Dedicated hosting isn’t for everyone. You could benefit from shared hosting and never need anything more. How do you know? What’s the best way to tell if shared hosting is for you?
Here are some tips to consider before deciding to move up to dedicated hosting. You might just as well stay with the shared hosting plan that you have and save yourself some money:
- What’s the size of your budget? The is perhaps the biggest question for some businesses. A dedicated server costs money. Can you fit it into your budget? If not then a shared hosting plan is probably best for you.
- How much server space do you need? Not everyone needs 100 gig of storage space. You might just need enough for your 5-page small business site and some storage room for graphics. If that’s all you need then a shared hosting plan is best for you.
- Do you have special security needs? Are you building a website with a huge secure area? Have you been hacked? Do you consider hacking to be a potential security threat to your website? Then you might need a dedicated server. Otherwise, your shared hosting plan is probably enough.
- What do your IT department recommend? If you have an IT department then ask your IT manager for a recommendation. If you don’t have an IT department and you are on your own then it’s possible a shared hosting plan is enough. Consider the aforementioned concerns and ask yourself if you need more.
- How knowledgeable are you on operating servers? You may not need to get involved in the day-to-operations of server management. Even if you have a dedicated server, you can have someone else do the hands on management. But if you don’t understand certain basics of server operations then you might be in danger of being taken advantage of by unscrupulous businesses trying to sell you more services. If your knowledge of servers has not advanced beyond the basic shared hosting plan then educate yourself before you move up.
A dedicated server isn’t for everyone. Some people will benefit more from the basic shared hosting plan. Will you?