Website work at night

Sometimes you can't avoid carrying out certain work on your website at night. For large portals, new website designs and other important issues, this is often the only way to ensure that as few visitors and customers as possible are affected. In the IT industry in general, it is not uncommon for work and updates to be carried out at night. In this blog post, we want to discuss some aspects of this concept and how you can ensure that your website visitors are affected as little as possible by your work.

Activities where this is necessary, for example

There are a number of activities where it is necessary to work at night, for example when revamping or moving a website. Or switching from an old design to a new one, for example. A concrete example: You have developed a new website in a different content management system on a subdomain hosting. And you want to transfer it to your main domain. To ensure the least delay for your visitors, it is best to carry out this transfer at night. Of course, it can always happen that an error pops up that needs to be fixed first, or that you run into something. At night, you can solve these problems in peace and quiet and are not bothered by messages every 5 minutes.

DNS refresh needs processing time

DNS refresh is a term we often point out to our customers, and once you find your way around the world of the internet and websites, you become familiar with it. DNS-based changes always take some time to process and become globally visible. If you're just adding a .txt record, you don't necessarily need to wait until late at night, but for something like transferring your email DNS, this is advisable. Also, check any major changes especially with external tools like DNSchecker and MXtoolbox to see the global status.

Pay attention to time zones

If you have a global audience, it's important to consider the different time zones. What is night time for you may be day time for others. Plan your work carefully to choose the times that have the least impact on your audience.

Choose the night hours when you expect the least traffic to your website. Analyze the peak times and plan your work carefully outside these times. With a global audience, it is always the lesser of two evils, as it can be visited worldwide and at any time in specific time zones. So in this case, choose a schedule where you have the least traffic. For example, on weekends or Sundays.

Announce it in advance for your regular customers

For regular customers and frequent visitors, it is very important to announce these activities in advance. Communicate clearly and in advance about possible interruptions or the temporary unavailability of your website. This prevents surprises and allows users to take appropriate action.

Make a temporary landing page live during the work

During the work, set up a temporary landing page or notification that indicates that the website is temporarily unavailable due to maintenance work. This provides clarity for visitors and prevents frustration. This is not always possible for some activities such as DNS changes, as this is more likely to result in a DNS error. So, where possible, inform customers and visitors you rely on about the planned work well in advance and notify them by email if necessary.

Have you ever worked late into the night on your website? Let us know about it!