What Is Business Hosting, and How Is It Different from Shared Hosting?

If you think that the web hosting market is on a downward trend, think again.

Studies show that the cloud hosting market is growing at a CAGR of 18.3%:

Source

And among these hosting types, there's one that's gaining traction for businesses that want to go online: business hosting.

In this in-depth guide, we'll talk about business hosting and why it has an edge over shared hosting. Let's start!

What Is Business Hosting?

Business hosting is a supercharged web hosting service that is exclusively made for businesses. If you opt for business hosting, you'll get all the tools and features you need to run your website smoothly and securely.

Moreover, with business hosting, you get extra perks like eCommerce tools, advanced security features, and priority support to help your business thrive online. It's perfect for small to medium-sized businesses looking to make a big impact on the web.

To put it in technical terms,business hosting is a specialized web hosting service for businesses that want more power, control, and security for their online operations.

If you're ready to step up from the crowded general admission of shared hosting, business hosting puts you in the front row with dedicated resources and top-notch performance.

Taking the analogy further, business hosting is your backstage pass to a seamless online experience, with exclusive features like dedicated IP addresses, SSL certificates, and advanced security measures.

With business hosting, you're essentially hosting a website that's ready to shine on the digital stage.

What Is Shared Hosting Then?

Shared hosting is like sharing a bus ride with other passengers.

It's a web hosting service where multiple websites share the same server resources. A cost-effective and user-friendly choice, shared hosting is ideal if you're just getting started online or have a small website with moderate traffic.

With shared hosting, you share resources like CPU, RAM, and storage space with other websites on the same server. While this means you have less control and resources compared to other hosting options, it also means lower costs and less maintenance hassle.

Benefits of Business Hosting and Shared Hosting

Let's now look at the advantages of business hosting versus shared hosting, starting with:

Why Is Business Hosting Beneficial for Your Business?

• Top-notch performance: Business hosting provides dedicated resources (think: CPU, RAM, and storage), guaranteeing your website with faster loading times and better performance, especially during peak traffic periods. This leads to a smoother user experience and higher customer satisfaction.
• Foolproof security: With business hosting, you get dedicated IP addresses and SSL certificates. So, if enhancing your website's security and protecting your customer's data from cyber threats are priorities on your to-do list, business hosting is a better option. Remember, with improved security comes greater customer trust and credibility.
• Control like never before: Business hosting gets you in control of your hosting environment. You can customize settings, install software, and configure security measures based on the needs of the hour. So, if your business requires a higher degree of customization at routine touchpoints, business hosting is for you.
• Unparalleled scalability: Business hosting is more scalable than shared hosting. This means that as your business—and your website traffic—increases, you can easily upgrade your hosting plan to accommodate the higher resource demands. And don't worry; your website will remain responsive and be able to handle increased traffic without any downtime, which can cost businesses $336,000 an hour:

Source

• Premium support: Business hosting often comes with premium support services—in that you have access to a team of experts to help you with technical issues round-the-clock. As you can imagine, this type of support becomes invaluable, especially if you are in the e-commerce space and need to have your website up and running at all times.
• Unquestionable reliability: With dedicated resources assigned to your website, experiencing downtime or having poor performance issues becomes a thing of the past. As your website continues to deliver consistent performance, your customers will begin to rely on your service.

In Contrast, What Are the Advantages of Shared Hosting?

• Affordable entry-point: Shared hosting is cost-effective—this is its biggest advantage. So businesses on a shoestring budget will find it appealing. Plus, they'll get the resources they need without overspending—a win-win for all!
• Ease to use, easy to set up: Another unignorable advantage of shared hosting is its user-friendliness, even for beginners. With simple control panels and easy setup, you can have your website up-and-running in no time.
• Maintenance-free hosting: Since the hosting provider manages the server for you, you don't need to waste time wrapping your head around technical maintenance. This frees up your time to focus on creating high-quality website content that everyone wants to read and achieving business goals strategically.
• Community support: Shared hosting often comes with a supportive community of users. Whether you want instant help or advice, you can tap into this community's collective expertise and take advantage of being on the same hosting platform.

When Should You Go For Business Hosting vs Shared Hosting?

Choosing between business hosting and shared hosting depends on your website's needs and traffic volume.

This is why this making this choice may not come easy for e-commerce business owners at the outset.

Let's simplify it for you: If you expect high traffic and require more resources, business hosting should be your first choice since you get dedicated resources, better performance, and enhanced security. However, if you have a low-to moderate-traffic website and are looking for a cost-effective solution with basic features, shared hosting might do the trick.

Pro tip: Before you take a leap of faith, consider your website's scalability, control, and support needs. 

Here's a quick rundown of how each hosting type fares with respect to different criteria:

How to Get Started with Business Hosting? An 8-Step Guide

If you've reached this far, chances are you're considering upgrading to business hosting.

But don't take our word for it. Base your decision on what the experts have to say and make an informed decision.

Here's a step-by-step lowdown of the process to follow:

Step 1: Brainstorm on Your Business Needs

Shared hosting, VPS hosting, Cloud hosting, Business hosting - the web hosting landscape offers multiple models and plans.

Before you choose a specific plan, evaluate what your business' core requirements are, including:

Traffic volume: Determine the expected traffic to your website:

• Are you anticipating moderate traffic?
• Or are you gearing up for high-volume traffic, such as with an e-commerce site or a popular blog, for instance?

Technical needs: Evaluate the technical aspects of your website:

• Do you need support for specific programming languages? What about unique databases and frameworks?
• Consider your current—and future—technical needs to ensure compatibility with your hosting plan.

Budget:  Ensure that your budget aligns with your hosting needs. To do this:

• Think - Do you have a realistic hosting budget? Are your key stakeholders aware of it?
• Consider - What are your initial costs, and will you need to scale your website in the next year or so?
• Are your stakeholders onboard with the financial commitment?

Step 2: Get Your Basics Right

Different web hosting options cater to unique needs. You need to cross-check if your hosting server maps to your personalized needs. Here's your go-to cheat sheet:

• Shared Hosting: This option is ideal for small websites with low to moderate traffic. It's cost-effective and easy to set up, making it suitable for beginners or those with limited technical knowledge. However, since resources are shared among multiple websites, performance may be impacted during peak traffic times.
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting: VPS hosting is a step up from shared hosting, offering more control and resources. It's suitable for growing businesses that need a more scalable hosting solution. With VPS hosting, you have dedicated resources, which means your website's performance is less likely to be affected by other sites on the server.
• Dedicated Hosting: Dedicated hosting provides exclusive server resources for your website. It's best suited for high-traffic websites and resource-intensive applications that require maximum performance and security. Dedicated hosting offers the highest level of control and customization but is also the most expensive option.
• Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting is ideal for businesses with fluctuating resource needs. It offers scalability and flexibility, allowing you to scale resources up or down based on demand. With cloud hosting, your website is hosted on a network of virtual servers, making it more resilient to hardware failures and ensuring high availability.

Step 3: The Million-Dollar Question - Is the Server Secure?

Is your hosting plan secure? A security-first hosting plan offers the following features:

• SSL certificates: Data sent between your website and its visitors is encrypted thanks to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certifications. Given that e-commerce websites handle sensitive data, such as login credentials and payment details, you must choose a business hosting plan that includes SSL certificates or, at the very least, offers easy integration with trusted SSL providers.
• Firewalls and DDoS protection: Firewalls act as a literal barrier between your website and malicious threats, filtering out harmful traffic. Attacks such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) can cause your website to become unavailable by flooding it with traffic.
  Our suggestion? Go for a business hosting provider who offers robust firewall protection and DDoS mitigation services to safeguard your website against these threats.
• Regular backups: Regular backups protect your website's data in the event of accidental deletion, hardware failure, or even cyber-attacks. Your hosting plan should

• • Offer automated backup solutions in case of power failures.
  • Allow you to schedule regular backups at your convenience.
  • Enable you to access stored data easily at your fingertips, both offline as well as online.

Step 4: Evaluate Your Speed and Performance Requirements to the T

Your user experience and search engine rankings cannot improve if your website speed is not up to par. So, when selecting the business hosting server plan, choose the right one:

• Server location: Your server location should be close to your target audience for obvious reasons. One, it reduces latency, and two, it improves loading times. For example, if your audience is primarily in the United States, it makes sense to choose a server located in the US.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN): Use a CDN to spread the static information on your website—images, CSS, and other materials—across several servers located all over the world. As the distance the data needs to travel gets reduced, you'll benefit from faster loading times. As a thumb rule, you must evaluate CDN providers based on their network reach and performance
• Server Response Time: Opt for a hosting provider with low server response times to:
  • Ensure your website responds quickly to user requests,
  • Let your visitors experience a seamless user experience,
  • Get access to a robust infrastructure with optimized server configurations.

Step 5: Don't Forget About Scalability

As your business expands, your website's hosting requirements will evolve. Naturally, scalability should be your numero uno demand when selecting a scalable hosting solution:

• A plan that keeps up with your business' climb: Ensure your hosting provider can accommodate increased traffic and resource demands as your business expands. Do not skimp on flexible plans and enquire about how you can upgrade your resources in real time.
• A plan that grows with you: You must also choose a hosting plan that allows you to easily upgrade your resources, such as CPU, RAM, and storage, to meet growing demands.

Step 6: Is Your Uptime Guaranteed?

If your uptime guarantee is less than 99.9%, you're settling for less. Another item to note is whether the provider has clearly defined service-level agreements regarding uptime guarantees. Generally speaking, your SLAs must include:

• guarantees for uptime percentage
• response times for support requests
• compensation and/or refunds for downtime that exceeds the agreed-upon limits

Step 7: What's the Customer Support Like?

In the face of technical difficulties, reliable customer support is the game-changer your business needs. So, ensure your hosting provider offers:

• 24x7 support: Round-the-clock support minimizes downtime and disruptions to your business.
• Multi-channel support: Look for providers that offer various support channels, such as live chat, email, and phone support. You should be able to reach out to the service provider in the channel of your choice and not the other way around (as is so often the case).

Step 8: Are You Reviewing Customer Feedback for Insights?

We won't lie - To gauge your business hosting provider's reputation, you'll need to do a fair bit of homework. So, read up on user reviews and testimonials. Platforms like Trustpilot and forums are particularly useful for offering valuable insights into the experiences of other businesses.

7 Ignored Yet Helpful Tips to Maintain Your Business Hosting Server

Maintaining your business hosting server goes beyond the basics. Here are seven tips to keep in mind:

Tip 1 - Rotate Hard Drives Regularly:

If your server uses multiple hard drives, consider rotating them periodically to distribute the workload evenly and extend the lifespan of your drives.

Tip 2 - Implement a "Honeypot" System:

A "honeypot" is a decoy server that attracts and identifies malicious traffic. Implementing a honeypot alongside your main server can help you identify and mitigate potential threats early on.

Tip 3 - Monitor Environmental Factors:

Keep an eye on the temperature and humidity levels in the room where your server is located, as overheating can affect its performance. This means you must ensure proper ventilation and consider using a dehumidifier if needed. You must also prevent dust buildup, which can damage your server components. So, dust the server without fail.

Tip 4 - Regularly Audit User Permissions:

If you have to, add this tip to your monthly agenda - Periodically review and update user permissions to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive data and server resources.

Tip 5 - Use Geographically Diverse DNS Providers:

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can disrupt your server's availability. Using geographically diverse Domain Name System (DNS) providers helps mitigate the impact of such attacks by distributing traffic across multiple servers.

Tip 6 - Employ Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection:

Machine learning algorithms can help detect abnormal patterns in server traffic, indicating potential security threats or performance issues that require immediate attention. The idea is to cut your work in half and make your life easier.

Tip 7 - Automate Security Patching:

Automating the process of applying security patches ensures that your server is protected against known vulnerabilities without you having to spend time on it. In other words, you'll be able to improve your server's security posture without lifting a finger!

Get Your Hands on the Best Business Hosting Plan with Vodien

Here's the long and short of it: When it comes to web hosting, business hosting is as premium as it gets. You get multiple advanced features to power up your website in terms of speed, performance, reliability, security, and so on. More importantly, you don't have to worry about the maintenance of your website's technical requirements.

If you aren't sure about where or how to begin, consider Vodien business hosting plans, which provide 300% faster speeds and robust security to start with. Moreover, we offer five business hosting plans for you to choose from.

Here are the biggest advantages of our business hosting services:

• Free setup and transfer
• Free premium email hosting
• 24X7 support
• Free one-time CMS configuration optimization in case of slow business hosting websites
• Free Premium WordPress themes and plugins to help you kickstart your online presence; users can build up to 10 websites with Vodien's bizPlus plans!
• Free SSL certificate provides a dedicated IP
• 99.9% uptime service

As a full-time business owner, we understand there's already plenty on your plate—and managing your hosting environment shouldn't be one of them.

Instead of wasting your time and resources on monitoring and troubleshooting your server needs, focus on improving the customer experience with killer blogs, instant service, and cutting-edge products. We'll handle the rest.

FAQs

Q. Is shared hosting good for business?

It depends. Shared hosting is a good option for smaller websites that want a more basic hosting solution. The biggest drawback of shared hosting is that it isn't as reliable as business hosting.

Q. What is the difference between business hosting and shared hosting?

Both business hosting and shared hosting are types of web hosting services, but they cater to different needs and budgets:

• Shared Hosting: This is a type of hosting where multiple websites share the resources of a single server. It is an affordable option suitable for small websites and blogs with low to moderate traffic. However, because the resources are shared, their performance can be affected by the activities of other websites on the same server.
• Business Hosting: This is a premium hosting service exclusively designed for businesses that require more resources, security, and reliability. It offers dedicated resources such as CPU, RAM, and storage, resulting in better performance and uptime. Plus, business hosting often includes additional features such as enhanced security, automatic backups, and priority support.

Q. How many visitors can shared hosting handle?

A typical shared hosting plan will be able to cater to around 300 to 800 visitors a day. This number can go up to 90,000 visitors a month, depending on the expertise of the shared hosting service provider.

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