How to Choose the Right Type of Web Hosting
So, you are ready to launch a new website and need to procure some web hosting. But how do you decide which hosting is best for you? Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Server (VPS), or Dedicated Server? In this post, we aim to help you with this choice, by covering the main considerations driving the decision.
How Many Web Pages Will You Publish?
How big will your website be? Will you only be published a few dozen pages, without heavy content such as self-hosted videos and file downloads? If so, you won’t need an awful lot of storage space. If you do intend to publish a significant chunk of content, you might need to consider a hosting plan with guaranteed storage space, such as a VPS or dedicated server.
How Many Website Visitors Will You Receive?
Or more accurately, how much bandwidth do you need? If you are only expecting a few thousand visitors a month, shared hosting would be a good choice. But as you start to ramp up in the number of visitors, you will need a hosting plan that guarantees a specific amount of bandwidth, such as a dedicated server or VPS.
Is Search Engine Optimisation a Major Consideration?
If SEO is a major consideration for you, then you need to consider the speed of your web hosting. One of the major search metrics that Google and other search engines use, is page load speed. On a shared hosting package, performance is affected by every other site hosted on the same shared plan. In order to ensure that your site is always operating at the highest speed, a dedicated server is the best way to make sure that you always have the resources available to serve your site optimally. A VPS can offer benefits as well, but other VPS users on the same virtualised hardware can in some situations, hog resources.
Do You Expect a Rapid Growth Rate?
Once your site is launched, do you expect that it will grow rapidly? If you do, then it might be a good idea to take a look at VPS hosting rather than shared hosting. A VPS is a sweet spot between budget shared hosting and a full dedicated server. It will give your website room to grow, and ensure it keeps performing well.
Do You Require Consistent Service?
If one of your main requirements is that your site is available at all times, then cloud hosting is a good idea. With cloud hosting, your site is hosted on fully redundant hardware. If part of the hardware stack fails, your site stays up. In contrast, if you were using, for example, a dedicated server to host your website and the server failed, your site would be offline until a replacement is provisioned and a backup restored.
If you are having trouble deciding which type of web hosting is perfect for your website, don’t worry, 365Hosts can help. Just give our support department a quick call and explain your problem. We are more than happy to talk you through the options and come up with the best solution for you.