Many people who have just created their website, no matter for what purpose, seem to think that problems arise only for them. This opinion is very common among newbies, but it is completely wrong. Sometimes websites are just slow to load, and sometimes there are large-scale failures of websites and services. And this has serious consequences for many. This is why a website needs to be monitored. This will allow you to identify problems as quickly as possible and resolve them promptly.
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Common website performance problems
Any problems with a website are a source of headache for the owner or webmaster of a web project. Regardless of its orientation, it causes an outflow of users and potential customers. And hence the reputation and financial losses. This is due to the fact that in cases of problems the website can slowly load, load incompletely or not work at all. And it’s important to understand what the problems with the website can be.
It is also important to understand that even large companies are not immune to problems. As an example, we can remember the blackout of Facebook that happened in the fall of 2021. Back then, the world’s largest social network did not work for several hours. And all the related services did not work.
Basic website issues
Poorly optimized scripts, incorrect or remote database locations, cascading redirects, and other misconfigurations can lead to website problems. An ordinary user will not feel comfortable using such a resource, and he will most likely switch to a competitor’s resource.
Server-side hardware and software issues
This can include both failed hardware and a crashed network, as well as deficiencies in the organization of the hosting at the logical level. This also includes technical work. The owner of the website, of course, will be warned about them. But at such times, the website will still not work, which means it is a problem. And, often, unexpected.
Web hosting inefficiency
This problem occurs because of increased loads that exceed the available capacity at the tariff. Or because of a discrepancy between real and declared hosting performance. For example, if there are too many visitors on the website, and the provided capacity is not enough. Usually, or the owner of the website on the calculation of the required capacity, or hosting has not provided the resources under the tariff plan. Tracing such things is difficult, especially if the hoster follows the precepts of those Eastern religions, where the practice of non-interference and calm.
Malware, hacking attempts and DDoS
Sometimes a website can be affected by malware or viruses on the server. Hacking attempts by hackers also sometimes happen. But more often web resource owners are faced with DDoS attacks and HTTP flooding. And if all the previous problems are more or less obvious, when faced with the last two, many are lost. In simple terms, DDoS and HTTP flooding is the deliberate sending of a huge number of requests to a server to overload it.
One method of countering DDoS is to run network traffic through high-bandwidth networks with scrubbing. Other methods of preventing DDoS attacks are on-premises and cloud-based solutions or hybrid solutions combining both.
The best way to monitor a website
The best way to prevent long-term problems and avoid all kinds of losses, both reputational and financial, is to quickly find and eliminate the sources of problems. To do this, the webmaster needs to constantly monitor the various indicators of the website. And in the modern world, you need to use the most effective means. For example, specialized monitoring services. And the HostTracker platform is the best online website monitoring service available in this niche.
This is a fully automated website monitoring toolkit. At the same time, it works around the clock and is completely independent of the user’s equipment. It can be used to perform a variety of website monitoring activities, including but not limited to:
- Monitoring the health and performance of the website.
- Tests for website availability via HTTP, ICMP, SMTP, SNMP, TCP and other Internet protocols.
- Verification of SSL certificate and domain validity.
- Web page loading speeds and content access tests.
- Checks for global DNS blacklists.
- Checks for website content and database integrity.
- Monitoring for server hardware and software.
To take advantage of all of the above features, you just need to register. Even without it you can easily check some metrics on www.host-tracker.com/ic/ manually. But by registering, you get a free 30-day trial and can learn how to add and configure automatic sequences to monitor your website. And all this the system will do automatically. And in case of problems, this service with a properly configured Instant Notifications system sends a message to the webmaster. It states the exact indication of where to look for the source of the problem.
Website optimization tips and tricks
When entering even a website of a well-known organization, users can face serious problems with its accessibility, loading speed, content integrity, and so on. But an experienced webmaster can easily solve them. This is because a good webmaster knows how, when and where to focus troubleshooting efforts. This is because website performance issues usually occur due to a combination of three of the most common issues:
Large size of web page elements
The loading speed of a website is directly related to how much data needs to be loaded at the entrance and when the web pages are fully loaded. In order to speed up the process, you need to optimize the web elements. For example, you need to convert PNG images to JPEG. With the correct compression ratio, you can reduce the size of files by 20-25% without loss of visual quality.
Incorrect script positioning in the web page code
To improve the speed of loading pages of the website is necessary to optimize the code of the web page. To do this, it is imperative to monitor the location of the scripts. JS-scripts and tags should be at the bottom of pages. Then they will be loaded after all other content. This will speed up the loading process, since JS scripts are usually large in size.
Overuse of CSS selectors
Since CSS files are mandatory for any web page, you need to optimize them to speed up loading. Styles cannot be arranged within a single CSS file. This file needs to be split into several separate files. Some will be unique to a particular page, while others will be common to all.