Sunday, December 28, 2008

Shared vs. Reseller Website Hosting

By Gray Rollins

Lets see what you have to consider before you plan to set up a website. You will either go for buying a web server along with its support equipments and a qualified technician to run it properly or you will pay a monthly fee to a company that runs websites to hold your website on their equipment. A big company who wants to go online can afford to spend this kind of amount but for others, it is better to go for the second option. You don't need to spend buckets full of money on setting up the required web server infrastructure. So all you need to do is rent a server space from one of the web server companies. If you think it is as simple as it sounds, read ahead.

Not really. Once you start shopping around for web hosting services, they have several different options to choose from. One of the first big decisions to make is if you want shared or reseller web hosting. But what exactly is the difference?

In a nutshell, the difference is scale. In shared web hosting, you rent server space for a single website with a single domain name. You would pay a separate monthly fee for each additional website you set up. In reseller web hosting, you rent a large amount of web hosting server space, divide it up among as many websites as you need, and then have the option to resell the left over server space to other people to set up websites-essentially making you a web hosting subcontractor. So which option should you choose? There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and we'll examine each below.

The simplicity, efficiency and the low cost are the three main features of shared web hosting. If you require it for personal use or for running a small business website then this is perfect for you. Along with one website and one domain name, you will generally be allowed to set up sub domains for different parts of that website. You pay them the rent for the space on their web server equipment and you get their support as well. In a way they become responsible for making sure that your website is not only accessible all the time but also that it is running without any problems. They will be ready with their technical support whenever you require it. This takes care of a very important aspect for any businessperson. This option also requires less expenditure (5 -20 times less than reseller web hosting) as you may have to spend around $5 or even free.

There are drawbacks to free web hosting sites, however. The main one is reliability. As you are not a paying customer, if the site goes down, all you can do is wait. You have no contract guaranteeing you a set response time for internet outages. Free web hosting is great for a personal website, but if you're running a small business where your website needs to be available 24/7/365 and you need quick, reliable support for any and technical problems, then you'll definitely want to go with a paid shared web host. The costs vary depending on how big your web site is, and how much web traffic you anticipate. The web hosting company Hostgator, for example, offers three shared web hosting packages varying between $4.95 and $12.95 a month. Finally, if you want to set up another website, you have to buy another shared web hosting plan, and your monthly expenses have just doubled.

Reseller web hosting has advantages like flexibility and economies of scales. It is better for you if you have a fast growing business or if you are running multiple businesses. With shared web hosting you will have to keep adding the cost with each addition of a website. But with reseller web hosting you have to pay once for all the space rented to you. You can divide this space to set up lots of websites and can even rent the left over space to other individuals or small businesses. It is also possible to relocate the resources of your website when it starts growing. With right approach, you will find that reseller web hosting will actually be cheaper than using shared web hosting on a large scale.

The main disadvantage of reseller web hosting is its cost. You can get the Hostgator shared web hosting package at the cost of $5 to $13 per month but the reseller web hosting package will cost you $25 to $100 for each month depending on your website's size and traffic. You can reduce this expenditure if you sell the unused space to someone else but then there is no surety that you fill find someone to but it. You may not find a customer when you want one. It is possible that in some months you will have to pay for all the space even when you don't use all of it.

Another problem is that when you sell the free space to someone, you have to provide him support whenever there is a problem. Since you yourself have no control over such technical problems, it becomes a major problem. You can provide some kind of administrative help but problems like an Internet outage will not get solved by you without the help of your web-hosting provider. When you are unable to help them, you will end up losing not only the confidence of your customers but the customers too. They will shift to other web-hosting provider and you will ruin your name in the business. This will have adverse effect on the financial conditions of your business.

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