Website Maintenance & Broken Website Repair in Thailand

A Freelance Team That Maintains and Repairs Websites on Any Platform

Websites tend to break on the worst day. A customer calls to say the site won’t load, Google shows a hacked-site warning, or the contact form has been silent for days without anyone noticing. Worse, the original developer can no longer be reached.

Southern Whale is a small freelance team offering two kinds of help:

• One-off emergency fixes: site down, Error 500, hacked, or broken after an update, fixed as a single job
• Ongoing website care: backups, updates and monitoring, so emergencies happen less often

We aren’t tied to one platform. We work on WordPress, Joomla, Moodle, custom PHP and static sites such as Astro or plain HTML. On Wix and Shopify we can only change what the platform allows, because the provider controls the server. For WordPress-specific work such as new builds or WooCommerce, see WordPress Development.

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Your Site Is Down: What to Do in the First 30 Minutes

Before hiring anyone, run through this list. Some issues take minutes to fix yourself, and every item speeds up whoever fixes it.

1. Check whether it’s really down or just on your connection. Try mobile data or ask someone else.
2. Record the exact error with a screenshot: 500, 503, blank page, “Error establishing a database connection”, SSL certificate warning.
3. Think about what changed before it broke: plugin update, theme change, edited files, host migration, or the host switching PHP versions.
4. Check domain and hosting expiry dates. Look for renewal emails; many outages are simply a missed renewal.
5. Check your host’s status page. Sometimes the provider’s server is the problem.
6. Don’t delete files or reinstall over the site until you know the cause, or you may overwrite recoverable data.
7. If you suspect a hack, change passwords for hosting, the site admin, FTP and the registration email.
8. Find out where backups exist. Many hosts keep copies for you.

If it’s still broken, send what you noted to us on LINE and we’ll pick up from there.

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Common Errors, Likely Causes and What We Do

These are common causes, not every case; the real cause comes from the logs and the site itself. For a detailed Error 500 walkthrough (in Thai), see HTTP Error 500: every cause and fix.

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Hacked Website Repair and Malware Removal

Few people search for it, but it’s the job owners need most urgently. An infected site can send customers to dangerous pages, get flagged by Google or be suspended by the host.

What we do:

• Find the entry point, not just delete visible files, because an open hole means reinfection
• Clean files and database, including rogue admin accounts and injected spam pages
• Update vulnerable components and change every password
• Request a review in Google Search Console once the site is clean

Examples of vulnerabilities we’ve written about (in Thai): the PHP2Shell vulnerability and a Rank Math PRO release shipped with malware. For prevention, see WordPress backup & security.

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Ongoing Website Care

Most emergencies are preventable with regular care. Our scope:

• Backups of files and database, stored off the server and tested for restore
• Updates to core, themes, plugins or libraries, checked after every update
• Uptime monitoring with alerts when the site goes down or SSL is about to expire
• Security hardening: close unused access, limit logins, correct file permissions
• PHP version upgrades when old versions reach end of support, fixing incompatible code
• Small content edits: text, images, phone numbers or simple new pages

If a site is too old to be worth maintaining, we’ll say so and suggest alternatives such as a Website Redesign or Website Migration to an easier platform.

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How We Work

1. Send the URL and symptoms on LINE, with error screenshots and what changed before it broke
2. Free assessment: we look from the outside first and summarise the likely cause
3. Quotation with scope and an estimated timeframe, before work starts
4. Fix: we back up the current state before touching anything
5. Written report: the cause, what we fixed and how to prevent it happening again

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What We Need From You

• The site URL and screenshots of the problem
• Hosting or cPanel access: please create a temporary or separate FTP account for us rather than sharing your main password
• Site admin access, again via a temporary admin account
• Domain details (which registrar) if the issue involves the domain or DNS

Send credentials privately on LINE only, and change every password once the job is done. We’ll remind you in our closing report.

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Getting Started

Message Southern Whale on LINE with your site URL and what’s happening. We assess before any work starts, and pricing is based on the actual scope.

Frequently asked questions

Do you fix sites that aren't built on WordPress?

Yes. We work on Joomla, Moodle, custom PHP and static sites. On Wix or Shopify we can only change what the platform allows, because the provider controls the server. For WordPress-specific work, see our WordPress page.

My site is down right now. What should I do first?

Message us on LINE with the URL, a screenshot of the error and what changed before it broke. Meanwhile, don't delete files or reinstall the site over the top, as that can make recovery harder. The 30-minute checklist on this page helps.

How long does a fix take?

It depends on the cause. Sometimes it's just an expired SSL certificate; sometimes a hack has planted files in many places. We look at the site and give you an assessment, with scope and an estimated timeframe, before work starts. We don't promise a time before we've seen the site.

Can you guarantee 100% recovery?

Nobody can. If you or your host have backups, the chances are good. If there's no backup and data was deleted, we may only recover part of it. We'll tell you honestly what can and can't be recovered once we've checked.

What access do you need, and is it safe?

Usually hosting or cPanel access and the site's admin area. We recommend creating a temporary account for us instead of sharing your main password, and changing every password once the job is done. Send credentials privately on LINE, never in a group chat.

Will the site get hacked again?

If only the infected files are cleaned and the hole stays open, it often happens again. So we look for how the attacker got in, update what's outdated, change passwords and include prevention steps in our report. Nobody can guarantee it will never happen again, but ongoing care reduces the risk considerably.

Do you offer ongoing maintenance?

Yes: backups, updates, uptime monitoring, security hardening, PHP upgrades and small content edits. The scope is agreed in writing.

How do I request an assessment?

Message our LINE account with the URL and the symptoms. We take a first look for free, then send the likely cause and a quotation based on the actual scope.