What to Put on Your Local Business Website During a Prolonged Power Outage
A practical website-update checklist for local businesses facing extended power outages, closures, limited service, and changing hours.
Start with safety and an honest operating status
If a power outage affects safety-critical equipment, refrigeration, phone systems, medical equipment, fire systems, or your ability to serve customers safely, do not imply that your business is open. Follow guidance from your utility and local authorities, and reopen only when your business can operate safely.
Severe weather recently left parts of northwest Indiana without power, with NIPSCO warning that restoration could take until the following week, according to ABC7 Chicago. As outages continued, Fox 32 Chicago reported that food banks in the area were overwhelmed.
For an affected local business, a multi-day outage creates a simple communication problem: customers need to know whether you are closed, operating with limits, accepting appointments, or planning to reopen. Your website should give them a current, direct answer without asking them to guess from an unanswered phone line or an old social post.
This is a focused extension of our broader guide on what to do when your local business website or booking form goes down. In this situation, the website may still work while the business itself cannot operate normally.
Contents
- Publish a homepage outage alert first
- State your status in plain language
- Explain appointments, orders, and service calls
- Provide an alternate contact method only if it works
- Add a last-updated time and review process
- Use a short outage notice template
- Keep other customer-facing listings aligned
Publish a homepage outage alert first
Put the most important update at the top of your homepage. It should appear before service descriptions, promotions, and normal calls to action.
A short, high-visibility banner is usually enough:
Power outage update: Our location is currently closed due to a power outage. We will post another update by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 12.
Link the alert to a dedicated update section or page if customers need more detail. For an outage expected to last more than a few hours, the homepage notice should answer these questions immediately:
- Are you open, closed, or operating with limitations?
- Which location or service area is affected?
- Can customers place orders, keep appointments, or request service?
- Is there a working way to contact you?
- When will you review or update the notice?
Do not bury this information in a blog post, a slider that rotates away, or a social-media feed. A customer who lands on your homepage from Google should see your status without scrolling.
For businesses with more than one location, identify the affected location by name or city. Avoid a sitewide “we are closed” message if other locations are operating normally.
State your status in plain language
Vague updates create more uncertainty than no update at all. “We are monitoring the situation” does not tell a customer whether to drive over, wait for a callback, or reschedule.
Use one of these clear status labels.
Fully closed
Use this when you cannot operate safely or reliably.
Status: Closed due to a power outage
Our [location name] is currently closed. We are not able to process walk-in orders or provide normal services at this time. Please do not visit until we post a reopening update.
Open with limited service
Use this only when you can safely provide the listed services.
Status: Open with limited service
We are currently able to provide [specific service] only. Phone lines and online booking may be unavailable or delayed. Please check this page before visiting.
Be specific about the limitation. A restaurant may be unable to prepare food even if its front door is open. A salon may be unable to honor booked appointments. A contractor may still be able to dispatch crews while its office phone system is down. The right message depends on what is actually available.
Appointments or orders paused
Use this when you cannot confirm, fulfill, or safely deliver scheduled work.
Status: Appointments temporarily paused
We are contacting customers with appointments scheduled for [date or time range]. If you have not heard from us, please use [working contact method] rather than visiting the location.
Do not promise a reopening time based solely on a regional restoration estimate. Utility timelines can change, and an individual business may need additional time after power returns to inspect equipment, restock, or confirm safe operations.
Explain appointments, orders, and service calls
A prolonged outage often affects more than opening hours. Customers may already have a booking, a pickup order, a delivery window, or a service request in progress. Address that directly.
Create a short section under your alert called Appointments and orders. Use only the instructions that apply to your business.
For appointment-based businesses
State:
- Which appointment dates or times are affected
- Whether appointments are canceled, being rescheduled, or still pending confirmation
- Whether customers should wait for outreach or contact you
- The working contact method, if one is available
Example:
Customers scheduled for Friday, June 13 will receive a confirmation or rescheduling message by 10:00 a.m. Please do not assume your appointment is proceeding until you receive confirmation.
For restaurants, retailers, and food businesses
State:
- Whether the location is accepting orders
- Whether pickup, delivery, or catering is paused
- How existing orders will be handled
- Whether customers should wait for an update before traveling to the location
Do not state that food or refrigerated products are available unless your team has confirmed that they can be sold safely.
For home-service businesses
State:
- Whether crews are still dispatching
- Whether office calls or online form replies may be delayed
- Which urgent requests you can and cannot take
- Whether scheduled jobs are being confirmed individually
If your business provides emergency-related services, do not use the outage update to overstate availability. List only the work your team can actually schedule and perform.
Provide an alternate contact method only if it works
If your main phone line or office internet is down, a working alternate channel can help customers reach the right person. But only publish a contact method that someone can monitor.
Possible options include:
- A mobile phone number
- A text-enabled business number
- A monitored email inbox
- A messaging link
- A temporary voicemail line with a current recorded update
Write the expected response condition honestly. For example:
Text messages are being monitored intermittently while power is unavailable. We will respond when we are able.
Avoid adding a contact form as your main fallback if your team cannot receive or review submissions during the outage. If the form remains live, add a note that replies may be delayed. Review the basics in 7 contact page mistakes that cost local businesses leads when you are back to normal operations.
Add a last-updated time and review process
During a long outage, an undated message quickly becomes less useful. Every outage notice should include a visible update time and the next planned review.
Use a format such as:
Last updated: Thursday, June 12 at 2:30 p.m.
Next update: By 7:00 p.m. today, or sooner if our operating status changes.
The time is not a reopening promise. It tells customers when they can expect your next status check.
Give one person ownership of the notice
Before posting, decide:
- Who can edit the homepage alert
- Who confirms the business’s actual operating status
- Which staff member is monitoring the alternate contact method
- How often the notice will be reviewed
- Who removes the alert once normal operations resume
A small business does not need a formal crisis-communications team. It does need one clear owner. Without one, an outdated “closed today” notice can remain online after the business reopens, or an old “open” message can remain visible after conditions change.
Keep a simple internal update log
A shared note can prevent conflicting messages. Record:
| Time | Confirmed status | Website action | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 a.m. | Location closed | Posted homepage alert | Manager |
| 1:00 p.m. | Phone line still unavailable | Added text number and next update time | Office lead |
| 5:00 p.m. | Reopening not confirmed | Updated review time | Manager |
Keep passwords and website access secure while staff are working remotely or sharing responsibilities. Our guide to avoiding password exposure in shared Google Docs covers a safer approach.
Use a short outage notice template
Copy, edit, and publish this on your homepage.
Power outage update for [business name / location]
Status: [Closed / Open with limited service / Appointments paused]Our [location] is affected by a power outage. At this time, we are [plain-language explanation of what customers can and cannot do].
Appointments and orders: [What happens to scheduled appointments, pickups, deliveries, or service calls.]
Contact: [Working phone number, text number, email address, or messaging link.] [Include a response-delay note if needed.]
Last updated: [Day, date, time, time zone]
Next update: [Day, date, time, or “when our status changes”]
When normal operations resume, replace the outage message with a short reopening update for a day or two:
Update: Power has been restored and we are open for normal business hours as of [time and date]. Thank you for your patience.
Then remove the banner. Leaving an old emergency notice on the homepage can confuse future visitors.
Keep other customer-facing listings aligned
Your website should be the detailed source of truth, but customers may first find you elsewhere. Once the homepage alert is live, update the places you actively manage:
- Your Google Business Profile
- Your primary social-media profile
- Appointment or booking pages
- Online ordering pages
- Your voicemail greeting, if available
- Any location-specific pages on your website
Keep the wording consistent, especially for closure status and reopening plans. Your Google listing and your website work together when customers are trying to verify whether you are open; learn more in Google Business Profile and your website: how they work together.
Do not try to update every channel every hour. Prioritize the homepage, the listing customers use most, and the booking or ordering system that could create the most confusion.
Make the outage page easy to find on a phone
Customers dealing with an outage may be using a phone with limited battery, cellular data, or an unreliable connection. Keep the update lightweight and readable:
- Put the status in the first screen of the page
- Use short paragraphs and plain wording
- Avoid putting essential details in an image
- Make phone numbers tap-to-call
- Keep the alternate contact link prominent
- Do not require a customer to download a file or log in for basic status information
This is also why a mobile-first website matters during routine operations. See why your local business website has to work on a phone first.
A brief website-preparedness note
A prolonged outage is a good reminder that your website needs to be editable when normal operations are disrupted. Businesses should know who can access their site, where an alert can be published, and how customers will be directed if the usual phone line is unavailable.
If you want a done-for-you local business website with on-page SEO, StoopCraft builds websites for local businesses for $69/month. Visit StoopCraft to learn more.
