6 Common WordPress Hosting & Server Issues in 2023
One of the most reputable platforms for creating a website is WordPress, and it is way beyond any fair doubt.
No matter how quick & simple this CMS functions, for individuals running their website, there are always problems that arise and cause difficulties.
If you are a beginning user and do not have enough knowledge of the technical aspects of website management, this can be desperate.
But it is not always because these problems will result to getting hacked, conflicting plugins or a WordPress topic.
At times, the blame is on the infrastructure of your website, such as your hosting service.
WordPress hosting problems are common technical difficulties that come into light due to an array of reasons.
Read on to find out about the 6 most common issues and the way you can fix them to minimize website downtimes.
WordPress Hosting Issues
WordPress hosting services are becoming more and more popular due to the increasing use of this CMS around the world.
Such solutions have provided many website owners independence from certain common WordPress hosting issues, but there are still problems that need to be solved.
Many of the server outages go back to the preferred service provider.
Cheaper services also do not come with sufficient support, and team members may not be competent enough to provide the best consultation, even though you may provide reasonable support.
You don’t want to make the website be unreachable or sluggish for a long time with that in mind.
Knowing the root of problems so that you can manage them properly in your hosting is the secret to solving those problems.
WordPress Affecting Server Problems
It’s daunting to know that no matter how much effort you put into optimizing your site, other bad things can happen to it.
You look into configurations, check for plugins and themes, but yet end up having a malfunctioning website.
Server issues are among the tricky problems like that.
The key to resolving these server issues quickly is to understand what kinds of issues may arise from the underlying server technology.
By understanding the source of the problem, you can more confidently and efficiently handle these issues with your web hosting provider.
Most Common WordPress Server & Hosting Issues List
1- Low-Quality Server
Data breaches and hacks have long been the most alarming problem that can happen for an online presence.
Lack of necessary security features by your hosting service provider means a lot of WordPress hosting problems.
Server vulnerabilities lead to different threats, such as the successful login of fake users and online attacks.
Instability of server, on the other hand, increases your site’s downtimes, which in turn brings down the number of visits to your website.
How to fix the low-quality server issue:
The best solution to these problems is to use hosting services that are equipped with multi-level security features.
Among them, we can mention the activation of two-factor authentication and disabling the default WordPress admin logins and automatic updates.
SSL certificates and firewalls are likewise mandatory, and we often consider them as default security measures for each service provider.
Furthermore, search into multi-container servers as they can ensure greater uptime.
When the platform gets more frequent visitors than the normal flow, these services have the potential to deploy new containers.
Through using these servers, you will also be confident of the stability of your platform in times of power outages.
2- Email Service Problems
Using email addresses branded to your website’s address is favored by website owners, and they often check for this feature when purchasing a hosting service.
support@damain.com and info@domain.com are the most addresses used for businesses that are, in many cases, connected to email marketing platforms for more sales leads and better communication with customers.
Not being able to receive emails is a pain in the neck since you lose a high potential of online marketing.
The importance of email marketing should never be ignored, whether your business is small or a large and enterprise-level one.
First of all, send many emails to the email addresses of the company to ensure that you are unlikely to accept any emails.
If you don’t see a message that indicates that your inbox is full, then it’s time to search your server for stuff.
Some people forward messages to another account from an email address with the name of the domain.
If that is the case for your company as well, before continuing to the next steps, double-check your forwarding settings.
Often, if you are using third-party email management software such as Microsoft Outlook, see whether or not the hosting email is on the active email list.
From the hosting admin screen, you can access and monitor email accounts.
There you can find the web version of your email inbox to check either you have received any emails or not.
If there is nothing in the list either, you should contact the support team of your hosting and ask them to check server settings in this regard.
3- Common Errors
There are times that we enter the address of our website in the browser and end up seeing a white screen or an error with code or descriptions.
Some of the usual errors are as follows:
Error Establishing Database Connection
In normal conditions, you are the one in charge of controlling your database.
But exceptions exist as well.
The first thing to check for this error is the “wp-config.php” file of your site.
Edit with caution ⚠
See if your login information and hostname are correct and make changes if necessary.
Secondly, go for a security scan for possible security breaches.
There is an assortment of free and paid security tools available online to use on your WordPress site.
If there’s no breach, contact your hosting company immediately since they may have deactivated your database for excessive use or other security measures.
Talk to the support team and confirm what has happened to your site.
Server Does Not Exist
Account suspension is also synonymous with this malfunction.
It could be the result of the domain name or hosting service not being renewed.
It’s also conceivable that, for other reasons, including suspicious traffic, the hosting service provider has opted to terminate your account.
Whatever occurs, do not hesitate to contact them directly and ask for consultation.
Death White Screen
This failure also results in a white screen with no warning inside it.
Because there are no codes that show what is going wrong, this sort of mistake is more complicated than others.
It is likely to be viewed on some areas of the web, not all sites, due to a memory cap or poor setups.
In the first place, any who have numerous websites hosted on a single server can search for this issue on their other pages.
The odds are high that it has to do with your hosting service if the same bug happens on them as well.
Otherwise, you can deactivate the themes and plugin to identify the method for an issue and then reactivate them one after another.
Memory Exhausted
The exhaustion of memory size limit on WordPress is often down to a plugin or script.
The error usually shows a message that indicates the size of memory, which is exhausted.
The solution to this error is increasing the PHP memory limit.
Edit with caution ⚠ :
You add the following code into your “wp-config.php” file and increase the limit if necessary:
"define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT,' '512M' );"Doing so will tell WordPress to increase this limit to the specified amount (here 512 MB).
Connection Timed Out
Seeing the “ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT” error shows that your site is busy doing more than it can handle.
Mostly caused on shared hosting, this error can be fixed by removing extra plugins on the site and increasing memory exhaustion.
Similar to previous steps, try to disable your plugins and then activate them one by one to see what causes the problem.
If doing so and increasing the memory limit didn’t help to troubleshoot the issue, you should contact your hosting service provider.
Parse or Syntax Error
Parse or syntax errors are signs of adding code snippets into the files of your site.
Typically, you may have misspelled a part of the code or missed some characters.
When you are done getting the hang of it, you can process to diagnose for this error.
Fixing a syntax begins with editing the code that has made it.
Use FTP to access your site and locate the file that has caused this error.
Now you just need to remove the code or ask an expert with knowledge of coding to edit it properly.
After finishing the edits, save the file and upload it again on the server.
Your site should now function the way it used to be.
Internal Server Error
This topic is by far the most common concern that many users of WordPress face.
Generally speaking, this error indicates that something is wrong with the website, but the server can’t properly find out about it.
So, the odds are high that when you first attempt, you can’t exactly spot the error.
Begin with checking your “.htaccess” file.
Rename it by adding a few characters to the end, save it, and refresh the website.
If it worked, head over to your WordPress dashboard > Settings > Permalinks.
Click Save Changes without making changes in any field.
This will automatically make a new “.htaccess” file with default options that function usually.
In case the problem exists, consult it with your hosting support team.
4- Pages Loading Too Slow
Internet users are no more patient.
So, a slow-loading website is a top problem we should take into consideration.
A long time of loading refers to any duration of more than three seconds, and that’s enough to lose customers and revenue.
This common problem can be the result of a slow server, having a slowed website, or time-taking external scripts. Consider what happens if a site has all the issues at the same time! So, do not ever underestimate the impact of plugins and scripts on your website’s performance.
Every single one of them can slow down your pages significantly.
How to fix the slow page loading on WordPress:
First up, verify the host’s server status.
You can do it on the website of the hosting company by using the resources and tools offered.
For this objective, several have a dedicated page that displays the state of their live server.
You will find it here if there is something wrong with the server.
Any service providers go deeper and make you search for problems with a particular domain.
In this scenario, you can call the support staff and inquire how long it will take to fix it.
If you regularly face such slow-downs, it may be the responsibility of a nearby website that affects your domain.
After talking to the representatives of your hosting company, upgrading to a better service like VPS hosting can be a permanent solution. But it would be a bit hard to choose the best VPS on the market.
Also, there are some other types of services like RDP servers online that we will be getting into in our next blog posts.
Next, after getting sure that there isn’t any issue concerning the downtimes, it’s time to check the bandwidth.
You may have experienced a traffic spike that brought problems for you.
Again, you can monitor your bandwidth from the admin panel of your hosting service.
The mismatched version of PHP is another frequent problem that can slow down the functionality of themes, plugins, and even the WordPress core itself.
So, make sure you check for PHP version updates once in a while from your hosting panel.
If it doesn’t display the latest version, ask the support team to add it for you.
Finally, if you don’t have the issues mentioned above, you have to narrow down the list of installed assets and tools on your site.
Figure out which ones are necessary, and remove others that have caused WordPress hosting problems.
Plus, you can set the ones with lower priority to run last so that the pages will load quickly.
And by quickly, I mean less than three seconds!
5- Pricing + Quality Support
Between hosting service providers, the rivalry is very high.
Things can get confusing when contemplating the packages available, and you do not know exactly what their proposals entail.
In addition, firms usually sell monthly or annual services, although you can also find usage-based contracts.
As previously noted, you have to contact the help team to troubleshoot a vast range of WordPress hosting issues.
If the service provider does not have a professional and competent support staff, you can lose credibility and sales.
How to come up with a solution for pricing & support:
Try to go for the hosting services that clearly indicate what you get for the price you pay.
Transparency of pricing should be the top quality you look into.
If you are not sure about the total number of traffic surges in a month, the usage-based solutions best fit your needs.
Above all, always try to use companies that allow clients to make their own customized plans based on their real needs.
Furthermore, take a look at the review websites to see what others think of the company.
Put a great focus on what their clients say about the support team and their methods.
The old-fashioned way of sending multiple emails for a single issue is really a thing of the past.
Instead, you should be provided with live support that solves the problems in real-time.
Companies who have permanent monitoring of their services are the best choice to be relieved from the stress that comes to you when the website goes down.
6- Updates Not Reflected on The Site
It seems like caching the WordPress platform is such an easy thing to execute and get a handle on what is possible with the various WordPress caching plugins.
But let’s presume you have an installed and configured caching plugin already. You’ve tried clearing your browser.
Your site has been opened from a separate window and computer, too. You’ve also attempted to delete all of your browsing info, cookies, and history.
Nevertheless, the changes you have made on the website do not surface on the front end. What’s happening here?
Your cache temp folder can function incorrectly or on the web hosting side it may be something else entirely.
You’ll need to reach out to hosting help for assistance if it’s a server-side caching problem.
Final Words
One of the top-rated CMSs to use for a website is WordPress.
With the growth of WordPress-specific hosting plans offered by hosting providers, more users now benefit from excellent automation and enhanced functionality.
Yet, issues with WordPress hosting are inevitable, and when things go wrong on a platform, it really hurts.
The popular WordPress problems mentioned above will give you a clearer understanding of what happens when changes are needed for your web.
And if you do not get the job done, once you reach out to speed up the process, you at least know what to tell the support staff.
