Why Small Business Websites Go Down
The most common causes of website downtime for small businesses:
- Shared hosting overload: cheap shared hosting puts you on a server with hundreds of other sites. A traffic spike on any of them can crash everyone.
- Expired domain or hosting payment: the most preventable cause. Set auto-renewal on both.
- WordPress plugin conflicts: an incompatible plugin update can take a site completely offline.
- Malware or hacking: outdated WordPress installations and plugins are frequently compromised.
- Server-side errors: misconfigured code or database connection failures.
How to Know When Your Site Is Down
Most small business owners only find out their site is down when a customer tells them. By then, the site may have been down for hours. Set up free uptime monitoring so you get an immediate alert when your site goes offline.
- UptimeRobot: free, checks your site every 5 minutes, sends email or SMS when it goes down
- Freshping: free plan with 1-minute checks on 50 URLs
- These tools take 5 minutes to set up and are completely free
Moving Off Cheap Shared Hosting
If your site goes down more than once a month and you are on shared hosting at GoDaddy, Bluehost, or Hostgator, the hosting is probably the problem. A VPS (Virtual Private Server) gives you dedicated resources and dramatically reduces downtime from shared server overload.
- Shared hosting: $3 to $10 per month, oversold resources, unreliable for business sites
- VPS hosting: $15 to $40 per month, dedicated resources, much more reliable
- Northwest.net runs on a Hostinger VPS at $8 per month for 24 months
WordPress Security and Update Maintenance
An outdated WordPress installation is an open door for hackers. Malware injections can take your site offline, serve spam to your visitors, and get your domain blacklisted by Google. Keep WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated, and use a security plugin like Wordfence (free).
- Update WordPress core, themes, and plugins monthly minimum
- Use a security plugin: Wordfence or Sucuri (both have free tiers)
- Use a strong password for your WordPress admin account
- Enable two-factor authentication on your WordPress login
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my website keep going down?
Most common causes: overloaded shared hosting, expired domain or hosting payment, WordPress plugin conflicts, or malware. Start with uptime monitoring so you know immediately when it happens.
How do I prevent my website from going down?
Set up uptime monitoring, enable auto-renewal on your domain and hosting, keep WordPress and plugins updated, and consider upgrading from shared hosting to a VPS if downtime is frequent.
Does website downtime hurt my Google rankings?
Yes, if it is frequent or prolonged. Google crawls sites regularly. If it finds your site down multiple times, it may reduce crawl frequency and ranking. Occasional brief outages under 1 hour are unlikely to have a lasting impact.
Check Your Site's Reliability
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