Knowing whether your website is working properly is the first step in making sure you nip problems in the bud. And unless you want to go check your site every five minutes (who has time for that?) or wait until one of your visitors tells you about a problem (very unpleasant), you need some kind of monitoring service. Monitor Scout is a FREE web-based monitoring system that lets you know when your website is experiencing problems, 24/7/365. You'll be notified of issues before your visitors even notice, so you can fix them before they cause real problems. Uptime is crucial for anyone who runs any kind of website. The last thing you want is for a visitor to try to get to your site to make a purchase only to find your site is down or not functioning properly. Chances are, they'll take their business elsewhere. Even if you run a site that doesn't sell anything, you still don't want visitors turning to your competitors to find what they're looking for. Right now, Monitor Scout is still in beta. The best part about this is that means you can use their service for free! You'll get expert monitoring that includes more than 50 different checks, 1 minute check intervals, email and SMS notifications (including 5 free SMSs), technical support, and server health monitoring. You can be up and running with Monitor Scout in minutes, without installing any software. In addition to monitoring simple uptime, it also does internal server monitoring with threshold notifications for CPU, RAM, HDD, NIC, and processes! They monitor from over 15 locations worldwide and support a vast number of applications and protocols. Monitor Scout provides a ton of different reporting and analysis tools, too. This includes uptime graphs, latency graphs for all monitors and locations, and usage and performance graphs for memory, CPU, network interfaces, hard disks, and processes. Alerts even provide detailed information on location, monitor, device, downtime in time and recovery. You can use that information to help diagnose problems and prevent downtime in the future! Monitor Scout goes beyond just server monitoring. They also monitor crucial business applications, like email, CMS, MySQL, MS SQL, PostreSQL, and more. You also get access to a script repository where you can download scripts and functions that will help you enhance your monitoring experience. Setting up new monitors is quick and easy, too! If you run a website, you need to have a monitoring service to stay on top of potential issues and downtime. Monitor Scout is a great option, and again, it's free while in beta! Go to Monitor Scout [Disclaimer: This post is a sponsored review for Monitor Scout. The opinions expressed in the article are the author's only.]