Website is the hub of your brand on the internet. It is the core of every online business activity. If the website collapses, then you can miss opportunities and potential clients. Your business access to the world disappears. So, it is crucial to check website health regularly. Issues can be detected at an early stage and fixed before they transform into some massive dilemma.
There are different website monitoring types to consider. They focus on website availability, functionality, performance, and security.
The necessity of website monitoring
Website monitoring is not just the best practice but a requirement. Some good reasons to keep a tab on your website includes –
- Avoid money loss – Sometimes your website partially functions or is hard to use. It pushes visitors away or makes it impossible to find your website. All this means few ad views or sales.
- Protect reputation – The website is the face of your organization. If it does not interact properly then visitors will lose confidence and trust.
- Safeguards data & content – Regular checks identify vulnerabilities and exposures, which can be fixed instantly and saved from turning into a gigantic dilemma.
- Identify site/host issues – Using specific monitoring tools help to determine loading speed or compatibility issue that needs fixing.
- Good for SEO ranking management – Hacking, downtime, or poor user experience are website issues that badly impact search engine rankings. Staying on top of these problems allows one to maintain the top ranking.
- Understand visitor’s interaction – Regular monitoring gives an insight into how users browse through your website. It helps you to build a suitable strategy in the future.
Different monitoring types to consider
Downtime monitoring
Web hosts offer a 99.9% of uptime guarantee, but you are responsible for seeing if they are true to their claim. If they are not, then you can switch hosting providers. Your site can collapse due to a security breach, faulty code, a theme not being updated, or a failed plugin.
Reasons for website issue matters because detecting them allows you to take instant action. Having customer call you about site downtime seem embarrassing, so schedule 24/7 website monitoring and downtime alerts.
Security & malware monitoring
Cybercriminal activities are not limited to redirecting visitors to malevolent programs or sites and identity theft but are hijacked for collecting ransom or displaying offensive content. Some hackers leave backdoors exposed, so they can drain off-site data whenever needed.
Regular analysis of security and malware scans detect susceptibility, which is fixed and security strengthened.
Performance monitoring
Web performance affects the time visitors stay on your website and take desired actions to purchase. Google monitors some metrics to decide search ranking during queries. If search bots feel that web performance is poor they will not send traffic to your site.
Website performance can get affected because new content gets added, and themes or plugin gets updated. Performance monitoring will help you find ways to make users find information quickly and easily. It even ensures that Google is happy!
Analytics monitoring
With Google analytics you can monitor –
- How many visitors your website receives?
- Are they comfortable navigating through the website?
- From where do visitors come – search engines or paid ads?
- What is your bounce rate?
- Which webpage receive more visits?
- How many sales are generated?
Combine the accumulated data to gain better interpretation. You can detect opportunities and even changes to make for more effectiveness.
