You finally have time to login to your WordPress site and update it. You need to add new photos or promote an important event. But you can’t connect to your site! What can you do? Keep this list on hand for future reference.

1. First, refresh your browser a couple of times. Look for a small circular arrow or a double-headed arrow located near the address bar of your browser. Click it a few times (wait for your site to load between refreshes) to make sure you have the latest version of your site and an updated connection to your site.

2. If your site still doesn’t come up after refreshing, do a Google search on a topic you’re never searched before. No connection? The problem is with your Internet connection. Check your connections or contact your provider, Shaw, Telus or other company.

3. If you don’t have problems connecting to other sites, go to http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ and enter your web address. This will tell you if your own site is the only one that’s down, or if everyone sharing your server is down.

4. For more detailed information on whether your server is down, try http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/bluehost.com.html for Bluehost or http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/godaddy.com.html for GoDaddy — (replace the host name with your own host). This site provides an automated graph of server connections at Bluehost during the past 24 hours.

5. If you’re hosting with Bluehost or through our managed hosting on Bluehost, check their Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/bluehost (You don’t need a Twitter account to do this.) Scan the top 10 or 20 comments to find out what Bluehost is saying to other people.

6. Try again in half an hour. Rarely do you need to wait more than a few minutes, or, in extreme cases, half an hour.

7. Many connections issues are caused by problems somewhere along the line between your server and your home. The connection from the computer in your home or office to a server has multiple connection points. Read more about Denial of Service attacks, which account for most server and Internet downtime over the past few months. This is a chronic and rapidly increasing area of concern for website owners everywhere.

Last but not least, welcome to the job of web site development. If you have a WordPress site and if you’re responsible for updating it, you’ve joined website developers everywhere in a common problem — occasional server disconnections.