How to Handle Excessive Web Traffic with Shared Hosting?
All website owners want more people to visit their sites. Usually, they want the increase in traffic to be gradual so that they can manage hosting resources and ensure uninterrupted services. However, in the age where search engines and social media platforms are the primary drivers of site traffic, spikes in the visitor count are common. This is a precarious situation for site owners since a sudden increase in visitors can be a good opportunity, but being unprepared can do the site more harm than good. You can program your hosting services to manage any sudden spikes in traffic.
This is especially crucial for websites using Shared Hosting services since resources are shared. Today, we will offer tips to help you manage excessive web traffic with Linux hosting services on a Shared Hosting Server.
When you purchase Shared Hosting, the hosting resources and processing power of the server are shared between multiple users. In such an environment, a sudden surge in site traffic can impact its performance or pull it down. Here are some tips to help you manage such traffic spikes efficiently.
1: User Server-Side Caching
Server-side caching is about creating temporary storage that stores static and pre-built content so that repeated requests for the page are fulfilled directly without going through the server and the page build process. It is easy to install and use and boosts the site speed allowing you to manage traffic spikes with relative ease.
The following video explains how you can speed up your website with Varnish Cache:
2: Optimize your website for speed
A website with heavy media files takes longer to load than a text-driven site. Hence, you can process fewer requests per minute. For such sites, even a small increase in site traffic can result in high abandon rates and dissatisfied visitors. Therefore, if you are using media files, ensure that they are optimized for the web. There are several tools that allow you to optimize images, GIFs, videos, etc., for the internet.
3: Use a content delivery network (CDN)
Like server-side caching, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can boost the speed of your site, allowing you to process more requests and manage higher traffic loads. It can also help in protecting your site from DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.
4: Increase the number of concurrent database connections
If you own a website that is driven by a database like sites running on a Content Management Solution like WordPress, Joomla, etc., then you must ensure that you have a high number of concurrent database connections. When a user visits such sites, the database is called into action. Hence, with multiple concurrent connections, you can manage a higher volume of traffic with ease. It is important to remember that there is a limit to increasing its post, which the user will get a ‘Too many database connections’ error. Talk to your hosting provider and set the maximum possible value.
Summing Up
In a nutshell, a site that loads faster can handle higher volumes of traffic. Hence, ensure that you research the Shared Web Hosting plans and choose the one that offers maximum site speeds. Remember, in today’s times, you need to be prepared for traffic spikes and have a plan of action if the surge in traffic continues. There might come a time when upgrading your server will be the most logical choice. Until then, follow the tips mentioned above and handle excessive site traffic with ease. Good Luck!
