Your website will be hosted on a unique piece of storage hardware known as a hosting server. Not all servers are made equal, though. There are four main types of servers available on the market today for web-hosting options:

1. SHARED SERVERS
Shared servers are the most basic and cost-effective of all hosting solutions. As their name suggests, shared servers store hundreds of client websites on a single server device. Given that shared storage space, though, this kind of web hosting platform works best for low-traffic websites with minimum features.

2. VIRTUAL PRIVATE SERVER (VPS)
VPS is a step up from basic shared servers. In this hosting arrangement, your website is programmed into what’s called an instance and placed on a virtual computing platform.

Like shared servers, hosting companies will store many website instances on a single VPS. However, VPS frameworks are much speedier and include far more storage and data retrieval capabilities than completely shared servers. VPS servers can also work with other managed IT services, particularly cybersecurity defenses.

3. DEDICATED SERVERS
For fast-growing websites as well as businesses prioritizing network security, a dedicated server option may be particularly attractive. With a dedicated server, your website and only your website sits on its own physical device that’s stored off-premise in your host company’s data center.

Dedicated servers afford the most privacy, customizations and configurations. They allow you to tailor your security features, support architecture, operating system, load and traffic balancers and more.

WHAT ARE THE TOP WEB-HOSTING PROVIDER CONSIDERATIONS FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS?
Have confidence in your managed web hosting partner by prioritizing these three features during your search:

1. SECURITY
The best hosting providers deliver robust defense systems on its platforms, guarding your website — and your brand’s reputation.

Be vigilant in your security inquiries with potential web hosts. Don’t be afraid to ask what types of attacks their defenses aim to prevent as well as the updates and configuration schedules made to those defenses, including:

Clustered firewalls with deep-level packet inspections.
Around-the-clock inbound and outbound traffic monitoring for suspicious packet patterns.
Additional firewall and antivirus security layers deployed across various computer control panels and levels.
Distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack defenses and spam filters.
System reports summarizing traffic history and blocked malicious activity.
2. COST
Hosting company prices vary widely, from a few dollars a month for mega-shared servers without any special amenities to a few thousand dollars for all the web-hosting premium add-ons. The main variables affecting a managed web host’s pricing, will be your bandwidth and storage requirements, as well as any additional services you request.

Other price considerations to look for when picking a web host include:

Sign-up fees
Contract renewal rates
Cancellation fees
Expedited set-up charges to get your website “live” faster
3. PERFORMANCE
Website hosting performance metrics are the third and final essential feature to test before picking your website host.

Again, use your website’s true nature and realistic traffic amounts to gauge best-fit hosting performance. A blog — even a large one published daily — demands far less from a server than a high-volume, endless-aisle configured online store.

Pay attention to the following performance parameters with your provider, as these metrics are some of the most revealing about your host’s true service deliverables:

Peak traffic load timelines.
Frequency of server overloads and lag times.
Scalability of storage and bandwidth.
Customer support when issues arise, as well as the medium for that support.

CHOOSE WHITELABEL ITSOLUTIONS AS YOUR WEB HOSTING PROVIDER
Get in touch with the web-hosting experts at Whitelabel ITSolutions to see how we do web hosting different, including providing redundant servers and truly around-the-clock customer support, lending you peace of mind your website’s in the right hands.