Your site is probably down more than you are aware. I have yet to find a host that is 100% reliable in keeping a web site up and running. There can be a big difference between a solid hosting company and less expensive ones however.

A web site can go down for a variety of reasons:

• A script which is being run somewhere on your hosting account has gone haywire and shut things down
• The site could be hacked or under a "Denial of Service" (DOS) attack
• The server could be having technical problems
• It may be you server is down for routine maintenance such as an upgrade to its system

Regardless of the reason it is down, you probably want to know about it.

Personal Experience

One of my ecommerce sites is pretty regular with its sales. When I noticed one day that sales had stopped, I logged on and sure enough the site was down. Ouch. I might as well have flushed money down the toilet.

A quick phone call to the hosting company confirmed that the server had experienced a problem which they quickly fixed. I have since learned to keep a closer eye on my sites.

Free Service

One way to keep track of how often your site goes is to sign up for a service which checks this for you. Some will charge you money for this or you can signup for this free service which will notify you when your website is having troubles.

The service is at: http://www.siteprobe.com.

The have a free service which checks your site every hour. You can also signup (for a reasonable fee) for the service which checks your site every 15 minutes. The choice is yours.

By knowing quickly when your website is down you can make sure your hosting company is aware of the problem to resolve it. Down time is money and opportunity wasted.

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