What Web Hosting is Suitable for Small Businesses?
By Shane Stafford
In the 21st century, having a website for your business is no longer an after-thought. Running a website is now crucial for any business. In order for that website to be seen, however, it needs suitable web hosting, a topic that many small business owners are unfamiliar with. Many find themselves searching for a simple answer to their hosting needs only to be bombarded with a dizzying array of technical jargon that leaves them even more frustrated than they were when they started.
But web hosting doesn”t have to be such a headache. In fact, finding a website hosting solution really is as simple as determining your goals for your small business as well as the functionality that you want your small business website to have.
For instance, if your small business website is primarily used as a means of introducing your company, the products and services it provides, and contact information and the amount of traffic that it receives isn”t extraordinary, then your hosting needs would be relatively small. However, if your business website will serve as an online e-commerce storefront complete with full-service ordering and checkout options and it receives a large amount of traffic, the resources required would be much greater.
Let’’s break down why each of the criteria stated will have an effect on your small business website hosting.
Firstly, the amount of traffic your website receives each month will have a tremendous effect on your hosting needs. A small, local business website will typically require less bandwidth each month than a business with a national or global reach and customer base.
Secondly, your hosting needs will vary with the resources that your website offers its visitors. Serving relatively simple html pages requires significantly less resources than websites rich in flash and interactive functionality. Additionally, if you are offering the option of payment and checkout services on your website you will likely need secure, encrypted hosting capability as well for consumer identity security and fraud prevention.
No matter what your overall monthly resource consumption may be, however, you will be much better served in the long run by utilizing a website hosting provider that is reputable and provides an uptime guarantee as close to 100% as possible. Keep in mind that due to extraordinary and unexpected circumstances, no matter how many layers of protection a web hosting provider implements, there is always a small chance of limited downtime but the reputable providers have contingency measures in place to limit or even eradicate downtime as much as possible.
Shared website hosting providers are the most economical option for small business websites that require very little resources. This hosting option means that your website will be hosted on a server with other websites. While shared hosting may be a viable option, you must take into consideration how reliable your hosting provider is at ensuring that they do not place too many additional websites on each server, which can cripple your website loading time in times of traffic spikes.
Another economical option is a virtual private server (VPS), in which several websites still share the server, the server is partitioned in such a manner that each website is run on its own server operating system. While not as inexpensive as shared hosting, it is still relatively cheap and generally allows for more bandwidth to be used as well and typically allows for more customization. This varies widely with selected packages and hosting providers as well.
A dedicated server or several dedicated servers is necessary for small business websites that require a great deal of resources and/or receive a lot of traffic. Dedicated servers allow for the highest level of customization and protection against downtime due to large traffic spikes and other unforeseen events.
When choosing your website hosting options for your small business, be sure to speak to a qualified, knowledgeable representative at the reputable website hosting provider you”ve chosen. Their expertise and experience can prove to be an integral factor in deciding on a small business website hosting option that is right for you.
About The Author
Shane Stafford is a writer for popular webmaster site Who Is Hosting This. Learn more about web hosting at WhoIsHostingThis.com, plus hosting coupons.
