What to Do When Your Website Goes Down During Business Hours

When your website goes down in the middle of business hours, the impact is immediate. Calls slow down, online orders stop, and your staff spends time troubleshooting instead of serving customers. The worst part is not knowing how long it will last or what to do first. That uncertainty costs money.

This guide gives you a clear, step-by-step response plan tailored for small businesses. It prioritizes fast confirmation, internal communication, customer updates, and vendor escalation. Use it as a playbook so you can react in minutes, not hours.

1) Confirm the outage quickly

Do not assume the site is down because it fails on one device. Check quickly from another browser and your phone on cellular data. If it fails there too, you can treat it as a real outage.

• Test in two browsers.
• Test on cellular data.
• Ask one person outside your office to confirm.

2) Start a simple internal incident log

Even a basic log helps you stay organized and gives you evidence for support tickets. Keep it simple:

• Time outage started (or first noticed).
• Error message or HTTP status if visible.
• Who is responsible for follow up.

3) Notify the right people fast

During business hours, you need fast coordination. Notify your internal team first, then your vendor or developer.

1. Team alert: Let staff know the site is down so they can respond to calls and walk-ins.
2. Vendor alert: Contact your host, web developer, or platform support with the outage details.

If you do not know who to contact, check your hosting invoice or account dashboard for support options.

4) Add a backup path for customers

Business hours mean real customers are trying to reach you. Give them a backup path so you can keep revenue moving.

• Update your Google Business profile with a note if calls are failing.
• Post a short social update: “We are experiencing site issues. Call us at (xxx) xxx-xxxx.”
• Put a phone-forward or order-by-phone message in place if possible.

5) Escalate with clear information

Vendors respond faster when you give clear facts. Include:

• Exact time the outage started.
• What you see (error page, timeout, redirect, etc).
• Evidence from multiple locations.

Keep the message simple. The goal is to move the ticket into active response, not to explain every technical detail.

6) Decide on a temporary message

If the outage will last more than a few minutes, consider a temporary landing page or status update. This reassures customers and reduces confusion.

Common options include:

• A simple “We are working on it” status page.
• A temporary static page through your host.
• A banner on social media pointing to a phone number.

7) Monitor the return to normal

Once the vendor says it is fixed, verify from multiple devices. Check the homepage, contact form, and any checkout process. Many sites appear “up” but still fail on forms or payment flows.

8) Record the total downtime

After the site is back, record the end time and calculate total downtime. This helps you assess impact and request credits if your hosting agreement includes an uptime guarantee.

9) Reduce the chance of another daytime outage

The best fix is prevention. If downtime hurts during business hours, you should be alerted before customers notice. That means real-time monitoring and a fast notification workflow.

At minimum, set up a check that runs every few minutes and notifies you by email or SMS. That is often enough to avoid lost revenue from surprise outages.