Have you ever been on a website that either took too long to load or crashed while you were using it? Well, there’s a reason for that. Actually, there are many reasons why a website will crash.
When a website crashes, it means that it stops serving data. The content on the website will simply become unavailable to you. If a website crashes, that means something went wrong, internally.
What if your own website is crashing? That’s a different story! All website owners know that living with a website that crashes just isn’t an option. If your website has crashed, really focus and try to determine the problem as soon as possible.
Website crashes are so important to get fixed right away because it is costing your business money for every second that it’s down. Think about what you would do if you were on a website that crashed. If you’re honest with yourself, you probably wouldn’t want to sit there and wait for the website to load. Most people expect websites to load in a total of 2 seconds. The average person waits, at max, 3 seconds for a website to load.
Whether you’re on a website that just crashed or your own website is crashing, it would be beneficial for you to know the common reasons behind a website crash. There are a few ways that a website can crash and a few things that you can do to prevent it.
- There is a Code Error
One common reason for a website crash that there is a code error on your website. This means that you, or somebody else who has access to your site, accidentally broke the web code. You may be thinking, “How does one ‘break a web code’?”
Web codes have the potential to break if someone, by mistake, messes something up while doing maintenance or updating the website. Unfortunately, a single coding error can mess up an entire website. It can cause it to slow down, not load, or crash. If you are experiencing problems, you can always reach out to your website developer or hosting provider’s technical support line. They should be able to help you get things back up and going.
- Virus attack
The website crash could be due to a virus attack. Virus attacks, also known as Malware, are more common than you would think. On average, 30,000 new websites are hacked every day. The attacks could be bots or actual people attempting to break into your website. Sometimes, they are successful. If so, that can devastate your website of potential visitors and customers. Virus attacks can occur at any time, without you even knowing. Unfortunately, hackers are always looking for unsecured domains. Once they find one, they will take their shot. These attacks are not only causing websites to crash, but it will put those websites on blacklists, which will influence receiving traffic in the future.
- Tons of Traffic
How cool would it be to have more visitors on your website? That would be a massive win for your online business or blog. Though, having too much traffic can be a bad thing, if your hosting plan is not equipped to handle a large number of people on your site. Sometimes, massive spikes in traffic can cause downtime. If you catch a website during downtime, you’ll most likely experience a crash. This would be a problem you may be able to recognize if you are getting more traffic than you normally do. One thing that someone can do is upgrade their hosting plan, which would prevent downtime or crashes from happening again. You should also keep an eye on the web traffic and plan accordingly if something were to happen. If your current hosting plan was created for moderate traffic, then it will not hold up if your site is all of a sudden receiving 10 times more the traffic it normally receives. You could also fix this by using a content distribution network.
- Too Many Plugins
The great thing about plugins is that they add flexibility and unbelievable functionality to a website without having to produce the code yourself. As amazing as they are, plugins are made by third parties and they’re not always the most reliable or stable elements. Sometimes, developers even abandon their plugins which leave them very outdated and prone to bugs, that could potentially hurt and attack your website. More often than not, little things like plugins could be a reason for your random site crash. There are over 50,000 different plugins on WordPress. One of them could be causing unwarranted problems on your website. A good way to fix this problem would be to go through your most recent plugin downloads and disable each one until your website is working again. To prevent plugins from crashing on your site, you should use as few plugins as possible. If you use more, be sure to do some research on them first.
- Domain/ Hosting Issues
Even the best equipment can have problems sometimes, but it is not very often. If your website is crashing excessively, then it might be because you need to upgrade your hosting plan. In some cases, overheated equipment, bad weather, and other errors can cause websites to crash. These issues are out of your control and even out of your web hosting provider’s control. Problems can happen with your hosting if there is a problem with the server. If your website is continuing to grow, then you need to have a hosting plan that fits your growth. If your website is growing, but your plan is not, you need to reevaluate your goals. You should also check and see if your domain has expired without you noticing. If you’re using a reliable web hosting provider, then you would be notified months before the expiration date that you need to renew your domain.
Website crashes can be deleterious to any online business, hobbyist, blogger, or general website owner. It’s beyond important to understand a website crash so that you can prevent it from happening again. Treat your website like your car! Invest in regular maintenance checks and always be ready for potential problems that could occur.
We might be a little biased, but we have a pretty awesome technical support team that works around the clock to help clients with website problems. Hostirian offers 24/7/365 support! If you need a new provider, website, domain name, or have any technical questions, give us a ring!