A Few Pitfalls of Shared Hosting

By Paul Knox Anthony

Not all of us are wealthy enough to afford a dedicated server as soon as we launch our websites, which is why we are forced to opt for shared services. Now not all shared services suck, but some of them sure do, which is why you must be careful when it comes to choosing your web host if you want to maintain quality on your site. Here are a few common pitfalls of not doing your research and settling for the first (or next) shared host you come across:

Resellers who go out of business: While there are people who have enjoyed success after signing up with resellers, you need to be wary when you choose one to host your website. If your host is not prompt in paying their bills, you may be seeing a whole lot more downtime on your site than you bargained for. The bottom line is this: if you do not know how long your host is likely to stay in business, you are better off without them.

Hosts who dont administer a transparent billing system: If you dont know what you are paying for, you might as well give away your money in exchange for nothing. Choose a host who offers transparent billing services where you know how you are being charged, when your bill is due, how much each upgrade costs, and when your upgrades kick in.

Unexplained outages: You never know when your site is going to be down when you sign up with an unknown host you cant trust just because the services were offered cheaply. Continued or prolonged outages can end up destroying the visitor base you have so painstakingly built up.

Limited domain names: Shared providers normally offer you only between one and five domain names, so if you want to expand your presence on the net as your business grows, you may be forced to change hosts.

Limited databases: Every website needs more than one database if you are hoping to progress beyond the start up stage, and with the limited number of databases that shared hosts provide, you can imagine the dilemma you are in when you have just one or two databases to be shared between five or more domain names.

Poor developer support: If your web host is not regular about updating developer tools, think again before you sign up. Most shared hosts are not too dedicated to offering support for and updating common developer tools like MySQL, PHP, Python and CGI.

There are a few things you could do to minimize the effects of these pitfalls - Back up your website to your PC on a daily basis, and have alternatives lined up in case you need to switch hosts immediately. Also, make sure you dont register your domain name through your web host if you want to keep the name for life or pay in advance for long-term service (even if there are discounts offered) in case you want to switch hosts even before the month is out.

By-line: This article is contributed by Paul Anthony, who runs a web design in Ireland company. This article is contributed by Paul Anthony, who runs a web design in Ireland company.