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How To Create A Simple Maintenance Page

You could always download a WordPress maintenance mode plugin, but in this case it probably won’t work. During the move process you’ll be moving your /wp-content folder, which contains all your plugins. This will cause your site to not load; therefore, it’s best to have your own maintenance page independent of WordPress.

So, here’s how to create a custom maintenance page without a plugin.

Step 1

Create a simple html file and place it in your blog’s root directory. Name it something like, maintenance.html. Inside the maintenance.html file you can put anything you want. “Hi. I’m out to lunch for a few moments while the construction crew is busy at work . . .”

But why stop there? Your site is better than that. Customize the page with your site’s colors and images. Maybe add a video or your latest blog post. CSSgirl wrote some tips and shows some examples on the topic of creating a memorable maintenance page.

Step 2

Ok so now you have your maintenance.html page set up; the next step is to redirect everyone to it while you’re doing your upgrade.

Navigate to your blog’s root directory in your web hosting control panel and open your .htaccess file.

Once opened, you’re going to add this code at the top:

# Use this code to redirect visitors to maintenance.html file while upgrading
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !^618\.124\.259\.25
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/maintenance.html$
RewriteRule $ http://your-site.com/maintenance.html [R=302,L]

The yellow parts above are the areas you need to change. Visit What is my IP address? to find your IP address and put those numbers in under the first yellow highlight. Next add the url path to your own maintenance page in the second yellow part.

And that should do it. Your site should now show a maintenance page to everyone except you (your IP address was whitelisted). To see what everyone else sees, add a # sign in front of the IP line:

# RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !^618\.124\.259\.25

The # comments lines out.

When you’re finished, leave the code in your .htaccess file for next time. To disable the code, just add a # in front of each line:

# Use this code to redirect visitors to maintenance.html file while upgrading
# Options +FollowSymlinks
# RewriteEngine on
# RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !^618\.124\.259\.25
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/maintenance.html$
# RewriteRule $ http://your-site.com/maintenance.html [R=302,L]

Related posts:

1. How To Upgrade WordPress Manually
2. How to Move Your WordPress Blog from a Subdirectroy to Root
3. Setting The Best Permalink (url) Structure For WordPress SEO

Many times, new bloggers might put their blog in a subdirectory, like /blog or they did not realize that when you install WordPress manually, it will be installed in the /wordpress directory. If this is the case and you want to move your blog out of a subdirectory and into the root folder of your site (i.e. you domain name), then follow the instructions in the video below.

If you have any questions, please comment below.

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1. How To Move Your WordPress Core Files Out Of Root
2. How to Transfer Your Blog from WordPress.com to WP Blog Host

Video 1 of 2

Video 2 of 2

Related posts:

1. How to Transfer Your Blog from Blogger to WP Blog Host
2. How to Transfer Your Blog from WordPress.com to WP Blog Host

Many people new to the world of blogging think that since they are just starting out they should start with a free blog over at sites like Blogger and wordpress.com. There are numerous reasons why that is not necesarily a good idea. Here are a couple articles on our blog to read up more on the differences between free hosting/blogs and paid hosting.

• Start A Blog: Free or Paid? WordPress or Blogger?
• 8+ Drawbacks to Free Web Hosting

How to Transfer Your Blog from Blogger to WP Blog Host

Related posts:

1. How to Transfer Your Blog from a cPanel Host, Such as Bluehost, to WP Blog Host
2. How to Transfer Your Blog from WordPress.com to WP Blog Host

WP Blog Host

Bloggers can choose between hosting products, domain products, email products, and more.

This video tutorial will show you how to move your WordPress blog from wordpress.com to WP Blog Host hosting.

Watch It Bigger

Related posts:

1. How to Transfer Your Blog from Blogger to WP Blog Host
2. How to Transfer Your Blog from a cPanel Host, Such as Bluehost, to WP Blog Host
3. How to Move Your WordPress Blog from a Subdirectroy to Root