If you’re running or planning to set up mission-critical sites (such as an ecommerce site), one of key issues that you also need to consider (aside from security) when looking for a web host is uptime (or downtime). You’ve probably heard a lot about this, but if you haven’t, here’s some information to help you.
What is uptime? Uptime, put simply in the context of web hosting, is the time during which your site is fully operational (viewable and usable). Downtime, conversely, is the time during which it’s not, and these figures are usually given in percentages. HostingHelp offers some more definitions of uptime for your enlightenment.
How relevant is uptime and downtime for ecommerce sites? Highly relevant because downtime could translate to lost revenues, and in this highly competitive world, it could very well mean your business’ survival.
Therefore, it is critical that you choose a web host that has a high uptime guarantee (the higher, the better). An uptime guarantee of 99.5-99.99% is realistic and considered to be very good in most cases.
So how do you go about making sure that the host you do choose offers the best deal? I found good advice from the article HostSearch – Good Times, Bad Times: Uptime, Downtime, Runtime Errors, to wit:
Once you’ve found your host, it is essential that you also monitor your site’s uptimes and downtimes to ensure you get what you pay for and also to see if they’re living up to their promise (so you can change hosts if they aren’t). How? WHReviews.com’s ‘Monitoring Server Uptime’ offers some great information, including software and services to monitor uptimes.
No time to read through them? Here’s a summary:
