Shared Hosting - The Cheap Web Hosting Solution

Shared web hosting is probably the most known and used among casual web surfers and entrepreneurs alike. If you have a website right now, and you don’t know what shared hosting is, chances are you are on it.

This articles aims at shedding some light on what shared hosting is, its limitations, and to enable you to make a decision if it is right for your purposes.

In the US alone there are literally thousands of web hosts that offer shared web hosting. Some of these hosts have their own data center, others lease servers from larger data centers. Then there are resellers, who themselves have rented shared server space or dedicated servers with bigger web hosts.

Let’s take a look at the concept of shared web hosting plans.

With shared hosting, many individual websites from different customers reside all on the same physical server. That means that all of these websites share the same resources on that server.

As a result, none of these sites will be able to utilize 100% of the server’s resources. Rather, they will be divided among all of the websites hosted on that respective server.

This is to keep costs low and to enable web hosts to offer plans in the price range shared hosting is known for. Since all of the shared hosting accounts on a server utilize the same hardware, maintenance and administration costs are low.

But don’t many hosts offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space with shared hosting?

Yes, indeed some do. However, disk space and bandwidth are not the same as RAM and CPU usage, which will have to be capped to ensure the server’s stability.

This means that your website is likely not going to load as fast or be as responsive as on a dedicated server. This is especially true for sites that rely heavily on scripting and queries to the database.

Not all websites are created equally. Some static web pages utilize very few resources to host and serve, others need a lot. Good hosts will migrate your website among different servers to ensure you are getting the performance you need. Also, good hosts will not completely fill a server, rather cap it at a certain percentage.

However, not even bandwidth (or disk space) is unlimited – there is a physical limit the network can handle, and most hosts will suggest a dedicated server once you reach that limit. If you host a lot of images or other media files, you may want to consider hosting them separately on a storage service like the Amazon S3.

Read your host’s Terms of Service thoroughly. Shared hosting providers usually do not allow resource-hungry applications like Forex programs or live streams to be run on shared hosts.

Out of the box, most shared hosting solutions serve all domains with a shared IP address. You can see what other domains can be found on the same IP you have by looking up your domain and the matching IP on www.webhosting.info. However, if you require a dedicated IP (e.g. for SSL), that’s usually possible for a small monthly fee.

Another concern with shared hosting is security. Bad neighbors are theoretically able to hack into files owned by other domains on the same host. Also, not everybody updates their installs of WordPress, DruPal etc. frequently, leaving room for exploits on that host.

You will either have to accept the fact and live with it, or move to a more expensive solution like dedicated servers. In any case, you should always update all of your web applications as soon as possible to minimize the risk of security holes. Do not host your site on a shared host if you are handling highly sensitive data.

To sum things up, most people run their websites on shared hosts, and happily so. It is surely worth your time (and some trial and error) to find a good host to make the most out of your shared web hosting solution. Take security updates for your applications of choice serious, best yet subscribe to their mailing list or rss feed to stay informed.

Backup often. Don’t rely on your host to backup your files up in the event you have been hacked. Don’t forget your database(s).

As you can see, there are a lot of different aspects to shared web hosting. This article has covered some but not all of the many opportunities you have with shared hosting. For a more in-depth look at your different web hosting options visit: http://iqbanq.com/1/web-hosting

DevHub – Free Web Hosting

If you don’t think that you are ready to manage your own website, don’t worry. There are solutions for you that eliminate the need to touch any of the technical aspects of owning and operating your own website. With such services all you have to do is share your passion, and the rest will take care of itself.

DebHubLink is a rather young free web service and webhost, that lets you create custom websites in a super easy and user friendly fashion. Think of it along the lines of Squidoo or HubPages. However, with DevHub you will be able to instantly create full websites, either on a subdomain (yoursite.devhub.com) or simply by pointing your own domain to your hosting account with them.

Both of these options seem pointless to a new user, but both are in your favor. First they give you a subdomain if you don’t have a domain.

A subdomain is an extension of their own domain as I illustrated in the example above. But more importantly, the search engines treat it more like an independent domain name. This keeps your website from being added into all of the other websites hosted by DevHub. This is in your benefit, because you will be ranked on your content rather than a combination of all other content they host.

Even more impressive is that they allow you to point your own domain name to your site. This is an advanced feature, one that other services would charge you for. What this allows you to do is brand your site and give it a finished feel. Instead of yoursite.devhub.com, you could rather have yoursite.com. This is much easier for your readers to remember. But more importantly, if you ever decide to move your site to another host, you have the ability to direct the traffic you worked for to your new host.

If you decide to use DevHub, I would highly suggest that you buy a domain name. They are relatively cheap, .Coms are usually under $10, and you will thank me if you decide to move to a new host later on.

Name.com is one of the best registars out there, and they give you free Whois protection. They are the only domain registar that I know of that does this. Other companies often charge more to protect your privacy than they do for the domain itself.

I also like that you are able to change the slug of sub-pages that you create on your site. For example: yoursite.devhub.com/your-custom-slug

This is useful for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and it makes your site more consistent. Should you decide to change hosts, it will be easier for you recreate the pages’ hierarchy or redirect your visitors to their new location.

When you start using DevHub, you will be able to create up to ten websites right away. In order to minimize spam, your account receives a quality score. You will receive a good quality score if you create quality content rather than spambait or junk websites. Once you reach a certain score, you will be able to create another set of 10 websites, and so on. The better quality your websites are, the more of them you will be able to create.

No matter what you want to do, DevHub has modules for most things out there. Monetization runs completely through DevHub (similar to HubPages), but, unlike Squidoo, you will have to apply to the various ad networks and affiliate programs yourself. However, there are certain monetization modules that you may use right out of the box. Simply place the desired modules, e.g. products or ads, on your site, and make money from your niche websites.

What’s more, all of this is absolutely free!

DevHub lives by taking a portion of the profit your website generates. That means, they benefit from you being successful and vice versa. To guarantee that, they offer payment-per-impression (PPM), payment-per-click (PPC), payment-per-action (PPA), and payment-per-lead (PPL) monetization modules for you to start using immediately.

Additionally, DevHub offers optional premium services. For example, you can hire their team of developers to design and implement custom solutions just for you.

DevHub is the right thing for you if…

• You want to make money online.
• You want to create niche-focussed content websites.
• You want free hosting and don’t care about the platform.
• You don’t mind sharing your profits with DevHub.
• You don’t want to be overwhelmed with managing your own website.

A final note, DevHub is not a permanent solution for your hosting needs. However, it will get your feet wet and give you the tools you need to begin learning how ecommerce works. If you want complete control over the look and feel of your website, or you want to keep 100% of the revenue it generates a full hosting company like HostGator is what you are looking for. HostGator also offers free, easy to use site building tools, plus access to 4500 professionally designed templates.