Introduction
The company runs ads for its website. According to the statistics, there are clicks, but some users don’t make it to the contact form. On the surface, the problem seems inconsistent: sometimes the website loads, sometimes it takes a long time to respond, sometimes it returns an error, and sometimes the browser displays an SSL warning.
This is an unpleasant situation for a business: the advertising budget has already been spent, yet some of the traffic is effectively hitting a technical dead end. The most common mistake is to simply restart the server manually and consider the issue resolved. This may bring the site back online for a few hours, but it doesn’t explain why the problem occurred in the first place.
What is checked first?
- Domain and DNS: where the record points, whether there are any old IP addresses or conflicting records;
- SSL: certificate validity, certificate chain, expiration date, HTTP/HTTPS redirects;
- Web server: nginx/Apache responses, 500/502/504 codes, proxy errors;
- PHP and CMS: fatal errors, plugins, themes, memory limits, updates;
- Hosting and resources: disk space, memory, CPU, process limits;
- Backups: Is there a restore point, and can you quickly roll back?;
- Monitoring: Who finds out when the site goes down again, and how?
Progress of the Work
First, an external audit is conducted without access: the website is accessed via different URL patterns, and headers, redirects, SSL, and basic availability are checked. This helps determine whether the problem lies at the domain, certificate, web server, or application level.
After that, only the minimum necessary access is requested: to the hosting control panel, web server logs, WordPress, or the server. This access is not requested “just in case,” but for a specific audit.
When reviewing logs, you typically look for recurring issues: a specific PHP fatal error, out-of-memory error, incorrect redirect loop, database connection error, plugin conflict, PHP-FPM crash, incorrect SSL configuration, or a proxy issue.
What is considered a normal result?
A good result isn't just "the website is now up and running." A normal outcome looks like this:
- A probable cause of the malfunction has been identified;
- specific changes have been made;
- The main URLs, the application form, and SSL have been checked;
- There is an understanding of what to do in case of a repeat;
- Availability monitoring has been added as needed;
- The owner understands what risks remain.
Conclusion
A website that goes down periodically cannot be fixed simply by restarting it. If the site runs ads, technical instability directly translates into lost leads. Therefore, the issue should not be resolved simply by “refreshing the page,” but rather by diagnosing the cause, implementing fixes, and ensuring minimal recurrence.