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Viewing articles tagged 'plugins'

403 Forbidden The server refused to serve the request.WHAT IT MEANSAccess denied. Either permissions, a rule,... 500 Internal Server Error The server encountered something it could not handle.WHAT IT MEANSA general failure. The specific... 502 Bad Gateway The server received an invalid response from an upstream process.WHAT IT MEANSSomething between... 503 Service Unavailable The server cannot handle the request at present.WHAT IT MEANSTemporary unavailability. Different... 504 Gateway Timeout The upstream process took too long to respond.WHAT IT MEANSYour application started work and did... 508 Resource Limit Is Reached Your account hit a plan allowance.WHAT IT MEANSNot a fault. Your account reached its CPU, memory,... A Correct Configuration for an Online Shop Additional considerations when selling.EVERYTHING FROM THE STANDARD CONFIGURATIONPlus the... A Legal Pages Setup Plan Getting them in place.WEEK ONEList every place data enters your site: forms, analytics, plugins,... A Maintenance Plan Description You Can Adapt Wording for what you sell.WHAT IS INCLUDEDCore, theme and plugin updates, applied monthly after a... A Plugin or Extension Broke Everything Recovering without a full restore.THE SYMPTOMThe site was working, you installed or updated... A Practical Database Task Reference Common jobs and where they are covered.TAKING A BACKUPcPanel > Backup > Partial Backups, or... A Security Routine What to do regularly.WEEKLYApply security updates Check for unexpected user accounts Check... A Speed Improvement Plan What to do, in order.STEP ONE: MEASURERun a speed test on three pages. Note the page size and the... Access, Licences and Credentials What you should hold.WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVEDomain registrar access Hosting account access Site... Accessibility When You Cannot Change the Platform Working within constraints.THE SITUATIONA platform, theme or system you cannot modify deeply.WHAT... Adding a Contact Form to Your WordPress Site Publishing your email address invites spam. A contact form is safer and easier for visitors.... Adding Custom Code Safely Functions and snippets.WHERE CODE GOESA child theme's functions file, or a code snippets... Adding Custom Product Fields When customers need to supply information with an order.WHEN YOU NEED THISPersonalised products:... Adding Users and Understanding WordPress Roles Give every person their own account and the smallest role that lets them do their job. Sharing... Are you sure you want to do this? A WordPress security check failed.WHAT IT MEANSA nonce, the token WordPress uses to verify that a... Auditing What Is Tracking on Your Site Finding what you have installed.WHY AUDITSites accumulate tracking scripts: analytics,... Auditing Your Plugins The regular review.HOW OFTENTwice a year, and before any major change.WHAT TO DOList every active... Automating Backups with a Script Scheduled backups without a plugin.WHAT A SCRIPT DOESDumps each database Archives the files... Avoiding Plugin Overlap Two plugins doing one job.WHERE IT HAPPENSCaching: two caching plugins conflict badlySEO: two SEO... Backing Up a Database Manually The most important single backup.USING PHPMYADMINcPanel > phpMyAdmin.Select the... Backing Up a Database Properly The most important backup you take.WHY IT MATTERS MOSTFiles can usually be reinstalled. The... Backing Up a Shop More urgent than for other sites.WHY IT MATTERS MOREA shop's database changes constantly: orders,... Backing Up a WordPress Site Completely Everything a WordPress site needs.WHAT MUST BE INCLUDEDThe database, which holds posts, pages,... Backing Up Before Any Change The habit that prevents most disasters.WHENBefore updating core, a theme or a plugin Before... Backing Up Before You Change Anything The habit worth building.WHENBefore updating anything Before installing a plugin Before editing a... Backing Up with a WordPress Plugin The usual approach for WordPress sites.WHAT TO LOOK FORScheduled automatic backups Remote... Backup and Maintenance Scripts Automating housekeeping.WHAT TO AUTOMATEDatabase dumps File archives Transferring backups off the... Backups for Developers Managing Multiple Sites Scale changes the approach.THE PROBLEMTen sites, each with its own backup plugin, each configured... Backups for Sites You Have Inherited Taking over something someone else built.FIRST ACTIONTake a full backup before touching anything.... Backups Stopped Running and Nobody Noticed The silent failure.HOW IT HAPPENSCron was never configured, so the schedule never ran The remote... Bandwidth and Disk Reports for Clients Clients ask what they are using, particularly when you suggest an upgrade.WHERE TO FIND ITWHM... Blank White Page Nothing displays at all.WHAT IT MEANSPHP stopped and errors are not being displayed, which is... Blocking Brute-Force Attacks on wp-login.php Automated bots hammer /wp-login.php and /xmlrpc.php on every WordPress site on the internet. Even... Booking and Appointment Scripts Taking appointments online.WHAT THEY NEEDAvailability management Time zone handling, if you serve... Booking Notifications and Reminders Keeping everyone informed.WHAT SHOULD SENDConfirmation to the customer, immediately Notification... Bot Traffic and How It Slows Your Site Traffic that is not customers.WHAT IT ISAutomated requests: search engine crawlers, scrapers,... Broken Layout or Missing Styles The site loads without its design.THE USUAL CAUSEThe site URL setting is wrong, so stylesheets... Browser Caching Storing files on the visitor's device.WHAT IT DOESTells the visitor's browser to keep files it... Building and Consuming Webhooks Receiving notifications from other systems.WHAT A WEBHOOK ISAn external service calls a URL on... Bundling Hosting With Other Services Where the margin actually is.THE PRINCIPLEHosting alone is thin. Hosting as part of something... Buying Security Services Sensibly What to buy and what you already have.WHAT IS INCLUDED WITH HOSTINGFree SSL through AutoSSL... Caching a Shop Correctly What to cache and what not to.WHAT MUST NOT BE CACHEDCart Checkout My account Any page showing... Caching a WooCommerce Store Correctly Caching is essential for a shop and dangerous if configured carelessly.WHAT MUST NEVER BE... Caching as the First Answer Why it fixes most resource problems.WHAT IT DOESServes a stored copy instead of building the... Caching Explained Caching stores the result of work already done so it does not have to be repeated. It is the... Caching on a VPS Multiple layers, each solving a different problem.OPCODE CACHINGOPcache stores compiled PHP so it... Caching Plugins and Performance Tools Making applications fast.ON OUR SERVERSWe run LiteSpeed, so the LiteSpeed Cache plugin uses... Cannot Log In to the Administrator Area Locked out of your own application.FIRST CHECKSIs the password correct? Reset it rather than... Cart Emptying or Not Updating Items disappear from the cart, or the cart count is wrong.THE USUAL CAUSECaching. The cart is... Cart is empty or contents lost at checkout The cart clears unexpectedly.THE USUAL CAUSECaching. Cart and checkout pages must never be... Certificate Errors Appearing Suddenly on a Working Site Nothing changed, and now every visitor sees a warning.THE MOST LIKELY CAUSEThe certificate... Changing Your PHP Version How to do it safely.BEFORE ANYTHINGTake a full backup.CHECK COMPATIBILITYConfirm your... Changing Your PHP Version for WordPress Newer PHP versions are faster and more secure. Older ones are eventually retired and stop... Changing Your Theme Safely Switching without breaking things.WHAT CHANGESAppearance Widget areas and menus, which may not... Checking Cron Jobs and Scheduled Tasks Where persistence hides.WHY THIS MATTERSAttackers use scheduled tasks to reinstate themselves... Checking Whether It Is a Known Issue Before spending time diagnosing.CHECK OUR ANNOUNCEMENTSClient Area > Announcements and Network... Checking Whether Your Cron Job Is Working Verification.WHY VERIFYA cron job that is not running produces no error. Things simply do not... Checking Your PHP Version Finding out what you are running.IN CPANELThe PHP selector shows the current version for your... Checkout Errors and Failures When customers cannot complete a purchase.FIRST, REPRODUCE ITBuy something yourself, as a guest,... Checkout page not loading or blank The final step fails.WHAT IT COSTSEvery minute this is broken is lost revenue, and customers... Choosing a Backup Tool What to look for.THE REQUIREMENTSScheduled automatic backups Remote storage, off the server Both... Choosing a Form Plugin What to use.WHAT MATTERSThat submissions are stored, not only emailed Spam protection Mobile... Choosing a Payment Gateway How you take money determines how many customers complete checkout.WHAT MATTERSWhether it accepts... Choosing a Payment Gateway for a Nigerian Business The options, honestly compared.PAYSTACKWidely used in Nigeria. Supports Nigerian cards, bank... Choosing a Theme for Your Store The theme decides how much work everything else becomes.WHAT TO LOOK FORExplicit WooCommerce... Choosing Between a Plugin and a Separate Application When to extend and when to install.USE A PLUGIN WHENThe requirement is secondary to your main... Choosing Shop Software What to build on.WOOCOMMERCEA WordPress plugin. The most common option on shared hosting.Suits:... Choosing the Right Application for Your Project WordPress is not the answer to everything.WHAT TO ASK FIRSTWhat does the site actually need to do... Choosing the Right Hosting Plan The right plan depends on four things: how many sites you run, how much traffic they get, how... Choosing the Right Permalink Structure Permalinks are the URL format for your content. Set this once, early — changing it later breaks... Choosing Where to Optimise The order that gives results.THE HONEST ORDERCompress and resize images. Almost always the... Choosing WooCommerce Extensions Wisely Every extension is code running on every page load.BEFORE INSTALLING ANYTHINGAsk whether the shop... Cleaning Files Removing malicious code.THE SAFEST APPROACHReplace rather than clean.HOW TO REPLACEDownload fresh... Cleaning Up a Bloated WordPress Database Over time the database fills with data no visitor ever sees, which slows queries and inflates... Cleaning Up Database Bloat Reclaiming size and speed.WHERE BLOAT ACCUMULATESPost revisions, one per edit, indefinitely... Cleaning Up WordPress Revisions and Transients The two largest sources of bloat.REVISIONSWordPress stores a copy of a post every time it is... Cleaning Up Your Database Removing accumulated waste.WHAT ACCUMULATESPost revisions, sometimes dozens per page Spam and... Cloudflare and Visitor IP Addresses Why your logs show the wrong address.THE PROBLEMWhen traffic is proxied, our server sees... Cloudflare and Your Origin IP When Cloudflare proxies your site, the address visitors see is not yours.HOW IT WORKSYour... Cloudflare Optimisation Features Minification, compression and the rest.WHAT IS OFFEREDMinification of HTML, CSS and JavaScript... Cloudflare R2 and Object Storage Storing files at Cloudflare.WHAT IT ISObject storage for files, with no charge for data... Cloudflare Security Levels The global protection setting.WHAT IT DOESDetermines how aggressively Cloudflare challenges... Cloudflare Settings That Commonly Cause Problems The short list.FLEXIBLE SSLCauses redirect loops and is insecure. Use Full (strict).The single... Cloudflare Settings to Review Annually A yearly check.DNSEvery record still needed, and nothing missing Proxy states correct,... Combining Cloudflare With Server-Side Caching Two caching layers working together.THE ARRANGEMENTLiteSpeed cache on our servers generates and... Common Accessibility Myths What people believe that is not true.THAT IT ONLY AFFECTS BLIND PEOPLEIt affects people with... Common Backup Mistakes The ones that leave people with nothing.STORING BACKUPS ON THE SAME SERVERLost in the same event... Common Cloudflare Misconceptions What people believe that is not true.THAT IT MAKES ANY SITE FASTIt caches static assets. Pages... Common Multilingual Problems What goes wrong.THE SWITCHER GOES TO THE HOMEPAGEIt should go to the equivalent... Common Security Mistakes What goes wrong.NOT UPDATINGThe largest cause of compromise.REUSED PASSWORDSA breach elsewhere... Comparing Content Management Systems An honest comparison.WORDPRESSLargest ecosystem, most plugins, most developers, easiest to find... Comparing Two Databases Finding what differs.WHEN YOU NEED ITConfirming a migration copied everything Comparing staging... Compressing Images Reducing size without visible loss.WHAT COMPRESSION DOESRemoves data the eye does not notice.A... Compromises That Hide Themselves Why you might not notice.WHAT ATTACKERS DO TO AVOID DETECTIONShow the compromise only to search... Configuring Paystack or Flutterwave Nigerian payment gateways.WHAT YOU NEEDAn account with the provider Business verification... Connecting Your Email Platform to WordPress Getting the two working together.WHAT THE INTEGRATION PROVIDESSignup forms that add subscribers... Consent and Marketing Opt-In Asking properly.THE PRINCIPLEAn enquiry is not permission to market to someone.HOW TO ASKA... Cookie Notices and Consent What visitors see about tracking.WHAT COOKIES ARESmall files stored in the browser. Some are... Creating a Staging Copy of Your WordPress Site A staging site is a private copy where you can test updates, new plugins or design changes... Cron Jobs After a Migration What gets lost.WHAT HAPPENSCron jobs do not travel with website files.Unless you took a full... Cron Jobs for Backups Automated backup scheduling.WHY SCHEDULE THEMA backup routine depending on you remembering does... Customising Checkout Fields Every unnecessary field costs you sales.WHAT WOOCOMMERCE ASKS FOR BY DEFAULTBilling name,... Customising Your Shop Without Breaking It How to make changes that survive updates.USE A CHILD THEMEIf you edit theme files directly, the... Database Backups Versus Full Backups Knowing which you need.A DATABASE BACKUPThe content, settings, users and orders. Small, fast, and... Database is slow or queries timing out The database is the bottleneck.IDENTIFYING ITA profiling tool shows time spent in database... Deactivating and Deleting Plugins Removing what you do not need.DEACTIVATE VERSUS DELETEDeactivating stops it running. The files... Debugging Techniques on Hosting Finding the cause when something fails.ENABLE ERROR LOGGINGNever display errors on a production... Dedicated IPs and Site Speed: No Effect A dedicated IP does not make a website faster.WHY NOTThe address is how traffic is routed to the... Deprecated: Function is deprecated A warning about future breakage.WHAT IT MEANSThe code uses something that still works and will be... Destination folder already exists Installing something that is partly there.WHAT IT MEANSWordPress tried to create a plugin or... Diagnosing a 500 Internal Server Error The generic error.WHAT IT MEANSSomething failed and the server could not produce a page.It is... Diagnosing a Blank Page The white screen.WHAT IT MEANSA fatal PHP error with error display disabled.The server produced... Diagnosing a Plugin Conflict Finding the culprit.THE SYMPTOMSomething stops working, usually after installing or updating a... Diagnosing a Slow Server Finding the actual bottleneck.START BY MEASURINGIs the server slow, or is the application slow?... Diagnosing a White Screen No error, no content, nothing.WHAT IT MEANSPHP stopped and errors are not being displayed, which... Diagnosing Redirect Loops The browser reports too many redirects and the page never loads.THE CAUSETwo or more things are... Diagnosing Slow PHP Execution When pages take too long.WHAT TO ESTABLISH FIRSTWhether it is all pages or some Whether it... Diagnosing Webhook Problems When orders do not update.CHECK THE URLCompare what your plugin specifies against what is in the... Directory and Listing Applications Sites where the content is entries.WHAT THEY AREBusiness directories, classified listings,... Disabling the WordPress Theme and Plugin File Editor The built-in editor under Appearance and Plugins lets anyone with administrator access write PHP... Disabling XML-RPC on WordPress xmlrpc.php allows remote applications to talk to WordPress. It is also routinely abused for... Do You Actually Need a VPS? Most people asking do not, and some genuinely do.YOU PROBABLY DO IFYou need root access or custom... Documenting Your Plugins Keeping a record.WHAT TO RECORDEvery plugin What it does Why it is there Whether it is paid, and... Documenting Your Scheduled Tasks Keeping a record.WHAT TO RECORDWhat each job does Why it exists What schedule it runs on What... Duplicate entry for key An insert violated a uniqueness constraint.WHAT IT MEANSThe code tried to insert a row with a... Editing Files Safely Making changes without breaking things.THE RULECopy before you edit. Always.Name the copy... Editing Images for Your Website Basic adjustments that help.WHAT TO DOCrop to remove distraction and improve framing Straighten,... Embedding Video in Your Website Adding it to a page.HOW IT WORKSThe platform provides embed code.You paste it into your page.FOR... Enabling Compression Sending less data.WHAT IT DOESCompresses text files before sending: HTML, CSS, JavaScript.The... Enabling Two-Factor Authentication on WordPress Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires a one-time code from your phone in addition to your... Enabling WP_DEBUG and Finding Your Error Logs When something breaks, the log tells you exactly what failed. Guessing is slower. WordPress debug... ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR The secure connection could not be established at all.WHAT IT MEANSThe handshake failed before... ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS The browser gave up after being redirected in a circle.THE CAUSETwo or more redirect mechanisms... Error 521: Web Server Is Down Cloudflare could not connect to us.WHAT IT MEANSOur server refused the connection, or is not... Escalating Client Problems Correctly Deciding what to send us.WHAT TO SEND USServer-level errors Resource limits you cannot explain... Everything Worked Yesterday The general case of a sudden failure.WHAT CHANGED AT YOUR ENDAn update applied, possibly... Extensions Most Stores Actually Need A short list, in the order most shops should add them.ESSENTIALYour payment gateway plugin An... Fair Use of Shared Hosting Resources Shared hosting works because typical websites use resources in short bursts. A few patterns break... Fatal error: Allowed memory size exhausted The script used more memory than permitted.WHAT IT MEANSPHP reached its memory limit and... Fatal error: Call to undefined function The code called something that does not exist.WHAT IT MEANSA function was called, and PHP could... Finding Duplicate Rows Identifying repeated data.WHY IT ARISESAn import run twice A form submitting twice A plugin... Finding Mixed Content on Your Site Locating exactly what is insecure.THE BROWSER CONSOLEOpen the page, press F12, and read the... Finding PHP Errors Where the information is.THE ERROR LOGcPanel, Errors. Or the error log file in your account.That... Finding Slow Queries Identifying what is actually slow.DURING A PAGE LOADA query monitoring plugin lists every query... Finding the Entry Point The step people skip.WHY IT MATTERS MOSTCleaning without closing the entry point means it returns... Fixing "Allowed Memory Size Exhausted" PHP ran out of memory mid-request. It appears as a white screen, a partially rendered page, or an... Fixing "Another Update Is Currently in Progress" WordPress sets a database lock while updating core and clears it when finished. An interrupted... Fixing "Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance" WordPress creates a file named .maintenance in the root while it updates, and deletes it when... Fixing "Sorry, This File Type Is Not Permitted for Security Reasons" WordPress only allows a fixed list of file types in the media library. Option 1 — use an allowed... Fixing "Too Many Redirects" (ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS) The browser is being bounced between two addresses in a loop. There are four common sources. 1.... Fixing 404 Errors on Every Page Except the Homepage If the homepage loads but every other page returns "Page not found", the rewrite rules are... Fixing 502 and 504 Gateway Timeout Errors The web server waited too long for PHP to respond. The request was too slow, not necessarily... Fixing a 500 Internal Server Error A 500 error is the web server reporting that something failed without saying what. Work through... Fixing Mixed Content in WordPress The standard procedure.TAKE A BACKUP FIRSTA database search and replace cannot be undone.THE... Fixing Mixed Content Warnings A broken padlock on an HTTPS site means some resources are still being requested over plain... Fixing Mixed Content Warnings After Switching to HTTPS A "Not secure" warning or a broken padlock on an HTTPS site usually means some images, scripts or... Fixing the WordPress Login Page Refresh Loop You enter correct credentials, the page reloads, and you are back at the login form with no... Fixing the WordPress White Screen of Death A completely blank page with no error message almost always means a PHP fatal error with error... Fixing WordPress Not Sending Email (SMTP Setup) By default WordPress sends mail with PHP's mail() function. Messages sent that way are frequently... Form Builder Plugins Collecting information from visitors.WHAT TO LOOK FORReliable email delivery Spam protection... Forums and Community Software Running a discussion community.THE OPTIONSphpBB: free, mature, widely used, straightforward to... Free Delivery and Delivery Thresholds Free delivery is the most effective offer most shops have.SETTING IT UPAdd Free shipping as a... Free Versus Paid Plugins The comparison.FREE PLUGINS FROM THE DIRECTORYReviewed before listing Community support... Freeing Up Disk Space on Your Hosting Account A full account breaks uploads, email delivery and database writes. Here is where the space... Getting Development Support from Us What we cover, and what is yours.WHAT WE HELP WITHServer configuration questions PHP versions and... Getting Help with Backups and Recovery What we can do.WHAT WE CAN HELP WITHRestoring a full account backup you have uploaded Restoring... Giving Clients Access Appropriately Who can do what.WHAT TO GIVE THEMTheir cPanel login, always. It is their account and their... Handling a Compromised Client Site When one gets hacked.IMMEDIATE PRIORITIESContain it, so other accounts are not affected Establish... Handling Abuse and Compromised Accounts Responding to problems on your network.WHAT ABUSE LOOKS LIKEOutbound mail floods Phishing pages... Handling Duplicate Content The same content at several addresses.WHERE IT COMES FROMBoth www and non-www resolving Both HTTP... Handling File Uploads Safely Forms that accept attachments.WHY IT IS RISKYAn upload form is a route into your server.An... Handling Out-of-Stock and Discontinued Products What to do when you cannot sell something any more.TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCKSet the stock status... Handling Product Images in a Shop Images at volume.THE SCALE PROBLEMA shop with two hundred products has hundreds of... Helpdesk and Ticket Systems Managing customer support.WHEN YOU NEED ONEWhen a shared mailbox stops working: several people... Hosting Account Security Checklist Work through this list once, and re-check it every few months. Most compromised accounts we deal... How Copyright Complaints Are Handled We receive complaints from rights holders about content hosted on our servers. Here is how the... How Many Plugins Is Too Many An honest answer.THE HONEST ANSWERThere is no fixed number. Quality matters more than count.Five... How Much Database Does Your Site Need Size, growth and limits.TYPICAL SIZESA small brochure site: a few megabytesA blog with several... How Often to Back Up Matching frequency to what you can afford to lose.THE QUESTION TO ASKIf you lost everything since... How Sites Actually Get Compromised The common routes.OUT-OF-DATE SOFTWAREThe most common by a wide margin.A vulnerability is... How to Back Up Your WordPress Site A WordPress site is two things: the files in public_html and the database. A usable backup... How to Buy Scripts and Addons Additional software and services.WHAT IS AVAILABLEzillionkinghost.com/billing/cart.php?gid=4A... How to Choose a Plugin What to check before installing.WHAT TO LOOK ATLast updated date Active installation count... How to Clean a Compromised Site The proper process.THE PRINCIPLERemove the compromise and close the entry point.Doing only the... How to Speed Up WordPress on Shared Hosting Most slow WordPress sites are slow for the same handful of reasons. Work through these in order... HTTPS and Canonical URLs Telling search engines which version is authoritative.WHAT A CANONICAL TAG DOESDeclares the... HTTPS for Sites Using a Page Builder or Custom Theme Where mixed content hides in places a search and replace misses.WHERE TO LOOKTheme customiser... HTTPS, HTTP/2 and Site Speed Secure sites can be faster, not slower.THE OLD CONCERNEncryption adds processing overhead, so... Identifying What Is Consuming Resources Finding the cause.CHECK THE OBVIOUS FIRSTIs caching enabled and working What PHP version How many... Image Delivery and Optimisation Serving pictures efficiently.WHAT CLOUDFLARE DOES BY DEFAULTCaches images at the edge, so repeat... Image Galleries and Media Libraries Publishing collections of images.THE OPTIONSA gallery plugin for your content system, which suits... Images Not Displaying Broken image placeholders.THE COMMON CAUSESURLs in the database still pointing at an old domain,... Improving Your Site's Speed Practical steps in order.MEASURE FIRSTTest with a performance tool, on mobile. Look at what is... Increasing PHP Memory Limit The most commonly adjusted setting.THE SYMPTOMA fatal error stating that allowed memory size was... Increasing the Upload Size, Memory Limit and Execution Time "The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive", "Allowed memory size exhausted"... Installing a Plugin Safely Before you click activate.BEFORE INSTALLINGBack up Check it is maintained Check reviews Know what... Installing WooCommerce WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns WordPress into a shop.INSTALLING ITPlugins > Add New,... Installing WooCommerce and Setting Up an Online Store WooCommerce turns WordPress into a full online store. Set aside an hour for the initial... Internal Search on Your Own Site What visitors look for once they arrive.WHY IT MATTERSYour site's search box records what... International and Multi-Region Signals Telling search engines who a page is for.WHEN THIS APPLIESSites with versions for different... Invoices, Receipts and Packing Slips Documents customers and warehouses need.WHAT WOOCOMMERCE PROVIDESOrder confirmation emails, and a... Isolating Client Sites on a VPS Hosting for other people on a server you manage.WHY ISOLATION MATTERS MORE HEREYou are... Isolating Sites and Applications Preventing one compromise becoming several.THE PROBLEMIf every site on your server runs as the... Isolating the Cause by Elimination Finding what is responsible.THE METHODRemove possible causes one at a time until the problem... Keeping a Site Accessible Over Time Maintaining it.WHAT UNDOES ITContent added without alt text Headings chosen for appearance A new... Keeping Applications Updated The single most important ongoing task.WHYOut-of-date software is the leading cause of... Keeping Client Sites Off Nulled Software Protecting your allocation.THE PROBLEMClients install nulled themes and plugins because the... Keeping Client Sites Updated The maintenance problem.THE PROBLEMUnmaintained client sites get compromised. That becomes your... Keeping Software Patched on a VPS The discipline that prevents most compromises.WHAT NEEDS PATCHINGThe operating system and its... Keeping Staging and Production in Step A staging environment only helps if it resembles production.WHAT MUST MATCHPHP version and... Keeping Translations Up to Date The ongoing work.THE PROBLEMContent changes. Translations fall behind.An out-of-date translation... Keeping Your Site Fast Over Time Preventing regression.WHAT MAKES A SITE SLOW AGAINImages uploaded without preparation Plugins... Keeping Your Website Software Updated Out-of-date software is the leading cause of hacked websites on shared hosting. Attacks are... Keeping Your Website Updated Maintenance that prevents problems.WHAT NEEDS UPDATINGThe platform itself Themes Plugins and... Lazy Loading Images Loading only what is needed.WHAT IT DOESImages below the visible area are not loaded until the... Learning Management Systems Running courses online.MOODLEThe established open source option. Capable, widely used in... Learning to Manage Your Own Site What you should be able to do.WHAT TO LEARNUpdate text on a page Add a page or a product Upload... Lua as a Language Characteristics and use.WHAT IT ISA small, fast, embeddable scripting language.WHAT DISTINGUISHES... Maintaining Client Sites Ongoing work after launch.WHAT MAINTENANCE ACTUALLY INVOLVESApplying core, plugin and theme... Making Sure Your Site Can Be Crawled The prerequisite for everything else.WHAT CAN PREVENT CRAWLINGrobots.txt disallowing the site or... Malware detected in your account A scanner found something.WHAT IT MEANSEither our server-side scanning or ImunifyAV identified... Malware Scanning Checking for infection.WHAT SCANNING FINDSKnown malicious code Modified core files Suspicious... Managing a Large Product Catalogue Hundreds or thousands of products bring their own problems.WHAT GETS DIFFICULTAdmin pages slow to... Managing Administrator Access to Your Store Who can do what, and why it matters.THE PRINCIPLEGive each person the lowest role that lets them... Managing Autoloaded Data in WordPress A specific and common performance problem.WHAT IT ISOptions marked for autoload are loaded into... Managing Database Size and Growth Databases grow, and growth causes problems.WHAT GROWSLog and audit tables Revisions, in content... Managing Extensions and Plugins Safely Third-party code running on your site.BEFORE INSTALLINGWhen was it last updated? Anything... Managing Fonts and Typography Text that works.WHAT AFFECTS READABILITYSize, which is usually too small Line length, which is... Managing Orders at Volume When the order list stops being manageable by hand.FILTERING AND SORTINGFilter the orders list by... Managing Plugin Licences Paid plugins over time.WHAT A LICENCE USUALLY COVERSUpdates Support Sometimes a limited number of... Managing Redirects at Scale When a site has hundreds of URL changes.WHEN THIS ARISESA redesign changing URL structure A... Managing Resource-Heavy Clients When one client affects the others.THE SITUATIONYour allocation's CPU and memory limits are... Measuring Your Site Speed Properly Speed testing is easy to misread, and people frequently optimise the wrong thing as a result.THE... Migrating a WordPress Site The most common migration.TWO APPROACHESA migration plugin, which handles most of it Manual... Migrating an Existing WordPress Site to ZillionKingHost You can move an existing site to us yourself in under an hour, or request our free migration... Migrating Between Platforms Moving from one application to another.WHEN THIS ARISESOutgrowing a platform Consolidating onto... Migrating Content Between Applications Moving content when changing platform.WHAT USUALLY TRANSFERSArticles and pages, through an export... Minification and Combining Files Reducing requests and size.WHAT MINIFICATION DOESRemoves spaces, line breaks and comments from... Mixed Content from External Resources When the insecure resource is not yours.THE SITUATIONThe console names a URL on another domain:... Mixed Content in CSS and JavaScript Files Harder to find because the URL is inside a file rather than in the database.HOW IT HAPPENSA... Modernising an Old Website Without a Rebuild Improving what you have.WHAT CAN BE FIXED WITHOUT REBUILDINGSpeed: images, caching, removing... Monitoring for Changes Knowing when something happens.WHAT TO MONITORFile changes New user accounts Failed and... Monitoring Scheduled Tasks Knowing when they stop.THE PROBLEMCron failures are silent. Nothing announces that a job stopped... Monitoring Your Reseller Account Watching the whole allocation.WHAT TO WATCHTotal disk against your allocation Total bandwidth... Monitoring Your Resource Usage Resource Usage shows whether your account is hitting the CPU, memory or process limits of your... Moodle: Setup and Requirements The established learning platform.BEFORE INSTALLINGCheck requirements carefully. Moodle needs... Moving a Site Between Domains Updating the database for a new address.THE STEPSBack up the database.Update the site URL... Moving From Static to WordPress Going the other direction.WHY PEOPLE DO ITThe owner cannot edit the static site They need a shop,... Moving From WordPress to Static Converting a site.WHY PEOPLE CONSIDER ITSpeed Security Reduced maintenance Lower resource useWHAT... Moving Your Store to a Bigger Plan or VPS When and how to upgrade.SIGNS YOU GENUINELY NEED MOREConsistent resource limit warnings after... Multilingual Plugins and Tools Serving more than one language.WHAT THEY DOLet you maintain content in several languages, with a... Multilingual WordPress How it is usually done.THE OPTIONSA multilingual plugin managing translations within one site A... My Database Was Corrupted or Emptied Data loss without file loss.WHAT YOU SEEError establishing a database connection Missing content... Never Use Pirated Software Nulled themes and plugins.WHAT NULLED MEANSA paid theme or plugin distributed free with its... Notice: Undefined variable or index A value was used before being set.WHAT IT MEANSThe code referred to something that does not exist... Nulled and Pirated Software: Why Not To The most common cause of compromised sites we clean.WHAT IT ISPremium themes, plugins or... Object Caching and Its Effect on Databases Reducing repeated queries.WHAT IT ISStoring the results of database queries in memory, so... Offering Managed WordPress as a Product Specialising in one platform.WHAT IT MEANSHosting configured specifically for WordPress, with... Offering Performance Optimisation Selling speed as a service.WHAT IT INVOLVESMeasuring the current state Enabling and configuring... One-Page and Simplified Checkout Reducing steps between cart and payment.WHAT IT MEANSCombining the cart and checkout, or... Online Setup for Education and Training Courses, tutoring and training.WHAT CUSTOMERS WANTWhat the course covers Who it is for What it... Optimising Images and Assets Images are usually the largest part of a page. Fixing them often halves load time with no other... Optimising Images for a Faster WordPress Site Images are usually the largest part of a page's weight. Getting them right often halves load... Optimising Images for the Web Making pages fast.THE PROBLEMImages are usually the largest part of a page. Unoptimised images... Order Notifications and Alerts Knowing when a sale happens.WHAT YOU NEEDAn email when an order is placed Ideally a second... Ordering Additional Disk Space Extra storage is available as an add-on where your plan supports it.BEFORE ORDERING ITCheck where... Orders Stuck on Pending Payment Payment succeeded at the gateway but the order never updated.THE USUAL CAUSEThe gateway's webhook... Organising Categories and Subcategories Structure decides whether customers find things.CREATING THEMProducts > Categories. Add the... Our Backup Policy and What It Covers We take server-side backups of hosting accounts, and you should also take your own. Both matter,... Out of stock when the item is in stock Availability showing incorrectly.THE COMMON CAUSESStock management enabled with a quantity of... Page Builder Problems Common issues.PAGES LOAD SLOWLYExpected. See the performance article.Reduce what the builder... Page Loads Without Styling The content appears but the design does not.WHAT IT MEANSStylesheets failed to load. The HTML... Page Speed and Why It Matters Visitors leave slow sites.THE REALITYOn a mobile connection, a page taking several seconds loses... Page Titles and Descriptions for Local Search What appears in results.THE TITLEWhat appears as the clickable heading in search results.The most... Pagination and Filtered Pages Handling many similar pages.WHERE THIS ARISESBlog archives spanning many pages Shop categories... Payment Gateway Not Appearing at Checkout The method is enabled but customers cannot see it.CHECK THESEIs it actually enabled? WooCommerce... Payment gateway not available at checkout The payment option does not appear.THE CHECKSIs the gateway enabled in the payment settings Are... Payment succeeded but order still pending Money taken, order not updated.WHAT IT MEANSThe gateway charged the customer and your site never... Performance for Membership and Course Sites Speed with logged-in users.THE CACHING PROBLEMLogged-in pages are usually not cached.Members... Performance of Multilingual Sites The added weight.WHY THEY ARE SLOWERMultilingual plugins add queries to every request More... PHP and Memory Exhaustion Running out of memory.THE ERRORAllowed memory size exhausted, naming the limit and the file.WHAT... PHP Settings for WooCommerce Shops need more.WHY SHOPS NEED MOREMore plugins, more data, larger operations.Imports, exports... PHP Settings for WordPress Common requirements.WHAT WORDPRESS TYPICALLY NEEDSA current PHP version Sufficient memory for... Planning for Traffic Growth Before you need it.WHAT TO MONITORResource usage over time, not just today Traffic trends Disk... Playbook: I Need More Resources Limits and upgrades.ESTABLISH FIRSTWhat limit are they hitting? Is the usage legitimate? What... Playbook: My Website Is Down The most urgent request.FIRST, ESTABLISHIs it actually down, or down for them? What error do they... Playbook: The Site Is Slow Performance complaints.ESTABLISH FIRSTSlow for them, or for everyone? All pages or specific ones?... Plugin Settings and Configuration Getting them right.THE COMMON MISTAKEInstalling and activating without configuring.Default... Plugin Update Problems When updates go wrong.WHAT CAN HAPPENThe site breaks A feature stops working Settings reset A... Plugins and Security The main route of compromise.THE FACTSOutdated plugins are the most common way WordPress sites... Plugins and Site Speed The performance cost.HOW PLUGINS SLOW A SITELoading scripts and styles on every page, including... Plugins for Sites You Manage for Clients Additional considerations.WHAT CHANGESYou are responsible for maintenance The client may not... Plugins Most Sites Actually Need A realistic list.WHAT ALMOST EVERY SITE NEEDSCaching Backups A security or firewall plugin An SEO... Plugins That Stop Being Maintained Abandonment.HOW TO SPOT ITNo update in over a year The developer's site is gone Support questions... Plugins to Be Careful With Where problems come from.STATISTICS PLUGINSRecording every visit to your own database turns every... Preparing a Project for Long-Term Maintenance Building something that survives you.WHAT MAKES A PROJECT MAINTAINABLEVersion control with... Preparing for a Busy Sales Period Before a promotion, a holiday, or a launch.TECHNICAL PREPARATIONConfirm caching is working and... Preparing Product Images for the Web Technical preparation.THE TWO STEPSResize, then compress.WHAT SIZEAround 1,000 to 1,500 pixels on... Preparing Your Site for Migration Cleaning up first.WHY BOTHERMoving a bloated site moves the bloat.A migration is a natural point... PrestaShop and Other Shop Platforms Alternatives to WooCommerce.PRESTASHOPA dedicated ecommerce platform rather than a plugin on a... Preventing Card Skimming on Checkout The most damaging compromise a shop can suffer.WHAT IT ISJavaScript injected into your checkout... Preventing It Happening Again Closing the loop.WHAT TO DO IMMEDIATELYUpdate everything Remove anything unmaintained Remove... Preventing Malicious File Uploads Where attacks get in.THE RISKA form allowing file uploads, exploited to upload an executable... Preventing Mixed Content in New Content Stopping it happening again.WHERE IT COMES FROMSomeone pasting an image URL copied from an http... Preventing SQL Injection The most serious database vulnerability.WHAT IT ISAn attacker supplying input that becomes part... Product SEO for Online Stores How products get found in search.WHAT MATTERS MOSTProduct titles that use the words customers... Profiling Slow Code Finding where time is actually spent.MEASURE BEFORE OPTIMISINGAssumptions about what is slow are... Protecting Against Common Server Attacks What actually happens.BRUTE FORCE ON REMOTE ACCESSContinuous automated password guessing.Defeated... Protecting Against Losing a Developer When the person who built it disappears.HOW COMMON THIS ISVery. It is one of the most frequent... Protecting Customer Data in Your Store You hold personal data about every customer.WHAT YOU HOLDNames, addresses, phone numbers, email... Protecting wp-admin with cPanel Directory Privacy Directory Privacy adds a server-level password prompt in front of a folder. Placing it on... Questions to Ask Before Hiring The conversation that matters.ABOUT THE WORKWhat exactly is included? What is not? How long will... Reading a Stack Trace Understanding the list of function calls.WHAT IT ISA record of how execution reached the point of... Reading an EXPLAIN Result Understanding how a query will run.WHAT IT DOESPrefix any SELECT with EXPLAIN and the database... Reading Error Logs and Raw Access Logs When something breaks, the logs say what happened. This is faster than guessing.ERROR LOGcPanel... Rebuilding Rather Than Cleaning When to start again.WHEN REBUILDING MAKES SENSEThe compromise is extensive You cannot be... Records Disappear or Revert Changes that do not persist.WHAT HAPPENSYou add or change a record, and later it is gone or back... Recovering a Deleted Database When it is gone.FIRSTStop. Do not create a new database with the same name, which complicates... Recovering a Site You Cannot Log Into Regaining access without the admin interface.FOR WORDPRESSWP-CLI creates a user, resets a... Recovering From a Hack: Everything That Matters, Briefly The whole category in one page.THE FIRST HOURBack up the compromised state Establish scope Change... Recovering From a Plugin That Broke Your Site Getting back in.THE SYMPTOMA blank page, or a fatal error, or no admin access.THE FASTEST... Redirect Chains and Why They Slow Your Site Each redirect costs a round trip.WHAT A CHAIN LOOKS LIKEhttp://yourdomain.com to... Redirects and When to Use Them Sending visitors and search engines elsewhere.WHAT A REDIRECT DOESSends a request for one address... Reducing Abandoned Carts Most people who add to a cart do not buy. Some of that is recoverable.THE COMMON CAUSESUnexpected... Reducing Database Load Fewer and lighter queries.WHAT ADDS QUERIESEach plugin Related posts and recommendations... Reducing High CPU and Resource Usage on Your Account If your site is throttled, returns 508 errors, or you receive a resource limit notice from us,... Reducing Inode Usage Fewer files.WHERE THEY ACCUMULATEEmail, one file per message Cache directories with thousands of... Reducing the Number of Applications You Run Consolidation as maintenance.WHY IT HELPSEvery application is updates to apply, backups to... Reducing the Number of Plugins Every addition costs something.THE PROBLEMEach plugin loads code, styles, scripts and database... Reducing the Number of Queries Per Page Fewer requests to the database.WHY IT MATTERSEach query has overhead. A page running four hundred... Removing What You Do Not Use Reducing exposure.WHY IT MATTERSEvery installed component is potential exposure.Unused ones are... Resource Limits and 508 Errors A 508 Resource Limit Reached message means your account hit a plan allowance at that moment. The... Restoring a Client Account from Backup Restores are usually urgent, so know the routes before you need them.FROM JETBACKUPAvailable from... Restoring Your Site After Cleaning Getting back to normal.WHAT TO DO IN ORDERVerify the site is clean Remove any maintenance page... Reviewing Your Website Annually An hour once a year.READ IT AS A VISITOREvery page, in order, as though you had never seen it.You... Scanning for Malware with ImunifyAV in cPanel ImunifyAV scans your hosting account for malware, backdoors and injected code at the server... Scanning Your Account for Malware ImunifyAV in cPanel scans your entire hosting account, independently of anything installed inside... Scanning Your Account for Malware with ImunifyAV ImunifyAV scans your whole hosting account for malware, backdoors and injected code,... Scheduled posts missed schedule Scheduled content did not publish.WHAT IT MEANSWordPress cron did not run when the post was... Search and Replace in a Database Changing values across many rows.WHEN YOU NEED ITAfter a domain change After moving from http to... Securing File Uploads Where attacks get in.THE RISKA form accepting files, exploited to upload something... Securing the Computer You Manage Your Site From Server-side security cannot protect you from malware on your own machine. If your laptop is... Securing Your Admin Area Protecting the control panel.WHAT TO DOA strong unique password Two-factor authentication Limit... Securing Your Website and Hosting Accounts The business presence.WHAT TO PROTECTYour hosting account Your domain registrar account Your site... Security for Shops Additional requirements.WHAT A SHOP HOLDSCustomer names, addresses and contact details Order... Security for Sites You Manage for Others Client site responsibility.WHAT TO ESTABLISHWho is responsible for updates Who holds the... Security of Static Sites Less to attack.WHY THEY ARE SAFERNo database No application processing input No plugins to become... Security Plugins and Firewalls What protection tools do.WHAT THEY OFFERBlocking malicious requests Limiting login attempts... Security Plugins and Tools Application-level protection.WHAT THEY TYPICALLY PROVIDELogin attempt limiting File integrity... Selling Hosting Alongside Design and Maintenance For most designers, hosting is more valuable as part of a relationship than as a product.WHY IT... Selling Maintenance Plans The most valuable thing alongside hosting.WHAT IT INCLUDESCore, theme and plugin updates Backup... Selling Services and Bookable Items WooCommerce can sell more than physical goods.SIMPLE SERVICESCreate the product and mark it... Sending Backups to Cloud Storage Getting copies off the server automatically.THE OPTIONSGoogle Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or object... SEO Maintenance After the Initial Work What keeps results once you have them.WHAT DEGRADES WITHOUT ATTENTIONContent goes out of date... SEO Plugins and Tools What they do and what they do not.WHAT THEY PROVIDETitle and meta description fields per page... Server Resources and Speed When you are hitting limits.WHAT LIMITS EXISTCPUMemory Entry processes, meaning simultaneous... Serving Media from Object Storage Separating files from your hosting.WHAT IT MEANSUploaded images, documents and video stored with... Setting a Realistic Budget What things cost.WHAT AFFECTS COSTComplexity How much content you supply How much design is... Setting Client Expectations and Terms Most reseller disputes come from an assumption nobody wrote down.PUT IN WRITINGWhat the hosting... Setting Correct File and Folder Permissions for WordPress Permissions that are too loose let other processes write to your files; permissions that are too... Setting Safe File Permissions Permissions control who may read, write and execute each file. Loose permissions let one... Setting Up a Course Site The components.WHAT YOU NEEDCourse software Payment Content hosting Student accounts A way to... Setting Up a Membership Site The components.WHAT YOU NEEDMembership software Recurring payment Content restriction Member... Setting Up a Staging Site A copy for testing.WHYTesting changes on a live site is how sites break publicly.HOWCreate a... Setting Up Abandoned Cart Recovery Recovering sales that were nearly made.HOW IT WORKSA plugin records carts where the customer... Setting Up an SEO Plugin and XML Sitemap An SEO plugin controls how your pages appear in search results and gives search engines a sitemap... Setting Up Caching on WordPress Practical configuration.WHAT YOU NEEDA caching plugin. Several good ones exist, free and... Setting Up Flutterwave Similar process, different details.BEFORE STARTINGCreate and verify a Flutterwave account, with a... Setting Up Flutterwave in WooCommerce Similar process, with its own details.BEFORE STARTINGCreate and verify a Flutterwave account,... Setting Up LiteSpeed Cache on WordPress Our servers run LiteSpeed, so the LiteSpeed Cache plugin can use full server-level page caching —... Setting Up Online Booking The components.WHAT YOU NEEDBooking software A calendar reflecting real availability Services... Setting Up Paystack The steps in order.BEFORE STARTINGCreate a Paystack account and complete their business... Setting Up Paystack in WooCommerce The steps, in order.BEFORE STARTINGCreate a Paystack account and complete their business... Setting Up Product Filtering and Search Making a large catalogue navigable.WHY THE DEFAULT IS NOT ENOUGHWordPress search matches titles... Setting Up Recurring Billing What is required.WHAT YOU NEEDA gateway supporting recurring payments Subscription software on... Setting Up Redirects in cPanel A redirect sends visitors from one address to another automatically.CREATING A REDIRECTIn cPanel... Setting Up SMTP for Form Delivery Reliable sending.WHAT SMTP DOESSends email through an authenticated mail account rather than the... Setting Up Website Analytics Knowing what visitors actually do.WHYSearch Console tells you how people arrive. Analytics tells... Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting and VPS Compared SHARED HOSTINGYour account sits on a server alongside other customers, each with allocated... Shop Performance and Speed Where slowness costs money.WHY IT MATTERS MORE FOR SHOPSA slow homepage loses visitors. A slow... Shop Plugins and Conflicts Extensions and their cost.WHY SHOPS ACCUMULATE PLUGINSEach feature needs one: shipping, payment,... Shopping Cart Behaviour How the cart works.WHAT TO CONFIGUREWhether adding to cart redirects to the cart or stays on the... Site is slow but no error appears Working, and too slowly.MEASURE FIRSTLoad a plain static file. If that is fast while pages are... Site works but images and links point to the old domain URLs still referencing the previous address.WHAT IT MEANSAbsolute URLs stored in the database... Sitemaps Helping search engines find your pages.WHAT A SITEMAP ISA file listing your pages, so search... Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page A permissions error inside WordPress.WHAT IT MEANSYour user account does not have the capability... Speed for Online Shops Specifically Where it costs money directly.WHY IT MATTERS MOREA slow homepage loses visitors. A slow checkout... Spotting Files That Should Not Be There Recognising compromise.WHAT TO LOOK FORPHP files in directories that should contain only images... Start Here: How to Diagnose Anything The approach that works.THE FIRST FOUR QUESTIONSWhat exactly happens? When did it start? What... Static, WordPress or Framework: Which Do You Need? Choosing honestly.CHOOSE STATIC WHENThe content changes rarely You do not need accounts or a... Store Maintenance Routine A shop needs more regular attention than a brochure site.DAILYCheck for new orders and process... Store Slow Only at Checkout Browsing is fast, checkout is slow. A specific problem with a specific cause.WHY IT HAPPENSCart... Storing and Deleting Form Data Managing what accumulates.WHAT ACCUMULATESEvery submission, indefinitely, unless you remove... Storing Form Submissions Not relying on email alone.WHY IT MATTERSEmail fails. Spam filters catch things. Mailboxes... Structured Data and Rich Results Helping engines understand your content.WHAT IT ISMarkup added to your pages describing what the... Structured Data for Local Businesses Helping search engines understand you.WHAT IT ISMarkup on your pages describing your business in... Submitting and Maintaining a Sitemap Telling search engines what exists.WHAT A SITEMAP ISA file listing your pages, helping engines... Supply Chain and Third-Party Risk Risk you inherit.WHAT IT MEANSA compromise reaching you through something you use or someone you... Symptom: A White or Blank Page Nothing but white.WHAT IT MEANSA fatal error occurred and the error message is not being... Symptom: Cannot Log In to the Site Administration access lost.WHAT TO ESTABLISHIs the password wrong, or is the page failing?FOR A... Symptom: Changes Cause Errors or Vanish Settings that will not save.WHAT IT USUALLY ISmax_input_vars being exceeded.WHAT THAT... Symptom: Internal Server Error The 500 error.WHAT IT MEANSThe server could not complete the request.Deliberately vague, so the... Symptom: Layout Broken or Unstyled The page appears as plain text.WHAT IT MEANSThe CSS is not loading.THE COMMON CAUSESA mixed... Symptom: The Site Is Very Slow Loading takes too long.WHAT TO ESTABLISHSlow for everyone, or only for you? All pages or specific... Symptom: The Site Shows Old Content Changes do not appear.WHAT IT USUALLY ISCaching, at one of several levels.WHERE CACHING... Table doesn't exist A table is missing from the database.WHAT IT MEANSThe database exists and connects, but a table... Table Locking and Concurrency Why writes sometimes wait.WHAT LOCKING ISWhile one operation writes, others may have to wait, to... Taking Over Someone Else's Project Inheriting code you did not write.BEFORE COMMITTINGLook at it first. Quote after you have seen... Taking Payment for Bookings Deposits and full payment.THE OPTIONSPay in full at booking A deposit at booking, balance on the... Telling Search Engines About Language Versions The technical signals.WHAT IS REQUIREDEach version must declare which language and region it... Telling the Difference Between a Site Problem and a Server Problem Most outages are site-level. Knowing which you are facing saves a great deal of time.SIGNS IT IS... Testing a Subscription System The full cycle.WHAT TO TESTSigning up Initial payment Access granted Renewal charging correctly... Testing Plugins Before Using Them Live Trying things safely.WHERE TO TESTA staging site.A subdomain with a copy of your site, protected... Testing Your Checkout Properly The test that matters most.WHY IT MATTERSA checkout that fails silently costs every sale.You will... Testing Your Forms The check most sites never do.HOW TO TEST PROPERLYSubmit the form as a visitor would From a... The .well-known Path and Why It Must Stay Accessible The path AutoSSL uses to prove domain control.WHAT HAPPENSAutoSSL places a file under... The Backup Questions to Answer Honestly A short self-assessment.DO BACKUPS EXISTNot "is a plugin installed", but: is there a file, dated... The Error Is Not Listed Here Diagnosing something unfamiliar.READ IT PROPERLYErrors usually name a file, a line, and a... The Security Basics Everyone Needs The essential list.KEEP EVERYTHING UPDATEDCore software, plugins, themes.The single most... The site is experiencing technical difficulties The older wording of the WordPress fatal error page.WHAT IT MEANSThe same as the critical error... The Trade-Offs of Going Static What you gain and lose.WHAT YOU GAINSpeed, substantially Security, since there is little to... The WordPress Cloudflare Plugin Integrating the two.WHAT IT DOESRestores real visitor IP addresses, so your site does not see... The WordPress Database Structure What each table holds.THE CORE TABLESwp_posts: posts, pages, products, revisions, attachments,... Themes and Builders: Everything That Matters, Briefly The whole category in one page.CHOOSING A THEMECheck the demo's speed before committing. That is... There has been a critical error on this website WordPress caught a fatal error.WHAT IT MEANSA PHP fatal error occurred. WordPress shows this... Three Ways to Install a WordPress Plugin Plugins add features to WordPress. There are three installation methods, and the right one... Title Tags and Meta Descriptions The two elements that determine clicks.TITLE TAGSUnique per page Descriptive of that page... Too few arguments to function A function was called incorrectly.WHAT IT MEANSThe code called a function without supplying... Too many failed login attempts An account is locked out.FOR CPANEL OR FTPRepeated failures block your IP address at the... Translating Everything Else Beyond page content.WHAT NEEDS ATTENTIONMenu items Button text Form labels and validation... Troubleshooting: Everything That Matters, Briefly The whole category in one page.THE FOUR QUESTIONS THAT SOLVE MOST PROBLEMSWhat exactly happens?... Turnstile and Bot Verification Cloudflare's alternative to a captcha.WHAT IT ISA verification widget for forms, confirming a... Uncaught Error: Class not found The code referenced a class that does not exist.WHAT IT MEANSPHP could not find the class being... Understanding Application Licences What you are agreeing to.OPEN SOURCEMost common platforms are open source and free to use, modify... Understanding Backdoors and Web Shells A backdoor is code left behind so an attacker can return without needing the original... Understanding CPU Limits Processor time.WHAT IT MEASURESHow much processor time your account uses.WHAT CONSUMES ITEvery... Understanding Disk Space and Inode Usage for WordPress Sites Hosting plans limit both how much space you use and how many files you store. WordPress sites hit... Understanding Inodes (File Count Limits) An inode is one file or folder, regardless of its size. Plans limit the total count as well as... Understanding Input and Output Limits Disk operations.WHAT IT MEASURESHow much reading and writing to disk your account does.WHAT... Understanding Memory Limits How much memory your account may use.TWO DIFFERENT LIMITSPHP memory limit: how much one script... Understanding Resource Limits and 508 Errors A 508 Resource Limit Reached message means your account hit a plan limit at that moment, not that... Understanding Serialised Data Why some values must not be edited by hand.WHAT IT ISA way of storing a structure, such as a list... Understanding Slow Database Queries When the database is the bottleneck.THE SYMPTOMPages slow even with caching, particularly for... Understanding the Dashboard The dashboard is designed to answer "is anything wrong" at a glance.WHAT IT SHOWSActive services... Understanding Uptime Uptime is the percentage of time a service is reachable. It is a useful measure, but it is... Understanding Vite The modern build tool.WHAT IT DOES DIFFERENTLY IN DEVELOPMENTServes modules directly to the... Understanding Webpack The established bundler.WHAT IT DOESBuilds a dependency graph from an entry point, and produces... Understanding What You Can Change Safely Editing without breaking things.SAFEText on pages Images Adding pages and posts Prices and... Uninstalling WordPress and Starting Over Cleanly Sometimes a fresh start is faster than repairing a badly broken or compromised site. Before you... Updating Hardcoded HTTP Links in Content Old content keeps pointing at insecure URLs.WHERE THEY HIDEImage src attributes in posts and... Updating Plugins Keeping them current.WHY UPDATESecurity fixes, primarily.Outdated plugins are the most common... Updating WordPress Core, Themes and Plugins Safely Out-of-date WordPress installations are the leading cause of hacked sites on shared hosting.... Updating Your Own Content Making changes without breaking anything.WHAT YOU CAN SAFELY CHANGEText on pages Images Prices... Updating Your PHP Version Frequently the easiest gain available.WHY IT MATTERSNewer PHP versions are substantially faster... Updating Your Site URL After Enabling HTTPS The application must agree with the server.WHY IT MATTERSApplications generate links and... Using AI to Fix Website Problems Diagnosis assistance.HOW TO DESCRIBE A PROBLEMThe exact error message, copied not paraphrased... Using AI With WordPress Practical assistance for the most common platform.WHERE IT HELPSWriting and editing page and post... Using Downloads in the Client Area Support > Downloads holds files we make available: guides, configuration templates, software... Using File Manager to Upload, Edit and Manage Files File Manager is the built-in file browser for your hosting account. It handles everything FTP... Using HTTPS Correctly Across Your Site HTTPS encrypts traffic between your visitors and the server. Without it, passwords and form... Using Leech Protection on Password-Protected Areas Leech protection detects when one login is being shared widely, which typically means a member... Using noindex and Canonical Tags Correctly Controlling what gets indexed.NOINDEXTells engines not to index a page, though they may still... Using SMTP for Website Email Reliable sending from your site.THE PROBLEMWebsites sending mail through the default server... Using the Built-In Block Editor The option already installed.WHAT IT DOESBuilds pages from blocks: paragraphs, headings, images,... Using WP-CLI on Your Account Managing WordPress from the command line.WHYMany tasks are faster and more reliable than through... Verifying Mixed Content Is Fully Resolved Confirming the job is done.CHECK SEVERAL PAGE TYPESHomepage A blog post with images, ideally an... Verifying Your Backups Are Actually Running The check almost nobody performs.WHY IT MATTERSA backup system configured and silently failing is... Vetting Software and Services Before You Adopt Them Choosing what to trust.WHAT TO ASSESSWhat data it will hold or access What permissions it... Warning: include or require failed to open stream A file could not be loaded.WHAT IT MEANSThe code tried to load a file and could not find it or... Website and CMS Terms Content management.CMSA content management system: software for managing a site's content without... Website Security: Everything That Matters, Briefly The whole category in one page.THE THING TO UNDERSTAND FIRSTAttacks are automated and... Website Speed: Everything That Matters, Briefly The whole category in one page.THE THREE THINGS THAT PRODUCE MOST OF THE GAINImages: resize, then... What a Complete Backup Actually Contains More than most people include.THE WEBSITEAll files in the web directory: application code,... What a Database Actually Is The part of your site that holds everything.THE SHORT VERSIONYour website has two halves. Files... What a Page Builder Is Visual page construction.WHAT IT DOESLets you build page layouts visually, without code.Drag... What a Proper Handover Includes What you should receive.ACCESSDomain registrar Hosting Site administration Any third-party... What a Webhook Is and Why It Matters The most misunderstood part.WHAT IT ISA message the gateway sends your site when a payment... What a WordPress Theme Actually Does Understanding the layer.WHAT IT CONTROLSHow your content is displayed Layout and structure... What Breaks When You Change PHP Version Common problems.REMOVED FUNCTIONSOlder code calling functions removed in newer versions produces... What Caching Is and Why It Matters The second biggest gain.THE PROBLEM IT SOLVESWithout caching, every visit rebuilds the page:... What Changed? The Most Useful Question Errors follow changes.THE QUESTIONWhat was different immediately before this started?Almost every... What Is Not Covered by Backups Understanding the gaps prevents unpleasant discoveries.NOT COVERED BY ANY BACKUPData written... What Personal Data Your Site Collects More than most people realise.THE OBVIOUSContact form submissions Order details and delivery... What Plugins Do and What They Cost Understanding the trade-off.WHAT THEY DOAdd functionality WordPress does not include: forms,... What to Do When a Client Blames Us Handling the conversation.FIRST, ESTABLISH THE FACTSWas it a server problem, their site, or their... What We Do and What You Must Do After a Compromise Cleaning up is a shared responsibility. Knowing the split avoids delays.WHAT WE... When a Client Account Is Compromised A compromised client account threatens your other clients, not just that one.IMMEDIATE... When a Plugin Is Consuming Resources Finding the culprit.WHAT TENDS TO BE HEAVYSecurity plugins scanning constantly Related-post... When to Ask Us About PHP Where we can help.WHAT WE CAN DOTell you which versions are available Enable an extension not... When to Choose Each Approach A summary decision.STATIC SITEA landing page Documentation A portfolio A site whose content... When to Get Help With Speed Knowing your limit.WHAT YOU CAN DO YOURSELFResize and compress images Enable caching Update PHP... When to Move from Shared Hosting to a VPS Shared hosting suits most websites. These are the signs it no longer suits yours.GENUINE... When to Use a Dedicated Sending Provider Instead For volume, a sending provider beats a dedicated IP on hosting.WHEN THIS APPLIESYou send... When to Use an Application Versus Custom Code Build or install.USE AN EXISTING APPLICATION WHENThe requirement is common: a blog, a shop, a... When You Genuinely Need a Larger Plan Knowing the difference.WHEN AN UPGRADE IS THE RIGHT ANSWERGenuine visitor traffic exceeding what... Where Form Submissions Should Go Choosing recipients.TO AN ADDRESS SOMEONE MONITORSNot a shop address nobody opens.TO MORE THAN... Where Website Slowness Actually Comes From The real causes, ranked.IMAGESThe largest cause by a wide margin. Uncompressed photographs... Why Backups Matter More Than Anything Else The single most valuable thing you can do for a website.WHAT BACKUPS PROTECT AGAINSTA compromise... Why Databases Get Slow Understanding the causes.THE MAIN CAUSESMissing indexes on tables that have grownBloat:... Why Form Emails Do Not Arrive The most common form problem.THE USUAL CAUSEThe form sends from an address that is not yours, or... Why Hacked Sites Get Reinfected A site cleaned but not hardened is usually compromised again within days. There are four usual... Why Hosting Accounts Have Resource Limits The reason they exist.THE PRINCIPLEShared hosting means many accounts on one server.Limits... Why Some Themes Slow Your Site Down The performance floor.WHAT MAKES A THEME HEAVYLoading every feature whether used or not Bundled... Why Updates Matter Most The single most important measure.WHAT AN UPDATE FREQUENTLY CONTAINSA fix for a known... Why Website Speed Matters The commercial case.WHAT SLOW COSTS YOUVisitors who leave before the page loads Customers who... Why WordPress Needs a Real Cron Job Here An important difference on our servers.HOW WORDPRESS NORMALLY SCHEDULES WORKBy default it... Why wp-cron.php Is Blocked on Our Servers and How to Set Up a Real Cron Job For stability reasons, HTTP requests to /wp-cron.php are blocked across the ZillionKingHost... Why You Cannot Reach Your Own Site (Firewall Blocks) If your site loads for everyone else but not for you, your IP address has almost certainly been... Why You Should Never Use Nulled Themes and Plugins "Nulled", "cracked" or "GPL-free" copies of premium plugins are widely advertised as a way to... Why You Should Use a Current PHP Version Two reasons that matter.SPEEDNewer versions execute substantially faster.The difference on a busy... Why Your Analytics Numbers Look Wrong Common data problems.THE NUMBERS ARE TOO HIGHYour own visits are counted Bot traffic is included... Why Your Website Is Slow Slow sites almost always come down to the same handful of causes, and the server is rarely one of... WordPress Plugins: Everything That Matters, Briefly The whole category in one page.THE CORE PRINCIPLEEvery plugin must earn its place.Each adds code,... WordPress Security Hardening Checklist Work through this list on every site you host with us. Most compromises we see come from skipping... Working with Cron Jobs as a Developer Scheduled tasks on hosting.CREATING ONEcPanel > Cron Jobs. Set the interval and the... Working with Support on a Technical Problem Getting a useful answer quickly.BEFORE OPENING A TICKETRead the error log and include what it... Writing a Ticket That Gets Resolved Quickly The difference between a fast answer and three days of back-and-forth is usually the first... Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension WordPress cannot find the database driver.WHAT IT MEANSThe PHP extension WordPress uses to talk... Your site is using excessive resources A notice about consumption.WHAT IT MEANSYour account is consistently consuming more than its...
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