HOW TO DEAL WITH UNEXPECTED TRAFFIC
Getting traffic for your online store is dream come true for any site owner. However, there are times when the traffic attained by the site is more than the traffic that the website can handle.
For instance, your marketers can raise a campaign that is driving massive users to the site but in return it is actually driving so much traffic that the site could go down. What makes the situation worse are the users who try to open the site in several browsers and device at once, hoping that the website will open in at least one of them. This may irritate users to the extent that they might avoid navigating the website ever again.
With holiday season at its peak, the chances for your website getting extremely slow or even worse crashing down, get high. Check out the steps we suggest you should follow for letting your website balance the traffic.
Tip 1#
Make Sure that the Traffic Is Legitimate
Not always the traffic you get is legitimate. Many a times, the traffic could be a result of well-placed DOS attack, crafted especially to affect the website when it could experience an adverse effect.
Tip 2#
Opt for an Emergency Hardware Upgrade
The best thing to combat the traffic is to shut down the website for some time. But this may leave a bad impression over the users. So, the best way out is to announce that your website is undergoing an emergency hardware upgrade. You can utilize the time to upgrade memory and CPU.
Tip 3#
Pause a Few Jobs
You might have planned some new strategies and changes for the website but avoid publishing any change during this period. Instead, halt all those processes, jobs and scans that are not that critical and would not affect the overall site working.
Tip 4#
Manage Google Bot Traffic
Is your website having a hefty inventory and lots of text under its name? If yes, then limit the number of times Google will scrape your website. This may affect the ranking in search engine but for the time being, this is the best alternative for saving your website from crashing.
Tip 5#
Identify Traffic Source
It is best when you identify the source of traffic. For instance, when you are receiving traffic from a social media site like Facebook, you will have to configure the website in a way that it will be treated as traffic from bots. This will limit the time for which the session will remain active.
Tip 6#
Removing Few Sites Features
This is something that needs team effort. Coordinate with the team to discuss the elements over the site that demand high load. These include elements such as pop ups for hovering, blank searches, view all options etc. This will reduce the overall load and save the site from crashing.
Tip 7#
Implement Traffic Throttling
Now when you know that your site has chances to get down, your task is to prepare some wording for the landing page. Use something like they are currently in the queue or ask them to share their email details for some future discount. This will minimize the negative effect over the users.
