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How to Know Which Web Hosting Option is Best For You

When you begin planning for your new website project, you’ll be making plenty of choices. You’ll decide what you want your new site to look like and which creative team you’ll hire to build it. But, even after all that, your decision making isn’t over. Where will your website actually live? Deciding which web hosting option is best for you, is the biggest choice you’ll make. 
 
Most business owners and executives are aware they need web hosting. But, they tend to think of it as a technical service or a line item on an invoice. In reality, it’s a valuable piece of your web design and online marketing puzzle. It can affect your website’s speed, performance, and even security.
 
Here we have a very brief overview of your web hosting options. Each one will include a couple of the advantages or disadvantages they may have. Let’s start with the choice you’ve most likely seen advertised the most.

Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting is self-explanatory. It’s the loading of many websites (sometimes dozens or even hundreds) onto the same server. Because sharing is caring.
 
The advantage of this type of setup is its simplicity and cost effectiveness. When you see web hosting advertised for only a few dollars a month, it’s a shared hosting plan they are promoting. The disadvantage is the potential issues you can run into. There can be problems with malware. Page loading times can be slow if it’s too crowded on the server. “Neighbors”, whom you’re sharing with, running questionable websites, can also slow things down.

Dedicated Web Hosting

With a dedicated web hosting plan, your business rents server space by itself. That means you don’t have any other websites stored on the same drives. This speeds up your website and eliminates security concerns brought on by others.
 
Unfortunately, dedicated web hosting packages can be very expensive. On top of that, if you end up needing more space than you’re getting, you’ll run into bottlenecks and outages. Then, you’ll have to move your website elsewhere, which can be costly and time-consuming. That’s not fun.

Cloud Web Hosting

A cloud hosting plan makes your site available from many different servers. It may even include various countries or continents. In an ideal world, that means it’s available from many sources at once. So, obviously, availability shouldn’t be an issue. Also, cloud hosting plans tend to be much more affordable. Compared to dedicated hosting plans, this option wins the budget race.
 
However, there is a big downside to cloud web hosting. Heavy traffic or regional outages can bog down servers. Customers also have limited control over the back-end infrastructure. That’s why it’s important to work with a reliable provider or third party.

Hybrid Hosting Packages

Hybrid web hosting packages combine the best of all worlds for many organizations. They offer dedicated server space with continued  availability and backups from the Cloud.
 
Other than speed and reliability, the big advantage here is price. Often, you can get hybrid hosting packages for much less than a dedicated server. And, you wouldn’t have to give up all that stability and reliability in the process.

Need Help Finding the Right Resource for Your Business?

Which hosting plan is right for you? A lot depends on your website, goals, and budget.

At Atlantic BT, we don’t only help you build and launch a great website. We also ensure that every detail, web hosting included, is ideal. Your website will see strong performance, reliability, and online security. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. We can get our team of designers and programmers working for you.

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