Are you running an online business?
Here’s a jaw-dropping reality: You’re just one of the over 26.5 million retailers who depend on the internet to sell their products or services.
And get this, that number is only growing. According to Statista, global e-commerce sales are projected to hit an all-time crescendo of $8.034 trillion by 2027.
That’s a 26.5% increment from $6.33 trillion anticipated by the close of 2024.
The implication? If there’s a moment you don’t want your online business to crash, it has to be now!
But do you know that a crash is more likely to happen than we might think? That’s right, and here’s why: Competition is quickly heating up in the online landscape.
In other words, due to increased competition in the online arena, a slight misstep in your eCommerce journey might be all it takes to trigger irrevocable doom for your online business.
But here’s something to cheer you up: You can prevent this.
That’s right!
With a few simple fixes, you can keep your online business up and running without any interruption. In this guide, we’ll share nine easy fixes that will help safeguard your website and prevent it from crashing.
What Causes Online Businesses to Crash?
Before we examine how you can prevent your online business from crashing, let’s assess the problem from its roots, especially when considering how much money you need to start a business. Only after you know the cause of an issue can you effectively implement strategies to avoid it. Sometimes, simple branding mistakes can lead to the failure of your online business.
So, what are some of the top reasons why online businesses crash?
Here are various reasons:
1. Lack of Website Maintenance
Your website is a significant factor when selling things online. So, regular maintenance is critical for keeping it secure and functioning correctly.
Without it, your website’s chances of deterring visitors or even crashing are very high. It’s the same with cars: if you don’t change the oil or service it regularly, it’s likely to break down.
2. Poor Website Performance
The impression your website creates to your visitors can determine how long they stay on it and their chances of converting into customers. And you only have 50 milliseconds to impress your online visitors!
You miss it there, and you might never convince them otherwise.
Elements like page load speed and visual design play a central role in creating a positive first impression. If you don’t pay attention to these factors, your downfall might be imminent.
Starting an online business with platforms like Shopify that include website performance, easy site design and security all-in-one is worth considering.
3. Weak Security Measures
Online security threats continue to linger in the eCommerce industry. The more technology advances, the more hacking techniques evolve, making it crucial to have robust security protocols in place.
Without a robust security mechanism, your online business is at a high risk of plummeting. And as you’ll learn later, most of these attacks are so severe that most businesses never rise again after just a single hit.
4. Lack of Backups
Data loss is almost inevitable. So, to recover once you encounter this problem, having backups in place is a must. Otherwise, you risk losing all your website data in the event of a crash or hack.
5. Inadequate Customer Service
Good customer service increases customer trust and brand loyalty and highly impacts sales and customer lifetime value (CLV).
Unless your customer service is top-notch, you risk failing in your online venture. Recent research by Qualtrics and ServiceNow revealed that 80% of customers have switched brands after poor customer service and that a significant 43% would do it after a single bad customer experience.
5. Unreliable Hosting Service
Your hosting service can dictate many things about your website. Your website can only be as good as your hosting service. If you lack reliable hosting, your website can experience frequent downtime, slow-loading pages, and other technical issues that can immensely harm your online business.
7. Outdated Content and SEO Practices
Search engines want to offer their users the freshest content. If you don’t regularly update your published content and embrace changes in your SEO campaign, you’ll likely lose favor with search engines over time, causing a decline in your sales.
8. Neglecting Social Media Presence
Social media platforms offer a significant opportunity to reach potential customers and build brand awareness. They are even becoming a great avenue to make sales, which means neglecting their essence could attract failure for your online business.
Those are some of the top causes of online business crashes. Let’s examine how you can prevent them.
9 Easy Fixes To Prevent Your Online Business From Crashing
An online business crash isn’t as unlikely as it may seem. But even easier is preventing it from happening, and it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
In fact, keeping your online business afloat is mostly about doing the seemingly small things right.
Here are some of the ways you can keep your online business operational amidst the tempestuous online landscape:
1. Invest In SEO & Marketing
The first way to make it in the online venture and avoid crashing is by investing in SEO and marketing.
In fact, this part is so essential that when you miss it, your chances of survival become negligible.
The higher you rank on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), the more likely you are to get high traffic and, thus, the higher your chances of making sales — and SEO helps improve this ranking.
The first page of Google search results receives over 90% of all the clicks, with the first 10 results claiming a whopping 86.3% of all clicks related to the keyword.
Source: Backlinko
That means the chances of getting significant user traffic are infinitesimal even if you rank on page 2 or 3 of search results.
Actually, the results on the second page share a tiny 0.63% of all clicks, and we don’t even need to discuss those on the third and other pages.
So, if you want to stay in business, invest in SEO and marketing. It’s one of the most powerful weapons to help you stand out in a crowded online landscape.
SEO helps you optimize your website for search engines, giving you higher rankings and attracting increased traffic organically.
But then, how do you leverage on SEO?
Well, it’s simple!
Some ways to improve your SEO include creating high-quality content, building backlinks, and optimizing your website for mobile devices.
And now on marketing, efforts like social media advertising, email marketing, and influencer partnerships can also drive more traffic to your website, increasing the chances of making sales.
But then, how you carry out your SEO and marketing campaigns matters a lot. Unless you are an SEO expert, consider working with a professional SEO and marketing team. Of course, if you want the best results, consider the team’s reputation before you strike a deal.
2. Regular Website Maintenance
As an online entrepreneur, you want to ensure that your website functions well all the time. Otherwise, you risk losing clients to competitors.
Your website is like your physical store, only that it’s virtual. So, for you to succeed, ensuring that its functionality is up to par remains paramount.
That’s where regular website maintenance comes in.
Website maintenance entails all activities necessary to keep your website up-to-date and running smoothly, whether accessing it using a desktop or a mobile device.
This process isn’t complicated, but only work with a seasoned expert so you don’t leave anything to chance.
Usually, maintenance tasks include:
- Updating WordPress plugins, software, and themes
- Checking for broken links and fixing them
- Removing spam comments and cleaning up databases
- Monitoring site traffic and performance metrics
- Scanning for any virus attacks
- Debugging
And remember, website maintenance needs to be done regularly. That way, you’ll prevent your website from any mishaps by identifying any potential issues before they snowball into major problems.
Plus, regular maintenance helps ensure your website speed is up to par, helping you create a positive impression in every click you receive. And the best part? It doesn’t have to drain your pocket, as there are many ways to reduce maintenance costs for eCommerce sites.
That said, you’re probably wondering, “How often should website maintenance happen?”
It depends! Nonetheless, it’s advisable to conduct routine maintenance checks at least monthly. But depending on your website traffic and activity, you might be forced to conduct weekly or daily checks. It varies greatly with the website.
3. Monitor Website Performance
Your website is the backbone of your online business, so it’s important to always keep it in top condition.
If your website’s performance isn’t up to par, bounce rates are likely to surge, forcing the conversion rate to decline. There’s even the risk of website crashes happening, which may prevent the website from getting any traffic.
Source: Canva.com
Check the key performance elements to determine whether your website is performing as it should. These include page load speed, downtime rate, and error rate.
Assessing these factors will help you improve users’ overall experience when they visit your website.
Let’s take page load speed, for instance. Several studies show that 40% of visitors abandon a website due to slow loading times. And get this, “slow”, in our case, comes in if the site takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Yes, a loading time that exceeds 3 seconds is considered slow for a website!
Ideally, your website should load in less than 2 seconds to ensure a seamless user experience and prevent visitors from leaving. In fact, if you want maximum conversion, aim for a load time of a second or less.
Why? A study found that web pages that load in 1 second register an impressive 40% conversion rate. When this time takes longer by a second, the conversion rate drops to about 34%.
And that’s just on the page load speed alone. Every other aspect plays a crucial role in the overall performance of your website.
So, take time to ensure that your website’s performance is super.
The way to do that?
It’s simple:
- Leverage the Power of Tools: Use tools like Google Pagespeed Insights, Pingdom, Google Analytics, or GTmetrix to monitor your website’s performance and identify areas that need your attention.
- Compress Images: As much as we say an image is worth a thousand words, large image sizes cause longer load times, irritating customers. The solution? Using compression tools. Options like TinyPNG and JPEGmini can help you reduce the size of your images without compromising quality.
- Use Content Delivery Network (CDN): Instead of using a single server for your website data, consider utilizing a CDN. A CDN stores your website’s static assets like Javascript, CSS, and images on multiple servers across the globe. That way, when users request content from your website, they get it from the nearest server, boosting load speed.
- Simplify Your Website Code: Performing code audits to remove unnecessary elements in your website code can significantly improve load speeds. If you’re unfamiliar with coding, consider hiring a professional developer to help optimize your site.
Proper website performance goes a long way in minimizing downtime and makes it more likely for you to convert visitors into customers, hence remaining in business.
4. Conducting Regular Data Backups
Imagine losing all the data on your website: product listings, customer information, and financial records — all gone in a second.
Scary, right? That’s why backing up your data should be part of your online business routine.
When you have data backups in place, you can retrieve all the information you need in case of any malfunctions or if you accidentally delete important information. This will reduce the risk of data loss costs.
But then, where should you store your backups?
The rule of thumb is to use several different locations. Local servers, external hard drives, cloud storage services, and even offline storage can all be reliable backup solutions.
Your hosting provider might offer data storage backup, but it’s always good to have a backup outside of your host’s reach.
Also, ensure you back up data regularly. How frequently you need to do that varies depending on how often you update your website and the value of the information.
If you make daily changes to your site, back up your data every day. However, if you don’t update your site as often, weekly or monthly backups should suffice. On data value, critical data demands more frequent backups.
5 Strengthening Website Security
Do you know that nearly 4,000 new cyber attacks are reported every day?
Let me simplify: For every 14 seconds a clock ticks away, a company somewhere falls victim to a cyberattack.
And with the growth of the internet, this malpractice is only expected to exacerbate. If a report published by CyberCrime Magazine is anything to go by, cyberattack costs will hit a staggering $10.5 trillion by 2025, an alarming increase from the $3 trillion it was in 2015.
Source: Embroker
In other words, if you don’t take website security seriously, you could be closer to a cyberattack than you probably think.
And don’t buy the notion that only big corporations are targeted. Cyberattacks affect businesses of all sizes, whether large or SME. In the same report by CyberCrime Magazines, it was established that 46% of all cyber breaches affect businesses with less than 1000 employees.
To make matters worse, SMEs are the hardest hit by cybercrime whenever it happens — with a whopping 60% of them shutting down within 6 months after a data breach or hack attack.
So, it’s not a matter of if. It’s a danger that every business, regardless of size, stares at.
To safeguard your online business from cyber threats, here are some tips you can follow:
- Keep Your Software Up to Date: Hackers often exploit security vulnerabilities in outdated software. So, eCommerce website owners should keep their website’s platform, plugins, antivirus software, and other software up to date.
- Use Strong Passwords: The rule of thumb dictates combining upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters when creating a password.
- Implement SSL Encryption: SSL encryption secures data transferred between servers and browsers. Without it, sensitive information like credit card details can be easily intercepted by hackers.
- Install Security Plugins: Many website platforms have security plugins to help monitor and protect your site from threats.
- Educate Yourself: Stay informed about the latest security threats and how to prevent them. Attend webinars, read articles, and follow reputable cybersecurity experts on social media for updates.
Remember, your website is only as strong as its weakest link when it comes to security. So, implementing these security measures is crucial to secure your online business and protect your customers’ data.
6. Utilize Quality Hosting Services
When it comes to online businesses, the hosting services you use can significantly dictate your business success.
Hosting services are simply the companies providing storage space and services for websites registered with domains to be accessed over the internet.
Think of it as renting a physical store for your business, except in this case, you’re renting a server space for your website.
Now, just as the location you choose for your physical store matters, the hosting service you choose for your website matters, too.
When you opt for quality hosting services, your website will have a secure, reliable, and fast connection to the internet. Of course, this is important because it affects your website’s loading speed, uptime, and overall performance.
Cheap or inefficient hosting services, on the other hand, can result in slow loading speeds, frequent downtimes, and even security breaches — all of which can hurt your online business.
So, how do you choose a quality hosting service?
It’s a straightforward exercise if you know what to look out for when finding one.
Here are some key factors to consider:
- Reliability: Choose a hosting service with a high uptime guarantee (ideally 99.9% or more) to ensure your website is always available.
- Performance: Your host should have servers in multiple locations and offer fast loading times for all users, regardless of their location.
- Security Features: Prioritize advanced security features like DDoS protection, malware scanning, and regular backups when choosing a hosting service.
- Support: A support team available 24/7 to help you in case of technical issues is a must.
- Scalability: As your online business grows and your website traffic spikes, you’ll need more server space and resources. The hosting service you choose should easily accommodate your growth and offer ways to handle peak traffic, such as autoscaling or a virtual waiting room. Otherwise, a website crash due to high traffic as your site begins to experience an influx of visitors becomes very likely.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and GoDaddy are the currently leading hosting service providers, with a market share of 18.11%, 8.27%, and 8.02%, respectively — as per the report published by Hosting Advice.
8. Plan for Unexpected Events and Have a Contingency Plan
No matter how well you run your online venture, there’s always a chance that something will go wrong. This is simply the reality of running any business.
To minimize disruptions and losses during unexpected events such as malicious attacks or natural disasters (e.g., floods, fires), a contingency plan is fundamental.
A contingency plan is a document that outlines specific procedures and steps to follow in case of an unforeseen event that disrupts your business operations.
The plan should clearly state how data will be backed up, who is responsible for implementing it, how it should be communicated to stakeholders, and what alternative work arrangements are in place to keep the business running even when the unexpected occurs.
As you develop a contingency plan, consider insuring your business. Insurance may seem like an obvious risk mitigation strategy, but do you know that 29 % of small businesses don’t have any insurance at all?
Source: Next Insurance
No wonder most of them are forced to close down months of being hit by cyber-attacks.
But, if there’s one thing you take away from this article, let it be this: Don’t be one of them.
Protect your online business. Plan for the unexpected. Have a contingency plan in place. Find a reputable insurer to cover your business. It will mean paying premiums periodically, but as they say, “Better safe than sorry!”
8. Develop a Comprehensive Monitoring and Alerting System
Picture this: It takes an average business 197 days to detect a data breach. As if that isn’t long enough, containing the problem takes an additional 69 days. That’s 266 days altogether — according to IBM.
And get this: As per the report, the quicker you address the problem, the less you lose. For instance, companies that solve the problem within 30 days save more than $1 million compared to those that take longer than 30 days.
In other words, Cyber attacks can be costly — even when recovery is made within a month after the attack. And let’s be honest, that’s not something you want to experience in your online business.
Unfortunately, your business can never be 100% immune to security threats. The rapidly changing landscape of technology means what could safeguard you today may not suffice for tomorrow.
That’s why, as an online entrepreneur, embracing a forward-thinking mindset when it comes to security matters is vital.
Set up a comprehensive monitoring and alerting system. Ideally, the intrusion detection system should include three essential elements:
- Regular security scans
- Real-time alerts for any unauthorized access or suspicious activity on your website
- Automatic backups
And remember to also invest in a web application firewall (WAF). It provides an extra layer of protection against potential attacks.
A WAF monitors and filters incoming traffic to your website, identifying and blocking malicious requests before they reach your server.
It’s crucial to note that having a comprehensive monitoring and alerting system doesn’t mean being paranoid about every little security risk. Not at all. Instead, it’s about acting proactively and being prepared for potential threats.
9. Don’t Neglect The Power of Social Media
Recent stats by Statistica show that social commerce sales were about 992 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. And that’s just a tiny fraction of the 8.5 trillion U.S. dollars they are expected to reach by 2030.
Source: Statistica
So, what does this mean for your online business?
Simply put, social media platforms aren’t just an avenue for building brand awareness and engaging with customers. They are becoming a busy marketplace that’s proving to be a goldmine for businesses of all sizes.
One of the biggest mistakes that could make your online business crumble is neglecting social media platforms.
To stay ahead of the game, you need to:
- Create a strong presence on relevant social media channels
- Engage with your audience consistently
- Offer exclusive promotions and discounts to build brand loyalty
- Use paid advertising options for targeted reach and increased conversions.
- Sell your products and services through social media.
One more thing to keep in mind is that social media isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Hence, you must understand your target audience before choosing the right platforms to reach them effectively.
Conclusion
Whether you’re running your online business to generate cash flow or planning an exit in the future, crashing is more likely to happen than you think. And as an entrepreneur, it’s your responsibility to implement measures to safeguard your business against potential threats.
Don’t wait until something happens for you to learn the hard way. Be proactive. Sometimes, a minor setback can mean the difference between your business surviving or crashing entirely.
So, use some of these fixes to protect your online business from crashing. As long as you know the potential threats and have proactive measures implemented, you can rest easy knowing your online business is safe.
