What could go wrong with my WordPress site?

Many WordPress sites are built by web developers who simply use click and drag software. They publish the site with a click of a button and that's about where their capability ends. They don't understand software and computer languages and therefore will neglect to tell you about the risks of not maintaining your site. Software is developed by humans and humans make mistakes, potentially exposing your site to hackers and data theft. If your site is integral to your business, the risks are real and could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars when things break or go wrong.

Poorly Designed Themes or Plugins

WordPress sites are built on themes and plugins. There are literally hundreds of thousands of themes and plugins on the internet, all at your disposal. Themes and plugins are written by either professional software developers, amateur hacks or by someone in-between. Like most people though, you probably have no idea what plugins you have installed on your site. Like all software, plugins and themes need to be maintained and updated. If you are not doing that, or your plugins aren't being properly maintained by the developers, this only increases the chances of your site breaking. The hacker community are well aware of poorly designed plugins and themes, so your site may be an easy target.

Poorly Maintained Site

Sometimes things go wrong, even with a well maintained site - but routine maintenance and regular backups are the most important tasks one should perform once on their WordPress site. Many people neglect this and assume all is well, only to be dealing with the consequences down the track.

Poorly built sites

Compatibility between themes and plugins is critical. We often see sites with a large number of plugins, or plugins from a variety of different vendors. This is a concern as it raises the complexity of how your site operates, since all your plugins have to 'play nice' with each other and with WordPress. So the number of plugins and the quality of each plugin will directly impact on the performance and operation of your site.

Software bugs

WordPress is built on complex software. Just like operating systems and software from Microsoft, Google and Apple, software bugs get discovered from time to time. No software is 100% perfect and needs to be maintained on a regular basis. To ensure your site continues to run well, applying patches and software updates, performing security scans etc all need to be scheduled.

Cheap Hosting

Many hosting companies who offer cheap and 'unlimited' plans cut corners and as a result, they sacrifice performance and security. Hosting your site with a cheap provider is not a wise decision. Many sites get cross-infected from other accounts on the same server and to reduce costs, the people running these servers usually have very low technical skills.

Has your site been hacked?

Many WordPress sites are the targeted by hackers. But don't think these hackers are just kids with too much time on their hands. Most hackers these days belong to organised crime groups. They know that once they hack in to your site, it's a gateway to data and identity theft. and the use of your site as a launching pad to hack into other sites.

Once they gain access to your data, they often target your bank accounts. Once this happens, it is a very difficult situation to recover from. In many cases you don’t even know that you've been hacked until your bank account has been wiped.

Hacking is a 'great way to make money' as law enforcement is very weak in this area, so the risk of being caught is low. Hackers are often more savvy than most IT professionals. Hacking activities are on the increase and are a world wide problem.

How can Net Solutions help?

We think WordPress is awesome, but just like any other software it is prone to bugs and problems so it needs a health plan to keep it working properly. At Net Solutions we are experts in WordPress and our software engineers have developed many themes and plugins. Net Solutions has been around since 1996 and we have been developing in WordPress since 2003.

We have developed our own methods, processes and tools and refined them over time so we are able to quickly identify and establish any issues you may have with your WordPress site. We will advise you on the best corrective action to bring you back online.

If you are experiencing issues with your WordPress site we are sure to be able to help. Many clients come to use after having a bad experience with their developer or their developer cannot be reached anymore. We often hear "My developer has disappeared". Many developers also claim to be WordPress experts but often lack the necessary skills in software development, programming, debugging and fault finding to diagnose issues correctly.

Commonly asked questions

1Can I get free support?

Sure you can. WordPress, WooCommerce and many plugin authors provide free support. WordPress is an open source community project and everyone is welcome to create plugins, themes, contribute patches, suggest/fix bugs, etc.

In our experience however, many users get completely overwhelmed by so much information and don't know where to start and how to troubleshoot.

This is where we can help. You can outsource those tasks to us. But please be mindful that we bill for our time.

2Why should I engage Net Solutions?

Our core expertise is heavily focused around WordPress and WooCommerce. We have very strong skills with these platforms and are capable of accomplishing just about any unique task required.

We love a challenge! We love being able to provide the solution where others have failed. As one of our clients once said "If Net Solutions can't fix it, you're in real trouble."

We work with small businesses, large enterprises and government departments.

3What can you help me with?

Some of our services include:

Troubleshooting and fixing website issues
Ongoing management and maintenance
Designing and developing custom themes
Developing custom plugins and extensions
Extending existing plugins
Integrations & API Development
General advice and consulting

4Do you outsource your support?

No we don't. We are aware that many of our competitors outsource their work to freelancers overseas and simply mark up their rates. Many of these freelancers charge below $40/hour for their time and in some cases $10/hour. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for!

We don't outsource any of or development or engineering work because we want to ensure the highest level of quality. All our engineers are in-house local resources.

Many clients come to us after a bad experience in having their work developed by a company that outsources their work overseas.

5How do you bill?

We bill on a time and materials. While in some cases we are able to provide an estimate often there are just too many 'unknowns' for us to provide a fixed price quote.

We can generally get a good idea as to the extent of effort required within the first hour.

Our rate is $132/hour

Do you need help now?

If your site is not operating correctly, we are happy to provide an initial consultation and assessment free of charge. Please provide as much information in the form as possible and we will perform a free assessment.

All details provided will be kept secure and confidential.

We are WordPress experts and we are sure to have the right advice for you.

WordPress Support – Let us look after your site