7 Tips to Prevent Website Downtime
Achieving perfect uptime is a significant challenge for any business. No web host can truly promise 100% reliability. If a provider claims they can, they are likely not being honest with you. While some unplanned downtime is inevitable, you can get very close to a perfect record. You must use a reliable monitoring solution and perform regular maintenance to keep your New Zealand site running.
Understand your uptime percentages
It is easy to think that an uptime of 99% is a good result. However, there is a huge difference between 99% and 99.9%. If your site has 99.9% uptime, it will be offline for about nine hours over a full year. At 99%, your site could be down for more than three days annually. Routine optimisation ensures your site operates in a smooth manner and prevents severe losses to your business.
1. Create a regular website backup
Errors often happen during routine updates. These problems can lead to a sudden service interruption. You must keep a fresh backup of your site at all times. If you encounter a fault, you can restore your data quickly. This prevents long periods of unplanned downtime.
2. Keep your software updated
The digital world moves at a fast pace. Software companies frequently release new patches and service packs to fix bugs. You must keep your server software and CMS updated to the latest version. This step ensures your site stays functional and remains secure against modern threats.
3. Focus on performance optimisation
Slow websites struggle to retain customers and sales. You can prevent performance issues by reducing the number of HTTP requests. Try to simplify your web design to achieve this. Your developers can combine files and reduce the size of your images. Minimising CSS scripts also helps your site load more reliably.
4. Use Google Webmaster tools
Google provides tools to help you track your online visibility. These tools give you a detailed report on how your site appears to search engines. If Google finds an error while crawling your pages, it will notify you immediately. This allows you to fix the issue before it creates a bigger problem for your users.
5. Track your server with SNMP
Monitoring your server is a vital part of protecting your uptime. You can use the SNMP protocol to keep a close watch on your hardware. This system monitors every device that has an IP address. It sends an immediate alert if it detects a fault, allowing for a fast response.
6. Subscribe to a monitoring service
A dedicated website monitoring service will keep you informed about your site status at all times. These services check your pages for errors around the clock. If they find a problem, they will notify you via email or text message. This ensures you are the first to know if your site goes offline.
7. Secure your domain name registration
A forgotten domain renewal can cause your site to vanish from the web. This is a rare issue but it is very easy to prevent. Set your domain name to auto-renew with your registrar. You can also choose to buy your domain for a full decade and set a registrar lock for extra security.
A reliable website is like a well-kept car: regular, small check-ups prevent a total breakdown when you need the engine to run most.