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Website crashes can be frustrating. Most of the websites must have been through websites crashing at some point in time. There are various reasons behind a website crash, these reasons might be because of common or complex issues. Website crash affects the users of the site by making it not accessible to its intended users. 

The longer your website stays down, the more users and revenue the e-commerce site is going to lose. It is also going to break the trust of users in the long run. More than 45% of website users do not visit sites with low performance. 

“Website Crash” – What Does It Mean?

When a website stops functioning and displays an error message you can be sure that the website has crashed. After a website crash, the data or information on the website like pictures, videos, contents, etc will not be made available to the viewer. The browser will completely stop working if the website crashes. 

Possible indications that occur when a website crashes:

1. A server error message will be displayed. If there is an issue with the hosting server, “server error” will be displayed when you try to open the site link.

2. Domain Name System (DNS) error. If the DNS gets infected by malicious software or if it gets compromised the hosting provider will block the domain, which might result in the crashing of a website as well. 

3. Server down! The entire configuration settings must be changed if this happens. When a mail server is down, the mails which you send will not reach their destination. 

4. If the website is hosted on a shared server, the problem faced in one website will affect all the other sites on the server. This will cause all the sites to crash.

As you continue reading you will come to know about the various causes of website crashes and the methods which should be undertaken in order to prevent a website from crashing. 

Reasons For Websites To Crash

Mentioned below are some of the common reasons which cause a website to crash.

1. Virus or malware Attack

Virus attacks take place frequently over the internet. Virus attacks are not easy to handle, rather they are quite tricky. In order to prevent a website from crashing because of a virus attack, you should make sure that your website is secure. Check with your hosting provider, regarding the security measures that will be taken to keep the website running in a safe environment. A website should be hosted on reliable servers that are known to have high-end security features before purchasing and hosting the website.

2. Error in code

When the codes used in developing a website are not properly formatted or if they are not correctly coded, there are great chances for the site to crash. It does not matter whether there is a flaw in the front-end or the back-end code, even a minor flaw can cause a website to crash.

3. Domain Expiry

In case the domain you are using is outdated or has not been updated in a long time, There might be issues a website might face because of this reason. Owners do not automatically renew their domain before the deadline, they just wait for any update alerts before actually updating the domain. This gives room for numerous things to go wrong, website caching is one of them.

4. Hackers!

Hackers nowadays are off the leash. They infect and attack everything on the internet. All they need is a small loophole and they are in! The best way to avoid hackers crashing your site is by tightening your security measure and constantly monitoring the site’s activities.

5. Plugin Error

When incompatible plugins are added to a website or using plugins that are not up-to-date can cause a site to crash. The common solution that overcomes almost all these reasons, is to keep everything updated. 

6. High traffic

One of the most common reasons for a website to crash is when the site gets flooded with large traffic. This can easily occur to all the newly developed websites. High traffic can also be caused by Denial of service attacks (DoS) and distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS).

7. ISP Error

Servers might stop functions if the hosting provider faces any inconvenience. So, whenever a service provider is faced with a serious issue, servers stop functioning which will result in a website crash. This usually happens when the service provider fails to update their hardware and software applications. 

8. DNS Error

DNS stands for Domain Name Server, this server manages and maintains all the outcoming and incoming requests from the domain. If there is any hurdle in this process, users won’t be able to access the website.

Ways To Prevent A Website From Crashing

“Prevention is better than cure”- Preventing a website from crashing is far better than having to repair the site after it crashes. Once the website goes down the revenue goes down with it. It is not quite easy to gain users’ trust once that happens. 

Half the web users often expect a website to load within three seconds. So, try to prevent the site from crashing by following the below-mentioned pointers:

• Make sure to renew your domain at regular intervals.
• Never forget to update the plugins that are used. Always keep your website updated along with all its tools.
• Make sure to check if the software is updated regularly as well.
• Backup is a must. Be sure to backup all the data that your website owns, this will be helpful when you want to rebuild the site again from scratch.
• Purchase the most reliable and reputed website hosting services. Check for added security features before making a purchase.

Conclusion

Website crashes might lead to a huge revenue loss. You can try to prevent it from happening by taking extreme measures but if the website still crashes because of complex issues, it is best to hire an expert to bring the website up and running in no time.