{"id":74098,"date":"2019-12-10T04:19:47","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T11:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/struggling-to-get-a-handle-on-traffic-surges\/"},"modified":"2019-12-10T04:19:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T11:19:47","slug":"struggling-to-get-a-handle-on-traffic-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/struggling-to-get-a-handle-on-traffic-surges\/","title":{"rendered":"Struggling To Get A Handle On Traffic Surges"},"content":{"rendered":"Struggling To Get A Handle On Traffic Surges<\/title><\/p>\n<article>\n<header>\n<h1>Struggling To Get A Handle On Traffic Surges<\/h1>\n<address>Suzanne Scacca<\/address>\n<p> <time datetime=\"2019-12-10T10:00:00+00:00\">2019-12-10T10:00:00+00:00<\/time><time datetime=\"2019-12-10T10:00:00+00:00\">2019-12-10T11:07:03+00:00<\/time><\/header>\n<p>(This is a sponsored article.) When a traffic spike hits, you want your website to be able to ride the wave instead of drown beneath it.<\/p>\n<p>But how do you do that without constantly overspending on server resources in anticipation of a traffic surge that may or may not happen?<\/p>\n<p>Part of it comes down to knowing how to read your data really well so that you can predict upcoming upticks (or slumps) in traffic. Even then, the ebbs and flows of your data don\u2019t always accurately predict when a traffic surge will hit, how big it will be or how long it will last.<\/p>\n<p>So, what you need to do is make sure your clients\u2019 websites are prepared to take the hit and then sustain the traffic. What we\u2019re going to do today is help you create a system of tools, monitoring, and testing that will enable your websites to do this.<\/p>\n<h3>How To Prepare Your Website For A Traffic Surge<\/h3>\n<p>To properly prepare your website for traffic surges, you need to set up a system that\u2019s both proactive and reactive. Here\u2019s what it should include:<\/p>\n<h4>1. Move Your Website to a Scalable Cloud Solution<\/h4>\n<p>The reason why traffic surges are able to wreak havoc on websites is because the hosting servers and resources are unprepared to handle them. Pure and simple.<\/p>\n<p>That said, if you can\u2019t predict when a surge will happen, how do you ensure your hosting has the capacity to handle the increased traffic load? Do you simply throw more money into an oversized hosting plan <em>just in case<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, that\u2019s not a cost-efficient way to deal with a potential traffic surge. Instead, you should look for a hosting solution that will scale to your needs.<\/p>\n<h5>Leverage DigitalOcean Hosting Technology<\/h5>\n<p>One such provider that can help with this is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/\">DigitalOcean<\/a>, a developer of scalable cloud solutions.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s nice about this option is that DigitalOcean gives you optimized \u201cdroplets\u201d to choose from. There\u2019s no need to guess which plan is right for you \u2014 everything is clearly spelled out in DigitalOcean\u2019s very useful use case recommendations:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/b5b0cfde-a5f4-47ab-8acf-c8ad88fefeaf\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/b5b0cfde-a5f4-47ab-8acf-c8ad88fefeaf\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/b5b0cfde-a5f4-47ab-8acf-c8ad88fefeaf\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/b5b0cfde-a5f4-47ab-8acf-c8ad88fefeaf\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/b5b0cfde-a5f4-47ab-8acf-c8ad88fefeaf\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Digital Ocean vCPU droplets\"><\/a><figcaption>\n DigitalOcean sells virtual CPUs that are optimized for specific use cases. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/\">DigitalOcean<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/b5b0cfde-a5f4-47ab-8acf-c8ad88fefeaf\/1-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As you can see, Droplets are easy-to-configure virtual machines built for different kinds of websites and applications. What\u2019s more, they\u2019re configured for speed and security right out of the box with KVM hypervisors, SSD storage and 40GbE connectivity.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, as your website\u2019s traffic grows, it\u2019s easy to upgrade the amount of storage and bandwidth within your Droplet. And if you can figure out the rhyme or reason for traffic surges later on, you can quickly scale your resources up and down to accommodate the changes in traffic.<\/p>\n<p>That said, a scalable cloud hosting solution isn\u2019t enough to deal with traffic surges. There are a couple more things you\u2019ll need.<\/p>\n<h5>Use Load Balancers for Surges<\/h5>\n<p>If you\u2019re unfamiliar with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/community\/tutorials\/what-is-load-balancing\">load balancing<\/a> technology, let\u2019s take a look at the difference between a website with and without it.<\/p>\n<p>This is what happens when someone visits your website without a load balancer:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/d2ea64c0-deed-49c8-b82f-f2d15f6c5e6a\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/d2ea64c0-deed-49c8-b82f-f2d15f6c5e6a\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/d2ea64c0-deed-49c8-b82f-f2d15f6c5e6a\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/d2ea64c0-deed-49c8-b82f-f2d15f6c5e6a\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/d2ea64c0-deed-49c8-b82f-f2d15f6c5e6a\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"DigitalOcean - No Load Balancing graphic\"><\/a><figcaption>\n A graphic from DigitalOcean on how visitors access a website without load balancing. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/\">DigitalOcean<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/d2ea64c0-deed-49c8-b82f-f2d15f6c5e6a\/8-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They log onto the Internet, enter your URL in their web browser or click on a link to it and then your server is supposed to deliver your website to their screen.<\/p>\n<p>But if the amount of traffic requesting access to your site suddenly surges, this lone server may not be able to efficiently handle the load. This is why excessively high traffic surges can lead to painfully slow websites or no access to websites altogether.<\/p>\n<p>With a load balancer, however, this is what happens to your web traffic:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/1e686e38-5d09-45be-93c6-135b1c384a90\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/1e686e38-5d09-45be-93c6-135b1c384a90\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/1e686e38-5d09-45be-93c6-135b1c384a90\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/1e686e38-5d09-45be-93c6-135b1c384a90\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/1e686e38-5d09-45be-93c6-135b1c384a90\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"DigitalOcean - Load Balancing graphic\"><\/a><figcaption>\n A graphic from DigitalOcean on how visitors access a website when load balancing is implemented. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/\">DigitalOcean<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/1e686e38-5d09-45be-93c6-135b1c384a90\/5-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A load balancer serves as a sort of proxy for your server. This way, when traffic peaks, your server doesn\u2019t have to struggle to handle the demand. Instead, the load balancer leverages multiple servers to balance out the growing volume of HTTP requests.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s kind of like distributing your workload amongst your team. Rather than continue to pile on the requests for team members who are already overloaded, you share the work with those who have the capacity for it.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike real-world work distribution, however, load balancers do all of this behind the scenes and don\u2019t need you to coordinate anything as it\u2019s fully managed.<\/p>\n<h5>Take Advantage of Performance Monitoring and Backups<\/h5>\n<p>So long as you have the right amount of bandwidth and storage configured in your droplet, and load balancing activated, your website will be in good shape. It won\u2019t be impervious to traffic surges, but it\u2019ll be as close to it as you can get.<\/p>\n<p>Just keep in mind that for all of the fortifying you do at the server level, it\u2019s still important to have a contingency plan in place.<\/p>\n<p>Your business (website) continuity plan should include all of the things you need to do to get your website back to normal, including how to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Restore the website,<\/li>\n<li>Investigate the event that led to it,<\/li>\n<li>And reach out to visitors and customers who were impacted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That said, there are some parts of your continuity plan that DigitalOcean can help with.<\/p>\n<p>Automated backups are essential for any website, but they\u2019re absolutely critical if you know that your website will be susceptible to traffic surges. 24\/7 support is another must and is something DigitalOcean offers as well.<\/p>\n<p>Another thing to look for is built-in performance monitoring \u2014 something I\u2019m going to touch on further down in this post.<\/p>\n<h4>2. Optimize Your Assets<\/h4>\n<p>With a solid cloud hosting solution in place, you can certainly give your website the help it needs to survive a huge traffic surge. However, it can\u2019t all fall on your host. You need to do your part to make your website \u201clight\u201d enough to serve over and over again to the onslaught of visitors.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some things you can do to optimize your website and its assets for greater performance:<\/p>\n<h5>Enable Caching and Other File Optimizations<\/h5>\n<p>Want your digital assets to be easier to handle? Then, you\u2019ll need the following optimizations configured:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Caching<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are a variety of ways to implement caching and speed up how quickly your website gets delivered to visitors\u2019 browsers. You can do this at the server, page, browser database levels.<\/p>\n<p>Your web host can help you configure server caching.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve built your website with a content management system like WordPress, you can install a caching plugin to take care of the website and database baching for you. (It\u2019ll also do things like file minification, Gzip compression combine CSS and JavaScript files.)<\/p>\n<p>You can always enable caching manually. You\u2019ll <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/web\/fundamentals\/performance\/get-started\/httpcaching-6\">use your cache headers<\/a> and two mechanisms in particular \u2014 Cache-control and Expires \u2014 to configure how your content is cached.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Image Optimization<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget about your media. Image and video files can take up a lot of room on your server as well as impede how quickly your server works during a traffic surge. To optimize these assets, you should use file compression and resizing.<\/p>\n<p>To compress images in bulk, I\u2019ll use an online tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/tinypng.com\/\">TinyPNG<\/a> or TinyJPG to handle it for me.<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/c5f4a933-1090-4019-90eb-2a6f488dc2dd\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/c5f4a933-1090-4019-90eb-2a6f488dc2dd\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/c5f4a933-1090-4019-90eb-2a6f488dc2dd\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/c5f4a933-1090-4019-90eb-2a6f488dc2dd\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/c5f4a933-1090-4019-90eb-2a6f488dc2dd\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"TinyPNG image compression\"><\/a><figcaption>\n TinyPNG offers a quick and easy way to bulk-compress image assets. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/tinypng.com\/\">TinyPNG<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/c5f4a933-1090-4019-90eb-2a6f488dc2dd\/10-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On average, I can usually cut my file sizes by about 75% with this one tool.<\/p>\n<p>To further shrink the heft of your images, you should be resizing them. There\u2019s no reason to upload full-sized assets to a website if the maximum width you\u2019re going to use is 1280 pixels or thereabouts.<\/p>\n<p>For this, I\u2019ll either use my file software to do it all in one go or I\u2019ll use an online service like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bulkresizephotos.com\/en\">Bulk Resize Photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0e1de0a5-657a-47e0-9292-bc6f9f19ef33\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0e1de0a5-657a-47e0-9292-bc6f9f19ef33\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0e1de0a5-657a-47e0-9292-bc6f9f19ef33\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0e1de0a5-657a-47e0-9292-bc6f9f19ef33\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0e1de0a5-657a-47e0-9292-bc6f9f19ef33\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Bulk Resize Photos image resizing tool\"><\/a><figcaption>\n Bulk Resize Photos offers an easy way to bulk-resize image assets using a variety of resizing methods. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bulkresizephotos.com\/en\">Bulk Resize Photos<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0e1de0a5-657a-47e0-9292-bc6f9f19ef33\/4-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of flexibility here in how images are resized, but I find that setting a max width usually works best.<\/p>\n<h5>Use Managed Databases<\/h5>\n<p>In addition to optimizing the assets you put into a website, you should take some care to optimize your databases. That said, it\u2019s often easier said than done.<\/p>\n<p>While I\u2019m familiar with database cleanup and optimization plugins you can use with WordPress to keep things running more smoothly, that\u2019s not going to help much when it comes to a traffic surge. You need something that will help your database continue to process incoming data requests even at a higher rate.<\/p>\n<p>For that, you\u2019d be best off with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/community\/tutorials\/understanding-managed-databases\">a managed database solution<\/a> \u2014 something you can provision from DigitalOcean.<\/p>\n<p>When a traffic surge is detected, managed database services simplify what needs to be done in order to scale your resources accordingly. There are no calculations needed; simply log into your account and add more resources as needed.<\/p>\n<p>Another reason why managed services are ideal in these kinds of situations is because of their built-in high availability. And this isn\u2019t just some blanket promise of 99.9% uptime. If you take a look at your host\u2019s SLA, you\u2019ll find that it will go to great lengths to prevent egregious amounts of downtime.<\/p>\n<h5>Add a CDN<\/h5>\n<p>There\u2019s another layer of optimization to add to your site when traffic surges are a common occurrence: a CDN.<\/p>\n<p>Content delivery networks are useful for a whole host of reasons. They\u2019re great for serving websites to global visitors. They\u2019re definitely handy for e-commerce websites that want to provide a faster checkout experience. And they provide additional speed, security, and failover for websites that occasionally encounter high upticks in traffic.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re planning on using DigitalOcean to host your website, look to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/products\/spaces\/\">Spaces<\/a> product (with built-in CDN integration) for more efficient storage and delivery of your assets.<\/p>\n<h4>3. Analyze Your Traffic Reports<\/h4>\n<p>In general, it\u2019s really important to be diligent about collecting data from your website. That\u2019s especially so when battling traffic surges. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n<p>If there are predictable highs and lows in your website traffic, you\u2019ll know when and how exactly to plan for them. This not only means optimizing your website and server to handle the traffic but having the right amount of staff on to monitor and manage it.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, use <a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/\">Google Analytics<\/a> to keep tabs on everything.<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/37e90724-a40e-44ef-8506-9676c8271011\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/37e90724-a40e-44ef-8506-9676c8271011\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/37e90724-a40e-44ef-8506-9676c8271011\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/37e90724-a40e-44ef-8506-9676c8271011\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/37e90724-a40e-44ef-8506-9676c8271011\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Google Analytics - charting out pageviews\"><\/a><figcaption>\n A sample traffic and pageviews chart from Google Analytics. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/\">Google Analytics<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/37e90724-a40e-44ef-8506-9676c8271011\/2-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This example is a 12-month data pull that shows how many page views occurred every day (more or less). You can do this with other metrics like the number of users or sessions as well. The main goal, however, is to identify any sources of stress throughout the year, and excessive pageviews (or e-commerce conversions, if relevant) may be a more effective way to measure this.<\/p>\n<p>You can see here that there were a number of high-highs and low-lows that took place:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/e2801ee0-81de-48f0-a4c2-eb4764dcfdaf\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/e2801ee0-81de-48f0-a4c2-eb4764dcfdaf\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/e2801ee0-81de-48f0-a4c2-eb4764dcfdaf\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/e2801ee0-81de-48f0-a4c2-eb4764dcfdaf\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/e2801ee0-81de-48f0-a4c2-eb4764dcfdaf\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Google Analytics - traffic surge searching\"><\/a><figcaption>\n An example of how Google Analytics users would look for traffic surges in their data. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/\">Google Analytics<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/e2801ee0-81de-48f0-a4c2-eb4764dcfdaf\/11-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rather than take them at face value, cross-reference them against other data points to ensure that what you\u2019re looking at was a traffic surge you can learn from.<\/p>\n<h5>Rule Out Web Development<\/h5>\n<p>For example, was there any on-site development going on on those days? If someone were repairing a bug or designing a new page, that could cause the pageview numbers to increase greatly.<\/p>\n<p>If this happens a lot, it would be a good idea to automatically strip this data out of your reports at the Google Analytics level. You can do this from the Admin menu.<\/p>\n<p>Go to View > Filters > Add Filter:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/5b9b70cd-ad87-48ee-bbef-a242eabde3b1\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/5b9b70cd-ad87-48ee-bbef-a242eabde3b1\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/5b9b70cd-ad87-48ee-bbef-a242eabde3b1\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/5b9b70cd-ad87-48ee-bbef-a242eabde3b1\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/5b9b70cd-ad87-48ee-bbef-a242eabde3b1\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Google Analytics filters\"><\/a><figcaption>\n Google Analytics users can remove their personal visit and pageview metrics from results. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/\">Google Analytics<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/5b9b70cd-ad87-48ee-bbef-a242eabde3b1\/7-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By filtering out data for your IP address as well as anyone else who may preview the site frequently for testing or content creation purposes, you\u2019ll give yourself a more accurate view of your traffic levels.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say that the spikes in traffic weren\u2019t from your internal team. Next, you\u2019ll want to see if these traffic surges (or drops) occur at predictable intervals.<\/p>\n<h5>Look for Predictable Surges<\/h5>\n<p>If your website has been live for more than a year, you can use Google Analytics to see if there\u2019s a correlation. Simply set your dates to compare against the same timeframe from the previous year:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/ee1b1f63-6f9b-4d35-a2bc-1ce82aa06b2d\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/ee1b1f63-6f9b-4d35-a2bc-1ce82aa06b2d\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/ee1b1f63-6f9b-4d35-a2bc-1ce82aa06b2d\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/ee1b1f63-6f9b-4d35-a2bc-1ce82aa06b2d\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/ee1b1f63-6f9b-4d35-a2bc-1ce82aa06b2d\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Google Analytics date range comparison\"><\/a><figcaption>\n Google Analytics allows users to compare two date ranges side-by-side. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/\">Google Analytics<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/ee1b1f63-6f9b-4d35-a2bc-1ce82aa06b2d\/9-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Then, look for overlaps in traffic surges:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0fd086a0-cbeb-4275-bf05-e2bb61c569b2\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0fd086a0-cbeb-4275-bf05-e2bb61c569b2\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0fd086a0-cbeb-4275-bf05-e2bb61c569b2\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0fd086a0-cbeb-4275-bf05-e2bb61c569b2\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0fd086a0-cbeb-4275-bf05-e2bb61c569b2\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Google Analytics date range comparison data\"><\/a><figcaption>\n Google Analytics users can simultaneously review two date ranges for traffic surge predictability. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/\">Google Analytics<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/0fd086a0-cbeb-4275-bf05-e2bb61c569b2\/3-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In this case, there\u2019s maybe only one or two notable spikes that occurred in both years. The first was in early April and the other was around mid-November.<\/p>\n<p>If these were excessively large surges in both years \u2014 like at least five times more than the usual amount of traffic \u2014 I\u2019d say they\u2019d be worth investigating. In this example, however, it\u2019s probably just a coincidence and they can be ruled out.<\/p>\n<h5>Check the Calendar<\/h5>\n<p>If you have identified a notable traffic surge in your data, the last thing to do is check it against your calendar.<\/p>\n<p>What you\u2019re looking for are events that could have caused the surge. Things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Holiday sales that generated a bunch of buzz.<\/li>\n<li>Press releases that got picked up on major news wires.<\/li>\n<li>Viral blog posts or email offers you sent out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I\u2019d also suggest looking at the traffic during the days or weeks following the traffic surge.<\/p>\n<p>How did it taper off? Was it suddenly or a slow burn? Was the website able to improve its daily traffic numbers \u2014 even slightly \u2014 thanks to the surge?<\/p>\n<p>Also, look at how the organization was impacted. This is especially important for e-commerce websites that provide customer support and product returns. Was there an uptick in post-sale activity after the surge? When did it hit? How long did it last for?<\/p>\n<p>If you can figure out why the traffic surge happened (i.e. what event triggered it) and what the fallout was, you can actually use this to your advantage in the future. For example, if you know that a sale or viral post caused the surge, you can plan your server and staffing resources ahead of the next one.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of what you find looking at old reports, this needs to become part of your ongoing process. Set up Google Analytics to generate traffic reports and email them to you on a regular basis. This way, as traffic levels change \u2014 for good or bad \u2014 you\u2019ll always be in the know with what\u2019s going on and can adapt your strategy accordingly.<\/p>\n<h4>4. Real-time Performance Monitoring<\/h4>\n<p>Google Analytics will help you figure out what happened in the past and prepare more effectively for future traffic surges. Real-time performance monitoring, on the other hand, will allow you to react to traffic surges and other performance changes in the heat of the moment.<\/p>\n<p>There are various tools you can use for real-time monitoring. Here\u2019s just a sample of them:<\/p>\n<h5>Frontend Performance Monitoring<\/h5>\n<p>When page speed suddenly begins to deteriorate or your website goes down, there\u2019s no time to waste. That said, it shouldn\u2019t be up to you to regularly log into your website to make sure everything\u2019s running fine.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, you can use an uptime and speed monitoring service like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pingdom.com\/\">Pingdom<\/a>:<\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/733bb170-5183-4e8b-b4d5-9eb14bdf46ac\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?ssl=1\"><\/p>\n<p> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 400w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_800\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/733bb170-5183-4e8b-b4d5-9eb14bdf46ac\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 800w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1200\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/733bb170-5183-4e8b-b4d5-9eb14bdf46ac\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1200w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_1600\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/733bb170-5183-4e8b-b4d5-9eb14bdf46ac\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 1600w,\n\t\t\t https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/indysigner\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto\/w_2000\/https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/733bb170-5183-4e8b-b4d5-9eb14bdf46ac\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png 2000w\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png?w=900&ssl=1\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Pingdom monitoring and alerting services\"><\/a><figcaption>\n Users can automate uptime, user and speed monitoring with Pingdom. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pingdom.com\/\">Pingdom<\/a>) (<a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.netlifyusercontent.com\/assets\/344dbf88-fdf9-42bb-adb4-46f01eedd629\/733bb170-5183-4e8b-b4d5-9eb14bdf46ac\/6-struggling-to-get-handle-on-traffic-surges.png\">Large preview<\/a>)<br \/>\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It handles the tedious job of monitoring your website for upticks in traffic, problems with speed or uptime as well as issues detected at checkout. It will also serve you real-time notices so you can take care of issues caused by traffic surges before they get too bad.<\/p>\n<p>This way, you\u2019ll only need to give your website the attention and care it needs when a traffic surge has a negative impact on performance instead of constantly worrying about it.<\/p>\n<h5>Backend Performance Monitoring<\/h5>\n<p>While it\u2019s great to have a frontend monitoring service to tell you when traffic\u2019s out of whack, it\u2019s not enough. You need to know what\u2019s going on on the backend as well.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, with a managed hosting solution, you\u2019ll get some help from your provider. However, it\u2019s a good idea to familiarize yourself with your server metrics so you can be proactive about fighting off the devastating effects of surges.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the metrics to keep an eye on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hosting resources (like memory and disk space),<\/li>\n<li>Your application performance (like error rates and resource usage),<\/li>\n<li>Connectivity (like latency and bandwidth utilization).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Become acquainted with these key metrics so you\u2019re never scrambling to figure out what\u2019s going on with your website or how to fix it.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with DigitalOcean, you won\u2019t just get access to these handy metrics. It will set you up with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/community\/tutorials\/an-introduction-to-metrics-monitoring-and-alerting\">real-time monitoring and alerts<\/a>, too. And that\u2019s not all.<\/p>\n<p>The problem with many monitoring systems is that they\u2019re just that: they look for outages, errors, and instability, but it\u2019s still up to you to take action. With DigitalOcean, though, you can automate certain actions to take place when specific scenarios are detected.<\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say your website is receiving a much larger rush of traffic than you had anticipated for the holiday sale. Your resources are depleting too fast, which would normally put a website in risk of slowing to a crawl or crashing altogether. But in this case, the monitoring mechanism has noted the issue and your auto-scaling action has been triggered.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine how useful it would be to automate your server\u2019s response to certain events. You could spend less time worrying about how to restore your website and instead focus on how to keep optimizing your server assets to sustain the high levels of traffic.<\/p>\n<h3>Wrapping Up<\/h3>\n<p>If your clients\u2019 websites or PWAs aren\u2019t ready for a traffic surge, it could spell major trouble for their businesses once the dust settles. And it\u2019s not just downtime or slow-loading pages that will cost them (or you).<\/p>\n<p>Having all of those extra visitors see a website that\u2019s in ill shape \u2014 from broken checkouts or forms to malware infections \u2014 will hurt your business, too.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than cross your fingers or tell yourself that your website isn\u2019t big enough or popular enough to experience one of those traffic surges, be prepared. By starting with a practical cloud hosting solution from DigitalOcean and then optimizing your server, assets and processes surrounding them, you\u2019ll improve your website\u2019s chances of not only surviving a surge intact but greatly profiting from it.<\/p>\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/logo-red-8.png?w=900&ssl=1\" alt=\"Smashing Editorial\"><span>(ra, yk, il)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Struggling To Get A Handle On Traffic Surges Struggling To Get A Handle On Traffic Surges Suzanne Scacca 2019-12-10T10:00:00+00:002019-12-10T11:07:03+00:00 (This is a sponsored article.) When a traffic spike hits, you want your website to be able to ride the wave instead of drown beneath it. But how do you do that without constantly overspending on…<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/struggling-to-get-a-handle-on-traffic-surges\/\"> Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":74099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[371],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-user-experience"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.0.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Struggling To Get A Handle On Traffic SurgesStruggling To Get A Handle On Traffic Surges Suzanne Scacca 2019-12-10T10:00:00+00:002019-12-10T11:07:03+00:00(This is a sponsored article.) 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