For e-commerce projects, website uptime is a critical requirement. If an online store is experiencing downtime, it can lead to lost sales, decreased traffic, and, ultimately, reduced profits. As a result, site owners and administrators choose reliable hosting solutions and closely monitor uptime metrics to minimize customer losses and financial setbacks.

This article will delve into website uptime, how it is measured and verified, and how to reduce the likelihood of failures.

Understanding Website Uptime

Uptime refers to the period during which a web resource operates continuously. The ultimate goal for website uptime is 100%. This metric is expressed as a percentage; the closer it is to 100%, the better. It’s important to note that uptime accounts for the entire duration of non-stop operation, from the startup to the shutdown of the server. This includes any downtime due to various problems, such as application crashes, 504 errors, reboots, or unplanned shutdowns.

The opposite of uptime is “downtime,” which signifies the interval when the server or hosting is unavailable to visitors. Naturally, the shorter the downtime, the better it is for your e-commerce store.

Measuring Website Uptime

As we said aiming for 100% uptime is ideal, however, achieving this is practically impossible over extended periods. Emergencies and scheduled reboots are common and acceptable practices, and hosting providers’ key responsibility is to promptly restore web resource performance.

Maintaining an uptime parameter of not less than 98% is generally recommended. Lower values may indicate unreliable hosting and could lead to significant problems for online project owners.

Benefits of Properly Configured Site Monitoring

Regular site monitoring is essential, and there are several reasons for doing so:

Assessing hosting provider quality: Regular monitoring provides an objective uptime percentage, helping you decide whether to continue collaborating with the hosting provider. If you do not get the guaranteed uptime, you can get a cost deduction on your plan from the host.

Identifying reasons for low sales: Monitoring can reveal that low income might not be caused by bad advertising or low-quality goods but rather by customers being unable to access the site. This is one of the main reasons to measure uptime. 

Budget allocation for SEO promotion: Despite high-quality SEO work, frequent site inoperability can negatively impact rankings, reducing SEO efficiency. It is pointless to spend money on SEO if your site is frequently unavailable. 

Diagnosing virus infections: Monitoring uptime can also uncover malicious code affecting search engine ranking positions.

Identifying hidden errors: Not all website errors are obvious; monitoring services can help identify and resolve them.

The Importance of Site Availability and Downtime Losses

While 1% or 2% downtime might seem insignificant, the cumulative effect over time can lead to substantial losses:

1% downtime (99% uptime) amounts to 14.4 minutes per day, 1.7 hours per week, 7.2 hours per month, and 3.65 days per year.

2% downtime (98% uptime) will double these figures.

For commercial online projects, even a 1% or 2% reduction in uptime can translate into lost profits. Downtime not only impacts PPC advertising but also SEO promotion, delaying search engine indexing and affecting search rankings.

Free Tools for Website Monitoring

To check site availability, specialized uptime services are a good idea, as they minimize additional non-target loads on your server. Some popular free monitoring services include:

Site24x7: Offers applications for checking servers on various operating systems, with free use during the trial period and the option to monitor up to 10 websites every minute.

SiteUptime: Provides free monitoring for one website, checking once every 30 minutes. It monitors websites using various protocols such as HTTP, FTP, and POP3.

UptimeRobot: Allows alerts via email, push notifications, SMS, etc., and the ability to monitor up to 50 different sites every 5 minutes.

Selecting Hosting with the Best Uptime

When choosing a hosting provider, uptime indicators are crucial factors to consider. Requesting uptime statistics from potential providers can provide insights into the quality of their services. Additionally, the scale of the leased server should match the requirements of your internet project. For large projects, a dedicated server may be the best option.

Conclusion

Ensuring uninterrupted e-commerce performance is vital for the success of online businesses. Website uptime plays a critical role in maintaining customer satisfaction and preventing financial losses. Regular site monitoring helps identify issues, assess hosting quality, allocate budgets wisely, and diagnose potential problems.