Common Problems When Launching a WordPress Website

Common Problems When Launching a WordPress Website

December 11, 2023
Common Problems When Launching a WordPress Website

Navigating WordPress design and development may encounter challenges for users and brands alike. Learn effective strategies for successfully launching a website on WordPress and addressing any encountered issues.

How to launch a website on WordPress?

Before you launch your WordPress website, it’s crucial to define its purpose. Whether it’s a personal passion project, an e-commerce business, or an e-learning platform, clarifying your site’s objectives is essential. Surprisingly, many WordPress websites are launched without a clear purpose or business objective.

Understanding your goals is key to aligning the user experience (UX) with your target audience and avoiding development issues down the line. Once you’ve established your site’s purpose, goals, and strategy, you can proceed with the following stages to successfully launch your website:

  1. Choose a domain name
  2. Select a web hosting provider
  3. Install WordPress
  4. Pick a WordPress theme
  5. Set up WordPress plugins
  6. Customize your website

While this process is an ideal formula for a successful WordPress website launch, you may still encounter some problems. To prevent issues during this 6-step process, ensure you:

  • Download a backup solution before launching
  • Secure your site with security plugins
  • Check for 404 errors by adding Google Search Console (GSC) for a crawl report
  • Manually test any contact forms
  • Verify that all images, videos, sliders, and carousels load correctly
  • Check links for social integrations to ensure they connect to the correct social media accounts

Following these steps will help you avoid interruptions, but it’s also essential to consider potential larger WordPress launch problems. Let’s delve into those next.

5 WordPress website problems

1. Internal server error

Encountering internal server errors is a common frustration for WordPress beginners, mainly because they don’t provide specific details about the issue.

To address these problems, consider implementing the following solutions:

  1. Take a full back up before you start the below step .
  2. Access your site root via FTP and rename the “.htaccess” file to “.htaccess_old”. If this resolves the issue, navigate to “settings” and reset your “permalinks” to generate a new “.htaccess” file.
  3. If the problem lies within your WordPress Administration Screen, deactivate plugins using FTP.
  4. Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme.
  5. Check your PHP memory limit.
  6. Check you Php version try to change PHP version to 7.4
  7. Conduct a fresh install and upload both “wp-admin” and “wp-includes.”

2. The WordPress white screen of death

The dreaded “white screen of death” (WSOD) is a severe issue that can arise during the launch of your WordPress website, resulting in a blank white screen caused by the collision of PHP and database problems. Here are some reasons and solutions to try before consulting a local WordPress website designer and developer:

  1. Deactivate all plugins, as one of them may be causing compatibility issues. Reactivate them one by one to identify the problematic plugin.
  2. If you’re unable to access your screen, log in to your site via FTP. Locate the “wp-content/plugins” folder and rename it to “plugins_old.”
  3. Consider that a new theme might be causing the white screen. Activate a default WordPress theme instead to check if the issue persists.
  4. Try to get the Hosting support if might help .
  5. Do a fresh install and upload “wp-admin” and “wp-includes”.

If the white screen problem persists, you may want to restart your system or conduct hardware tests.

3. Error establishing a database connection

If you come across the message “Error Establishing Database Connection,” consider the following potential reasons and solutions:

  1. The issue is often related to the “wp-config.php” file. Access your site through FTP and open “wp-config.php” to verify that your domain name, username, password, and host are all accurate.
  2. If the credentials are correct, consider manually resetting your MySQL password.
  3. Reach out to your web host to check if your server is down or if there are restrictions on your database quota.
  4. Conduct a scan of your site to detect any signs of hacking.
  5. Do a fresh install and upload “wp-admin” and “wp-includes”

By addressing these aspects, you can hopefully resolve the issue and successfully reestablish the connection between WordPress and the database.

4. Auto-upgrade error

Errors during auto-upgrades can result in blank screens, PHP error messages, or update failures. Typically, these issues stem from a connection fault with WordPress files or the internet. Incorrect file permissions can also be a culprit leading to unsuccessful auto-upgrades. To address this, manual updating of your WordPress password may be necessary to resolve the issue. To stop this happening again you may need to disable auto update word-press and plugin .

5. Connection Timed Out

A “connection timed out” failure is commonly triggered when your website surpasses the server limitations. Here are some potential solutions to consider:

  1. Deactivate all plugins and reactivate them one by one to identify any causing issues.
  2. Switch to a default WordPress theme to check for theme-related problems.
  3. Increase the memory limit in the “wp-config.php” file.
  4. Extend the execution time in your “php.ini” file.
  5. Reach out to hosting support to fix this for you .

This type of failure is more prevalent with shared hosting due to limited memory. If you want to avoid future occurrences of this issue, consider reevaluating your shared hosting solution.

I’m here to assist:

Crafting a WordPress website design and development can pose challenges without the necessary expertise or solutions to address common launch issues.

If you need further guidance on GA4 implementation feel free to reach out to me today. Your success is my priority.

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