Finding The Best Web Hosting Solution Provider That's Right For You
Looking for ways to determine the best web hosting solution provider that's best for you? This will all depend what you set out to accomplish with your website.
To make things simple, the 2 types of web hosting solutions you need to consider are:
- Shared hosting (aka virtual hosting)
- Dedicated hosting (co-location, managed, and unmanaged)
Let's start with shared hosting. This particular hosting solution is most popular among individuals wanting to put a website online. Typically for those new to website building and not looking to spend a lot of money . Most if not all web hosting solution providers have these as available plans to choose from.
Whether it be used for an ecommerce or business site, it tends to be the most affordable option to go with.
Just like the name implies shared hosting is exactly that. Shared. Meaning, your website will be hosted with hundreds of other websites among the various servers. Think of each server as a subdivision and all the websites within that subdivision (server) make up a neighborhood.
To put it simply, shared hosting is basically a neighborhood of websites.
There tends to be a fixed amount of disk space, data transfer (bandwidth), email addresses, etc with the web hosting solution provider because of all the websites being hosted. Depending on the plan you buy, certain features like CGI, SSI, PHP, ASP and various other items will be included.
Pricing can range from as low as $3.95/mo up to more than $20/mo for a shared hosting package. This solution is just right for those who are new to website building and don't need a lot of features.
The only pitfall behind shared hosting is that you are sharing resources with a bunch of other websites. So the performance could be slightly impacted by the activity of other websites on the servers.
With todays technology compared to the technology years ago, many servers are capable of handling the heavy loads placed on them by the websites without a noticeable drop in performance or uptime.
Dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting is pretty much opposite to that of shared hosting. Companies tend to use this type of solution because they don't have to worry about sharing resources (e.g. memory and cpu) with other websites. Performance is much more efficient when it comes to download times and uptime.
Dedicated tends to be much more expensive because you can customize the server to meet the unique needs of your online business. It can cost anywhere from a hundred dollars or more per month into the thousands.
There are also 3 additional sub-categories of dedicated hosting that a web hosting solution provider could offer:
- Co-location
- Unmanaged
- Managed
With co-located hosting, you actually own the server tools instead of leasing them. The web hosting solution provider only gives you a steady connection to the world wide web and space to locate your server.
What makes this hosting different from the other sub-counterparts is that you are exclusively responsible for your own server's software and hardware maintenance.
Unless you possess the much needed expertise for hosting your own server, this choice is not for you. This best fits companies who have their own IT department and have the technical knowledge for maintaining this type of interface. A web hosting solution provider does not provide technical support when it comes to co-location hosting.
Unmanaged
Unmanaged hosting allows you to lease the server hardware from the web host, but you are still responsible for administrating the website. You get complete control by having the ability to upgrade any security patches or hardware features as you see fit to run your site. You are also responsible for backing up and restoring your data.
Again, this type of hosting requires someone with a great deal of expertise. This is the ideal choice for individuals who want complete control over the server environment.
Managed
With managed hosting, the host provider will give you more value-added services in addition to leasing the server. The value added services will include things like periodic backups, support, consultations, ect.
As you can see, you'll get more support with a managed host and will allow you to concentrate more on your business rather than the "behind the scenes" type activities that go on.
In summary, if you are new to website building and do not possess the technical expertise for maintaining servers, shared hosting will be the best choice.
If you are experienced in the field of website building and possess the much needed knowledge for maintaning your own server space, dedicated hosting is what you'll probably want.
Do you know what hosting solution will be right for you?
If not...
Below are a couple of reliable host providers that offer one or more of the services described above. Click below for a visit.
Shared hosting - HostMonster is a great choice for those new to website building. The plans they offer are very affordable and they provide excellent customer support when help is needed.
Dedicated hosting - Easy CGI is perfect for the technical oriented looking for complete control. They throw in a load of great features and include same day setup along with a money back guarantee.
Can't find what you're looking for? Feel free to search our site or the web for the information you need.