Option 1: Do it yourself
Follow the steps in this guide. Free, and typically 30 minutes to a few hours of careful work.
Option 2: Just contact us
Skip every step below. $49/mo and it is sorted, or WhatsApp us right now.
Last updated: August 2026
Minute 1: Confirm the scope
Check the site on your phone with Wi-Fi off. If it loads there but not on your computer, the problem is your local network or DNS cache, not your website, and you can stop panicking. If it fails everywhere, continue.
Minute 2: Capture the evidence
Screenshot exactly what visitors see and note the time. The error text is the single most useful diagnostic you have, and it disappears the moment someone starts "trying things." Different messages mean completely different emergencies: a certificate warning, a 500 error, a database connection error and a parked-domain page each have their own fix, mapped in our website down diagnostic.
Minute 3 to 5: Identify the layer
Three layers can fail. Domain: check WHOIS for an expired registration, the ugliest and most common surprise. Hosting: open your host's status page and your hosting account for suspension or resource warnings. Website: DNS resolves and the server responds, but you get errors, which points at plugins, themes, updates or a hack.
Minute 6 to 10: Decide restore versus diagnose
This is the judgment call most people get wrong. If the site produces revenue, restore last night's backup now and diagnose afterward on a staging copy. Service first, forensics second. If the site is informational and no money is moving, diagnose properly before changing anything, because a restore can overwrite evidence of a hack.
Minute 11 to 15: Stabilize and communicate
Once restored, put a brief notice on your social channels or Google Business Profile if the outage was long enough for customers to notice. Then check that forms and, for stores, checkout actually work, because a site can come back up with its revenue path still broken.
What not to do in an emergency
Do not delete files at random. Do not reinstall WordPress over a possibly-hacked site, which destroys the evidence needed to find the backdoor. Do not change hosting mid-crisis. And do not accept a "fix" from anyone who has not told you the root cause, because an unexplained fix is an outage scheduled to repeat.
Emergency repair costs
Flat-quoted one-time fixes in the US market: malware removal $150 to $1,000, broken site recovery $100 to $500, speed rescue $200 to $600, hacked site with blacklist review at the higher end. Anyone quoting open-ended hourly for a defined emergency is transferring their uncertainty to your invoice. We quote flat after a 15-minute triage, and if backups exist, most emergencies resolve within the hour.
The uncomfortable pattern
Nearly every emergency we are called into was preventable: an expired certificate nobody monitored, an outdated plugin nobody updated, a backup nobody tested, a form failure nobody noticed. Emergency repair is the most expensive way to buy maintenance, and it is what the monthly plan exists to make unnecessary.
FAQ
How fast can someone fix my site? With hosting access and a working backup, most outages resolve in 15 to 60 minutes. Hacks and missing backups extend it to hours or days.
Can I lose my content permanently? Rarely, if backups exist anywhere. Without any backup, recovery depends on what survived on the server, which is why the backup habit is non-negotiable.
Should I call my host or a developer? Your host for domain, server, suspension and infrastructure issues; a developer or maintenance provider for anything inside the website. The error message tells you which.
What is the fastest way to prevent this happening again? Monitoring that alerts within a minute, verified daily backups, and someone responsible for updates. Those three prevent the large majority of website emergencies.
You do not have to do any of this yourself
Skip the steps above. Our engineers handle security, updates, speed, backups and fixes for you, with a 12-minute average response and a 99.99% uptime target.