Website accessibility is essential for types of businesses, especially since customers increasingly demand that their online transactions be smooth and easy in today’s competitive market. But when a website experiences downtime, it can’t be accessed online, or it doesn’t work well enough for users to finish a task or access information.
If your website is not accessible at all times, it will significantly limit its reach to your business’ potential customers. On the other hand, website accessibility means everyone can access your site in a way that is comfortable and convenient for them. As a result, you’ll also attract new customers and increase your brand’s visibility.
If the site is not always accessible, people may not be able to access the information they need. As a result, it can harm a company’s reputation, negatively impact customers’ trust, and lower revenue. Therefore, it is essential to understand website downtime and how to prevent it.
In this article, we will discuss the common reasons and the ways to prevent website downtime.
Common Reasons for Website Downtime
- CMS Issue
- Expiration of Domain Name
- Mismanaged Website Maintenance
- Incorrect Setting in DNS
- Coding Error
- DDoS Attacks
- Hardware Issue
- Network Issue
CMS Issue
Creating websites is made simple by a content management system (CMS) that offers a user-friendly interface and allows you to control the website. In addition, CMS uses plugins, extensions, themes, third-party integrations, and other technologies to add more features and functionality.
Unfortunately, compatibility problems can occur with newer versions of integrations. For instance, when you update a theme, the new version must be compatible with your CMS; otherwise, a minor change could result in lengthy unexpected downtime.
But fortunately, this can be avoided in two ways: avoid using outdated or nulled themes and plugins; instead, use third-party integrations that are dependable and recently updated with a CMS that can ensure compatibility.
Also, having a backup of your website is essential in case something goes wrong, as it will allow you to revert to the previous version of the website if there are any problems with the current one. So, it is advisable to have a website backup before any upgrades. This can be done automatically with a backup tool, so you’ll have a recent copy on hand to get you going again if your website does break.
Expiration of domain name
Once you purchase the domain, it is registered for a certain period. Then you will have to renew the domain as per your renewal date. But suppose you don’t renew the domain during the specified period. In that case, the domain will expire, and the website will no longer work.
However, there is a grace period of 30-45 days for your domain to be renewed. After that domain enters the redemption period, valid for 30 days (depending on your domain registrar). During this phase, you still have time to renew the domain. But you will have to pay some additional fees.
If you have not renewed your domain during the redemption period, the domain becomes available for public registration, and then the site will be permanently lost.
Mismanaged website maintenance
Poor website maintenance is one of the most common reasons websites become inaccessible. But to avoid such issues, the hardware and software of your website must be checked and maintained regularly. Hardware maintenance includes cleaning and updating when they get outdated. Additionally, software such as plugins, themes, and CMS must be updated timely.
Regularly updating these things can improve security measures, and any potential vulnerabilities can be avoided, reducing the threats of DDoS attacks. Furthermore, security measures such as firewalls, antivirus software, and regular patching can help protect your site from attacks.
Website maintenance is vital to keep your website running smoothly, for which you can follow these tips:
- Make sure the website is hosted on a reliable server. Find our Reliable Web Hosting Service here.
- Always keep your website updated; it includes installing the latest security patches and updates.
- Regularly clean your website’s cache and files to keep it running fast.
Incorrect Setting in DNS
Your web hosting account should be linked with your domain via DNS (Domain Name Server), as this allows you to use the domain to access your website.
Some minor mistakes with your DNS settings can cause a website to be inaccessible, for example, a small mistake in the nameserver. The DNS record must point to the server’s primary IP address. You can also set a CNAME for your www record to point to your primary domain, which will enable www.xyz.com and xyx.com to display the same content.
Also, ensure that you add a separate A / CNAME record for each subdomain.
Coding Error
Coding errors are a matter of concern when the site is not opening. Even a misplaced dot in coding can cause a big issue; therefore, coding errors can cause many problems with your website. For example, they can cause the site not to load correctly, cause you to lose customers, and even lead to your site being shut down.
Therefore, it’s essential to use a coding error detection tool to check for any coding mistakes on your website. It will help you fix any issues before they become critical problems.
DDOS Attacks
DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attacks are a type of cyber-attack that can cause significant damage to a website or system. Hackers usually flood the target website/ online service with massive requests from fake users, causing the site to crash or become unavailable. In addition, the unusual spike in traffic causes overloading of the bandwidth and server resources.
Sometimes, your website might not be the target of the DDoS attack. Still, if your website is hosted on a shared server and a website from the same server is targeted, you might also face downtime because of a server crash.
DDoS Attacks can disrupt business operations, stop traffic, or attack data. However, you can avoid being a victim of a DDoS attack by going for a quality hosting provider that offers DDoS protection with their hosting plans.
Hardware Issue
The infrastructure of the website is heavily dependent on physical servers. Your website is hosted there; hence any physical disruption could cause downtime. But you can’t predict when or how a server may crash.
Such hardware problems can cause several issues to a website. Outdated hardware, manual errors, and natural disasters can be some of the causes that prevent users from accessing the site.
If you experience any of these problems on your website, you can get in touch with your hosting provider to get help resolving the issue. Any good hosting provider will take care of the hardware and keep it up-to-date, so choosing a reliable hosting company is advisable to avoid hardware problems.
Network Issue
Another possibility is that you are having problems connecting to the server where you are hosted over the network. This indicates that even though you can access other websites, but face network connectivity issues for the particular server you are hosted on, making it unreachable. This might happen because of a caching problem, browser issues, or other reasons.
When a website is inaccessible, users will be unable to access the site, and it will show a blank page. In that case, contact your hosting provider to troubleshoot the issue.
On the other hand, your visitors may also be able to visit your website, but you don’t. There is a chance that your specific IP is blocked on the server because of multiple false login attempts (because of security measures). Again, you need to contact your hosting provider for guidance in such a case.
Conclusion
Your website is the first impression of your business that can attract potential customers. Therefore, protecting your website is more important than ever in today’s digital age, so you must take steps to protect it.
We have listed some of the most common reasons a website could be inaccessible. And also shared the solutions to avoid such issues to ensure impeccable uptime for your website.
Most of these issues can be avoided by choosing a reliable hosting provider. Furthermore, it will help your business websites create a dynamic online presence to support your business’ growth manifold.
