The document provides tips for solving common WordPress problems encountered by non-experts. It details examples of specific issues like a plugin causing Google's bot to index thousands of unnecessary pages, a theme incompatibility resulting in lost password pages showing 404 errors, and hidden pornographic pages on a site from an infected file manager. The document stresses describing problems clearly, searching forums and documentation for solutions, testing fixes, and consulting professionals if needed.

1. S O L V I N G W O R D P R E S S P R O B L E M S F O R T H E
NON-EXPERT
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner

2. WordPress Gone Wrong
 Google Bot Gone Wild – Bad Plugin
 Woo Commerce : 404 Lost Password Page –
Incompatible Theme
 There is Prn on my Website? – Invisible Pages
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015

3. WordPress Problem Solving
 Find and Describe the Problem
 Search the WordPress Forum or Plugin Pages
 Google or Search for the Problem Solution
 See if the solutions are usable or if help is needed.
 Implement and Test the Solution
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015

4. What is the Google Bot?
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Documents the web so that blogs can be found in
search. Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines also
have bots.
 Bots are good for increasing website traffic.
 Part of an SEO strategy involves making it easier for
bots to index websites.

5. Google Bot Gone Wild
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Time.ly event calendar named Time.ly. I had a fan
site set up for comic-cons and other fan conventions.
 With hundreds of event listings; I was getting tons of
hits and Google Analytics was my friend. Woo hoo!
Then my hosting company turned off my websites.

6. Control Panel Traffic
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015

7. Google Bot Gone Wild
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Checked the WordPress plugin web page. I was not the
only one experiencing this issue.
 The plugin was creating thousands and thousands of
‘future’ or ‘virtual’ pages.
 Google Bot was indexing thousands of possible future
pages every day.
 In the end, even following the advice, I was not able to fix
it. I had to remove the plugin.

8. Time.ly Reviews
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015

9. No Woo Commerce for Mobile
 Themes, Apps, and Plugins need to be compatible.
 Developed by different companies and devs, so they
might very well not work together.
 This is the reason you might hire someone to set up
your WordPress website.
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015

10. Disappearing Mobile Pages
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Regularly test websites on different devices.
Windows, Apple, Mobile, Tablets.
 WordPress, Themes, Apps, and Plugins are always
updating.
 App and Plugins developers may not update to the
latest WordPress version. They may even go out of
business.

11. Woo Commerce Product Pages
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Tested the Paper Butterfly Forge website on my mobile
phone. Clear white page that you had to scroll down to
view the products.
 Woo Commerce had sent notices that it was incompatible
with my current theme, but I had ignored them.
Solution?
 Changed to Storefront, a Woo theme.

12. 404 Lost Password Page
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Customers are unlikely to remember their
passwords. It is important to have robust lost
password function for ecommerce stores.
 When I was updating to the Store Front theme, I
mistyped my password. I clicked Lost Password.
 Surprise! It was a 404 Page!

13. 404 Lost Password Page
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Went to the Woo Commerce help. Nothing, really.
 Googled it. I wasn’t the only one.
 A wide range of solutions that didn’t seem to help.
 Each solution required updating the WordPress post
permalink.

14. 404 Lost Password Page
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 After reading blogs it turns out that Woo Commerce
had changed a basic plugin structure.
 Previously: Lost Password and other account pages
had had ‘Short Codes’ on actual pages.
 Now they were ‘virtual’ pages to ease installation.
 My custom product permalinks somehow caused the
new virtual account pages to be 404’d.

15. 404 Lost Password Page
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Solution?
 Restore the standard product Permalink
 Add a plugin to redirect the 404 pages to the main page.

16. Prn pages
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Lots and Lots of Visitors
 Google Analytics or your Control Panel apps list the
visited pages.
 Prn titles were exposed to my tender eyes.

17. Prn Pages
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 WordPress only listed the pages that I had created.
 I was stumped. I had a cup of tea, while I pondered this
question:
If WordPress doesn’t have a page listed, then where were
the prn pages?
There are two sections to a website. A front and back end.
WordPress is installed on the front end. The file manager
‘back end’ is where the prn pages were installed. The file
manager had been hacked.

18. Prn Pages
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Access the File Manager through the Control Panel.
 Be very careful or get a professional to help you out. The data
base or back end files, if incorrectly altered, are painful to fix.
 Solution?
 Asked the hosting provider to take a look at it and the help
desk removed those pages.
 Changed passwords

19. Solving WordPress Problems
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015
 Describe the Problem
 Search for Solutions
 Test Solutions
 Implement

20. Laura Dodson, CPA
Financial Planning & Analysis
Lore Bits Game Tokens
www.lauradodsoncpa.com
www.paperbutterflyforge.com
www.organizedbookkeeping.net
www.zuffyrobot.com
WordCamp Seattle: Beginner 2015