How to Take Down a Website
We focus so much on building our lovely websites that it may come as a surprise to realize you’re not quite sure how to take down a website! I got the loveliest email from a longtime client last week. She is ready to retire, and it is much deserved after many years of supporting her community. She wrote and asked, “Are you ready to be an end-of-life Website Doula”?
Loads of reasons could lead to the decision to take down a website. Maybe you’re onto a new adventure or career, ready to retire, or are moving to a new location and want to change your services. All great reasons to close your website! But just shutting it down won’t stop people from trying to visit. And if you’re a health & wellness practitioner, as so many of my clients are, your clients are important to you – and saying goodbye the right way will be a priority.
When a client hires me to design and develop their new website, I do so with the hope that this will be a long-term business partnership. I look forward to seeing their growth for many years to come, and helping out when it’s time to add new services, expand to include a team, or add online courses to their platform. I also anticipate that, years down the road, it will be time for them to move on to a new phase of life and take down their beautiful website. It’s an honor to support clients through this arc of business ownership from site launch to website take down.
So how does end-of-life website doula care work? At some point, you might find you no longer need your website. So, what should you do with it when it’s time to take the site down? Well, I’ve got some ideas to help you figure that out so you can take down your website the right way!
Quick Guide to Take Down a Website
What happens if you cancel your hosting or domain?
If you simply cancel your website & domain altogether, it will STILL show up in search for at least a few months. Others will remember your domain and search for you directly. They’ll still end up on your “site”, only to see an error page. And it takes a few weeks for your site’s links to vanish from search results, and even longer if you’ve got tons of backlinks.
Closing down your website properly involves more than just cancelling your hosting account and/or domain. There are key steps you might want to consider, depending on your priorities as a business owner and your relationship to your clients.
Create a Farewell Page
Keeping a website up does come with costs, like web hosting and domain name expenses. So, it’s tempting to just cancel everything right away to take down a website. Here is what happens when you do that:
Ouch! That’s not a good look… For those of you who have served your communities for years, and who don’t want to simply disappear, here’s a better idea to take down a website the right way:
Format your home page with a farewell and thank you message to your client community. That way, anyone who lands on your site will know what’s up instead of wondering what on earth ever happened to you.
If you don’t leave a note or message explaining where your site went, people who visit won’t have a clue what’s going on. I suggest keeping this message up for as long as you can afford to keep paying for web hosting and your domain name. At the very least, aim for a couple of months.
*With most hosts, you can downgrade to a baseline package that is cheaper than your current hosting so that this message doesn’t cost you lots of money.
This is the solution my client, who is retiring, decided on. We created a beautiful landing page for her client community that she will keep live for the next 6-12 months until she feels ready to take it down. You could even include referrals to community partners to ensure they can still access quality care.
Here are two lovely recent examples of these simple home page messages from clients who are retiring or shifting focus in their careers:
Use a Redirect Tool
When adding a farewell page, I encourage you to put all of the individual pages of your website into draft mode or delete them. Then add a redirect tool to your site so that all broken links will lead back to the home page. That way, all of the links to you online will lead to this single home page message. You’ll find great redirect suggestions for various website builders at the bottom of the post!
What to Do When You’re Ready to Fully Close Down Your Website
So, once you’ve let your customers or subscribers know that you’re wrapping things up, there will come a point when you are 100% ready to officially shut everything down. Instead of just letting things fizzle out, there are still a few simple options for you to consider:
Make a Complete Backup of your Website
You never know when you might want to reinstall your website if you are 100% clear you are ready to take down a website. I know you feel clear that you’re done with it today, but believe me – I’ve seen enough former clients write me 3 years later wanting to bring it all back online to know that we should never say never!
I encourage you to store this backup both on the cloud such as Google Drive or Dropbox, AND on a thumb drive in your home.
Cancel your Hosting Plan
You can notify your hosting plan that you are ready to take down a website and cancel your billing. If your domain registration is also there, you can cancel that too. If not, however, be sure to ALSO go to your domain registrar to cancel that billing as that is often set to auto-renew each year – unless you want to keep your domain for possible future use!.
Cancel Recurring Fees for Your Website
Be sure to cancel any additional recurring subscriptions for advanced SEO tools, mailing list providers, email marketing, business email, etc.
What to Do with Your Website’s Domain?
Gift Your Domain
If you have a community partner whom you would love to send your business to, you may want to consider transferring the domain into their ownership as a gift and then creating a redirect so that any links to your site on Google go directly to their website. Note: When you take down your website, these links will only stay on Google for likely a few weeks or months. Once Google tries to crawl the web and find your site and nothing shows up, your website links will be removed from search results. The benefits of the gift, however, can continue – especially if you have a high # of people of are directly searching your domain name (branded search).
Redirect your Domain to your New Website
If you are starting a new business in a related field, you would benefit from redirecting the original domain to your new site. That will help boost your new website by transferring some of the power that original website had with Google to your new venture.
Sell Your Domain or Website!
If you have an awesome website and/or domain you think another business owner in your field would want & benefit from, consider selling them! There is a detailed process to go through when selling & transferring a domain. For an established website domain, prices can vary from $100 to $1000+, depending on the value they offer. If you are selling to a friend, you can do this directly (and if you need help with the transfer process, let me know!). If you want to try putting your domain on the market, you can try a domain reseller service such as Sedo or Afternic.
If you are selling your actual website design, this essentially means you are selling your business to another local provider. This is most likely when you have a strong, established client base, social media & mailing list. Contact a local business coach to help you through this process!
How to Take Down a Website (Tutorials & Helpful Links)
How to Create a Simple Home Page Message
If you’re on WordPress, you can use a simple Maintenance Plugin to create a landing page that blocks all the other pages on your site from working. You can upgrade to the PRO version for prettier templates to work with.
If you want a prettier solution, however, you can create your own new home page design (or hire your website designer to help you). I’ve created a Website Take Down Package just for this!
Redirect Tools for your Website Builder
How to Create Redirects on WordPress
How to Create Redirects on SquareSpace
How to Create Redirects on Wix
How to Create Redirects on Weebly
How to Close or Cancel your Website on Wix, Squarespace, Weebly and WordPress.com
How to Close or Cancel a Wix Website
How to Close or Cancel a Squarespace Website
How to Close or Cancel a Weebly Website
How to Close or Cancel a WordPress.com Website
Note: If I built your website, you are NOT on WordPress.com – you have a self-hosted WordPress.org website. Contact me directly for help with this step!
Is it time to take down your website? I can help.
Designed for clients who are ready to retire or change careers, my Website Take Down Package will take down existing website content and redirect all links & inquiries to a new simple home page message of your choice so that you don’t simply disappear off the internet and leave clients hanging… Also includes a full backup of your website for safekeeping and a checklist of important steps to close down your business.
Frequently Asked Questions about Shutting Down a Website
Why does it matter that I take down my website the “right way”?
Because how you shut down your site affects real people. If you just pull the plug, visitors may land on error pages, outdated info, or broken links. Taking it down the right way lets you control the message, protect your reputation, and avoid confusion while you close this chapter on your own terms.
What happens if I just cancel my hosting or domain?
If you simply cancel hosting or let your domain expire, your site may still appear in Google search for weeks or months, and visitors will land on error pages. That can look unprofessional and confusing for past clients whom you have served for years.
Should I keep a “farewell” page instead of removing the site right away?
Yes, a farewell page lets you thank your audience and direct them where to go next. It’s especially helpful if you’re still unsure about deleting the site permanently and want to keep your content live behind the scenes, or provide a soft landing page instead of a broken link.
What if I’m unsure whether I want to take my website down permanently?
You don’t have to decide right away. You can keep a simple landing page up for months while you figure it out. You can also back up your full site so you can restore it later if you change your mind. However, it is best to leave the site live and indexed with Google to keep your SEO intact if you are just taking a break from your practice.
What can I do with my domain instead of just deleting it?
You could gift your domain to a partner or friend, redirect it to a new site, or even sell it. That way, you keep value from the domain instead of letting it disappear.
HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
Hi there, I’m Sarah Juliusson, and yes I really am a Website Doula. I design and build doula & wellness websites designed to show up in search and attract your dream clients. With 15+ years in web design, and another 20+ years as a former doula business owner, I believe in the value of your work as much as you do. My clients include Birth Doulas, Postpartum Doulas, NCS Agencies, Midwives, Birth Centers, Chiropractors, Therapists, Wellness Clinics & more. Explore your options for a custom website today.
