Is Dedicated Hosting The Best Option For Your Website?

For the vast majority of us who are either running a small business with an internet presence or simply setting up a personal website, when it comes to hosting the website, we are typically happy to go with the least expensive option which is shared or virtual hosting. Larger companies or those organizations which process a lot of data prefer the more expensive option of dedicated server hosting. Why is this?

In its simplest form web hosting is a service provided by internet companies which allow you to store (host) all of your web pages on what are called web servers that can be accessed by anyone from anywhere through the Internet. The two main services you need to consider are dedicated server hosting or simply dedicated hosting and virtual web hosting.

Before looking at both in greater detail whenever you see the terms dedicated hosting, dedicated web hosting, dedicated server hosting, dedicated servers, they all mean the same thing.

The cost of using web hosting services often dictates the decision for many to go with virtual web hosting. The reason that suppliers can offer really low-priced web hosting on virtual servers is simply because all of their customers have the same set of requirements from their web hosting company. As long as the suppliers can provide close to 100% uptime these customers are looking for no more than just the basic services. This means there are huge economies of scale available to these web hosting companies which cater for millions and millions of websites on shared servers.

Basic services provided with virtual hosting typically include internet connection, file storage and file transfer, email accounts and domain name registration. If you do not have high levels of traffic or you have limited bandwidth needs a virtual server may be all you require. Virtual hosting is very inexpensive. Remember however you are sharing the virtual server with countless other websites. This can result in slow response times for your site visitors during peak usage, plus you have no control over which other websites are sharing with you. Dedicated hosting relieves you of all those concerns.

Companies and organizations that require greater dependability, security, functionality, and flexibility are prepared to go for the more costly (and often very cost effective) option of dedicated hosting.

Dedicated hosting or a dedicated server hosting, as the name suggests, hosts your web pages and no other websites. The dedicated hosting provider is responsible for the total reliability that the customer is paying for including uptime, maintenance, backing up, immediate technical support and security.

Although more costly, dedicated hosting can be a cost effective solution even for companies that have their own IT staff and data centers. When you are in the very fortunate position of having a steady flow of heavy traffic to your websites, need additional bandwidth, perhaps intend to utilize customized server applications, and incorporate specialized software applications, a dedicated hosting provider is likely to be the better option for you to get the support and dependability that you will need.

In summary, the benefits of dedicated hosting compared to shared hosting are: 

• Levels of technical support.
• Maintenance.
• Speed and response times.
• Reliability.
• Customization.
• Storage capacity.
• Flexibility.
• Security.
• Increased bandwidth.
• Not affected by the activities of other websites.

Take the time now to plan ahead. What does the future growth of your website look like? What website hosting option will suit your business needs best?

Knowing what your website needs to be able to do now and in the future will dictate whether shared hosting or dedicated hosting is the best option for your website.

For example, small private web sites, personal blogs or small business sites with low levels of traffic and low bandwidth requirements will function perfectly well for almost all of the time with shared hosting.

On the other hand if you already have high levels of traffic along with a demand for increased bandwidth and/or you are planning a high level of customization, either with the server or with software applications such as e-commerce, you will be much better served with dedicated hosting.