You may not know this, but downtime is a leading cause of lost revenue for many companies. It’s been estimated that website downtime can cost an average company up to $50 million per year! Luckily, there are ways to prevent downtime from happening in the first place. Here are 5 Ways to Minimize Website Downtime that anyone can implement to keep their website up and to run all day long.
Use a Content Delivery Network
A content delivery network is a distributed server system that quickly delivers files to your users. They are usually hosted in multiple locations worldwide and can pull from different servers based on location. In addition to reducing site load times by mirroring static content across many sites, they also provide other benefits such as security through multiple servers. You can use them to deliver dynamic content like on-demand video.
Rackspace Cloud Files is an example of a CDN service with more than 27 data centers worldwide, which means your site will load faster for everyone who visits it, no matter where they are.
Maintain the Server with Regular Updates
Ensure your server is regularly updated with the latest security patches and software updates. Outdated software is one of the leading causes of website downtime. Let your developer know if you don’t want specific updates installed. However, most developers will install all necessary software and security patches as they come out to keep the website safe from hackers and downtime. Ensure you have enough storage space on your server for any new updates that a particular update or patch may require. If your disk space usage gets too high, it can cause your website to go down. Make sure you have enough room to accommodate any new files created as a result of the updates.
Install a Firewall
A firewall is an essential tool in any server environment. It protects your website and other services such as FTP or SSH from malicious traffic by blocking unauthorized connection attempts. There are a variety of firewall solutions available that protect the ground up. Generally, I recommend UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall).
Back-Up Your Data Regularly
Create a backup plan and implement it regularly. This is one of the most important steps you can take to prevent downtime in your website. When trying to recover from an emergency, such as data loss or server failure, the last thing you want does not to have any backups at all!
Invest in a Web Hosting Service
A web hosting service with redundancy provides multiple servers and network connections. This ensures your website will remain online in the event of a failure with one of the components in the hosting environment. Your website is down, your customers are frustrated. We all know this feeling too well and it can be frustrating to deal with. Luckily for you, we have compiled a list of 5 simple solutions that will help prevent downtime at the office or on the go, so you never have to worry about not being able to serve your customers again! Keep these tips in mind as they may save your business from costly downtime soon enough!
