What Does A Website Monitoring Service Mean To You?

Your website may be well designed, strategically promoted and obtain high search engine ranking. Still, it will be of no use if the web servers are not fully up and operational. Many items like software lockups, databases, hardware failures, viruses, hackers and Internet connectivity play an important role in the success of your online business.

You may wonder…where does website monitoring fit in?

Basically, website monitoring refers to the monitoring of the operational status and performance of the website using HTTP or HTTPS. Similarly, email monitoring refers to the monitoring, operational status and performance tracking of SMTP servers to make sure that mail flows consistently and in time. This can be an important aspect in determining the performance of your website and improving it over time.

Monitoring firms connect to your website from time to time to verify correct operational status. Some of them simply use ping to see if a server answers and records the response times during the process. Complex techniques like checking the web page code, keyword verification, database connectivity, etc may also be used. When selecting the monitoring services, you must ensure that the method used to determine operational status is applicable to your SLA or QOS agreement.

You may have to install executables on your server sometimes. However, most internet monitoring services can query your website or server service without the need for agents or additional software.

An important element is the monitoring “interval” i.e. the frequency in which a site or server is checked. Most monitoring services offer packages ranging from 2 to 60 minutes. If the site or server is mission critical, 2 minute monitoring intervals may be required to avoid loss of revenue.

The cost of web hosting services may vary depending on the monitoring interval, method used to determine operational status and the services provided. Generally, prices range from free to $99 per month. For mission critical packages, the price range may be from $30 to $60 per month.

To ensure that your servers are truly available to your website visitors and items like firewall are correctly configured, monitoring services can be a valuable tool in your hands. Depending on your business goals, it can play a significant role in your online success.