Shared Web Hosting

The most common type of hosting purchased by small businesses is a shared hosting account, sometimes called virtual hosting. With a shared hosting account your web site is placed on the same server as many other sites, from a few hundred to thousands, depending on the size and power of the server. The host manages the server almost completely although you maintain your site and your account. Typically, all the domains on that server will share a common pool of server resources such as RAM and CPU.

The very first thing you’ll notice that’s different from a free hosting plan is that you’ll be able to host your own domain name. Shared hosting plans also usually offer multiple software solutions like email, database, and many different editing options and the technical support that’s available varies from company to company. Great technical support is what will set a company apart from the rest of the herd. Although you maintain your site and your account, the hosting company manages the server almost completely you really do not need to have a lot of technical knowledge to put your site on a shared hosting plan.

Another advantages of using a Shared Hosting Plan include that it is low cost as the cost of setting up and maintaining the server is distributed among other web site owners, hence the name “shared”. This low cost makes this a great option for small business and entrepreneurs that have an average traffic flow to their site. Usually the hosting company will offer the web owner multiple software options for creating their website and uploading the files to the server.

However, there are some restrictions with the shared plan. First one I’ll mention is the security risk. The fact that you are sharing resources with many sites and you have no control over who owns those sites or what’s on them puts your site at a security risk, minor though it is. Compare it to living in a 20-story apartment building with 10 apartments on each floor. For the most part all the tenants will carry on their lives totally unaffected by the other residents. However, now consider if the tenant in Apartment 7D because a target for the mafia who deals with him by blowing up his apartment. Suddenly you are at risk, regardless of what floor you’re on. Same scenario happens when you have Shared Hosting. For the most part, there is no problem. However, if one of the sites on the sever you are sharing becomes the target of hackers or people determined to ruin the other business. If they manage to hack into the server or cause it to crash, when the server goes down, your site goes down, even though you weren’t the target. Or if they hack in, your data would also be vulnerable.

I have already alluded to the fact that since you are sharing a server, you are also sharing resources such as RAM and CPU. This means that there might be some restrictions on the amount of traffic your site is allowed to have. That means that heavy traffic to one of the other sites on the server can hammer the performance of your site. If you remember the example of living in the apartment building, if one tenant is suddenly having guests visit by the hundreds at all hours, your guests may have trouble getting the elevator to get to your place. Same thing can happen with shared web hosting. If suddenly one of the sites that’s sharing the server becomes extremely popular and has excessive traffic, that will make it more difficult for your guests to access your site. I’ve had times when I try to access a web site and get the error message the server is unavailable, yet an hour later I can access it with no problem. If this happens often, you may need to ask your hosting company to check into the problem.

Some shared hosting plans also have restrictions on what you may install on your site. Typically you are unable to install special software programs, as the host will need to keep a stable environment on the server for all his clients.

Customer Service with a well-established Shared Hosting company is usually good. However, there are hundreds of small hosting companies offering great plans and they may not be equipped to handle your technical support concerns 24/7. Thus, you may find that there is limited or restricted database support, technical support, or software support. The level of support definitely varies from company to company and plan to plan so you need to find the one that fits your level of expectations.