Top 4 reasons to be wary of shared web-hosting
Shared web hosting is when a single server and its resources are shared between a number of users. The number one reason that people are attracted to this form of web hosting is because it is economical. The costs of running the server is shared between a number of users, which means that each user only has to pay for a small ratio. We’re not saying this is a bad option, in fact, there are circumstances in which shared web hosting might be the perfect option for you.
As with everything, there are advantages. You get unlimited space and domains, which means that you can run several sites on the same server. Additionally, being computer incompetent is not an obstacle, because many shared hosts offer one click installs in well-known platforms, such as WordPress. However, there are some disadvantages to keep in mind when you’re deciding whether it is a good option for you.
1. User experience
Shared hosting is the slowest of all hosting because of the strain on the server. As a result, it creates a tedious and unenjoyable experience for your users. There isn’t a single upside to making a user’s experience on your sight less enjoyable, but in the event that we have a reader that doesn’t actually mind, it gets worse. A little while back, google started using the speed of your site as a factor in determining the placement on your site in the search engine. So, to put it simply, the worst your site, the harder it will be to find on google.
2. It will crash
This one is unavoidable. There are a number of perfectly legitimate and respectable sites that offer you shared web-hosting. But, the truth of it all, is that, an unavoidable consequence of putting thousands of websites on the same server, is that it will crash. The doesn’t matter how many proactive measures are put in place, and some sites really go the long haul to minimise crashing, but the pressure of that main sites puts too much strain on the machine. As rare as it might be, your server will end up crashing from time to time.
3. Security
When you’re sharing a server, it’s all for one and one for all. So that means, all it takes to bring down your site is someone else’s mistake. One customer’s weak password or out of date software might mean a breech in the entire system. One site runner’s Trojan infected theme will literally bring down your site, alone with everyone else’s on the server.
4. Restrictions
As with everything that is shared, when one person uses more, the others get less. A commonly reported disadvantage to shared web hosting, is that if one user’s site has a lot of traffic or email capabilities, the other users suffer. So, it’s probably best and more considerate to only add shared web hosting to the list of possibilities if you’re expecting your site to only rack up a small amount of hits.
I came across an interesting site today while browsing some of the web hosting discussion forums. This website ranks the speed of hosting services both globally and by individual country. It's well worth a look if you're interested to see where your hosting provider ranks.
First, webmasters and web hosts let their site visitors perform speed checks to see how fast a 100kb page loads. Page load rank is based on speed tests performed during the last 3 days.
Second, all users can perform server reponse time speed checks to see how much time it takes for the host servers to respond. This test measures from 13 locations world wide simultaneously
Finally web hosts themselves can perform speed tests on their local networks to see how fast their local network can handle data.
"All results of these 3 speed tests are collected and stored in our database at oudel.com to calculate and display the speed ranks"
So I thought I'd look up one of my favorite web hosting providers, Thirdsphere Hosting to see how fast they were performing and found them to be ranked 52 overall out of 353 hosting services listed. I guess I'm satisfied with this result, as they perform extremely well for me and offer great customer service. Although I'd be far more impressed with a top 20 listing!
So pay them a visit and see where your current web host ranks, but make sure to come back here to OUDEL and leave a comment below with the results for us all to see.
