Your small business website needs a home. You may have a brilliant web designer build a spectacular and exciting website, but it needs web hosting to serve the website to hopefully millions of visitors. Alas, the wrong dedicated or shared hosting service could spell disaster.
To save money, most small businesses go with a shared web hosting plan. Shared hosting means there are multiple (think hundreds or thousands) web accounts on the same web server, thus sharing the cost. This helps make the service very affordable, even just a few dollars a month. However, it is very important that you choose a highly rated and reputable web hosting company.
Here are some good, bad, and ugly things about a shared hosting account.
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You get considerable savings
Using a single dedicated web server all for your small business needs could cost you hundreds of dollars a month. However, sharing that same server space with hundreds of other accounts drops the price drastically.
There are great shared hosting companies in the industry
Shared hosting has evolved into a very competitive business. There are dozens of extremely reputable companies that offer great prices, outstanding service, and attractive hosting plans loaded with extra features.
You can prepay to get even more savings
While many companies have reasonable yearly plans, some are still a little more expensive than you desire. However, most hosts will offer considerable savings if you purchase 2, 3, or even 4 to 5 years of web hosting service in advance. That may mean a larger cash unload upfront, but over time, you would spend just a few dollars a month for great hosting.
Your shared hosting site could crash
Your site could go down, and it could happen through no fault of your own. Shared web hosting accounts come with the risk that another website on the same server crashes the web server. When that happens, dozens or even hundreds of web accounts crash with it.
You could lose your data
Go with a web host who will back up your data. If you collect information from clients through your website, without a data backup plan in place, this could spell disaster.
Your shared host could disappear
Yes, some hosting “companies” are run out of some geeks’ basement. If the going gets tough, they could simply close shop and your prepaid web service is gone – along with your files. For this reason, make sure you choose a reputable web hosting company and always keep a backup of your website files on your own system.
