There are many different types of hosting out there that sometimes you might just get lost amongst all the different options! But do not fear, VMotion is here! For a startup business, you know well and true that your decision on your hosting solution will be one of the tipping points for the future of your business. But there are many articles out there that are sponsored, or affiliate related that just scream “Buy from us!” that you can’t help but feel like you’re walking into a trap.
This article will give you unbiased and informative advice on the best way to meet the hosting needs of your startup business.
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing your web hosting solution, here are some to name a few, in no particular order:
- Security
- Up-Time
- Cost
- Speed
- User Friendly
Security is a very important factor that ensures that your content is protected at all times with the most up to date security measures in place. Although there is no such thing as “unhackable” or total security, there are various levels of security.
Up-Time Can never be 100% but by doing your research and viewing testimonials from other customers on various hosting companies you will find one that is very close to 100%.
Cost will always be something that you shouldn’t skimp out on. Never skimp on web hosting, ever. Remember that if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys. But if you are willing to spend a bit more on good hosting, you will find that in the long run it will save you so much more money and time.
Speed should be very near the top with security as it’s an important factor that ensures that the users will get an amazing experience.
User Friendly interfaces and control panels are something to consider if you are not a very IT centric person or lack an IT department. This will save you many hours of searching the web to execute simple tasks and allow you to update content on your platform much quicker.
The 3 Most Common Types Of Web Hosting
In this article we’ll be focusing on the 3 most common types of web hosting: Shared Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting and Cloud Hosting and highlight benefits and downfalls of each.
Shared Hosting
This is the cheapest and simplest option that will likely catch your attention on any web-hosting provider’s page. It’s one of the most popular choices for most small businesses but be warned, shared hosting means that your website will be a lot slower and will share the server’s resources and bandwidth with hundreds of other websites. This also affects your security and up-time because if one of the other site owners does something that they shouldn’t be doing, this could cause the server to crash or worse. Get hacked.
Although it’s easy on the wallet, it could end up costing you quite a bit in the long run if you factor in the potential down time and your encounters with attacks. Downtime is an absolute killer for many businesses.
Dedicated Servers
This is where it gets more serious. With a dedicated server you get your own physical server with it’s own IP address, this server is not shared with anyone so already you have much faster accessibility and loading times. This is the type of hosting that we’d personally recommend as you can start to control the risk factors and security surrounding this particular type of hosting, completely ruling out errors from other website owners with shared hosting. You get to control the level of security on the server along with many other things like monitoring resource allocation. One of the biggest drawbacks of dedicated servers for startups is that startups don’t usually look too far into the future and account for marginally increased website traffic or content that would require an upgrade. Sometimes spending a bit more for a server would prove very useful to you in the future because there isn’t any room for expansion.
The cost isn’t cheap but it doesn’t burn a hole in your wallet either, it varies from provider to provider because different specs and perks are included but ultimately the pros to having a dedicated server really outweigh it’s cost.
Cloud Hosting
With cloud hosting you have one major advantage. It’s is almost infinitely expansive.
If your business expects to need huge server resources during rare occasions then it is cheaper to pay as you go with cloud hosting rather than buying a very high specced server and to only really use it to it’s full potential on very rare occasions.
Out of these 3 options cloud hosting has to be one of the cheapest ways to go along with the most practical as it’s literally pay as you go. As for security, IF you choose a good provider then public security is very adequate and meets the industry standard. Not all hosting companies do this so be very mindful when making your decision.
In conclusion, it all comes down to your budget. Really nothing more to it. If you are serious about your business then you will not skimp out on good web hosting, it is absolutely essential that you get the best you can possibly get. For many startup companies the word “budget” can be a very sensitive word because they may not really have one large enough to accommodate all the costs. Which is why you have to see what features you are willing to compromise on to get the perfect balance for your company.