As you browse through cheap hosting plans, you will receive free hosting. Free hosting is excellent for you if you are a blogger in your spare time. You can go for WordPress, Tumblr, or any platform you are comfortable with. But if you mean to be bigger than that or want to start a business for which you want an online presence, you need to invest some money. The moment money comes into the scene, we become a lot of cautious about what we choose. Choose a good web hosting plan for your new website.
A Little about Free hosting
Free hosting is good for some who have a blog that will remain that way. It is suitable for web pages where people don’t even want too many people to be reading them. Also, you don’t get to access features like the control panel and feature add-ons. Free hosting can restrict the content bulk you are allowed to put up. It can even start making your web pages slower.
In addition to the speed and content problem, with free hosts, you don’t get to customize much; you have to stick to your trim options. There will be no support or backup for anything that goes wrong. Sometimes you can lose data because of policies, and you can do nothing. Sometimes your account can even get blocked because you failed to follow some terms or conditions you had signed up for. You don’t get your domain name or FTP access. Free hosting doesn’t make you feel so “free.”
Most importantly, someone else will be responsible for your website’s security running on a free host. You could lose all your data, or your website can easily get hacked. Imagine losing your website or your blog! There was content that came right from your heart, from your life experiences. Now, they are all gone. They got stolen, and you can’t access your data anymore. Do you want that? Nobody does. This is why you should at least go for a shared server.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is a step up from free hosting. You don’t need to learn much about the technicalities at this stage. But you do reap the benefits of the nominal amount you pay. You get to make some customizations to the website. You get security for your content. You get backup support for glitches. You also get ample bandwidth and storage for as much data as a personal blog could ever need. However, if you want to go big, be known by tens of thousands of people, and get a lot of inbound traffic every day, shared hosting isn’t your thing, either. You need to invest some more money. Do not worry, if you choose a reputed company, you will not regret spending that money.
VPS hosting
VPS, a virtual private server, is a part of a dedicated server you have hired. You have ownership-level access and control over just this part of the server. Unlike shared hosting, other people’s data and traffic do not encroach upon your space. You are free to use your space any way you want. You can browse some data center hosting companies and make up your mind.
There are two types of VPS hosting. One is managed hosting, where the service provider manages your space, so you don’t have to consider the technicalities. If you switched from free or shared hosting and didn’t know much about the technicalities, go for a managed hosting service. However, invest some time learning about the security, management, bundles and control panel so you can eventually take over the management and have more freedom. The service provider will remain responsible for the security, but you can also have your team for the purpose. VPS is for those who want to take their business online and are all ready with a web development and management team.
Dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting is the next step up from VPS. You get an entire server to yourself. You get everything you need for your specific targets. You do not have to put up with limitations from the owner; you are the owner now. Once you have a dedicated server, there is no looking back.
The right time
The dedicated server is costly, though. So, it would help if you waited for the right time to jump the VPS to the dedicated server. However, you need to know when the right time is, which is tricky. Go in too early; you will be wasting money on the server’s rent. Go in too late; you might start incurring losses to your business.
For this, you can talk to an expert. A web host consultant or SEO expert will know when the right time is to take your websites to the next level. You need to specify your targets in the coming month and let them have a look at the current data. It is good to consult an expert when you are setting up the website. You need to make room for scalability while the website design is being made.
You also need to check out some data center hosting companies to find out which is most compatible with your needs. Once everything is set, you must use SEO tools to track the progress and monitor the traffic flow. You cannot leave everything up to your SEO management team. You need to sit down with them at least once a week and figure out what works for your website and is not.
If you have settled for one of the cheap hosting plans that do not allow you to customize the features and settings according to the traffic trends, you need to switch to something better. Make the right decisions for your website. Invest generously, invest smartly.
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