subject: Tips For How To Use Website Maintenance [print this page] Every website has to do maintenance at some point or another. Whether its just to upgrade the site of a part or because of some problem with the site, its an inevitable fact of website ownership. And in many cases, maintenance requires taking your site offline for at least a few minutes.
So what you should do if your site is going to down for maintenance? You dont want users coming to a 404 or other error page. And hopefully youd like to encourage them to come back to your site sooner than later, right? If thats the case, youll need to build a custom maintenance page. Below we present a list of best practices to building effective website maintenance pages that will help keep your visitors, whether new or returning, happy.
1. Keep you maintenance pages simple and useful.
The entire point of a website maintenance page is to let visitors know that your site is still around and that the maintenance is only temporary. It doesnt need to do anything beyond that. Make sure its immediately clear what your page is about and provides your visitors with the information theyre interested in.
Another useful function for simple Website maintenance pages is to include your maintenance message in multiple languages. The Web is global, and while many of your visitors are likely to speak at least some English, providing multiple languages is helpful. Just be wary of using online translators, as sometimes theyre less-than-accurate. The last thing you want your maintenance page to do is further confuse people, or worse offend them.
2. Realize its an inconvenience to your visitors.
When your regular visitors are inconvenience, your site is down. Its a simple fact. But dont let inconvenienced visitors turn into alienated visitors. Simply acknowledging that your sites downtime is a pain for your visitors is often enough to satisfy them. Apologize for the downtime, give them information thats useful to them, and make them feel like you realize what this means to them.
3. Dont be afraid to use humor.
Theres no need to get all serious just because your site is down. Using a bit of humor or otherwise making your website maintenance page entertaining helps to improve your sites image in the eyes of visitors inconvenienced by the downtime. Think about different angles related to your sites content that could be portrayed in a humorous light. Whether its doing something with your sites logo or mascot, or even something seemingly unrelated to your site, theres surely an angle out there for making your maintenance page funny.
4. Give your maintenance page the same look and feel as your regular site.
You want visitors to immediately realize that they have arrived at the correct place, even if your site doesnt quite look the same as always. If your maintenance page bears no resemblance to your regular site, many visitors may just assume theyve gone to the wrong URL without bothering to read what your page says.
Make sure your maintenance page includes your logo and keeps the same general color scheme as your site. Even these two simple things can make visitors feel more at ease when they reach an unexpected page.
5. Let visitors know when your site will be back.
Maintenance times can vary greatly. Sometimes a site might be down for only a few minutes. Other times it could be an hour or two, or even longer. Let your visitors know what time you expect to back up and running. This way theyll have an idea of when to come back. An open-ended website maintenance page encourages them to put a return visit off for hours or even days. Something that says youll be back in five minutes encourages them to do the same.
