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5 Problems When Launching a WordPress Website

  • Article by

    Amie Whale

WordPress design and development can run into problems for users and brands. Discover how to launch a website on WordPress successfully and fix any issues.

In 2022, 835 million WordPress websites are online, totalling a market share of 43% of all websites. But just like anything constantly evolving and improving, there are always inevitable complications.

As a leading WordPress website design agency in Staffordshire and the West Midlands, we come across many common problems when launching a new shiny website.

Whether you’re faced with “the white screen of death” or consistently finding database errors, there’s a lot to think about.

But fear not, we have the answers. Read on to discover how to launch a website on WordPress without problems.

Launch website WordPress

Discover how to launch a website on WordPress without encountering any common issues.

How to launch a website on WordPress?

Before launching your WordPress website, ensure you have defined the purpose for your site. Is it a personal passion project? An e-commerce business? Or an e-learning platform?

I know this seems obvious, but you’ll be surprised by how many WordPress websites get launched without a clear purpose or business objective.

Knowing your goals will help you align the user experience (UX) correctly with your target audience while avoiding any development issues later.

Once you establish the purpose for your site with goals and strategy, you can then begin to implement the following stages to launch your website:

1. Select a domain name

2. Choose a web hosting provider

3. Install WordPress

4. Decide on a WordPress theme

5. Set up WordPress plugins

6. Customise your website

This process is the ideal formula for launching your WordPress website successfully. However, you could still encounter a few problems along the way. To prevent any issues during this 6-step process, make sure you:

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

Once you’ve followed these basic steps and avoided any interruptions, it’s time to think about the bigger potential WordPress launch problems. Let’s explore.

5 WordPress website problems

As one of the most common WordPress problems, internal server errors can be very frustrating for WordPress beginners as it doesn’t specify what the issue is.

To overcome these issues, try making the following amendments:

  • Log in to your site root using FTP. Rename your “.htaccess” file to “.htaccess_old”. If this works, enter “settings”, and reset your “permalinks”, creating a new “.htaccess” file.
  • If the issue is with your WordPress Administration Screen, deactivate your plugins through FTP.
  • Switch the theme to a WordPress default.
  • Check your PHP memory limit.
  • Do a fresh install and upload “wp-admin” and “wp-includes”.

The dreaded “white screen of death” (WSOD) is one of the worst WordPress problems when launching your website.

It occurs when a blank white screen is created when both PHP and database problems collide. Here are some reasons and fixes you can try before speaking to a top local WordPress website designer and developer:

  • One of your plugins is causing compatibility problems. Deactivate all your plugins before reactivating them one by one.
  • If you can’t access your screen, log in to your site gain via FTP. Locate the “wp-content/plugins” folder and rename it “plugins_old”.
  • A new theme might be causing the white screen. Activate a default WordPress theme instead.

If the white screen is still an issue, restart your system or conduct hardware tests.

If you find you encounter the message “Error Establishing Database Connection”, then here are some possible reasons and solutions:

  • Normally this problem is caused by your “wp-config.php” file. Again, access your site via FTP and open “wp-config.php” checking your domain name, username, password, and host are all correct.
  • If these features are correct, reset your MySQL password manually.
  • Contact your web host to see if your server is down or your database quota is restricted.
  • Scan your site to see if it’s been hacked.

Hopefully, this has resolved the issue and successfully reconnected WordPress to the database.

Auto-upgrade errors can cause blank screens, a PHP error message, or an update failure. Often this issue is caused by a connection fault with WordPress files or the internet.

Sometimes, incorrect file permissions also cause failed auto-upgrades. To resolve the issue, you may need to update your WordPress password manually.

A “connection timed out” failure often occurs when your website overperforms the server limitations. Here are a few remedies you could try:

  • Deactivate all your plugins before reactivating them all one by one.
  • Switch to a default WordPress theme.
  • Increase your memory limit across “wp-config.php”.
  • Increase execution time in your “php.ini “file.

The “connection timed out” failure often happens when you use shared hosting as your memory is more limited. Consider your shared hosting solution if you don’t want this issue to happen again in the future.

Hire a specialist WordPress website design agency to solve your problems

WordPress website design and development can become a complex process without expertise or solutions to common launch issues. At eighty3 creative, we’re a specialist WordPress website design agency that produces various WordPress websites for our clients across Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Stafford and beyond.

And if that wasn’t enough, we offer a digital marketing package with our WordPress website services, which covers design and development for all types of websites, including e-commerce. Our pay-monthly packages include regular maintenance, secure hosting/SSL certificate, and SEO management.

For more information about our WordPress website design, development, and maintenance services, contact us today.  

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