WordPress Wrap Up

Over the past few weeks we have covered WordPress topics, including our own newly released plugins. This week we wanted to close out our series on WordPress by discussing three of the most common issues people run into on the platform and how to fix them.

WordPress is a great platform for every type of website, but even the best options have user errors sometimes. Thankfully most of the issues that present on WordPress are easy to undo, and you can keep your site up and running with little problem.

Fixing the Scheduled Post Issues

If your website has a blog, you have probably relied on the scheduled post feature. This is great for writing content when you have time, and then scheduling it to post for a more convenient, high traffic time. Every so often WordPress misses the scheduled posting time, and you are left with a post that never went live. If it happens more than once or twice, it is time to fix the issue. The easiest solution is to confirm that your website is set up to the correct time zone. If you wanted it to go live at 7:00 AM EST, but your WordPress is set up as MST you will have issues getting it up at the right time.

White Screen of Death

This is the scariest issue for most WordPress users. You log on to just see a white screen, nothing else. It locks the user out of their admin panel, leaving you to try to guess what went wrong. The most common reason this happens is because you have used up all of the memory available. The best option is to increase the PHP memory (find a professional to do this or a really good tutorial online) so that your site can run properly again. Once this is done try to open the website again. If you are still having issues it may be a plugin.

Once you have upgraded the memory, go ahead and disable all of the plugins on your WordPress admin page. This is the most second cause of the white screen of death, and while rarer than the memory issue it still is worth investigating. This is a great time to clean up and remove the plugins you are no longer using as a way to improve your site.

Harmful Programs Error

This is most commonly the result of corruption from a virus or malware. Google and WordPress mark this when harmful code is found in a website, because the code can spread from site to site. It needs to be shutdown and stopped, so they flat your site keeping you (and others) from accessing it. The best thing to do in this case is to use Google’s safe browsing tool and check your site.

The second most common cause of this error is your ad network. If you are running ads on your site through a third party this warning can mean their content was corrupted. In this case turn off your ad platform and see if that improves your site.

This concludes our basic WordPress series. The versatility of the platform makes it ideal for almost any type of website from casual blog to serious shopping site. With help and education most people can set up and run a WordPress site to support their business.