Is Your Dental Practice Website Down? Here's What You Should Do

Website manager neglected to pay the hosting bill: your hosting provider can shut down your website in the event that the bill for their services has not been paid. In many instances, the website manager will receive a few reminders that the hosting bill remains unpaid, then a warning that the website is going to be non-existent unless the financial obligations are met. If the payment is still unsettled afterwards, the hosting provider will have no choice but to shut down the website.

Website manager closed their business: when companies reach the end of their rope and cease operations, naturally, their website will be shut down as well. There might be a slight delay in the website shutting down if the hosting provider has been paid to keep it running up until a certain time. However, once that period wraps up and with the website manager clearly not intending to fulfill any additional payments, the website is officially shut down for good.

Virus or security issue: if you do not have the necessary security measures in place, such as firewalls, virus scanning and removal, server hardening, and 24/7 security monitoring, your website will always be vulnerable. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is one example of a malicious attack that can threaten your website. Hackers can send a massive amount of fake traffic to your website from various sources, an attack that overloads your servers and eventually causes the site to crash.

How to Know if Your Dental Practices Website is Down

There are several online resources available that allow you check on the status of your website. For the majority of these websites that offer such a service, whether it is Website Planet, Site24x7, or Is It Down Right Now?, the process is as simple as typing in your domain address or URL, one clicking of the mouse, and then you have the answer.

What Steps to Take to Get Your Website Back Online

Confirm that your website has gone down

When your website fails to load, first visit some other websites and determine that your internet connection is not the problem. There is a possibility that your website went down for a brief period due to an update or server glitch. Check if this is the case by refreshing your browser or opening the website on a separate tab.

Find out what the cause was

Before you can seek a solution, you must determine why your website has shut down. One of the more crucial steps in this process is verifying if any security breaches have surfaced. You will need to act swiftly if this happens to be the cause. Two of your top priorities should be the resetting of passwords and notifying clients that a server breach has been encountered.

Contact the experts for a solution

After determining precisely why your website shut down, you can commence fixing the issue. For example, if your server went down, you should immediately contact your hosting provider and request updates on their progress. If your website recently underwent an update, reach out to your web developer and inform them that there is a problem. Communication is vital during these moments, so give a detailed description of the issue and do so in a timely manner.

Communicate with your website visitors

You can keep your consumers apprised of the situation by sending out emails or social media updates (informing them that you are working on a resolution), redirecting them to a landing page (offering a message that summarizes exactly what is happening), and providing announcements relating to any progression.

Ensure that the error is fixed

You will need to confidently confirm that the issue has been resolved and that everything has been achieved to minimize the odds of it occurring again. You don't want to assure your consumers that the problem has been eliminated only to run into another one shortly thereafter.

Inform your customers that the website again works

Notify your consumers that the website is once again up and running. Utilize your social media platforms and email to inform them of this development, while also thanking them for their patience throughout the process.



A website shutdown, even a short-term scenario, can create a host of problems for your dental practice's operations, whether that is revenue loss, a negative hit to your reputation, or a diminished search engine ranking. To prevent this from ever affecting your company, contact the team at Dr. Marketing and we will oversee your website's activity.