What Is Shared Hosting? Is It Good for Small Websites & Businesses?
Websites have become the most crucial part of most businesses. Whether running a blog for your business or a personal website, you will need a platform to host your website online. Shared hosting is popular, particularly for small and medium-sized websites and businesses. It is a cost-effective and efficient way of running your website and managing it without looking into the profound technical aspects of hosting.
But what exactly is shared hosting, and how does it work? Let’s clear all your doubts. In this blog, we will discuss all shared web hosting, its benefits, and if it is good for small websites and businesses.
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is a type of service allowing multiple websites to utilize and run on a single server. Usually, the website owner must find out who or what websites he is sharing the server with. In shared hosting, the server has customized software that serves and manages all the websites and provides around 99.99% uptime.
Shared hosting offers one of the most inexpensive hosting plans. Generally, new startups, business owners, and bloggers with low to medium traffic use shared hosting as it is easy to manage and affordable.
A shared hosting environment is like multiple cars running on the same highway. As a large number of users or websites use the same servers, it means that there will also be a division of costs. It is an excellent option for people who need help setting up a website but want it to be set up and start running quickly.
How Does It Work?
In a shared hosting plan, your website is stored on the same server as other websites belonging to other users. The hosting provider manages the server and its resources and allocates a particular portion to each website.
When you enter a website’s URL into your browser, it looks for the server storing or locating the website. The process will be the same with shared hosting, but the only difference is that the same server would consist of several other websites.
The data and apps for each website user account are stored safely and kept in distinct server partitions, each having its file directory. All the users have access to their files and not other users’ files.
What are the Benefits of Shared Hosting?
- Budget-Friendly Solution – One of the significant benefits of shared hosting is its price. It is a super affordable option to host websites as multiple websites use the same server to host the websites. There are a variety of versatile shared hosting plans that will fit your budget. This will eventually give you more budget to pour into your other business requirements and keep your website fresh and running.
- User Friendly – Hosting a website using a shared server makes it easy to use for beginners as there is no requirement for technical knowledge or experience for website development. The shared hosting platform is designed to make it easy for the users to set up and navigate so that they don’t have to stress about learning the ins and outs of web hosting.
- Security – With a server managing your website and constantly monitoring the websites, shared hosting offers excellent security, way better than the traditional model.
- Low Maintenance – Another benefit of shared hosting is that it requires little to no effort to maintain and manage the website. Most companies offer a one-click email setup and a WordPress install, and the host handles all the other technical maintenance tasks. All the maintenance comes as a part of the shared hosting package.
- Scalable – Shared hosting is highly scalable, which means you can easily upgrade your hosting plan as you notice growth and increase in traffic on your website. You can begin with a standard plan for shared hosting, and as your website grows and storage needs and traffic increase, you may upgrade to a higher plan.
Is Shared Hosting For Your Small Websites and Businesses?
Shared hosting is a perfect option for all the small websites and businesses that are still growing and new and do not require many services.
The most significant advantage of shared hosting for small websites and growing businesses is that it is affordable and offers much cheaper plans than dedicated hosting platforms.
As you explore your options for hosting platforms for your website, here are a few things you consider: –
Budget – The first concern for most businesses is the business budget and what they can afford. Determining the maximum spend will help you know if you can afford a dedicated host or may have to opt for a shared host.
Website Size – Since many websites are hosted on a shared host, certain physical size restrictions exist. If your website is massive, it may not fit or encounter huge issues loading and performing. Therefore, consider the amount of storage space offered to you in the shared plan.
If your website is larger than the size offered or you anticipate high traffic, there might be better options than shared hosting.
Resources and Features – While shared plans are cheaper, they may offer you only some of the functionalities and resources, considering the kind of website you own. If your website is small and has no extensive needs, shared hosting would be right for you.
However, there might be better choices than shared hosting for already functioning websites with high-traffic leads that are bigger.
Conclusion
In conclusion, shared hosting is an excellent platform for small websites and businesses with low traffic or are just budding. It is cost-effective, easy to use, scalable, and low maintenance. Shared hosting also offers various plans to suit your website’s needs. If you are looking for a cost-effective and easy-to-use web hosting service for your small website or business, Qode Maker can help you. Get in touch with us for more information.
