Uptime Monitoring
Uptime monitoring is a service that checks your site every few minutes from outside and tells you the moment it stops answering.
In plain English
A monitor requests your home page on a schedule. If it does not get a normal response, it tries again, and then it messages you.
It matters because you are not looking at your own site most of the day. Without a monitor, the usual way to find out a site is down is a customer telling you.
Why it matters
Downtime costs whatever the site earns, plus the trust of anyone who tried to visit during it. Finding out in two minutes instead of two days is most of the fix.
The history is useful in itself. A host that is down twice a month has told you something no sales page will.
How it works
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A check runs on a scheduleEvery minute or five, from one or more locations.
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The response is judgedA normal page is fine; an error, a timeout or an unexpected redirect is not.
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You are alertedEmail, text, push or a message in a chat channel.
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Recovery is reported tooSo you know it came back without having to keep checking.
Monitor the certificate as well
Most monitors will warn you before your SSL certificate expires. That is the other outage that arrives without warning and locks visitors out entirely.