One of the worst things to happen to a website owner is encountering an unexpected error with your site. And considering how varied WordPress errors can be, you must know how to diagnose and correct them.

Otherwise, you’ll have an ill-functioning—or even a non-functioning—website on your hands that’s just bad news. You may end up with an obsolete website, the experience quickly plummeting conversions or sales, or fail to deliver a satisfying customer experience.

When you see an error establishing a database connection, for example, the usual causes are either that the server is down, you have a corrupted database in your hands, or you’re simply entering the wrong login potentials. While these are easily fixable problems, you can’t ignore them, hoping they’ll rectify themselves—you have to take immediate action.

Similarly, you may encounter other issues like 404 Not Found Error or the “White Screen of Death.” Both these errors affect the front end, which means that even though the content is there on the server, it cannot be reached. And what’s a website without its content, right?

You have to take immediate action, ranging from deactivating all plugins and then reactivating them, rolling back the theme, changing links, or fixing WordPress rules.

Basically, you have to act based on the types of WordPress errors you encounter.

If your website is down or doesn’t work properly, you lose revenue. Plus, there’s a big chance your visitors will go to your competitor.