Check one thing first: does your business email still work? If your website and email are both down, this is almost certainly an expired domain — which is time-critical, because recovery cost rises sharply the longer it’s left. If email works, it’s hosting or a site fault, which is cheaper and less urgent.
That single question narrows the diagnosis in ten seconds. The table below does the rest.
Step 1: Read the symptom pattern
| What you see | Most likely cause | Urgency |
|---|---|---|
| Site and email both dead | Domain expired | Highest — the recovery window is limited |
| Site dead, email working | Hosting expired or suspended | Restore when paid |
| Site shows a parked page or adverts | Domain lapsed and repointed | Urgent — check status now |
| “Not secure” warning, site loads | SSL certificate lapsed | Low — cheap or free to fix |
| Blank white page or a PHP error | Site fault — plugin, theme or update | Moderate |
| Spam text, redirects to another site | Compromised | High — see cleanup costs below |
| Very slow but loading | Hosting or image-weight problem | Low |
| Loads for you, not for others | Local network or propagation | Usually resolves |
Step 2: The ten-minute diagnosis
1. Check the domain. Search “whois” plus your domain name. Read the expiry date and status:
- Expired within the last few weeks → grace period. Renew today, at normal cost.
- Status showing redemption → recoverable at a substantially higher fee. Contact the registrar immediately.
- No record, or a registrant you don’t recognise → it may have been released and re-registered.
2. Check who holds the account. If the registrant email isn’t yours, renewal notices went elsewhere — which is the most common reason nobody warned you. Search your own inbox for a registrar welcome email; the account may already be yours and need only a password reset.
3. Check hosting separately. Domain and hosting are two providers, two dates and two possible outages. People check one and assume both.
4. Test from another device and network. Rules out a local problem.
5. Look for the compromise signs. Unfamiliar text, unexpected redirects, or a browser warning. If present, treat it as step 4 below rather than a simple fix.
Step 3: What each fix costs and takes
| Cause | Typical cost | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Domain renewal, inside grace period | Normal renewal (₹700–1,200) | Same day |
| Domain in redemption | Substantially higher registrar fee | 1–3 days |
| Hosting renewal | A few thousand | Same day |
| SSL certificate | Usually free via Let’s Encrypt | Under an hour |
| Plugin/theme fault | An hour or two of developer time | Same day |
| Restore from a backup | Small, if a backup exists | Hours |
| Compromised site cleanup | ₹20,000–50,000+ in India | Days |
| Rebuild with no backup and no access | A new build | Weeks |
Two rows explain why the earlier steps matter so much. A compromised site frequently costs more to clean than the site cost to build. And the difference between “restore from a backup” and “rebuild” is entirely whether a backup exists somewhere you control — how to check.
Step 4: If the site was hacked
Order matters here:
- Take it offline if you can, so visitors aren’t affected and search engines don’t flag it further.
- Change every password — hosting, site admin, database, and any email associated.
- Restore from a clean backup if you have one predating the compromise. Keep a few older copies for exactly this reason.
- Update everything — core software, themes, plugins. Skipped updates are the usual entry route.
- Only then bring it back online, and check search results for any lingering warning.
Do not simply delete the visible spam and republish. Compromises usually leave more behind than what’s visible.
Step 5: If you can’t reach anyone
The most common version of this problem in NCR isn’t technical — it’s that the developer who set everything up is unreachable and you hold no logins.
You can recover more than you’d expect without them:
- The domain, if it’s in your name — reset the password via your own email.
- The domain, if it isn’t — registrars have ownership-claim processes and will weigh GST registration, invoices and payment records.
- Hosting — contact the hosting company directly as the account owner.
- A backup and the admin login — both follow from hosting access.
The full recovery order, and what to do when you hold no passwords at all.
Step 6: Fix, or rebuild?
Once it’s back up, decide honestly:
Fix if the mobile layout works or is fixable, you or a developer can edit the content, the platform is current, and repairs cost under roughly half a new build.
Rebuild if the layout fails structurally on a phone, nobody can log in and recovery failed, the platform is unsupported, or repairs approach the cost of starting again.
And before spending on either: if the site was getting single-digit monthly visitors, the real problem isn’t the site. Check that first.
Step 7: Make the next outage a non-event
Five things, about twenty minutes:
- Domain in your own registrar account, your email, auto-renew on, card current.
- Hosting in your own name, with its own expiry date noted.
- Both expiry dates in your calendar, 30-day reminders.
- A backup you hold, off-server — this is what turns a disaster into an afternoon.
- Software updates monthly on a CMS, after taking a backup.
What to do right now
- Check whether your business email still works — that answers the biggest question.
- Run a WHOIS lookup and read the expiry date and status.
- Renew today if you’re inside the grace window.
- Check hosting separately; it’s a different date and provider.
- Search your inbox for a registrar welcome email if you can’t log in.
If you want it done the certain way
Send us your domain name and describe what you’re seeing. We’ll tell you within a day which of the eight causes it is, which recovery window you’re in if it’s lapsed, and what the fix costs — including when it’s a free SSL renewal rather than anything billable. Domain and logins end up in your name. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- Website rescue: recover your domain, hosting and site
- My website is down and I have nobody to call
- Renewal-lapse blackout: how a ₹1,200 miss kills your site and email
- Does a backup of your website exist?
- Can a developer take your website offline?
FAQ
My website is not working — what should I check first?
Whether your business email still works. If both are down it’s almost certainly an expired domain, which is time-critical. If email works, it’s hosting or a site fault, which is cheaper and less urgent.
How much does it cost to fix a website that’s down?
A domain or hosting renewal is ₹700–1,200 or a few thousand. An SSL fix is usually free. A plugin fault is an hour or two of developer time. A compromised site typically costs ₹20,000–50,000 or more to clean in India.
Can I recover my website if the developer is unreachable?
Often yes. The domain is recoverable through the registrar — directly if it’s in your name, or via an ownership-claim process with your invoices and business registration. Hosting can be recovered through the hosting company, and that gives you the backup and admin login.
My website was hacked — what’s the right order?
Take it offline, change every password, restore from a clean backup predating the compromise, update all software, then bring it back online and check search results for warnings. Don’t just delete the visible spam.
How do I stop my website from going down again?
Hold the domain and hosting in your own accounts with auto-renew and a current card, put both expiry dates in your calendar with 30-day reminders, keep a backup off-server, and update CMS software monthly after taking a backup.
