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When your computer hangs the easiest thing to do is just restart it. But what do you do when your website doesn’t load.
Maybe you get a blank white screen. Maybe you get an internal server error.
Or maybe you get the dreaded not found message.
We’re sure it’s happened to you once or twice. It’s scary, and it’s frustrating. It’s happened to us too. Remember you’re not alone in the struggle, even massive sites like Facebook and Twitter do experience occasional outages from time to time.
Here’s what we do to solve a website going down.
How to get your site back up?
There are a number of reasons a website might go down, and finding the root cause is essential to getting it back up again.
First, verify the site is down through http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/. Check out your site on a different browser, or your mobile phone. Ask a friend if they can pull up your site and see if they get the same error.
We’ll go over the most common ones, and what you can do about them below:
1. Server Maintenance
It’s your host’s fault. They’re updating their servers and had to take your website offline. Nothing to worry about, it’ll be back online very soon.
Any good host will warn you in advance that your site might go down, and will do maintenance in non peak hours. A great host will keep find a way to keep your site up (albeit with slower bandwidth).
Solution: Contact your host’s support. If this happens frequently, switch to a host that guarantees good uptime (99%+)
2. Overloaded Server
Your website somehow made it to the front page of reddit and you’re currently experiencing a traffic tsunami. Just like a real tsunami, it’s clogged the servers and your website won’t load.
Even the biggest websites face this issue from time to time.
It’s happened with Apple so many times they even have a dedicated page to track when something is down.
However, a site can also be down if you’re utilizing a shared hosting plan and other sites on the same server are experiencing a traffic surge. That can be a big problem.
Solution: Contact your hosts right away, and ask why the site is down.
- If you’re experiencing a traffic surge, it’s time to move on to a higher bandwidth plan. Congratulations. In the meantime throw up a funny 404 page for your visitors so you don’t ruin your impression.
- If one of your hosting neighbors is experiencing a traffic surge, leave a complaint with your web host and wait. They will identify and move the other website to a different ip. Most web hosts try to stop this from occurring, but it’s still possible if the rush was sudden.
3. Site Coding Mistake
You were editing something on the site and it just broke. This is easy to do on just about every website program there is. If you’re getting a blank screen, or a an error message that isn’t related to your server, then it’s probably a coding mistake, a plugin conflict.
Solution:
- If the site is completely down you need to restore it from a backup. You can restore your site from the backup, or just replace the file you were editing in the file manager on your cpanel.
- If only the front end, or part of the front end is down then it’s probably a theme or plugin issue. Start by deactivating your plugins one at a time to see if your site comes back.
4. Site Attack
Hackers might be after you.
Relax! Unlike hackers from hollywood these guys aren’t coming at you with guns and a seal team. Probably.
Someone probably targeted you with a DDos attack, which sends a flood of traffic to your site in order to bring it offline.
If you’re seeing something else in place of your website (i.e. not a 404, blank screen, or website down notice) then you must have left a door open for hackers on your backend, allowing someone to take control of your website. Hackers like to show off, and will typically leave something to indicate that you’ve been hacked.
Solution: Call your web host and ask for help.
- For a DDos attack they can use a technique called data sampling to identify the malicious traffic and block it.
- In case a hacker took over your website, they can block the account and help you restore it.
5. You forgot to renew your domain and/or hosting
A surprising number of websites go down simply because the owner hadn’t gotten around to renewing the domain. Or the hosting. Or both even.
Solution: Your domain provider and host should send you reminders before they expire. In case you miss them, set your domain and hosting to auto-renew.
How to Prevent Your Site From Going Down in the First Place
Alright, you’ve gotten your site back up. Now how do you keep it from going down again?
1.Get a reliable Host
Your host plays a huge role in your uptime. If you choose a low quality host you will risk going offline. Your host needs to be able to handle either a steady traffic volume or huge spikes in traffic.
2. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A content delivery network (CDN) is a system of distributed servers that deliver pages and other Web content to a user, based on the geographic locations of the user, and the origin of the webpage. It will help visitors see a cached (saved) version of your site even when it’s down. They also speed up the website by loading it from a location closer to the visitor.
3. Keep Your Site Updated
Update every piece of software and plugin you use on your website. Most common security flaws are addressed in updates, so you’re much less vulnerable if you’re updating both your themes and plugins on a regular basis.
Always keep your audience updated by notifying them of your issue through email and social media. A simple “Our website is down but we’re working on it” is enough, and much better than leaving them in the dark.
And remember, if you’re not sure what’s happened you can reach out to your host anytime for support.