Making sure that everything works on your website is something that can be easily overlooked. Most people will assume that if you don't change anything, nothing can break. Well that's not always true, especially when people use platforms like WordPress, Wix, Shopify, etc.

Platforms like this usually allow you to use plugins that are constantly getting updated. Most of the time the updates will not affect anything but there are a few times where it can completely crash your website. 

How to avoid plugins from crashing your website

The most simple way to avoid catastrophic errors on your website is by backing up your website regularly, especially before you update a plugin. Once you update your plugin, make sure to check the functionality of the plugin. For example if you are using a plugin for a slideshow, make sure that the slider is working properly.

Forms Plugins

Form plugins in WordPress are some of the most unstable. They can be some of the most important plugins people use and yet they are constantly breaking. I can't tell you how many times we get called to fix forms that are not working on WordPress. Most are simple fixes but for this reason I recommend checking your forms at least once a week to make sure that they are working properly. 

Image Sliders

Be careful using slider plugins, because these are the plugins that can be the most harmful. I can't tell you how many people have had their entire website go down because a slider plugin update was not done properly. To avoid an issue with these, again, I recommend backing up your website often. Also make sure you do not turn on auto update. This will prevent your website from suddenly being down without you knowing about it. 

There are many other plugins out there that can cause these issues so be careful, read the reviews, and do your own research on your plugins.

While plugins are a big factor with issues like this, there can be many more factors that can affect your website. So make sure you go through all your web pages at least once a month to make sure your website is working properly. For forms, I would recommend checking those at the very least once a week. If you are like us, most of our business comes from people contacting us via out forms so we can not afford to have them not working. 

Thank you for checking us out and we hope you continue to let us help you out. If there are specific plugins or issues that you have encountered, please tell us about them in the comments section.

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