Do you happen to own an online shopping website? Did you know that there are many different types of web hosting that you can decide to utilize? Because of this, making the most optimal choice is absolutely essential in order to save you time, resources and most importantly – money.
The 3 most popular options that you could choose from are:
- Shared Hosting
- A Virtual Private Server
- Dedicated Hosting
Each hosting type has its own benefits and disadvantages that make it a viable contenter in relation to your ecommerce website. But which one should you go for and what factors should you consider prior to making the final choice?
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How much traffic does your website get?
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Factors such as the monthly amount of traffic that your website sees are at the more important end of the spectrum. Website traffic essentially relates to the number of users that visit your site daily and monthly and is something that should not be overlooked.
If you are just starting out and do not have a steady stream of website visitors, you might elect to go for shared hosting as it is the cheapest option. The greatest detriment to this hosting type is the fact that you are required to share resources with other websites, located on the same server, meaning that a rise in their traffic and resource consumption could negatively impact your website and vice versa.
On the other hand, if you are an already established brand and your website draws in quite a substantial amount of daily users, then you should consider investing in a dedicated hosting plan as you will be in sole possession of an entire server. This will guarantee you extremely fast website loading speeds, low latency and will also allow you to manage heavier traffic loads seamlessly and effortlessly, which would result in happier customers and extended browsing sessions. This in turn could lead to a lower overall bounce rate and better search engine ranking for your website. However, be aware that this is the most expensive hosting option.
If you happen to want similar features and benefits, but do not want to spend a fortune on dedicated hosting, or you are unsure of the amount of the monthly traffic that you will be getting, you should consider going for a VPS. Virtual private servers make use of virtualization to create individual virtual machines, which have independent resources from each other in spite of the fact that they are located on the same server. A VPS’ greatest advantage is its scalability – you can pay for additional resources if your website happens to experience a wave of increased visits and you can also spend less if you have invested in more resources than necessary. Moreover, virtual private servers also provide you with the opportunity to further customize your server by allowing you to install additional applications and software that can help you manage your website.
What is the scale of your online store?
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The scale, in this case, refers to the number of unique items and overall information that you provide on your website. Every server has its own individual resources including processing power, active memory and storage, which is especially important in the case of ecommerce websites. Online stores usually have an abundance of different items including divergent variations with each having separate text, information and images. Images come as rasters and vectors in different formats with some famous examples being JPEGs, PNGs and GIFs. However, all of these image formats are extremely storage-heavy. Additionally, factors such as an image’s bitrate and resolution can also increase its size.
Because of this, the most optimal choice that you can make in terms of hosting is to go for a VPS due to its scalability. If you happen to run out of space you can always purchase additional storage and continue to operate your website as usual without having to remove products to make way for new ones.
When considering hosting options, opting for a VPS with reliable PHP hosting capabilities becomes the most optimal choice. With a VPS, you have the flexibility to scale your resources as needed, ensuring seamless performance for your website.
One of the key advantages of a VPS for PHP hosting is the dedicated resources it offers. Unlike shared hosting, where multiple websites share the same server resources, a VPS provides you with dedicated CPU, RAM, and storage. This means that your website’s performance won’t be affected by the traffic or resource usage of other websites on the server. With dedicated resources, you can expect faster loading times, improved response rates, and enhanced overall user experience.
Another significant benefit of VPS hosting for PHP is the level of control it provides. With a VPS, you have root access to your server, allowing you to customize the environment according to your specific requirements. You can install and configure additional PHP modules, tweak server settings, and optimize your PHP application for better performance. This level of control empowers developers and website owners to create a hosting environment that perfectly suits their needs.
Furthermore, VPS hosting offers excellent scalability options. As your website grows and attracts more visitors, you may need additional server resources to handle the increased traffic. With a VPS, scaling up your resources is relatively easy. You can upgrade your plan, add more CPU cores, increase RAM, and expand storage capacity with minimal downtime. This scalability ensures that your website can handle high traffic periods without any performance bottlenecks.
Are virtual private servers really that better?
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The simple answer is yes, due to their additional features and vitally – their scalability. Having the ability to manage your resources independently is probably the most important factor that you should consider when selecting a hosting plan and provider. Furthemore, there are certain providers like VPSBG that can offer you services, for which you can pay using alternative payment methods, which can be quite convenient if you happen to not have access to traditional transaction-conducting ways or you want to make cheaper and more secure international payments.
Additionally, some providers can also allow you to make automatic backups and snapshots of your server that can come in quite handy if your server happens to be a hacker or encounters a fatal error. Such ways to restore your website and its content can be priceless, especially if you want to retain your reputation and not have to start over from scratch when it comes to building a name for yourself and climbing up the search engine rankings.
Moreover, such servers also come equipped with a built-in, reliable DDoS protection. This can also help protect your website and its content from hackers, who will purposefully generate fake traffic in an attempt to overload your server, resulting in it being stopped as it cannot handle that many simultaneous requests.
Ultimately, the final choice is yours but remember to consider this information:
- Shared hosting is generally not recommended if you have an online store due to the obligatory resource sharing and limited customization options.
- Dedicated hosting is quite expensive, but does provide you with an entire server that you can tailor to your needs.
- Virtual private servers are scalable and have a plethora of customization options by combining the best of both worlds.
And regardless of the type of server that you decide to go for, make sure that your provider does have additional security measures and will also be willing to help you throughout your journey through their technical support, governance and responsiveness.
