Tips to getting help for all WordPress theme or plugin issues.
I’ll show you a few handy ways to make your issues heard and hopefully get replies back from the theme/plugin developer.
1. Get the PAID version
Do you absolutely want and need prioritized support? Then pay for it! Get the paid version of the theme or plugin and you can ask for help directly from the developer site.
2. Go to WordPress.org repository
If you’re using a free theme or plugin, you can go to the WP repo…then find the page for the theme/plugin, and click the Support Forum button on the right. From there, search existing requests to see if other users had the same problems or make a new one.
It helps to have a good attitude. Don’t be one of those annoying customers putting a 1-star review and “THIS PLUGIN SUCKS. FIX IT NOW!” Try a kinder approach. How about a forum request like:
- TITLE – “Love this plugin but it breaks my site.”
- DESCRIPTION – “Thanks for this awesome plugin. I used it without problems for many months but now there’s this [small issue] and I can’t use it anymore. Please don’t make me go back to [insert competitor name].”
3. Find the Facebook group
Maybe the theme/plugin has a community Facebook group. Join it and ask for help. Sometimes they may not have one for their smaller plugins…so you have to join their overall brand community.
I suppose you could also join broader Facebook groups that cover or have many users of your theme/plugin.
4. Pay someone else
Sometimes on support forums and Facebook groups, you still won’t get support….BUT, you can see replies of other users and it’s easy to tell which ones are more experienced and might be able to help you. Contact them and offer to pay for their help.
Stop being a cheapass, and hire a pro. Even if you insist “doing it myself so I can learn”…some things are learned faster by hiring a pro rather than by digging through 100 wrong methods.
5. Self-diagnose
While you may not have the skills to fix things, ANYBODY can figure out most problems just with a few steps.
- check error logs – go to your website directory and read the error log
- enable and check debug log – you can Google how to do this
- switch to another theme – see if problem is resolved
- disable plugins one by one – until problem is resolved
Almost all issues are due to plugins conflicting with each other or with the theme. The good news is that figuring out the issue is pretty 80% of the problem itself (and the most time-consuming aspect of it). Once you know where the problem is, you can easily fix it yourself or have someone else do it for you.
6. Blame your webhost
Being a webhost myself, I will 100% will put a hex on your entire family if you write into support blaming my server for your theme/plugin problems. But alas, the tactic works.
Write into your webhost saying you don’t know why your site won’t work properly. And maybe they will (or won’t) help you. But if they choose not to…you better not be a jerk and blame them for your site issues.
Leave a Reply