Quick answer
Small business websites usually go down for boring reasons: an expired domain or SSL certificate, a plugin update that broke the theme, a hosting plan that ran out of resources, an unpaid invoice, or a hack through outdated software. Almost all of them are prevented by monitoring, timely updates and nightly backups.
TorontoWe monitor sites for businesses in North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, East York, Downtown and the Beaches and across Toronto from our Toronto base, and the causes are the same everywhere. We work with you by video and on site where it helps.
What actually caused the outage?
A server-side update failed halfway through. The site stopped responding at 3:02 AM on a Monday. It was back online at 3:09 AM, seven minutes later.
The owner found out over coffee, from a two-line message: what happened and when it was fixed. Nothing was needed from them.
Why do outages happen overnight?
Servers apply updates, run backups and rotate logs when traffic is low, which is overnight. That is when a failed update or a full disk shows up.
It is also when nobody is watching the site. An unmonitored outage can last a full night. The first person to notice is usually a customer, not the owner.
What are the most common reasons a website goes down?
Most outages come from four sources: a failed update, an expired certificate or domain, a hosting plan that ran out of resources, or outdated software that was exploited.
- Plugin or platform updates that conflict with the existing theme or code.
- An expired SSL certificate or domain name, both of which are entirely avoidable.
- Traffic spikes, real or from bots, on a hosting plan that is too small.
- Security holes in software that was not kept up to date.
What does uptime monitoring actually do?
A monitor requests the site every minute from several regions. Two failures in a row page a human. That is what turned a potential seven-hour outage into a seven-minute one.
Without monitoring, the sequence runs the other way: the site goes down, nobody notices, a customer tries to visit, the customer leaves, and the owner finds out later.
Uptime monitoring every minute is included in every BuildSites plan, alongside nightly backups kept for 30 days and security updates applied within 24 hours.
Nightly backups are kept for 30 days, so there is a recent copy of the site available if a restore is needed.
How does a care plan prevent these causes?
A care plan addresses each common cause directly, before it becomes an outage.
| Cause | Without a care plan | With a care plan |
|---|---|---|
| Failed update | Site breaks, owner finds out from a customer | Monitored and resolved, owner notified after |
| Expired SSL or domain | Browser warning blocks all visitors | Certificates renewed automatically |
| Outdated software | Security hole stays open | Security updates applied within 24 hours |
| No backup | Recovery may not be possible | Nightly backups kept 30 days |
What does a BuildSites website plan cost?
The website plan is $297 a month, plus tax, with no upfront build cost. Monitoring, backups, SSL, hosting and edits are all included.
The 12-month term applies, then the plan goes month to month. Cancel with 30 days' notice; remaining months are due on early cancellation. Prices are in CAD plus tax.
For more on what is covered each month, see the care plans explained page or the website cost breakdown for Toronto.
Questions we get asked
How do you know when a site is down?
A monitor requests the site every minute from several regions. Two failures in a row page a human.
Can outages be prevented entirely?
Not entirely, but most causes can be prevented. Updates are tested before they are applied, certificates can be renewed automatically, and hosting can be sized properly.
What if my site is not on a care plan?
You find out when a customer tells you. That is the honest answer, and it is why monitoring, backups and security updates are included in every BuildSites plan.
How long are backups kept?
Nightly backups are kept for 30 days.
Next step
Talk to us about your business
A 20-minute call. We'll tell you what we'd build, how long it takes and what it costs. Toronto, the GTA and Montréal.