Websites are an amenity packaged as a utility. If your site isn’t reliable and fast, users have options to replace it and they probably will. How you build your site and how you maintain it impacts your site’s success. Regardless of whether you’re launching your website, relaunching, or even rebranding, you don’t have to break the wheel to build a solid website that can withstand the traffic and growth of your enterprise.
Early Twitter was an adventure. Every day was an open question: would you be able to log in or did the next big story crash the platform? It was taking off and crashing and flying and crashing again. All in real time. It was an exciting time for the internet, and while everything has changed since then it got us thinking: why did we used to tolerate stuff just not working? And why do we still tolerate stuff not working?
What if I told you one of the most common mistakes businesses make is reporting on website performance without understanding user experience? What if I said there was much more to website performance monitoring than simply alerting you when your site is experiencing a downtime outage? No two websites – or baselines – are exactly the same.
Have you ever had to purchase a CPU or a GPU? If so, you have probably come across the term “bottlenecking”. There is a certain threshold where output exceeds ability to process, and that can prevent optimal system functionality. One of the methods used in computing to overcome these bottlenecks is multi-threading, where requests are processed simultaneously by multiple threads. We can apply a similar principle to downtime monitoring.
Two major shifts are simultaneously taking place in the world of website monitoring: the acceleration of digital dependence has increased the need for high-performing websites and the frequency (and severity) of downtime outages continues to climb. These shifts have made it more important than ever for businesses of all sizes and industries to monitor uptime and page speed.
When it comes to your website, visual content plays a huge role. In a world where it takes our brains only 13 milliseconds to process an image – visuals help narrate your brand story in a quick and visually captivating way. This ability to process images so quickly places even more importance on the need for crisp high-quality content. A website tainted with fuzzy and blurry images can affect engagement and lead to an overall negative experience for visitors.
Have you ever felt limited or “locked into” a fixed SaaS subscription plan? Have you ever been forced into a Sales call only to struggle with the decision – and costs – of upgrading to a higher plan tier to add incremental features or usage you need? Are you subscribed to a SaaS plan today that’s chock-full of features or capabilities you’ve never used (or asked for!) – but are still paying for? If so, you’re not alone.
If you have set up your own monitoring services with Amazon CloudWatch, Azure Monitor or another internal tool, we suggest you consider looking beyond the horizon. These services often provide internal web monitoring only. Perhaps they validate HTTP availability from locations outside their networks, but HTTP checks won’t give you a 360º view into the state of your services.
2021 has been an eye-opening year for both businesses and consumers who use popular websites and applications. We have all seen notable increases in the frequency and severity of outages as dependency on internet infrastructure grows – with no signs of slowing down. With our reliance on automation and connectivity expected to increase in 2022 – let’s review some of the top internet outages and website downtime incidents of 2021.
Downtime is one diagnosis you don’t want to waste time with second opinions. You want accurate alerting the first time around, followed by drill-down tools to uncover and help you treat root cause as fast as possible. As with any form of health (even domain health), preventive care should always be your first defence. With Uptime.com “preventive care” means 360º monitoring that doesn’t skimp on analysis.
