How to Monitor Website Uptime: A Complete Guide

Website uptime is critical to your business. Every minute of downtime costs money, damages reputation, and frustrates users. In this guide, you'll learn everything you need to know about monitoring your website's uptime effectively.

Looking for tool recommendations? Check out our comparison of the best uptime monitoring tools.

Why Uptime Monitoring Matters

Before diving into the how, let's understand the why. According to industry research:

• The average cost of downtime for businesses ranges from $5,600 to $9,000 per minute
• 40% of users will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load
• 79% of customers who experience poor performance are less likely to buy again

Uptime monitoring isn't just about knowing when your site is down—it's about protecting your revenue and reputation.

Types of Uptime Monitoring

There are several types of checks you should implement for comprehensive monitoring:

HTTP/HTTPS Monitoring

The most common type of monitoring. It sends HTTP requests to your website and verifies:

• The response status code (200, 301, 404, 500, etc.)
• Response time (latency)
• Response body contains expected content
• SSL certificate validity

TCP Port Monitoring

Useful for checking if specific services are running:

• Database connections (port 3306 for MySQL, 5432 for PostgreSQL)
• Custom application ports
• SSH access (port 22)

DNS Monitoring

Ensures your domain resolves correctly:

• Verifies DNS records return expected values
• Detects DNS propagation issues
• Monitors for DNS hijacking attempts

Ping (ICMP) Monitoring

Basic connectivity check:

• Verifies server is reachable
• Measures network latency
• Useful for infrastructure monitoring

Setting Up Your First Monitor

Here's a step-by-step guide to setting up effective uptime monitoring:

Step 1: Identify What to Monitor

Start by listing your critical endpoints:

- Homepage: https://example.com
- API: https://api.example.com/health
- Login: https://example.com/login
- Checkout: https://example.com/checkout

Step 2: Choose Check Intervals

Select appropriate intervals based on criticality:

Step 3: Configure Alerts

Set up alerts to notify you when issues occur:

1. Email alerts for all team members
2. Slack/Discord for real-time team notifications
3. SMS for critical production issues
4. PagerDuty for on-call rotations

Step 4: Set Up a Status Page

Create a public status page to:

• Communicate system status to users
• Reduce support ticket volume
• Build trust through transparency

Learn more in our guide on status page design best practices.

Best Practices for Uptime Monitoring

Monitor from Multiple Locations

Single-location monitoring can miss regional outages. Use monitoring from at least 3 geographic regions:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific

Set Appropriate Thresholds

Avoid alert fatigue by setting sensible thresholds:

Response time warning: > 2 seconds
Response time critical: > 5 seconds
Consecutive failures before alert: 2-3

Monitor Dependencies

Don't forget to monitor:

• Third-party APIs
• CDN endpoints
• Database connections
• Payment gateways

Test Your Alerts

Regularly verify your alerting system:

1. Trigger a test alert monthly
2. Verify all notification channels work
3. Update contact information when team members change

Responding to Downtime

When you receive a downtime alert:

1. Acknowledge the Alert

Let your team know you're investigating to avoid duplicate efforts.

2. Check Your Dashboard

Review recent changes, deployments, or unusual traffic patterns.

3. Update Your Status Page

Post an initial update within 5 minutes:

"We are currently investigating reports of website unavailability. Updates to follow."

4. Diagnose and Fix

Work through your runbook to identify and resolve the issue.

5. Post-Incident Review

After resolution:

• Document the root cause
• Update your runbook
• Implement preventive measures

Calculating Uptime Percentage

Understanding uptime calculations helps set realistic SLAs:

Getting Started with Wakestack

Ready to start monitoring? Here's how to get started with Wakestack:

1. Sign up for a free account
2. Add your first monitor by entering your website URL
3. Configure alerts to your preferred channels
4. Create a status page to keep users informed

Our free plan includes 5 monitors with 5-minute intervals—perfect for getting started with uptime monitoring. Check out our documentation for detailed setup guides.

Conclusion

Effective uptime monitoring is essential for any online business. By implementing comprehensive monitoring, setting up proper alerts, and maintaining a public status page, you can minimize downtime impact and build user trust.

Start monitoring your website today and never miss another outage.