As business owners in 2025, you rely on your online presence more now than ever to generate business. So when there’s a problem and your website goes down, it can be a very stressful experience.
Although many terrible thoughts may go through your head, it’s important to stay calm and to remember that these things do happen. More often than not, there’s a simple fix, and in most cases everything will be fine.
These are the main points you want to consider however, so you don’t jump to conclusions and make matters worse. Chances are you’ll be back up and running in no time, and also know how to handle the problem better in the future.
- Don’t panic – First thing to remember is that websites go down all the time. It’s not uncommon, and even the top sites in the world have technical issues occasionally. Remember, it’s normal and it’s important not to let panic set in. Yes to need to resolve the issue quickly, but you’re customers will be ok until you do. Stay calm and evaluate your next logical course of action. Worrying won’t fix the problem faster, if anything it will lead to poor decision-making. Accept this is your situation, and some time will be needed to fix it, even on a very busy day.
- Be ready to inform clients or customers of the delay in advance – When your website goes down, be ready to inform your customers and get ahead of the game if possible. If there’s a way to set your website to “down for maintenance” mode this is ideal. You can also set an auto-reply feature for your email account, and update your business voicemail. This will likely save you some time and grief from others trying to alert you first. You may still get a few upset customers, but reassuring them that the problem is being dealt with is always the best course of action.
- Confirm your billing for your domain name or web hosting is up to date. – This should be obvious, but it’s the equivalent of wondering why your toaster isn’t working, only to realize you forgot to plug it in. In many cases, when we get the “our website is down” call, it’s because our clients’ billing is not up to date. They may have forgotten to renew their domain name or their web hosting plan, both of which will lead to your website going offline. You may have to find your old passwords again if you haven’t logged into your account recently. Once paid however the fix is almost instant, with no waiting game required.
- Find out if your website is down universally or just for you only* – When your website goes down, you might be under the impression it’s offline everywhere on the web. In reality, it’s possible it’s just down through your location only, and your specific IP address. This is what’s known as an IP block and can be caused by a few different reasons. That could be after too many failed login attempts to your website, or spam and suspicious activity coming from your account. You can do an “is my website down for only me” check through several free resources. If your website is only down for you only that’s good news, and your hosting company can easily unblock it. That is provided you given them no legitimate reason not to like spam or other suspcious activity.
- Contact your website tech support and be as specific about the details as possible – Inevitably, you will need to in most cases contact your website tech support. This is where many people drop the ball by not being ready with as much specific information as possible. They may feel that if they did anything to cause the problem, they could be charged with additional fees and therefore play dumb with their agent. This is exactly what NOT to do and why most issues aren’t resolved quickly. Be sure to retrace your steps before calling (or using an online chat) and be as detailed as possible about what happened before your website went down. You may dread the thought of a possible service fee, but it’s far better than sending tech support on a wild goose chase that takes days (if not weeks) to resolve.
- Be kind and courteous to whoever is helping you. – Although you could be very upset about your website going down, taking it out on your technical support agent is never a good idea. They are there to help you only and most likely had nothing to do with he problem you’re experiencing. You’ve heard the term “don’t kill the messenger” so don’t come in hot ready for a battle. Complaining, blaming, or berating the person helping you is rarely productive, and it may result in them not dealing with you personally or properly. If you’re passed along to their “long-term” maintenance team, you might be waiting much longer for a vague email response only. Remember tech support does not owe you anything and they will treat you the same way you treat them.
- Use it as a learning experience – If/when tech support is able to help you, thank them for their time and be sure to leave them a positive review. Now that the problem is solved however it’s not time to sweep everything under the rug, iMake sure you fully understand what the problem was, and what preventable measures you can take to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Chances are you could be doing a lot more to learn about your website, and what possible errors can happen if not maintained properly. It’s better to do this before technical problems occur, not after, and that responsbility DOES fall on you.
- Make sure you know how to take a proper backup of your website – In the majority of cases, a website can be fixed, but in certain circumstances it’s not a guarantee. Make sure you know how to save a backup of your website, which can be restored at any time. If you built your website yourself then your web hosting resources will have detailed instructions on how to do so. Or make sure your web developer is doing this for you instead, while sending you a copy regularly. Don’t assume it’s all being done for you, make sure that you are storring those backups in a place you can easily access later.
Hopefully this sheds more light on what you should know in the case of a website crash. If you are not getting the help you need however, either through your hosting company or web developer, feel free to reach out to our team as well. We’ll try our best to identify the problem and let you know your best course of action moving forward. Thanks for readining!
Jeff Moyer – Advance Web Solutions
