In times of economic change, there are sectors that rebound, while others float as best they can. In some cases, if those who rebound have not previously worked on an online marketing strategy, they will not be prepared for a barrage of visitors.
However, it is true that those who have been working on their online and offline campaigns for some time may see traffic spikes at certain times, causing a web crash.
This not only affects the image of an online business (and in the worst case, sales), but also the frustration of the users who need access and end up leaving, perhaps, forever.
This happens to many companies, it is normal. But we do tell you that although it is a common problem, you must know how to act and solve it as soon as possible, because your brand reputation will be at stake.
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Why can a web crash occur?
Any circumstance that causes an increase in web traffic could cause the servers to crash. Which means that the web would stop working.
That is why, knowing the causes of the server crash is so important, since knowing where the failure comes from, will allow you to investigate it and find the appropriate solutions (or go to the right professionals).
These are the most common reasons:
- Your hosting provider fails: Many providers cannot handle such high spikes in traffic, even though they initially sold you plans with unlimited resources. Although its price is affordable, read all the features well before opting, for example, for one of the best WordPress hosting.
- You use a shared hosting: If the person with whom you share the hosting has problems, you will also be affected. Remember that in shared hosting, the server capacity is shared with other hosted clients.
- You have hardware problems: Hard disk failures, memory problems, power supply failures… In short, any problem related to your pc’s hardware.
- You are being the victim of a cyber attack: Be careful not to keep your website safe because there are hackers that can enter your servers without realizing it.
- Your website is poorly optimized: Web optimization is key for the speed of your website to be fast. With this we mean various aspects, from reducing the size of your images, to detecting flaws in web development.
Tips for websites down in times of crisis and with high traffic peaks
After identifying what is the failure that causes your website to crash, it’s time to get down to work to fix it as soon as possible.
Even if you have not yet been involved in this problem, you can prevent it through these tips:
➽ Choose a hosting plan adapted to the needs of your web project
Be careful with the mega cheap hosting offers, because in time you will realize that you should have spent a few more euros.
It is important that you take into account other characteristics of the plan, such as the performance of the hosting, the speed, the support and the security.
Important: To withstand high traffic spikes, be careful to share the server with other clients. That is why it is so important to choose a good hosting that meets your needs.
➽ Consume less resources with these optimization tips
Another important thing that you will have to take into account is trying to make your website spend the least possible server resources. We tell you where to start:
- Reduce the size of your images: These are the tools to reduce the size of photos with which you can do it.
- Compress the pages: With tools like Gzip.
- Optimize the cache: Save in it the data that you are not going to modify on your website.
In this way, you will avoid recharging on each visit. And if you use WordPress, an effective plugin is WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache.
➽ Keep your website safe
We recommend that you encrypt sensitive information and that the database protect it with passwords and various levels of access control.
Don’t forget to make regular backups, as well as to put strong passwords.
➽ Provide an emergency protocol
Finally, we recommend that you plan an emergency plan or protocol to be prepared for a possible fall of your servers, due to an exponential increase in web traffic.
Ideally, you should test the load of your website (for example with Google’s PageSpeed Insights) in various periods and so you can know how much your website can support and how to make some improvements. But, what happens if an unexpected moment arrives and your website doesn’t hold up?
That is the reason why you should have an emergency plan against these extreme situations. Because the most important thing of all is not to abandon your users.
Tip: In case your website goes down, leave a programmed message, something creative and original, where you apologize and signal the stipulated time that the website will return to normal.
CONCLUSION:
A campaign is likely to be tremendously successful when you least expect it. Or that an extreme situation arrives in which users require your services or products in a massive way. Given this, you must be prepared for a high traffic increase.
We hope that you take all these tips to the table, because it will be the only way to emerge victorious from a problem that can be avoided and / or resolved as soon as possible so as not to damage your prestige and brand image.
Have you ever suffered a web crash due to a considerable increase in traffic ?; What have you done to fix it?
