Freelance work · idea 20 of 52
Fix hacked or broken WordPress sites
Millions of small-business sites run on WordPress and break after an update or a hack. The owner is panicking and will pay today.
- Who pays you
- Small business owners pay you a fixed emergency fee per fix, then often a monthly maintenance retainer for updates, backups and monitoring, by card or invoice.
- Outcomes
- 0 receipts. Nobody's reported back on this one yet. Receipts open when accounts launch.
How it works
A plugin update takes the site down with a white screen. A hack injects spam links. The theme's developer vanished and PHP got upgraded. The owner finds you through a local group, a freelancer marketplace or a "WordPress fix" search, you get access, restore from backup or repair the damage, and hand back a working site. Then you offer to make sure it doesn't happen again for a monthly fee, and most say yes.
What it actually takes
- Real WordPress knowledge: how themes, plugins and the database fit together, how to read a PHP error, how to clean a compromised install properly and not just remove the visible spam.
- Comfort in cPanel, file managers, FTP and phpMyAdmin.
- A checklist for post-hack cleanup: passwords, salts, plugins, users, scheduled tasks, hosting account.
- A fixed emergency price so you don't negotiate with a panicked person.
Where it goes wrong
- Cleaning the symptoms and leaving the backdoor. The site gets rehacked and it's your name on it.
- Taking responsibility for a site with no backups and a hosting plan from 2011. Set expectations before touching anything.
- Charging by the hour for emergencies. Fixed price, paid upfront, for the fix.
- Retainer clients who expect free redesigns. Define maintenance in writing.
Published 12 Aug 2026