I unfortunately came across a HTTP problem the other day while blogging. When trying to reach the homepage of my website (this website), I have come across an error message about 5% of the time I load my the page. The error sign states the ‘Service [is] unavailable’ and provides a error code of 503. Just like many bloggers who see a error number, I Googled the number to see other bloggers who can help me.
From the general view of the internet, the Error 503 is an error were the Blogger servers cannot complete the request of the webpage. This may be due to a malfunction in the system or a temporary over load of traffic.
This made me wonder whether this meant ‘.blogspot.com’ domains or any Blogger website no matter what domain service they are using. Either way, it might be a consequence or not. However, Ask Will Online has had a severe increase in traffic as soon as this server error started occurring. However, its peanuts compared to what bigger Blogger websites get. Even so, here are a few ways you can reduce the Error 503 message from occurring to your visitors when they try to enter your site.
- Reduce Content on Homepage – If your homepage has more information on it, the servers will be under more pressure from requests for the homepage increasing the chances that the servers become unavailable. Therefore, reduce the number of articles on the homepage.
- Reduce Information Generally – This could be through using a simple Blogger template to reducing the widgets you have on a sidebar, every little helps.
- Use Lower Resolution Images – You might not know it yet but the biggest request from most servers is for high-res images.
