What to Expect When Selecting a Web Monitoring Service for Your Business

If you maintain a website, do make arrangements to monitor it. You might be wondering why you need to monitor your site. It is very important to ensure that your website is accessible for the web traffic. If it is not up or functional, it will affect your business goals. If the site experiences regular downtime and is not fully functional, the primary purpose of the site is not being met. However, you cannot visit your website every few minutes and check if all the elements are functional. Then, what to do? The solution is using a website monitoring service which will keep an eye on your site round the clock.

What is a Website Monitoring Service?

Website monitoring process checks and confirms that your site is available, functional and performing as expected. It is the endeavor of good websites to keep their website accessible and functional all the time. In reality, it is very hard to do so. There are various unavoidable circumstances due to which your website may experience downtime or malfunction. While some downtime issues can be prevented, there are always certain things that cannot be prevented. However, having a monitoring service will notify you the moment something is wrong. Once you are aware of an issue that is affecting your site’s performance you can promptly address it. This will not only ensure the downtime is for less duration but also only a few customers will experience website uptime issues.

Almost all the good monitoring services keep an eye on these basic features of website monitoring:

• Site Availability
• Site load time
• Page element performance
• Server response time
• Avoiding DNS caching
• Multi-location monitoring
• 3rd party API performance
• Using high quality infrastructure

Does Your Business Need a Site Monitoring Service?

For a business, a website is like a virtual store. If your website is down or not performing well you will lose customer leads and sales. Studies have found users switch to an alternative site, if your web page takes too long to load. Even malware can find its way into your site if proper measures are not taken. Issues with your site could cause harm to your business by turning away potential customers. These problems can be avoided or minimized if you are promptly aware of the downtime and site performance issues. This is where a website monitoring service is helpful. While the need for the site monitoring service is clear, the challenge is that there are a plethora of service providers available in the market, including both free and paid services. Which one will be suitable is an important decision for an online business or a popular website.

Which Monitoring Service Will Be Suitable For Your Website?

One of the primary differentiator is whether the monitoring service is a free or paid service. Some services are available free for a trial for a limited time and some services are available free for the long term. However, the free service may not be the most effective solution for a serious website due to limitations in the comprehensiveness of the functionality, the interval of monitoring, the absence of multi-location monitoring and lack of quality service and infrastructure.

For example, paid services spend a lot of time to avoid giving false alerts of downtime. This needs both multi-location monitoring and comprehensive high quality functionality. A paid site monitor tool allows integrating with other software solutions to expand the functionality and convenience of using the solution. Further, paid services allow customization of the alerts, so that a customer can choose the appropriate method of communication to receive the alerts. A paid site monitoring tool also allows for escalation of the alerts to the specifications of the clients. The monitoring alerts when conveyed to the right person within your organization using the right communication method, can aid in quickly rectifying the errors or resolving the problems. All these are practically useful site monitoring solution options that make a big difference in running a website properly.

Each website and business can have unique needs. The individuals responsible for your website may have unique traits and preferences. It is important that you choose the site monitoring service carefully as it can make a big difference in helping you achieve your goals both financially and also ensuring the visitors have a good brand experience.