Directing Traffic: Being Prepared for Surges By Lena West
December 20, 2006
Carolers are singing. Partridges are in their pear trees. Visions of sugarplums abound. Chestnuts are on the open fire. The holidays are a time of peace and tranquility for all. A time that most everyone heaves a collective sigh of relaxation. That is until your Web site nose-dives.
Online retailers can typically expect a 30-percent increase in traffic during the holidays and should plan accordingly. I recall a project that I worked on some years ago. Our client's product was going to be featured on Oprah Winfrey's Holiday Show. Clearly it was imperative that her Web site be able to withstand the huge traffic surge that this media opportunity presented. Here are the five questions we asked the hosting provider. Even if you're not going to be interviewed by Oprah, you can ask these same questions to ensure that your Web site holds up during the holiday havoc.
1. Do you offer automatic upgrades? Don't leave anything to chance. Some small e-tailers assume that if they exceed their allotted bandwidth, their Internet Service Provider or hosting service will just bump them up to the next plan. Not necessarily so. Many hosting providers leave it up to the customer to manage and monitor their own bandwidth. And, if you exceed it without manually upgrading your hosting plan, your visitors will be greeted with a very unwelcoming error page instead of your wonderfully-designed e-commerce site.
Many hosting companies will gladly put you on a premium plan to extend this functionality. And, it might be worth the extra few bucks to get some peace of mind — you can always downgrade later.
2. If you offer automatic upgrades, how long does it take for the changes to take effect? It does you no good to have the option of being automatically bumped up to the next biggest hosting plan only to have to wait for 24 hours for the changes to take effect. When your site's down, it's down, and no amount of apologies from your hosting company is going to make up for the lost revenue. Do yourself a favor and ask all the detailed questions beforehand.
3. If you don't offer automatic upgrades, how can I monitor my bandwidth on my own? If your hosting provider will not automatically increase your server space, you need to learn how to manage your bandwidth on your own. Most hosting companies have a control panel that's used to manage your account. There is usually a bandwidth meter located in your control panel that you can check in regular intervals throughout the day to make sure you're not exceeding or close to the limit of your current account.
If you're not Web savvy, insist that the support representative walk you through it. You're paying them, right? Also, write the steps down for future reference — you'll be glad you did.
4. Can you perform a Web site performance audit for me? Some hosting companies may be willing to help you conduct a Web site performance audit. This is basically to test if your Web site can handle the projected increase in traffic. For example, if your site normally gets 75,000 visitors per day, how will it behave if your traffic crests at 100,000 visitors? Your hosting company, or a capable technology consultant, can help you test this to make sure all your Web site's moving parts — shopping cart, merchant account, inventory and accounting applications — will survive the swell in activity.
There are also free bandwidth analysis tools such as NetFlow Analyzer and Speed Meter Pro 2 on the Internet you can use to gain insight on how your bandwidth resources are being used.
5. Do you offer holiday support hours? If so, what are they? If not, what are my support options? If something does go awry during a mad rush to buy the last case of your mint green widgets, you need to know that someone at your hosting company will be around to help you seamlessly work through any challenges.
Ask them about their Service Level Agreement (SLA); that's the amount of time they have promised in which to get back to you once you log a trouble ticket. Many hosting providers will offer premium extended hours over the holiday for an additional nominal fee.
A good rule of thumb is if you can't reach anyone before the holiday rush, there's a 99.9 percent chance you won't reach anyone on Dec. 24 either.
While these practices will help you through the home-stretch leading to 2007, they really are imperative year-round, whether bracing for a seasonal surge in traffic, a media event or just good-old fashioned success.
Lena L. West is the CEO of xynoMedia Technology, a company that helps high-growth companies use technology to do more so they can earn more.
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