Are you planning to launch your online business? If so, you will need to create a website and sign up for web hosting plans from reputed providers. But this can be a tough decision to make because of the availability of different types of hosting solutions and an overwhelming number of web hosting service providers. So, how can you be sure of the kind of hosting that your site will benefit from?
What Are Different Hosting Options That You Can Consider?
Those looking for quality web hosting plans will need to choose amongst shared hosting, dedicated hosting, and virtual private server or VPS hosting options. Of these, the most cost-friendly option is shared hosting. It is also perhaps the best option for newcomers. Bloggers and those looking to create personal websites can opt for shared hosting for seamless hassle-free operations. Dedicated hosting is ideally suited for larger sites catering to huge traffic volumes. Neither VPS nor dedicated hosting is recommended for beginners; these can be considered once your site traffic grows and you need more resources.
Before choosing any plan, you need to understand the benefits of web hosting and find deals on websites like Hostgator. You can use Hostgator promo codes to enjoy further discounts on hosting packages.
Reasons to Choose Shared Hosting Plans:
1. Shared hosting plans are affordable; this makes them perfect for businesses that are just starting out and have to work on a tight budget.
2. Shared hosting can offer you enough resources like bandwidth or storage to take care of site traffic that is not very heavy.
3. Shared hosting provides ample resources for startups.
Factors to Consider When Choosing Shared Hosting Plans:
Disk Space
The amount of disk space that your hosting plan provides should be one of the most important criteria for choosing a plan. Such disk space is required for storing databases and files. The relevance of this factor increases as your site grows. However, shared hosting cannot accommodate extra bandwidth to meet the demands of larger websites.
Uptime
Uptime refers to the amount of time your site is up and running. So, when your site stays online 24×7 the uptime is 100%. Online stores, government websites, and mission-critical sites need 100% uptime because they cannot afford to experience interruptions. To be sure of the uptime your host promises you can check client testimonials or get advice in forums.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is another key factor in choosing a hosting plan. It regulates site traffic and its breadth refers to the speed of data transfer. High bandwidth implies a wider speed-way and faster traffic. While many hosts may claim to provide unlimited bandwidth you may find that the speed is not fast enough. So, before signing up for shared hosting, make sure you know about the speed you will get.
Security
Security is of the utmost importance when it comes to choosing hosting solutions. You need to ensure that your plan offers stringent security measures so that the servers run without glitches and risks.
For those who are looking for advanced features like a sophisticated networking architecture, RAID, or reboot facility, either VPS or dedicated hosting is a better option.
Shared Hosting vs. Dedicated Hosting:
Unlike shared hosting where many websites share one server, dedicated hosting allows you to access a server exclusively for your website. Since resources are shared by multiple users on a shared platform, shared hosting is cheaper. Besides, it demands minimal technical skills; so, it is an attractive option for people who are new to web hosting. Users have access to an easy-to-use control panel for site management and all server maintenance work like installing security patches are undertaken by the host. You can always pay extra for an upgrade to VPS hosting or dedicated hosting.
The biggest disadvantages are that resources have to be shared with neighbors and this automatically means higher security threats. For instance, if your neighbor starts to use up more resources to cope with an increase in its site traffic, you will find that you are experiencing downtime for lack of resources. The depletion of resources because of over-usage by a neighboring site can affect your site’s speed and uptime. Moreover, if your neighbor runs malware, it is likely to get blacklisted, and along with it, your site can also lose its credibility. You will find this negatively impacts your SEO and heightens security risks.
These issues are less likely to happen when you choose dedicated hosting. This hosting option gives you greater control over server resources. It is far costlier than shared hosting but the advantages it offers outweigh the costs. You not only have complete access to the server’s resources like bandwidth, storage, uptime, etc. but you can also customize the server’s settings. There is no threat of the bad neighbor effect and your site is not exposed to cyber threats because the server’s IP gets blacklisted. The downsides to dedicated hosting are the high costs and the need for a high degree of technical expertise to run it.
Threats and Safeguards:
One must know the pros and cons of web hosting to decide which kind of hosting solution is right for his business. While shared hosting is unarguably the cheapest option available, there are many other hosting options. Regardless of the kind of hosting you choose for your site, the biggest concern is how vulnerable your server is. When you host your site on a shared server, it is going to be only as secure as a site on that server which has the weakest security. So, if any of the websites on the shared server is compromised, the neighboring sites are automatically blacklisted. In shared hosting, you cannot get access to Apache and PHP configurations for toughening the server.
Finally, DDoS attacks and data thefts are common through phishing where attackers deploy social engineering techniques for entrapping users and pharming where the DNS host files get compromised and redirect the user to a malicious site instead of the legitimate site. As soon as malware infects your site, your business can be a victim of monetary damages, privacy breach, and loss of data integrity. So, what safeguards can you use?
Besides the SSL certificate that protects data from fraud, you can implement some other measures like:
1. Installing a secure server software
2. Securing the underlying operating system using expert help
3. Continuously updating security patches and software
4. Using firewalls and filtering routers
5. Implementing secure maintenance and administration
6. Avoiding using email addresses that can compromise your company’s domain name.
New Upgrades to Shared Hosting Services:
To resolve the problems arising out of shared hosting web hosts have come up with solutions and new upgrades. There are many new development tools besides free SSDs, Secure Shell Access, Unlimited Websites, etc. The idea behind such tools is to get more companies to sign up for shared hosting; especially the smaller businesses that find shared hosting more affordable.
Earlier, web hosts had been concentrating on marketing only dedicated hosting; now this has changed as hosts try to integrate shared hosting with the latest technologies to provide superior hosting. The biggest concern is to improve the speed of the sites.
Attractive Web Hosting Plans by Different Companies:
If you choose the top-tier Bluehost hosting plans for instance, like the Pro shared hosting package, you can get unlimited websites, unlimited SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, unlimited domains, free SSL certificate, high performance, etc.
Hostinger offers single shared, premium shared, business shared, and cloud hosting services. Hostinger coupon codes will fetch you exciting prices for all the plans mentioned above. With the business web hosting plans, you get access to more than 100 email accounts, 100 websites, unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificate and domains, daily backups, and WordPress Acceleration. With premium web hosting plans from Hostinger, you can enjoy more than 100 email accounts, unlimited bandwidth, 100 websites, WordPress Acceleration, free domains, and SSL certification.
Hostgator promo codes can help you save on web hosting, cloud hosting, and WordPress hosting. Their business shared hosting plans give you access to unlimited domains, unmetered transfer, unlimited disk space, unlimited email accounts and databases, free SSL certificates, etc.
Myths about Web Hosting:
One of the biggest myths centering on shared hosting is that you can sign up with any web host for shared hosting plans. The truth is not all providers offer the same services and you must select a host that guarantees high uptime, customer satisfaction, and preferably support for unlimited domains.
It is also a big blunder to assume that free hosting is the best choice. Free hosting has its own set of shortcomings, the biggest being that you cannot be certain of uninterrupted load times. Free shared hosting is also never reliable because your host may not be able to protect your site against downtime; some hosts even disappear overnight leaving you in the lurch.
Cheap hosting is not necessarily bad; there may be drawbacks but you can do some research to find dependable yet economical hosting solutions.
It is often believed that one needs to have IT expertise to host his website; this is a flawed assumption since most hosting providers offer intuitive interfaces and easy-to-use control panels which even beginners can use.
Negative reviews often shape our decisions; the truth is that sometimes customers are dissatisfied because they have unrealistic expectations from a plan. So, it is naïve to think that you will find a host having zero customer complaints.
