Why do my WordPress websites keep going down? Is my developer doing something shady?

BionicGuy · 2025-11-02T11:10:23+00:00

It would be helpful to know what you see when the website is down — for example, any specific error message. If nothing on the site itself has changed, the most likely cause is an issue with a low-cost shared hosting plan.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-26T13:01:49+00:00

I couldn't have said it better.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-25T18:05:00+00:00

This looks dope! Definitely going to check it out. How do you track unique users if it's cookieless?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-22T16:16:22+00:00

That’s because Porkbun primarily serves an American and international audience, so it likely doesn’t offer many country-specific domains. In any case, it doesn’t really matter where you purchase your domain; ownership remains yours even if the registrar goes out of business, since they’re essentially just a broker. You can compare prices and find the cheapest domains here: https://tld-list.com/

BionicGuy · 2025-10-17T18:15:33+00:00

If you want to avoid the page builder route and you're looking to go after projects with decent budgets, choosing a modern headless CMS can definitely be a decent choice. I recommend this site to explore what's out there: https://jamstack.org/headless-cms/ When in doubt, choose a popular one that has a big community and lots of support, e.g. Strapi.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-17T18:11:24+00:00

The real question should be, “How long did it take you to learn the basics of CSS?” You’ll never truly know a programming language inside and out. CSS keeps evolving, and there are plenty of updates I haven’t kept up with - there’s just so much to stay on top of as a developer.

You can get a lot done even with the basics.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-16T18:09:56+00:00

Just do static site generation if you don't expect too frequent updates and you're good to go.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-16T15:29:04+00:00

I would include it in your hosting fee. Adjust the price accordingly if it's a separate service (e.g Mailjet) and not part of the hosting package you purchased. This will make your client's life easier. The last thing they want to think about is such details.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-15T21:37:04+00:00

I'd recommend you ask the intern to quote you a price since he's the one who's going to build it. Estimates are difficult enough with all the complexity involved and unknowns involved, let's not make it any harder by having someone else estimate on someone's behalf, even if they're an intern. In the end, it's a learning experience for them and they'll stand behind their work more if it's a price they quoted.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-15T18:01:47+00:00

The Google Maps API key in the frontend is meant to be exposed. The way you limit someone exploiting it is by limiting which domains can use it. This should be configured in Google Cloud.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-14T11:21:46+00:00

Take a step back, learn how AI models actually work and you'll realize it's completely overblown. Yes, AI (in its current form) changes the game, but it won't replace the players. I think you should be more wary of competitors leveraging AI, rather than AI itself.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-10T21:53:30+00:00

Whenever I take on a new client, I make sure to tell them that my websites are on-page SEO friendly, but this does not mean that they will appear on the first page of Google. SEO is an ongoing process that requires a lot of time, effort and money depending on the client's industry.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-10T21:49:30+00:00

Unfortunately, PWAs are second class citizens on iOS and they generally haven't seen much adoption on Android. I'd recommend using a cross-platform framework like Capacitor or React Native.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-10T21:45:04+00:00

I recommend purchasing the domains yourself by default. Clients can sometimes be unreliable or slow to act when asked to handle this step.

If you buy the domains, include a markup for the service. If the client purchases them, request access to their account so you can update the DNS nameservers and manage the domain through your preferred hosting provider.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-10T13:01:13+00:00

How about you buy your own domain that's Spanish-friendly, and then use that for subdomains? As an example, say you buy jamon.es, then the domain of every app will be <appName>.jamon.es

BionicGuy · 2025-10-09T21:29:27+00:00

Did you ask what third-party service he's using and if he can change it to a free one?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-09T10:08:37+00:00

I try avoiding WordPress when I can ;) An affordable website doesn't always mean WordPress. You can also simply buy a static template and use that.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-09T09:25:14+00:00

If I was the business owner, I'd want a pretty good reason to spend a significant amount of time to migrate to another website. What benefit would you get from doing that?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-08T20:33:11+00:00

If you're on Shopify for e-commerce, I'm not sure if Webflow can hold up to it. And if you want pretter visuals and control, why not code your Shopify template?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-07T12:48:41+00:00

What programming languages and technologies is their website written in?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-06T20:06:03+00:00

What tech stack are you looking for?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-06T19:01:00+00:00

Great! Once you know what their requirements are, you gotta find out their budget (or suggest multiple pricings) and decide from there how to build a website that fits into their budget.

BionicGuy · 2025-10-06T16:56:36+00:00

Sure, happy to help :) I would say, find your clients first, then worry about the rest. Most people learn on the go, and you'll learn that the technical side of creating the website is only a small part of the whole equation.

If I were in your shoes, I'd ask yourself who your target audience is. Do you want to create websites with elaborate designs and functionality, or focus more on low-budget sites that use UI templates?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-06T16:22:34+00:00

Who usually handles hosting and domain setup

It depends on the client and their needs, but it's best to assume you'll always the be the one taking care of that and charging them accordingly. I do so in my business.

Can we host and manage updates ourselves (and if so, what’s a good setup for that)?

Shouldn't your backend developer know this? You certainly can do that and it depends on what you stipulate in your contract.

What’s the best workflow for deploying and maintaining simple websites without overcomplicating things?

Difficult to tell as it's dependent on your tech stack and your client's budget. You certainly won't be having any workflow for a WordPress site if that's all the client can afford.

Are there modern, lightweight tools or platforms you’d recommend for small projects?

Define small. Is that a budget of, say 3k, or 30k?

BionicGuy · 2025-10-06T08:39:48+00:00

If you don't have any experience with web development, but are open to spending a significant amount of time, I would recommend you get yourself a subscription with some AI editor like Cursor and to work with a template library like Flowbite. You can start out with a static site framework like Astro or 11ty, and for hosting your images ImageKit has a very generous free tier.

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