Many companies find themselves scrambling at times to improve their company websites, adding new content or ways to engage with their products and services. In a study published by Cisco and conducted by IDC, more than 70% of small businesses are accelerating digitalization and 93% say they are more reliant on technology.
What should you do if your website does go down and what can you do to help prevent loss in the future?
One of the worst things that can happen to a business owner or entrepreneur is a website crash. It's a huge inconvenience and one you might not be able to fix on your own. Not only are you losing business while the website is down, but it could be an expensive fix if your site was hacked or attacked.
It happens to everyone. Even big businesses face website crashes, errors and cyberattacks.
There are many risks that websites face. If it isn't malicious, it could also be:
- Issues in your code
- Problem with the server
- Plugin or extension errors
- Hosting or service provider error
- Outgrowing your hosting plan
- Domain expiration
- Overloaded site or high traffic
Before you go into panic mode, start by making sure it isn't just on your end. Check your internet connection and see if you can access other sites. Then check a different device and other browsers (Safari, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc.) and see if that makes a difference. Try accessing a different page on your website to see if your entire site is down.
If it's a page issue, check with your web developer. If it's the whole site, it's time to connect with your hosting service provider to further investigate the issues.
If you are caught waiting for your website issue to be resolved, you can post a notice on your social media pages to keep visitors updated. Don't forget to pause any marketing campaigns or ads you have running until your website is back up.
To build trust with your audience:
- Acknowledge the issue and let them know things are getting resolved
- Tell them how to best contact you with issues
- Update them on what was fixed
- Announce what was done to prevent similar issues in the future
- Empathize with any inconvenience it may have caused
- Thank them for their patience and understanding
Always stay prepared for disaster. Some quick tips to remember to help maintain a strong and secure website are:
- Always back up your website
- Choose a responsive and responsible host with a plan large enough to handle your traffic
- Build a landing page as a redirect in case of crashes and provide a link to another point of contact (like your Facebook page, email or phone number)
- Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication
- Follow cybersecurity best practices
