The Ultimate List of Web Hosting Types
Once a website and its design have been set up, neophytes in this modern age medium of marketing would often think that all has been done, when in fact, running a website is more than a continuous cycle of maintaining and updating the content of the website to catch up with the changing needs of the Internet market. Also, companies, especially new ones, often overlook the key role that Web hosting plays in running their websites.
With the availability of various types of Web hosting platforms, the decision of hiring the services of any Web hosting provider offering different types of Web hosting accounts (whether free, dedicated, shared, Virtual Private Server or VPS or specialized and managed Web hosting accounts) ought to be worth their time and effort. Aside from finding a reliable and a reputable Web hosting provider, a key factor that a website owner may want to gauge equally as the need to get a Web host is their own needs and requirements for their website.
Evaluating the needs of your website in turn becomes an evaluation of how much you as the company or website owner can spend and how much, in the long run, this evaluation can save you money. This primarily means knowing what type of hosting suits your website, especially if its been set up with a WordPress CMS (Content Management System).
Free Hosting
Among all the types of Web hosting, this is the easiest to find and also the easiest on your budget. However, one must be aware that like most free services, especially the ones that you find online, there is usually a “catch”. Most of these free hosting providers are resellers who happen to have available space in their servers, and the “catch” to that is most of them would require you to place ads on your site or a link at the footer of your page in exchange for the free service. In turn, they earn from these ads. Additionally, these free hosting providers, although not all, offer server space for short term periods.
This means if you are planning to run a short term online business, then getting a free host could most likely be a practical choice. However, if you’re looking into achieving goals for a long term online business, then this is not recommended, especially since the provider may simply stop their operations and cause your website to suddenly disappear from the Internet.
Shared Hosting
This may be the most popular type of Web hosting among beginners in the industry, most likely because of it being easy on the budget. In a shared hosting account, the provider has a large server that has several other websites hosted in the Web server along with yours. This makes it an affordable hosting type because you are sharing the server with other website owners.
Most providers of this Web hosting type say they provide unlimited space. However, as any person would think, if they’re getting more websites to host, then they ought to get more resources to maintain the servers and even buy new ones to ensure the reliability of their service. In this case, they spend more, and this is where the downside of a shared hosting service comes into the picture. Providers would then persuade customers to upgrade their service for a price to be prioritized in getting that unlimited server space to cover their overhead costs.
Virtual Private Server
A lot of medium-scale businesses acquire this type of Web hosting. What happens in this type is that a physical server is divided into several virtual servers, depending on the needs of the customer. This partitioning allows the server to function properly, even if there were technical issues in one partition.
Each partition tries to compensate for the problems and issues of the other. This should not be mistaken as a dedicated type of Web hosting, although much of it can be controlled by the customer because of the physical computer server that may be configured to run server software. You are still sharing this with other websites. It must be noted as well that if you are a beginner and ought to have this type of hosting, you may want to purchase a “managed” VPS. This assures you that the provider will supervise the upgrade and maintenance of the system. And if needed, they will have technical engineers that can assist you.
Dedicated Server
This is what most large corporations acquire for their websites, primarily to give them full control of the server, including updates and upgrades for the system. These dedicated servers are however not owned but instead leased by a customer from a provider. A beginner in Web hosting and managing a website is not recommended to acquire dedicated Web hosting at the get-go, until your website starts getting considerable amounts of traffic on a regular basis.
It should also be noted that if one does not have any system administrator, a managed dedicated server is recommended. Providers employ for this dedicated Web hosting account system administrators who maintain and ensure the proper functioning of your server. Aside from this, they provide customer support, either by phone or by chat.
Specialized Managed Hosting
A number of providers are offering hosting services only to customers who use a specific platform for their websites, such as WordPress. Due to the growing number of users of the WordPress CMS, some providers opt to specialize in hosting WordPress-based websites. This does not only help them standardize their clientele, but also their services, which in the long run, helps them keep customers and earn more revenues.
This type of specialized and managed hosting offers clients site optimization, security and redundant backups. Some offer an advisory and quick fix if a particular plugin or widget on a page is creating an unfavorable impact on the website itself. Other featured services include regular monitoring of the website for hacker attacks and malicious software penetrations.
Another benefit that specialized managed hosting has is that providers hire employees with relevant experience to work with the CMS. If you are a beginner, this may not be the right kind of host for you right now. A specialized managed hosting account may cost at least $30 a month, whereas others only cost around $5/month.
Now that you know these things and services you can avail for your business and websites, you can make an informed buying decision to get the right Web hosting account, be it free or shared hosting among other types of Web hosting accounts mentioned earlier. It also pays to look forward into the near future and target scalable hosting types, since this would mean that your websites will be prepared to grow with your business.