Your website must run smoothly to avoid losing customers and revenue. There are many hosting solutions to consider, and you don’t want to rush into selecting the wrong one because choosing the right hosting is important in successfully running an online store. Shared hosting has become one of the small businesses most common hosting solutions. So let’s see if it is right for you and your needs!
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is one of the most affordable web hosting options. It uses shared servers where one server hosts multiple websites. When you use shared hosting, your website shares a physical server with one or more other websites, and you receive a part of the server to host your website. The web hosting provider decides the number of websites hosted on a server, which can significantly affect the cost and functionality of the websites.
All of the websites on the server share system resources, even if each of these websites is accessed only by its owner. And since none of the smaller websites running on the same server need the entire system’s resources, this arrangement works effectively. So, shared hosting is a great option for starting a blog or a website with limited traffic.
There are many shared hosting providers, such as InfinityFree, and you can read more about it in this InfinityFree hosting review. However, it’s important to understand the advantages and limitations of shared hosting solutions if you’re thinking about using them for your online store. This article can help you understand more about shared hosting.
Advantages of Using Shared Hosting
There are various reasons why shared hosting is one of the most widely used solutions for hosting websites. So, here are some of its advantages.
1. Affordable Prices
Businesses often have an already calculated budget for creating a website, so choosing shared hosting is an excellent way to reduce costs.
Essentially, low cost is one of the main reasons why so many individuals want to use shared hosting. It is inexpensive and enables individuals to build their online presence immediately; because many websites can be hosted on a single server, the costs for each site will be very low.
2. Excellent Performance
Many shared hosting providers offer hosting plans at various prices that provide flexibility, scalability, and reliability. The type of plan you choose and your hosting provider will significantly impact your website’s performance.
Your hosting provider should guarantee and deliver great performance regardless of your plan. The shared hosting solutions are closely managed and shared hosting providers manage and improve server resources to ensure that websites will run quickly and with no downtime.
3. Great Security
Every online store wants to know its website is safe and secure, and the hosting provider must ensure that. The shared hosting solutions provide many built-in security features, a free SSL certificate, and 24/7 server monitoring.
4. Easy Admin Access
It is quick and simple to set up and customize the hosting for your website since shared hosting providers allow users to create a new digital environment on the server quickly. Shared hosting providers allow convenient access to admin panels, allowing users to quickly install new plugins, file uploads, and site data access.
5. Excellent Support
When choosing a shared hosting provider, you must ensure that the provider offers high-quality support. Most worldwide shared hosting providers provide support through various support channels such as phone support, live chat, ticketing, email support, a knowledge base, etc.
Disadvantages of Using Shared Hosting
Although shared hosting has many advantages, it may not suit every business. Shared hosting has a few factors why it might not be right for your website. So, here are the disadvantages of using a shared hosting solution.
1. No Backend Control
If you are a beginner or have no technical knowledge, then shared hosting would be excellent for you because the servers are not under your control, but your hosting provider manages them. However, if you have some technical knowledge and are a professional, you will not be able to manage the server. Additionally, you will not be able to modify specific settings, such as the operating system or the version of specific programs, because you do not have access to the server.
2. Limited Growth
There are restrictions on the available system resources, notwithstanding the claims made by many shared hosting providers that they offer unlimited traffic and bandwidth. Also, the hosting providers will ask you to upgrade to more powerful hosting if your website becomes too large. Additionally, because the resources for shared hosting are restricted, the amount of storage space available to users is equally restricted.
3. Impact of Other Websites
You share the server with other websites when using a shared hosting service. One of the issues you risk running into with a shared hosting solution is the impact of the other websites on your own. If another website’s traffic significantly increases, it can use up the system’s resources, which might make your website slower.
Conclusion
If you want a successful online store, the most important thing is to choose the best hosting provider and hosting plan. Without the right web host, it could be difficult for customers to access your store, browse your products, or finish a transaction.
For the vast majority of websites and the ones looking for an affordable solution, a shared hosting solution will be ideal. Smaller websites that don’t handle a lot of sensitive information will benefit greatly from shared hosting. Thanks to the control panel, individuals can manage the entire website and system with little to no technical expertise.
However, a VPS hosting solution might be a preferable option if you want your online store to be able to collect sensitive data. It’s also better in terms of growth and on-demand scalability, root access and control, and overall isolation from other websites, contributing to better security and protection from cyber attacks on the remaining websites on the same server.
