We would all prefer to get something for a cheaper price these days and website hosting is no different. However, when it comes to this kind of service, that bargain price tag just could be attached to some major problems that leave you wishing you could reverse time and pull out of the agreement. If you are not careful, this decision could end up costing you in more ways than one.
Poor Site Performance
As unfortunate as it is, there are many companies out their running their service on cheap hardware, making it virtually impossible to get sufficient performance out of your website. This problem is magnified when the host overcrowds their servers with too many websites, resulting in slow server response and a miserable time for your visitors. Today’s web is more advanced and faster than ever. Visitors don’t have to wait around for pages to load. Instead of dealing with your slow site, they can easily go to one that offers an optimum experience for their viewing and browsing needs. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that this is a bad situation.
Excessive Downtime
One of the most common problems in the realm of cheap hosting is downtime. Instead of your site running slow when interested users try to pay a visit, it isn’t available at all. This goes back to the use of insufficient hardware, overloading servers and simply not having an infrastructure in place to properly support the operation. Although some downtime is to be expected, even a cheap host should be able to ensure that your site is available 99.9% of the time. If not, you will end up losing the traffic you worked so hard to build in a heartbeat.
Spamming Neighbors
Cheap web hosting is quite appealing to spammers, allowing them to save money while having a place to launch their annoying and potentially dangerous campaigns. Spammers typically run hundreds of sites, generating small sums of money from each one. While the individual amount may seem insignificant, their earnings from all those sites add up pretty fast. Opting for cheap hosting allows them to keep their operating expenses to a minimum while helping them maximize their profits. Of course hosting next to a spammer doesn’t necessarily affect you directly, but it could end being a huge problem if your web hosting provider is housing thousands of sites for these individuals. You will start to feel the impact when the entire IP address is penalized and banned from the search engine results.
Conclusion
We painted a rather bleak picture here but that does not mean all cheap hosting services should be condemned. The industry as a whole has made tremendous strides over the years and this has given companies that ability to provide quality services at a cheap price. It is up to you to conduct the thorough research necessary to find one. When partnering up with a reputable and well established company, you can reap from all a cheap hosting plan has to offer.
The shared server represents a popular type of web hosting that is able to accommodate the needs of many individuals and online businesses. Shared hosting refers to an arrangement where customers share space and bandwidth on a server. It is pretty straightforward and typically comes included with desirable features such as multiple email accounts, webmail access and e-commerce solutions equipped shopping carts, SSL support, marketing tools and much more. This environment is in high demand and actually acts as the vehicle most companies use to get their business online. Perhaps its greatest advantage is a cost efficiency that allows almost anyone to build a web presence at what has become a very affordable price. Because there are also a few drawbacks that deserve mentioning, the purpose of this article is to educate by letting you know some of the things you cannot count on when it comes to a shared server.
1.) Superb Performance
While many businesses start out on a shared hosting platform, once they began to establish themselves and their sites grow, that shared server just may become inadequate and insufficient for their needs. One of the main reasons this occurs is due to the mere nature of the environment. Because the server could actually contain data for hundreds or even thousands of websites, there is a great chance that the activities of other customers could result in problems with your site. One of the most common ailments is slow response times that leave your website suffering from performance issues. For example, if one site on the server all of sudden needs additional bandwidth, that demand could actually threaten the stability of every other website in the environment. All it takes is a single website to slow down activity on the entire server.
2.) Continuous Availability
A slow server can result in lost traffic as visitors tend to stay away from sites that perform sluggishly. A surefire way to send them scrambling to the competition is downtime, which is far more likely in this environment than a dedicated server. Downtime is a business killer because in the eyes of the visitor, it tarnishes the company’s credibility. You can determine just how much a shared server is costing you by checking your traffic statistics on a regular basis. A good web stat utility will show you just how fast visitors are leaving your site due to slow response times or unavailability.
3.) Dependable Security
The security on a shared server also becomes questionable once a website starts to grow. Even though respectable web hosting providers take various steps to make sure customers are running their sites on a secure platform, the sharing aspect deems your website and all the data it contains vulnerable to security issues. There is a chance that you never encounter such problems in this environment, but if you are running mission-critical operations and e-commerce transactions, hosting on a shared server may not be the best move.
Shared hosting has its advantages, but the issues of stability, availability and security can turn out to be huge disadvantages as your site grows. VPS and dedicated hosting are the two most logical options you need to consider once your website reaches this point.
Small and new businesses are best suited for affordable e-commerce hosting solutions to service their customers while effectively balancing their budgets. Finding a low-cost package isn’t much of a challenge these days because the market is very competitive and there are literally thousands of providers offering service. What you must focus on is landing one that can meet your specific needs and maintain a high level of reliability while doing so.
Don’t Lose Potentially Loyal Customers
If you choose the wrong web host to provide you with a e-commerce service, you stand the possibility of losing many potential customers. What qualifies as the wrong provider? Well, there are a number of instances in which a host could be inadequate for your needs, but if the company has slow servers or a network that always goes down, this is one that you should avoice. We live in a fast-paced world of on-demand technologies and visitors do not want to wait all day for pages to load when they come to your site. This only makes sense because in reality, all they have to do is click the mouse to visit a similar site that offers the high performance you are lacking. It is pretty simple when you think about it: Slow pages and excessive downtime results in lost visitors and potential revenues. Fast pages and consistent availability keeps visitors happy and betters the chance of converting them into customers.
Keep Your Customers Safe
One of the biggest factors you need to consider as an online business owner is the security of your website. It is up to you to ensure the protection of sensitive details such as credit card numbers and personally identifiable information. It wasn’t too long ago that a large majority of consumers were afraid to purchase items online. While much of this has changed, many are still reluctant about pulling out their credit cards to buy something from an absolute stranger. You probably feel the same way as the web is infested with con artists, scams and far too many untrustworthy companies. To maintain confidence, you need to select a host that can deliver an e-commerce solution that keeps both you and your customers as secure as possible.
Cash in on the Internet
The rapid growth of the internet has opened up numerous opportunities for the business professional. And despite the harsh economic climate, cyberspace continues to grow each day and so do your chances for success. Even if you have a business out in the real-world, not having a web presence is like missing out an endless number of potential clients and networking opportunities. You can make a hefty wager that your competition is aware of this, so it is best to get a jump while you can to keep an edge. Becoming the next internet sensation isn’t guaranteed but with the right e-commerce web hosting solution, your chance is just as good as anyone’s.
