Overview
The following provides suggestions for optimizing a website on a Shared Hosting plan if you are expecting a significant increase in web traffic.
You might also want to message DreamHost support when you expect increased web traffic so they can keep an eye on your website during that time period.
Throttling/Disabling your site
If your increased traffic causes problems for the server, it may be necessary for support to:
- "throttle" your site (restricting the number of simultaneous visitors)
- or possibly disable it.
This is done in fairness to the other customers on your server to ensure they are not negatively affected by your website.
Please note that you're on a Shared Hosting plan, where resources are shared with other customers. Therefore, DreamHost cannot allow a single website to jeopardize the server's operation for everyone else.
Although this article offers optimization suggestions to help your site remain up and running, it’s ultimately your responsibility to ensure that your site does not negatively affect other customers.
What if my site is throttled?
DreamHost support will contact the owner of the account if it is necessary to throttle your site.
If there is a problem with your site that you have already resolved, make sure to notify support with the details of what you did to fix the problem. Support may then be able to remove the throttle in place.
Optimizing your site
Update your software
Make sure that your applications are up to date. For example, if you’re running a WordPress site, make sure the following are updated:
- WordPress version
- Plugin versions
- Theme version
If you are using a DreamHost WordPress install, your site is updated automatically.
Enable caching
If your site provides dynamic content or uses a database, you may want to enable some form of "caching". You will need to review your particular application's help docs for details. Here are a few general articles to get you started:
Optimize your database
View the Optimize a database article for tips on optimizing your website's database.
Disable unused software
Disable unnecessary or resource-intensive plugins your site may be using. For WordPress sites, remove old software and disable any unused themes, plugins, or extra WordPress installations.
Optimize media files
Try optimizing your media by temporarily replacing large graphics, files, movies, etc., with lower-resolution (smaller) versions.
Convert dynamic content to static content
Although it may be difficult, converting dynamic pages to static pages could significantly help. Some caching tools, such as wp-super-cache, include the ability to do this using the plugin.
Upgrade your hosting plan
VPS
If it’s not possible to optimize your site any further, it may be necessary to upgrade your Shared hosting plan to a VPS. This is a separate hosting plan that allows you to allocate a higher amount of RAM to run your site, which could help to avoid your site being overwhelmed with incoming traffic. Visit the following articles for further information:
DreamPress
If your site is running WordPress, consider upgrading to a DreamPress plan, which provides additional server robustness, caching, and memory to your WordPress site. Visit the following articles to learn more about DreamPress:
Securing email
Prevent spam
If your site allows visitors to leave comments, make sure you're using some type of plugin to prevent spam comments. If you're using WordPress, Akismet is a good choice.
Use secure contact forms
Make sure that any contact forms are configured to use SMTP. The FROM address should also be properly configured. View the following articles for further details:
Enable statistics
Enabling site statistics allows you to view and monitor changes to your site's traffic.