Every website has to maintain and upgrade itself at some point or another for best performance. Whether it is upgrading to the latest software version or enhancing some existing features and functionalities, website maintenance needs taking your site offline for at least a few minutes. But at the same time you don’t want users to come to a 404 page. It is here that you need to follow some best practices to create effective maintenance pages which will help you keep your visitors whether new or existing, happy.
Let’s discuss in this blog how to create effective maintenance pages:
Keep your website maintenance pages useful and simple:
Your maintenance pages should let your visitors know that your website is still around for service, but is only temporary under maintenance. There is no need to do anything beyond that so ensure that it is immediately apparent what your page is about and that it provides the visitors with the correct information. Another most useful function for simple maintenance pages is to include your website maintenance message in various languages. Offering the information in different languages is very helpful and offers a clear message to the visitors.
Understand that it’s an inconvenience to your visitors:
If your website is down, it may cause inconvenience to your regular visitors and so don’t let your visitors turn into alienated visitors. Acknowledge that your sites downtime is frustrating for them and apologize for it and give them proper information that is useful to them and make them feel like that you realize what it means. Stay with your visitors if they get impatient with the downtime.
Also Read: How to Make the Most Out of Your Website Maintenance Services
Give your maintenance page a similar look of your regular site:
If you want your visitors to immediately realize that they are on the site they visit regularly, then it’s important that your maintenance page also looks like your regular website page. If in case it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the regular site, then many visitors may assume that they have accessed the wrong URL without reading what the page says. So, make sure that your maintenance pages include the logo and the general look and feel of your site. This will make the visitors feel more at ease when they reach your site which is under maintenance.
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