If you have to do something on another website then it is likely, at one point or another, that it is going to be down and you will need some logistic non-profit advice about what to do. If the site is down then you have to ask yourself about the overall strategy of using that site in your work. It may cause ripples across your business that you did not foresee. Furthermore, it will be a giant cause of stress. It may even set you days or weeks back in work depending on what you need that site to do for you.
However, there are a few things you can do to make sure that you know what is happening before you go and make decisions. That being said you should always make a backup plan just in case of unforeseen events. Of course, not everything has a backup plan that is viable or can be as effective as what you had before. Yet, you still need it if you find yourself in a problem. The sooner you can come with this solution the better. You never know when you might need it. Only you know where this piece belongs in your business system and how necessary it is to what you do. Subsequently, the more this piece or pieces are necessary, the more imperative you need to plan this backup plan.
What can you do to ease your mind if you are having trouble? You can find out the source of the problem. Honestly, a lot of the problems on the internet are due to a 503 error. Basically, this means that the server was too busy at the time of the request to handle yours. A lot of situations cause this problem but if you see a 503 error then the site is probably going to come back up. There is no guarantee when this will happen but it “should” happen. It depends on the reason for the 503 to occur.
A new phenomenon that happens on a fairly regular basis is that people DDOS other systems or systems you may have to use for your business. It means that they are unnaturally receiving requests that they usually would not receive. If this is the case then it will take the webmaster and their host some time to resolve it. You may have to find something to do in the interim. You need to have that back up plan to make sure that you can get done what you need to get done.
How do you find out that a 503 error is occurring? You can do a search engine request to “detect web errors” and find a site that will do this for free. Therefore, you, usually, will be able to find one in short order. You should not have to fill out anything. Furthermore, you should be able to just enter the URL. You should have it do the work without accessing your computer. Moreover, it should ask you to download anything. If it asks you to download something then you should avoid it or do your due diligence to make sure that it is safe to download. However, in most cases, you can find out if you have a reputable tool that you can trust in fairly short order.
If you cannot verify that the problem is caused by something like a 503 error, or it is not due to the 503 error, then you need to implement your backup plan. Your work in your non-profit business is important. It is time to activate your backup systems to make sure that you are getting the job done so you can help those who need you.