Sept/Oct 2005

How can my organization prepare for spikes in Web traffic that may be caused by natural disasters or other unexpected events?

Answer by David Crooke, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Convio

Many circumstances can cause an organization's Web site to get hundreds or even thousands of times its normal traffic level: a national news story that involves the organization, a broadcast event like a telethon, or a major disaster relief effort like the one currently underway along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Here are just a few measures that any organization can take to ensure its Web site can withstand the strain.

Coordination

Open lines of communication and empowering people to act immediately are key to responding swiftly to any situation. Designate a response team that can spring into action in case of a crisis situation. Create a list of each member's responsibilities and cell phone numbers, and make sure everyone has an up-to-date copy. Include contacts for key vendors. Empower people to take swift and unilateral action when needed. For example, allow them to trim down a Web page if necessary to make it load faster.

Collaboration with Vendors

Organizations should stay in touch with service providers that they depend on to keep their sites up and running smoothly. Even if an organization manages its own servers, it likely relies on third-party vendors for services such as hosting, Internet connectivity and donation processing. Keep those vendors apprised of any situation that might cause extra Web site traffic, and work with them to manage the increased demands on their systems.

For organizations using an Application Service Provider (ASP) like Convio, the ASP will handle most of this. For example, Convio's staff members have worked around the clock since Hurricane Katrina hit land to manage systems and maintain responsiveness. Because they serve many customers, ASPs have much greater capacity than a single organization, and a traffic spike for a subset of their clients is much smaller when compared to their total average traffic.

Site Optimization

When an organization experiences a large spike in Web traffic after a crisis or other event, the additional site visitors typically are at the Web site for a specific purpose: to get more information about the situation and/or to make a donation. Organizations can optimize their Web sites in response to this increased demand by using the following techniques:

Put a prominent link on the homepage to the donation form related to the crisis or event.

Trim down Web content to allow it to load faster. In particular, reduce the number, size and quality of graphical images, and remove multimedia content from the homepage and donation pages.

Temporarily suspend personalized content. Replace dynamic pages with static HTML files; not only do static HTML pages require far less server capacity to render, but they also can be cached by proxy servers at big Internet Service Providers like AOL, reducing an organization's server load dramatically.

Reallocate server capacity as appropriate, and suspend non-time-critical activities such as batch processing of data to a time when Web site resources are less taxed.

Fallback Plans

Even if an organization follows the suggestions above, its Web traffic still can be overwhelming following a disaster. Following are fallback measures that can be executed quickly to avoid page errors and other Web site issues:

Create a very basic form to collect email addresses for times when site capacity to process donations is overwhelmed. Follow up by emailing those people in quieter periods to ask them for donations.

Establish a contingency donation process through another site that will host secure payment forms, such as Network for Good, IATS or PayPal.

Provide resources to enable people to donate offline. For example, offer a PDF form that can be printed, filled out, and faxed or mailed.

Conclusion

By carefully planning and implementing a few basic measures, any organization can meet the demands of sudden Web site traffic increases when any unexpected disaster or other crisis situation strikes.

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