How to Choose a Web Hosting Service that Fits Your Business

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Serverpronto

6 min readApr 21, 2019

As you already know, having web hosting is necessary to have a business online. What you may not know is which hosting service provider is the best fit for your particular site or application. Will having simple shared hosting be enough? Or, do you need a dedicated server that is all yours? Here, we’ll compare different hosting options to help in your decision making process.

Ready? Let’s get started!

First, let’s get to know your business

There are certain facts about your business and your site that must be taken into account, starting with traffic. If you run a small new business with a moderate website traffic, you may not need to invest on a full dedicated server, because your site may not need enough bandwidth and port to justify getting a dedicated server. Moreover, a dedicated server requires higher technical know-how than a shared hosting service or a VPS. Thus, if your business is just starting, doesn’t need many resources, and you don’t have any IT staff, you may be okay with a simple hosting plan. Note that the vast majority of hosting providers charge based on storage and bandwidth use.

Besides website traffic, also take into account certain specific things that your website may or may not need, such as Windows applications, a special software, or if it needs support for a specific script.

Basic service providers grant their customers access to email, ticket, and phone support. This is ideal, however, take into consideration the provider’s response time. There are some service providers that offer a 24-hour phone support. If you simply want to delegate management of your site, then you should strongly consider purchasing a managed service.

Have your goals and your business needs clear to make a proper decision.

What are you looking to accomplish?

Whether you end up choosing a shared hosting service or a dedicated server, you may be searching for some of the most common needs- The 3 S’s: Speed, Security, and Support.

Speed

You want your site to work perfectly, no matter the amount of traffic it receives. High traffic might make your website go slower, which can be detrimental to your business since users are very demanding when it comes to speed. A three-second delay could make you lose a customer, and that is the least you want.

Security

When deciding on a web hosting provider, you may be also looking for security. You want your information, passwords, and everything stored on your site to be safe. When it comes to extra security, I highly recommend investing on a dedicated server. You get total control of your own server, you get to choose the number of websites you are going to host and the software you are going to run. You are not sharing your space with anyone, therefore, extra security would be a plus if a dedicated server is what you need. Of course, security is not exclusive to dedicated servers, but it definitely is one of its pluses.

Support

Support is another main feature for many businesses. The more advanced your server is, the more technical knowledge you will need. Therefore, the fact that your provider counts with a team of trained technicians that is ready to help you whenever you need, whether it is through email, phone, chat, can be a huge benefit.

Let’s compare different hosting solutions available in the market

Different hosting solutions vary considerably when it comes to security, storage, memory, and of course, price. Let’s go over the different types of hosting solutions you can choose from:

1. Shared Hosting

This is the most basic type of web hosting available. Shared hosting is perfect for entry-level bloggers and small businesses with a low amount of traffic coming to their website. As you can imagine, the costs are low. Shared hosting means that you are sharing your API address with other sites. Likewise, the hosting resources are divided among of all the sites that occupy said host, which means that user experience may be affected. Just imagine, you are sharing memory and storage space with numerous other sites, it is clear that sometimes, things will be slow on your site.

Expenses

Shared hosting is cheaper than the other two types of hosting services. However, if you have a small business or just started a blog that does not receive a crazy high amount of traffic (hope that changes soon, if high traffic is what you want), this is the most cost effective option. If you go with shared hosting, expect to pay around $3.95 a month. Not bad, right?

2. VPS Hosting

VPS hosting works like a dedicated server within a shared environment. What does this mean? This means that despite sharing the server with other users, it is hosted in its own virtual server. Though user experience can still be affected because sites are sharing the same server, it gives the user more control. VPS hosting is ideal for users that don’t have a lot of technical experience and don’t need as many higher level resources as dedicated servers can offer.

Expenses

Remember that here you are still sharing the server with other sites. However, you get a virtual space of your own. Yes, this means that the price will go up since you have more control. A VPS can cost you around $29.99 per month. It is more expensive than shared hosting, but it’s not pricey.

3. Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated servers provide full control over the server’s resources. Since you own your own server, your website is the only one stored in it. Moreover, you have full admin access. Having this level of control means that you’ll need some level of technical knowledge to manage the server.

Fortunately, many providers offer customer support, some even have this service running 24/7 which is available to help you any specific issue or request you might have.

Expenses

This is the most expensive option of all three hosting options, but it can still be very affordable. Leasing a dedicated server will give you the freedom to decide which software to run, how many websites to host, and provide additional extra security against hackers. The price of a dedicated server is commonly around $99.99 a month. However, ServerPronto offers deals that start around $50.00 a month without affecting the quality of the product.

There are other less popular hosting solutions available:

4. Cloud Hosting

We all know that the term “Cloud” is quite popular these days and that it can mean different things. When it comes to hosting, it means that numerous computers are working together, using the same computing resources. Cloud hosting works as a network, just like the internet, and it allows computers to consume as many resources as they require, without the need to purchase the necessary hardware to get dedicated server hosting. The resources are divided among different web servers, which means that the risk of being adversely affected by a server malfunction is low.

5. Managed Hosting

Companies that provide hosting services offer technical support, such as hardware and software setup, maintenance, updating, etc. Managed hosting offers an everyday management of the hardware and the entire system.

As we saw above, many hosting providers offer WordPress managed hosting. WordPress is quite popular among the public due to its simplicity and effectiveness. Therefore, many hosting companies focus on providing WordPress management services.

6. Colocation

Colocation means that instead of having your hardware equipment in-house, you can rent a space to co-locate it. The hosting company provides the necessary power, an IP address, and even the necessary temperature that your hardware requires to function properly for a long time. Moreover, this service offers a higher level of bandwidth than a normal office server room. You are expected to care of everything regarding software and hardware. It is a good option for users that are ready to take on this responsibility.

Final Words

Choosing a hosting service that best fits your business is a task that requires research and deep understanding of your business needs,and requirements. The solution that may be best today might not be the same after next year, which is why this should be an ongoing assessment. Study your business, read this article thoroughly, go over your budget and your goals to make the best possible purchase. Good luck and let me know how it goes in the comments!