP, then I would recommend looking into updating it. It’s important to back up the site before updating.
There are many wordpress errors that come up if you’ve been using wordpress a long time! I remember feeling so hopeless and wanting to give up on building websites. I wish I had had a guide like this for troubleshooting wordpress errors when I was building wordpress sites for a living, especially the tip about plugins, which can be a real nightmare when you spend so much time trying to figure out the issue when all along it was just a plugin.
Yes, it is true! The errors are a consistent part of managing WordPress websites. I’ve learned over the years to make sure and backup and update religiously.