After much deliberation and hard work, you’re finally getting your new business off the ground and are ready to begin investing in your website. In the early stages of entrepreneurship, it can be tempting to cut corners in an effort to save money and maximize profits. And, with so much competition among Internet hosting and storage providers, it may seem like a no-brainer to sign on with the hosting provider that can offer the lowest prices in the market. Although working to save cash can help you succeed in business, this type of thinking is not always best for a growing company.
The Problem with Discount Hosting
Discount hosting providers in and of themselves are not bad; in fact, they’re awesome for certain purposes. But these types of hosting services are not designed to bear the heavy load of a growing commercial website. Instead, they are most effective for blogs and basic small business websites with predictably low traffic.
If you plan to grow your company in the future, chances are you plan to grow your website right along with it. If your business remains on your old, limited hosting service, you could face limited bandwidth, storage space and limited performance capabilities that could deter customers and send them in search of better service from your competition. The reason this happens is because standard hosting requires you to pull all of your web resources from a pool of shared network services. Once the shared server becomes exhausted, you could face limited hosting power.
What’s worse is that if the server goes down altogether, all of your web data will be lost with it – putting your business at the mercy of your hosting provider. No one wants to run the risk of jeopardizing pertinent site information just to save few bucks on a shared server. But few want to invest the money associated with a dedicated private server either. For those business owners, managed hosting could hold the solution.
Managed Hosting
Most serious online businesses require the security and reliability of managed hosting. Managed hosting is better for businesses than discount hosting because it frees businesses from spending time and money on keeping a server running and allows business owners to spend efforts on maintaining applications and the infrastructure of the website and company services themselves. For example, Rackspace offers business owners a managed hosting service that grows as companies grow. Customers pay only for the space and bandwidth they use, preventing overuse or rationing of server space.
If you already have an established website and aren’t yet on a managed hosting service, there are some signs that may signal the time is right for transition. The most obvious indication is an uptick in your site traffic to more than 1,000 to 2,000 visitors per day. More web visitors on your site can drag down your loading speed, which could cost you customers. You may also be ready for managed hosting if your business requires advanced security features or automatic backups. If you’re doing transactions through your site, you’ll want to look into managed hosting for security.
Keep in mind that while it may be tempting to use discount hosting during the earliest stages of your company’s website, the money you save may not be worth the costs you pay later for inadequate bandwidth and storage space. If you’re serious about growing your start-up and are just now getting your website off the ground, save yourself some time later and start off on the right foot with managed hosting now.
Kay Ackerman is a self-proclaimed tech geek and freelance writer, focusing on business technology, innovative marketing strategies, and small business. She contributes to www.technected.com and you can also find her on Twitter at twitter.com/kayackerman.
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Sue
April 1, 2013 at 8:34 pm
It took me awhile to figure this out…services like BlueHost aren’t that great because they really just end up offering 1 service (but offer great value for those who won’t need more space in the future). I found services like MDDHosting, DownTown Host, and HostingZoom is be fast, reliable and allow room to grow bigger.
Luis
April 12, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Bluehost always ends up losing their new users. Thanks for sharing this information with us, Kay. And thank you, Sue, for sharing your list of reliable servers.