If you experience a glitch with your website, here are some steps to try:
- If the main menu or header of your site looks funky but the majority of your site is fine, log into your site, and if the Dashboard screen shows a message that the Elementor Pro plugin updated, your site may have lost the global stylesheet. From the Dashboard menu, go to Elementor => Editor => Tools. Click the “Clear Files & Data” button.
- Clear the WordPress cache. If you have the LiteSpeed WordPress plugin, click the diamond on the horizontal Dashboard menu (at the top of the screen) and click “Purge all”. Be sure to also clear your browser cache (please Google this for your particular device and browser).
- If you recently installed a new plugin, deactivate the new plugin. If this is the source of the problem, you can try a different plugin that does what you want or determine what else on your site conflicts with the new plugin. I can provide this type of troubleshooting for a fee. If you install plugins on your site that cause a problem, I may not be able to help you other than to tell you to delete the plugin you installed. There are over fifty thousand WordPress plugins and I install those I have experience working with. This doesn’t mean you can’t extend the functionality of your site (it is your site, after all), simply that I cannot be expected to assist with a plugin I’ve never worked with. If you purchased a paid plugin, go to the plugin developer for support first. They know their plugin better than I do.
- If you see a white screen with a “Site maintenance” message that doesn’t go away, the Site Maintenance function has hiccupped. Log out of your website. Clear your browser history/cache. Close your browser. Reopen your browser. Log back into your website. If you cannot log in, or the “Site Maintenance” message continues to display, contact your hosting provider to remove the site maintenance file activated by WordPress during updates.
- If you see a white screen with a “Critical error” message, there has been a fatal WordPress error. This can be caused by installing a new plugin or if there’s a conflict between the site and the host server’s PHP version. When this happens, you cannot log into your site. You can contact me or your hosting provider for assistance.
- If you see a “Site not found” message or “This site can’t be reached” message, check that you entered the correct web address. If you have, your domain or hosting account may have expired. Please check with your hosting provider.
- If your site is filled with gibberish or gets routed to another company, you have been hacked. Contact your hosting provider for assistance. Note: keeping your website updated will help prevent hacks to your site, but hacks can still happen. Some breaches occur through outdated plugins or themes, some through weak passwords on your WordPress site or your hosting account, and some through less-monitored gateways on your web host (which you can’t do anything about).
Keep in mind…
- If you need my assistance to trouble-shoot an issue or problem with your site, I might need to charge for my time to help you resolve the issue. This will depend on several factors, including the degree of difficulty and time needed to troubleshoot or solve the issue.
- Unless you have a maintenance arrangement with me (or someone else), you are responsible for keeping your WordPress site maintained, including running updates. Some web host providers run updates automatically, but you should log into your WordPress website at least once a month and check if any updates are available for the WordPress program, plugins, and themes. An orange circle will be displayed on your site Dashboard menu => Updates indicating if any plugins or themes have updates to be installed (see next).
- Even if you have a backup plan with your hosting provider, you should run a backup plugin on your site. The All-in-One WP-Migration plugin allows you to save your complete site, “as-is”, which includes the database, themes, plugins, and image uploads. This allows you to restore and/or migrate your site to another web host, if necessary, should your site become irretrievable, and your current web host is unable to restore your site.
- To run a backup, click “All-in-One WP-Migration” from the WordPress Dashboard menu and then click the Advanced link. Check off “post revisions” and “spam” (no need to include those in the backup). Select File as the “Export to” option. This will store the file on your hosting space but also allow you to download the file to your computer.
- Do not install any automatic backup plugins such as UpDraftPlus that run in the background as these plugins can cause problems with how your site functions (including the speed at which images on your site load and preventing image carousels from loading).