<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Track-Uptime.jpg" alt="Track Uptime" width="399" height="126" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-9377" />You may have not considered the importance of tracking your uptime with your website but it’s actually really important that you do. This term refers to the amount of time your website’s been available to visitors, up and running, and not in downtime.  

You may have come across this term and have seen guarantees about it when you’ve looked up a web host, but you may not have fully grasped why it’s so important. Downtime means that your visitors can’t reach your site which could cost you in sales, revenue, and traffic; so the guarantee of uptime is a big deal. Here is a closer look at why tracking your uptime is really important to a successful website.

<h2>What happens during uptime vs. downtime?</h2>

Downtime happens when you are no longer in uptime, or active time of being up and running, available to visitors. Being in downtime means that your potential visitors can’t reach your site and they will inevitably be frustrated and give up forever. Hosting providers are forced to guarantee uptime to their potential customers for a certain percentage of the day, typically around 99.9%. 

<h2>Why is it that important?</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Uptime.jpg" alt="Uptime" width="259" height="194" class="alignright size-full wp-image-9378" />You may think the occasional downtime is no big deal but in reality, your customers will hold you responsible for a lack of service and website access. You have to be the one to monitor and make sure your provider is holding up their end of the bargain. 

You need to have a tracking system so that as soon as the site goes down, you can respond immediately. Your web host will monitor uptime but you are smart to track it yourself rather than trusting your hosting provider to be honest and quick in informing you. It’s always better to have more people paying attention to it than the minimum. 

<h2>How do I track uptime?</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Website-Uptime.jpg" alt="Website Uptime" width="255" height="198" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-9379" />You can track your uptime practically with monitoring tools. There is no need to check your website every 5 minutes looking for an error notice saying your webpage is not available; simply use some auto-check tools to check uptime. 

Options for tracking tools are plentiful and typically free. You can pay for a premium option too. They can check your HTTP or have it go more complex checking your back-end functions. Here are a few of the most popular tools that are free and easy to us:
<ul>
<li>HTTP Monitor for monitoring information about the HTTP traffic between internet and computer with advanced options available
</li><li>Ping Monitor for always checking if your website is up and running with advanced options to advise you on internet connection speeds and downtime stats
</li><li>TCP Port Monitor for transferring data between network devices with notifications if a connection problem takes place
</li><li>DNS Server Monitor which translates the address online to a numerical address which can lead to in-depth data on your uptime, protocol failures, and network outages
</li></ul>
Check out other options like Monitor Scout, Got Site Monitor, Service Uptime, and Host Track for additional options. 

Check out these solutions to tracking your uptime and ensuring you don’t deter any potential customers or subscribers from your website due to downtime issues. 
