The Pros and Cons of Dedicated Web hosting

Articles on Hosting | Topics: hosting, web, host

by Fatima P. Ortega

If you have started your website with a web host service and your business has grown beyond their capacity, this article might have some helpful information for you. Before you scour the Internet for a web host that will offer you the amount of space that your booming online business requires, or search for a shared server, consider dedicated web hosting. Read on to discover the pros and cons of dedicated web hosting to find out if it works for your business.

Dedicated web hosting is a little pricier than most web hosts or shared hosting. You should take a good look at your website's needs you're your expectations before you decide to take this route. If your space requirements are more than any web host can feasibly hold, then that option is out. Joining with a shared server is an option, but you might find that you are disappointed with the lack of control. But, if you opt for a dedicated web hosting service you might get a little more control than you can (or know how to) handle.

Before making the decision to make a switch, you should be aware of the differences between a shared web host and a dedicated web host. A shared web host is a single computer that hosts several different websites ranging in number from a few to a few hundred. A dedicated web host is a single server controlled by a single customer. This means that you do not share your IP address with any other websites and you have loads of space for expanding your existing website or creating a slew of others. It's up to you.

Quote of the Day

For us necessity is not as of old an image without us, with whom we can do warfare; it is a magic web woven through and through us, like that magnetic system of which modern science speaks, penetrating us with a network subtler than our subtlest nerves, yet bearing in it the central forces of the world.

—Walter Pater (1839–1894)

Even though it will require a larger investment, consider the benefits of a dedicated web host. When you share a web host with other clients, the amount of traffic to your site is directly affected by the traffic that the other sites receive. If your site is housed with other more popular sites, you receive the benefit of all of that traffic. However, if the other sites are less popular the traffic to your site will suffer.

Running your own dedicated server allows you to do things the way that you see fit. Complete creative control is a plus for some. It offers you more flexibility with the types of programs you can upload to your site. Space is no longer an issue because there are no other web sites whose space you can encroach upon. This also means that you can centralize your different projects on one machine rather than having a web site spread out amongst several different hosts.

If all of that control sounds great, consider the caveats. Consider the number of times you placed a frantic call to technical support to have a problem fixed on your website, or to receive help with uploading a new program. Unexplainable technical glitches are now your problem. There is no more customer service to call at 2AM when links on your website are not responding, or a certain page is not uploading. Dedicated web hosting allows you enough rope to hang yourself with. If you are not a programmer it is easy to get yourself in trouble and you inevitably will. You will also have to look out for and install the many updates that all of your programs will offer in order to keep your site and server compatible with your customers computers. If you don't have the knowledge to handle these problems, or any computer geek friends then a dedicated web host is not a good option.

Consider your options carefully. While you may enjoy the freedom of a dedicated web host, evaluate the pros and cons of dedicated web hosting. Fixing any problems that you may unwittingly create can be a big hassle and expense. But if your website takes up massive amounts of space, this may be your only option. In that case, if your company is large enough and can afford it, consider hiring some contract tech support to handle the ins and outs of your dedicated host. Problems that go unsolved for a considerable amount of time can seriously affect your business' reputation on the internet and people will shop the competition before waiting idly by for you to fix any problems.

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Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "The Pros and Cons of Dedicated Web hosting" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by WebDesignConferencing.com.

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