Need WordPress Help? What to Do When You Need Help with WordPress

Millions of people around the world use WordPress to build their websites. In fact, data shows that nearly one-third of the internet runs on WordPress’s robust content management platform.

Whether you’re building an online business, personal brand or other web project, WordPress is a great option for all your website needs. You can create an e-commerce website, blog, corporate site, informational website, forum or anything else you wish.

But What Happens When You Need Help with WordPress?

The versatility and customizability are two of the strongest selling points of the platform. However, even the most advanced users need help with WordPress from time to time. Problems can frequently arise ranging in difficulty and source. Furthermore, the platform may prove difficult in some aspects of design, development or maintenance, especially for amateur users or those who are too busy running their business to master WordPress.

When you come to the point where you find you need help, there are many plans of action you can take. You can try to figure out the answer on your own, or you can rely on a professional, like WP Tangerine.

The First Thing to Know

When you run into an issue, or even have a general question, you may not know where to start. Should you email WordPress, hiring a WordPress freelancer & developer or just give up?

Read our article in Tips in Hiring a WordPress Developers

Keep in mind that WordPress is an open-source platform. That means there’s a community of people who contribute to the tool. WordPress itself does not really offer its own support services, so emailing them is out of the question.

Anybody, business or individual, can create a WordPress theme or plugin. Typically, these plugins are free, as is any documentation that comes along with it. This open-source nature means that there’s plenty of information around the internet that may already hold the answers to your questions.

Using Guidance That’s Already Available to You

Whenever you need help with WordPress (if you prefer to handle it yourself), you can search the web to see what information is already present. You may find exactly what you’re looking for within minutes of searching.

Since WordPress powers such a large percentage of the websites on the internet, there is an endless supply of information present. There is a wide range of blogs, guides, forums and WordPress-related sites with extensive information on frequently encountered issues. You may even find a step by step walkthrough to overcome whatever problem you’ve run into.

If you have a question regarding a plugin, use the information the plugin creator has public. If you go to their page, you can find documentation on installation, support and more.

• Disadvantage: If all this sounds time-consuming, that’s because it is. Even the smallest issues can eat up your day. So if you’re swamped with other projects, it may be better to rely on a professional.

Use Forums to Ask Questions

If you’ve exhausted all the resources you could find, it’s time to take matters into your own hands—by placing the ball in someone else’s court. Join a forum and ask your question. If you’ve found a forum that has frequent questions and quality answers, you can join the party yourself. Try posting a detailed description of what you need help with.

Your question could cover seemingly anything. Whether you need help installing a plugin, fixing a bug or customizing a plugin, there’s a good chance someone on the forum will have helpful information. When you ask a question, keep the following tips in mind.

• Be polite
• Incorporate as many details as possible (plugin name, WordPress version, etc.)
• Tell them what you expect to happen
• Include what you’ve already tried

Now, you have to sit, wait and hope someone has an answer to your question! If nothing substantial comes, it’s time to explore other avenues of help.

Watch Tutorial Videos

Similar to the fact that many forums and blogs exist solely for WordPress help, so do tutorial videos. Head over to YouTube or your favorite video streaming platform and search for tutorials that cover your question.

Depending on your question, you may find a video that perfectly covers your needs. If you can’t find the exact question being answered, similar videos could still have helpful information.

Watching a video can be useful because you can watch the exact steps the user takes; you can see how the user responds to various issues; you can understand the user’s thought process for making certain decisions. But there are downsides to this as well:

• Disadvantage: Busy business owners shouldn’t need to watch YouTube videos all day to get their websites how they want. Hiring a WordPress help professional will save you time, money and hassle.

Perform Troubleshooting