subject: Web Hosting Plan Some Criteria For Their Selection [print this page] When it comes to building your website, the first thing many people do, but do not spend as much time on as they should, is selecting the right kind of hosting. Think about it, if you want to make money online, the last thing you need is to have to change hosts in a couple of months because you are maxing out your bandwidth, or whatever reason you may have. This equals downtime, but downtime is not profitable.
So you really need to start by determining what type of hosting to choose from. There are many different types and only a few of them are right for you particular situation. You could always choose to go with shared hosting which is the most common, but what happens if your website really becomes popular? Did you know that if you land on the front page of Digg, most shared hosts will cancel your account because of the high amounts of traffic hitting your site? This not only affects your website, but the other sites that share the server you are hosting on.
Of course you can always go with a virtual private server which may be able to handle this, but not always. You have to remember, that a virtual private server is still shared hosting. You along with several other people are sharing the same server, except with the operating system, you each get equal shares of resources. However, if you do become really popular, really quickly, then a VPS can also shut down do to the excessive bandwidth.
Then again there is the dedicated servers in which you have your very own server and do not share it with anyone else. These can take the beating of becoming popular, but they can be quite expensive. Shared hosting is obviously the cheapest route to go with prices less then $6.00 per month, but may not always be the right choice. A VPS is an affordable way of having control over your own server, except that it is not really a server of your own, but rather virtually shared between you and several other accounts.
In the end, you need to take the time to look at the features that come with each type of hosting plan to make sure you are making a sound decision. Do not simply settle for the lowest price or you may end up regretting that decision. Most of all though, be weary of those hosts advertising unlimited bandwidth and storage. They are going based on the belief that you will never use it all and therefore are overselling their service. In the event that you do go over an amount which only they know and refuse to share, they will simply close your account leaving you stuck without any of your website. Make the right decision by taking the necessary time to thoroughly research all of your possibilities.
