Shared hosting - the cheapest way to get your business online.
The basic hosting option, shared hosting explained and the pro's and con's highlighted.
Shared hosting (also referred to as Virtual hosting) is the cheaper of the web hosting options. It's where multiple sites are hosted on a single server, so each account ends up 'sharing' server space with other users.
By nature, hosting a website only requires the host computer to work whenever a viewer requests a page. Consequently, if a server is hosting only one website, usually the majority of it's capabilities go to waste as it sits idle. Shared hosting therefore enables other users to take this otherwise wasted space.
Shared hosting is suited to websites that do not expect large numbers of visitors on a regular basis or which are running large, intensive web applications, or require large amounts of bandwidth or storage; dedicated hosting is more suited to you if you these apply to you.
Advantages of shared hosting:
- Lower start-up costs
- Lower maintenance costs
- Easy to use
- Probability of downtime increased
- Increase risk (from other users as own server)
- Confidentiality of data reduced
- Less suited to websites with high traffic
- Less server control
If your still unsure on which shared hosting provider to choose click the follwoing link for advice on how to you choose a good shared hosting provider.
