Your website is only as reliable as the company that hosts. A reliable host machine means your site is always ready and available for visitors. You’ll have several choices to make in your web-hosting vendor. Here are some tips to get you started.
Types of Hosting
Private Server -Your site can be hosted through a private server, which means your site is the only one running on this machine. This is the most expensive hosting option, but provides the most reliability and the bandwidth for a site that receives a lot of traffic.
VPS Web Hosting – VPS stands for virtual private server. When you choose VPS web hosting for your site, you will spend less for your hosting server, because it is shared with other sites. The number of sites is limited, so that each has enough bandwidth to maintain acceptable speed. This type of hosting allows you to configure your portion of the server, just as you would with a dedicated server, because each virtual private account has full root access. This option works very well for medium traffic sites. There are times when over activity on another site on your server can cause your site to be slow.
Shared Hosting – Shared hosting means you are truly sharing the server with other sites, without the benefit of a virtual private account. You will have few options for configuration, because everything is shared. This is the least expensive option for hosting. Some companies will even host your site for free in this configuration. This configuration is the least reliable. Your site will have more downtime and slower speeds if you choose shared hosting. If your vendor hosts your site for free, it will be filled with pop ups and ads, as this is how a free vendor is able to host sites at no charge.
Which One Should I Choose?
You will choose the type of web hosting you need based on several criteria. Consider the following questions:
How much traffic do I expect on my site?
How critical is my site’s reliability?
How critical is my site’s speed?
How much am I willing to pay to host my site?
Once you’ve answered these questions, the type of web hosting you need will be pretty obvious. The next step is to talk with a few web-hosting companies to determine what features they offer and their price, so you can choose the one that works best for you.
Unless your site is one that needs extreme reliability and extreme security, it’s a good idea to start by talking to VPS web hosting companies. These companies are affordable and give you a lot of bang for your buck. They are suited to many different sized companies and sites.
