Zap Competitions Knowledgebase

How can I prepare my site for high levels of traffic?

Competition sites often experience higher levels of traffic around the time of planned and heavily promoted events, such as their launch (or re-launch) and Live Draws. A sudden burst of publicity can often cause website traffic to spike. This can come from a variety of sources, including:

  • A social media post going viral
  • Your business getting a mention in the media
  • A popular email spread to contacts beyond your mailing list.

It’s also common for sites to get more traffic over the holiday season.

If your site is not prepared for traffic spikes, it will slow down. Large and unexpected traffic spikes can sometimes cause your site crash.

All sites are susceptible to slowing down and crashing from unexpected internet traffic. Even the sites of multinational corporations, who invest millions into infrastructure to cope with high levels of traffic.

That’s why we ask our clients to keep us in the loop when they have a big promotion coming up. We want to make sure that the resources are in place so you can continue to deliver a smooth and seamless experience to your customers.

Please check out our article on traffic spikes to learn more about how to prepare your site for higher levels of traffic than usual.