Monday, February 13, 2017

Web Hosting Plans

When considering web hosting services there is a wealth of providers out there. The truth is that except for a handful of big players most of these service providers use the same vendors and data centers. However when it comes to pricing, features, and technical support there is a big difference between hosting providers. Therefore is very important to do your research before trusting your online business to any hosting provider. The following information should assist you with your search for a qualified provider.

Today and for the last few years a new band of service providers have surface offering “Free” hosting services. When considering a free hosting account is extremely important to understand what you are getting and what the real cost is. There is no such thing as a “free” hosting account. Many will advertise a free account but in reality they require you to agree to have ads running on your site. Consider your type of business and whether or not you want to advertise someone else’s products, services, or points of view as if they were your own. Other provider’s will require you contact information and your agreement to be contacted by them or their partner companies. When you start to consider some of these nuisances that you’ll understand why these so called “free accounts” are not really free.

In addition to the above issues you will also have to deal with limited storage, limited traffic, limited bandwidth, no email services, no backups, and no customer support. Acquiring any of these services from a third party then will cost you quite a bit more than if you were to pay for a premium hosting account.

The next and most popular of the hosting accounts is “shared hosting”. A shared hosting means that you share server and features with other web sites. The files are never mixed but the services might be slower if there are a lot of websites being shared in the same server. Luckily there are a few companies out there that use compression and SSD-equipped (non-moving parts) servers to provide fast and efficient hosting services. In addition these companies maintain a limit on the number of website that may be hosted under any given account.

Shared hosting accounts offer some of the same benefits that dedicated hosting offer except management of the physical server. For most small to medium organization a shared account with the right provider can prove to be a money saver and a great system to host your website. Because shared accounts are often hosted on cloud servers there is usually no resource limitations (e.g. unlimited space, bandwidth, traffic, etc.).

A “Dedicated Server” allows you to lease your own server in the provider’s data center. As such you get total control of your server without the high cost of physical support. However, the cost of a dedicated server account can be quite high and you will have a number of limitations. For example, your storage will be limited to the server’s physical configuration (usually under 500Gb) of storage, and traffic is limited to 10Tb per month. There are many befits to a dedicated server including faster delivery of content, ability to custom configure the server, and higher overall performance. However, the cost might be an issue for smaller organizations that are dependent on third parties for support.

There is also one more type of hosting account mostly offered by Web Designers. It is a type of shared hosting account that is managed by your web designer. The advantage of using that account is that the cost of the hosting is usually low. The biggest disadvantage is that you have no control what so ever of your features. For example, you will have limited to no access to your control panel. This is very important if your account includes email accounts, databases, as well as web design tools. Also, if you ever want to transfer your domain or even your hosting account you will be at the mercy of your web designer.

In summary, always do your research. Select a reputable company with strong technical support that can provide 24/7 assistance. It will be beneficial to keep your domain and your hosting account with the same vendor on an account that you have 100% access. Select the best feature package for the lowest possible cost without sacrificing quality. Remember the “big players” don’t necessarily offer the best deals, just big names.

Small Business Network Administrators have been offering web design, hosting services, and domain registration services for over a decade. Our customer support group is second to none. For more information on our services visit our site at http://sbnai.com or email us at info@sbnai.com.

About the Author


Al Ortiz is the chief information officer of Small Business Network Administrators International. Al has over 25 years of experience in the technology field and can provide answers to most of your web design or web hosting questions. Please send your comments or questions to info@sbnai.com.

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