# Get started with status pages 

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A [status page](https://betterstack.com/community/guides/incident-management/what-is-status-page/ ";_blank") is a dedicated page that lets you inform your users about current outages and scheduled maintenance on your service(s).

The main purpose of a status page is to allow users to check if a given service is operational without the need to contact customer support directly.

For company employees, an internal status page provides the same benefit - here it's the developer teams who save time that would otherwise be spent on questions from department.

### Public vs. private status pages

In some cases, you don't want to show the system status to the public, and would rather have a private status page instead. To create a private status page, use the [password protection](https://betterstack.com/docs/uptime/password-protected-status-page/) to only allow chosen  people to access it.

This way, you can easily create a dedicated private status page for your internal stakeholders, specific clients, or customers.

## Creating your first status page

Before starting with the status page, it's best to [set up the monitors](https://betterstack.com/docs/uptime/monitoring-start/) for the services whose status you want to communicate. Once you have the monitors ready, let's create your first status page.

- Go to **Status page** → **Create a Status page**.

### Step 1: Choosing a subdomain

- Enter your company name (it will be visible in the top left section of the status page)
- Choose a `*.betteruptime.com` subdomain or [configure a custom subdomain](https://betterstack.com/docs/uptime/custom-subdomain/)

[info]
Most internet companies have their status page on a status subdomain with the following format: status.domainname.com. See [status.stripe.com](https://status.stripe.com/) or [status.slack.com](https://status.slack.com/) for reference.

However, some opt in for dedicated URLs, like GitHub with [githubstatus.com](https://www.githubstatus.com/). These are usually larger companies with fully customized status page solutions.
[/info]

### Step 2: Personalization

- Personalize your page with your website URL, logo, and more

### Step 3: Selecting services and creating structure

- Click the **Structure** tab at the top of the page.
- Drag and drop monitors from the **Available** to the **Selected** columns using the `⋮⋮` icon.
- Feel free to edit the public name or add a monitor description.

### Step 4: Creating a status page

- Now that we have finished the basic setup, we can click **Save changes**
- The status page is now live and available at your chosen URL

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## Next steps to enhance your status page 🚤

- [Embed status page announcements into your site](https://betterstack.com/docs/uptime/embedding-announcements-into-your-site/) to communicate incidents directly in your product.
- Build upon our [incident communication templates](https://betterstack.com/community/guides/incident-management/incident-templates/ ";_blank"), and be prepared when incidents occur.