Biz Tuesday: Website issues? Don’t panic!

One of my websites went offline, recently. It’s a long, boring story involving me overestimating my abilities with maintaining more than one business, upkeep, and email addresses.Like I said, it’s a long, boring story.The main point of

it is this: right when I sent out my last email newsletter, with links to my website, I clicked a link to test it.  And I discovered that my website was gone.

Vanished. Nowhere. 403 error. Poof!

Here is where my advice to you comes in. If this happens:  Don’t. Panic.

You will want to. You will want to FREAK OUT and CALL YOUR WEB GUY and cry and scream and tear out your hair because you will be DAMNED if you are going to call tech support in Mumbai one more time in your LIFE!

AND THEN TEXT YOUR WEB GUY OMG WHERE IS MY WEBSITE!

Yeah, you will want to do that. Don’t.

Text your web guy, yes. Calmly. Email tech support and ask about the problem. Email your web guy, give the facts, and ask for help. Do that.

Calmly!

And then just wait. Wait for a day or two days, or two hours, or however long it takes. Because if you don’t have the skills to fix the issue, then there is nothing you can do about it, anyway. Calling and texting and emailing your web guy over and over and over is not a skill. It’s annoying. And it does nothing to fix the problem.

You must accept this fact:  These things happen. They do! Systems fail! You might forget to renew a domain **koffkoffahem*. Answer me this: is your entire life going to crumble because nobody could order from your website for two days?

No. It is not.

Here is what you can do for damage control in the meantime:

1. Go to your business’ Facebook page and announce that the website is experiencing technical difficulties.
2. In your announcement, ask customers to email you directly in the meantime, if they need to place an order.
3. If you feel you must, make the same announcement in your newsletter email, and send it.

That’s really all you can do, so you may as well just calm down and let it go. Like I did. And this morning, I made the tech support call I needed to make, did the thing I could do, and an hour later my web guy emailed me to tell me I was up and running.

Seriously, when this happens, just do what you can, and don’t panic. I’ve done the “freak out and let it ruin my life for several days” routine. I’ve also done the “do what you can and wait patiently” routine. The second one is better for your life and for business.

Amy Kalinchuk writes books, blogs, and other things crafty. You can subscribe to her newsletter on her website’s homepage: http://www.crafte-revolution.com