Which type of web hosting is right for you?
There’s many different types of hosting so it can be really confusing if you’ve just built your first site and have no idea where to start. Throw into the mix that pricing can range from a few dollars to thousands and it gets even more complex. To simplify things a bit I thought I would list the main types below.
Shared hosting is perfect for anyone just starting out because it’s always really cheap. As the name implies there will be other sites on the same server as yours but it’s unlikely to have any impact on your site. All you really need to worry about is having enough bandwidth if your site gets popular as the limits are low.
If you want to host more than one site then reseller hosting is what you need. The main advantage is the cost per each individual site is low, so if you’re a web-design company you can save quite a lot by passing the cost onto clients. The key is picking one with enough bandwidth as its limited to the whole reseller account and not per site.
Sometimes webmasters need a really custom setup to run their site, i.e. if they have developed a custom app. VPS hosting is perfect in this situation as you can install or configure whatever you want on the server. Although it takes a lot of technical knowhow to do this so it’s not for beginners.
Ecommerce hosting is not that different from shared only it should come with everything you need to get started with your own online store. The main components are an SSL certificate, payment processing and some kind of CMS to run the store, a good package will provide you with all three included.
Hopefully your site fits into one of the categories above for hosting. For me the most important thing is not to get tied into a long term contract with any web hosting service because it’s impossible to know how your site is going to develop or grow over time, choose wisely.
If you’re looking for more hosting advice then check out my web hosting service blog.
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