Running a website comes with a ton of responsibility, including the ability to find bugs.
If you’re a busy web developer or another website holder without much time to spend coming through your site for bugs, you’re not alone.
To help make the process of bug detection a bit easier, we’ve rounded up a few methods to find bugs and keep your website running easy.
1. A Third-party Bug Detector
Perhaps the easiest approach to keeping on top of bug tracking is by using an outside company’s dedicated tracking service.
This is an easy, effective method to help stay on top of your website’s health, including any bugs that pose a risk.
One example of a quality bug detector is BugHerd. They utilize a number of methods, including a UAT testing tool that help to detect problems quickly and effectively.
Depending on the coverage you opt for or the service you use, this usually offers a hands-off approach to general monitoring. You’ll only need to step in if something is detected.
Even that process is made as seamless as possible with the bug tracking service sending a report with advice on how to remedy the problem.
This straightforward approach is perfect for the busy web operator.
2. Visitor-Backed Help
If you prefer a community-based approach, relying on visitors to report errors is a great option.
Because visitors are already going to visit your website, often spending more time scrolling than you will on a day-to-day basis, then this is a great option for detecting bugs.
The key here is to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to report the problems.
No one wants to do someone else’s work, but a visitor that cares about the success of your site or it’s easy enough, they’ll flag a problem.
This can help to indicate a problem that you may not have known if not for a visitor simply checking a box or reviewing their experience.
Why not use the built-in eyes and maximize them?
3. Run a Test
It’s recommended that any website owner run regular tests on their website to see what’s working and, more importantly, what’s not.
These can be done very easily.
Sometimes, you’ll be able to go through your hosting service for an internal perspective.
Other times, you can look use a third party to plug your website into so that it can run through all of your pages and data to detect bugs.
One great example is a Google Site Kit. Not only can it detect problems, like a slow-running site, but it will make recommendations based on those results.
Examples include getting rid of CSS, not in use or offloading your cache.
These periodic whole-site tests for functionality can make a big difference in keeping your site successful.
4. Hire an Internal Monitoring Team
For brands with large websites, it may make the most sense to hire an internal team.
This dedicated web team can focus on keeping your website in top-top shape.
While that might mean updating meta descriptions or titles to be more appealing, it can also include bug tracking.
They’ll often use their own bug-tracking software to help identify problems on your site, but the benefit here is that they will have the means to correct any problems.
If you’re not feeling confident in your own web services, then having a team to work with can be a great choice.
5. Check Your Code
Routinely getting down to the root of your website, aka the code, is recommended.
Beyond the superficial, top-layer content to check on your website, the code, which plays an integral part in your website’s functionality, is just as important.
Be sure to regularly check your code for problems to also pinpoint issues before they further develop.
The last thing you want to do is neglect a foundational code issue and have problems continue to compound on top of that.
There are code checkers, or if you’re a fluent coder yourself, you might take a glance every now and again to make sure an accidental error didn’t mess up your site.
Conclusion
When operating a website, you’re going to want to keep it healthy by staying on top of bugs.
Luckily, there are a number of methods to do this successfully.
Many of these bug-tracking options are ideal for working in conjunction with one another for the best results.
