A website crash is a nightmare for any business and one that most of us have experienced! It can be frustrating to lose all those work hours, and it’s even worse when you don’t know what caused the crash in the first place. Website crashes happen for many reasons; some are more common than others, but they all cause problems for your online business.
This blog post will talk about the ten most common reasons for website crashes. Also, find out how you can prevent these problems from happening again in the future. Before jumping onto these reasons let’s take a look at what is meant by a website crash and how to recognize a site crash.
What does a website crash mean?
When your website stops loading or shows an error message it has crashed! For a website to work with no errors, the browser needs to process the information from each resource linked on your web page. For example, images need to get downloaded from an external source, and scripts will also need access to the internet.
When one of these resources cannot load correctly due to a technical glitch or server error, the browser’s job is to stop all further activity. It is how a “website crash” happens – web browsers are programmed to halt all activity on a website if they cannot load resources required for the operation of that particular site.
How to Recognize if your Website has Crashed
There is a chance that you might not even know your website has crashed. In most cases, nobody checks their site each time it goes down, so they could wait for days before taking action. However, there are sure signs which indicate the possible crash of your website:
- Server not working error message – If you see this kind of message when you try to open a page on your website, it means that there might be a problem with the web host.
- DNS error -This may mean that your hosting provider has blocked the domain because of an infection. To check if they have blocked your site, you should contact them and ask for more information.
- Your email server is down – This means that all emails sent from your website will not be delivered. If this happens, you should check its configuration and make sure everything is working.
- Other websites hosted on the same server will not work – When a problem happens to one website, it often affects other sites on the same hosting account.
Top 8 Reasons for a Website Crash
Below we have listed ten common reasons for a website crash.
- Code Error
If your website is poorly coded and contains many errors it will crash. For example, if you use lousy server copies of your website, this might cause a crash. Code error means that the website’s code does not work correctly.
- Virus Attack
Virus attacks are widespread today, and they are also one of the most challenging things to deal with, especially if you do not know what to do or how to fight them off. The simplest way to prevent this problem is by using reliable hosting services which offer secure servers that will protect your website against all possible attacks without getting infected in the first place.
- DNS Error
DNS is Domain Name Server, and this service manages all requests coming in and going out of a server domain name space – when this service is no longer working, your website will not be accessible.
- Plugin Error
When you upload a specific plugin incompatible with your site or version of WordPress, this will cause a crash. To fix the problem, you should continue updating your website until all plugins are up-to-date.
- Domain Expiry
If you have not renewed the domain name, it will cause problems with website access. People usually wait until they get a message about expired domains and then renew them. If you don’t renew your domain in time, there is a chance that somebody else will use it.
- Hacking
It might seem that you can fix a simple website crash quickly, but if it is the result of a hacking activity, you should not use this domain for other purposes until all security gets restored. Hackers usually leave hidden backdoor access, which allows them to come back and continue their illegal activities any time they choose.
- Traffic surges
A website may crash due to high traffic; when there is a sudden increase in traffic, this can lead to an overload which causes the website server to crash. Usually, it happens during significant events or festive periods.
If you have a popular website that receives a lot of traffic, then heavy surges can lead to downtime and even a total crash if it occurs too frequently. To protect yourself against this kind of problem, you should use reliable hosting services that offer state-of-the-art servers with 99% uptime capabilities.
- Server Provider Error
When your hosting provider makes a mistake, this might cause the server to go down. It often happens because of bad updates or hardware failure, which results in a total loss of service.
Ways to Prevent Website Crashes
Here are some ways that could help you to avoid website crashes:
- Use reliable hosting services that offer secure servers that will protect your website against all possible attacks.
- Do not forget to update plugins and other tools and integrations.
- Always renew your domain name in time.
- Make sure that all software and applications are always up-to-date.
- Always keep backups of your files in case you have to reinstall your website from scratch.
Conclusion
As you can see, a website crash is not something that you should take lightly. To avoid it, use reliable hosting services and protect your site against different types of attacks. In case your website goes down due to one of the reasons mentioned above or some other error, the best thing you can do is hire an expert who knows how to fix such issues instantly.
