Another Website Testing Resource

Here's a free testing resource for small business website owners that deserves your attention. In most cases the need for this test will arise rarely, or never. At times clients will contact me about their website after one of their customers phones them to report the site is not online. In most cases I can view the website and when asked, my client can, too, so what's going on? The internet is called the "web" for a reason.

Flawless site access depends on connected threads from numerous chains of computer systems and internet service providers that point visitors to pages on the hosting server. Sometimes a local thread can be broken. Before becoming alarmed that your website is missing in action, here's some advice for how to test for broken threads.

My choice is using a proxy server like www.megaproxy.com. These online services can confirm the presence of pages of a given www domain on the hosting server, so you can find out immediately if your small business website is truly online.

Visit www.megaproxy.com and look for the try it free option and follow the link. Type your www domain and select the surf button and the megaproxy server will keep you on their site yet present the target web pages IF they are accessible. If your pages show on megaproxy, the site is online and connected, so the customer who reported the site offline has a local problem. The best advice is apologize, explain that your site is confirmed online, and ask that they try again later in the day.

If your site cannot be viewed through the megaproxy site, contact your designer or internet service provider for answers.



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