Keep Calm and Carry On: How To Handle 4 Common WordPress Emergencies

If you’ve been using WordPress for any length of time, you’ve probably had a panic moment.

A “holy shit…what happened?” experience is never a fun thing, especially when you’ve been working hard to drive traffic to your blog or business site. And let’s face it, most of us aren’t developers by trade, so seeing things that are out of sorts can really ruin your day.
But, many problems with WordPress can be easily diagnosed and repaired without having a computer science degree or wearing a Three Wolf Shirt in a basement.

Warm Up

Before you get started, it’s important to have some information. It’s a good idea to jot this stuff down and save it somewhere now, before you need it.

A short list:

• Login for your webhost (often times the cPanel access)
• FTP login
• A basic understanding of the WordPress file structure
  • wp-config.php: in the root of your site. Contains the connection info for WP to get your content out of the database
  • theme and plugin folders: all of the unique items live in two main places, both of which are in the /wp-content/ folder. /plugins/ has…you guessed it, your plugins. /themes/ has all the various themes your site may have. Keep in mind that a theme or plugin doesn’t have to be active, just installed at some point.
• Your most recent backup. You ARE running frequent backups, AREN’T YOU???
• A cup of coffee

Common Errors

The dreaded “white screen of death”

So you’re going along, doin your web thing, and then one day your WP site is just…blank. A white screen. No error message, no text, no….nothin’.

Why This Happens

This is usually caused by the site needing more memory to process its various functions than the host is giving it. Often times, you’ve got a lower-end host ($5 a month! It’s a deal, right? Wrong.)

How To Fix

1. Log in via FTP and go to your wp-content folder.
2. Rename the entire ‘plugins’ folder to something else (for example, adding an X in front of it). This will force all the plugins to deactivate. Can you log in now? Good.
3. Go to the plugins section of your WP admin area and you should see a red message telling you that all plugins have been disabled.
4. Now go back in FTP and change the folder back to ‘plugins’.
5. Reactivate each plugin, one by one. When you get the white screen again, you’ve found the culprit.

How To Prevent It Going Forward

• Increase your memory allocation in your wp-config.php file.
  • define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M'); (details here)
  • note: your webhost may have a pre-set limit that you can’t override.
• Keep your core WP install and plugins up to date, removing ones that aren’t needed.
• Review the plugins you’re using from time to time. If one is outdated and hasn’t been updated in a while (over a year is a good baseline) look for a possible replacement.

Possible malware infection or hack

Getting a strange PHP error? Seeing links in your post that you clearly didn’t put there? Or do your Google listings mention pharmaceutical ads instead of your post titles and excerpts?

Bad news: you’ve been hacked. In the past, sites that had high traffic or were polarizing on specific issues were targeted. Now? It’s largely automated, and they’re just trying to spam the hell out of whatever they can get.

Why This Happens

• Unsecure host (GoDaddy has been plagued with problems in the last year, but they aren’t the only ones)
• Outdated WordPress install

How To Fix

• Do a scan of your site. I personally recommend the Sucuri Security webscan.
• Pay someone to fix it.
  • This isn’t something you want to try and deal with on your own. Usually the hack can be in multiple places and include “backdoors” that allow them to get back in. A service like Sucuri (which I personally recommend to my clients) can not only fix the problem, but keep an eye on things and fix any future issues as well. It’s worth the money.

• Keep your WordPress install (both core and plugins) up to date. When a new version is released, hackers can often times review the different versions and look for exploits.
• Use strong passwords.
• Don’t use “free” themes you find on Google (and here’s why)
• Follow general best practices when it comes to WordPress security
• If it’s reoccurring, look for a better, more secure host.

You Hit Publish…but didn’t mean to

OK, so this isn’t so much an emergency in the true sense of the word, but can still cause a problem. Publishing unfinished content, when you’re not ready to, can ripple out into the various social networks and give people a skewed view of what you’re all about. And you may be asking, “What about my RSS / auto-post-to-every-social-network-ever functionality?”

How It Happens

• Well…you hit the publish button. Not a lot of detective work here.

How To Fix It

• Change the post status back to “draft”

How To Prevent It

• Write your posts outside of WordPress. I personally use Windows Live Writer, but here’s a comprehensive list of what’s available
• Delay posting of RSS via a function
• Don’t use an auto-posting function. Seriously, take the extra 30 seconds and post it yourself

My site looks….wrong

So you’ve published a post and….something seems wrong. That left sidebar is on the right, the right sidebar is below the post, and your footer is nowhere to be found. What’s going on?

How It Happens

• Often times, when copying a post over from a regular word processor (i.e. Microsoft Word) the program brings over with it a lot of extra markup. That’s not a problem if you’re using Word, but that stuff isn’t meant for the web. You can tell by looking at the HTML tab and seeing a lot of extra <div> and <span> items, among other things. Frankly, unless you purposely put it there, you shouldn’t see much else besides images and maybe a few <strong> tags for bolding. If it looks like an HTML page, you’re probably messed up.

How To Fix It

• Open the post or page in the HTML tab in WP and look for extra markup that’s in there and remove it

How To Prevent It

• If you’re pasting from MS Word, use the built-in “clean” posting button.
• Do a quick check on the HTML tab before you publish, and peek at the “preview” tab as well.

In Closing

This isn’t meant to be a cure-all for what may happen. In the years of running my own WordPress development agency, I came across different problems and solutions often. When in doubt, hire a professional. If this is something that matters to your business, spending the money on a pro is well worth it.

Resources

Below are a few good places to start if you’re trying to figure out a specific problem. Just be mindful that the people that help on the forums are volunteers and are helping because they care. So be nice.

• WP.org forums
• WP StackExchange

One More Thing

While WordPress is very easy to use, it’s still software. It can have bugs, things can go wrong, or it can just plain stop working. Just like anything else you plug into a wall or log on to. There are now dedicated WordPress hosting companies such as page.ly, ZippyKid, WP Engine, and Synthesis (if you’re running the Genesis framework). While they may cost a few bucks more than your average shared host, they are built to handle WordPress and ONLY WordPress. They often handle all the upgrades, security, and backups for you, so it’s one less thing to worry about.