Do I Need a Dedicated Server for my Website? | Squarebird

Do I Need a Dedicated Server for my Website?

Your guide to server hosting plans for your website.

It takes an average of 3 seconds for visitors to decide if they will stay on your website. It is a proven fact that if visitors must wait for your page to load, or worse still, if it does not load at all, your business will be impacted.

If your website takes more than a couple of seconds to load, visitors will simply click off, return to search, and find your competitor.

There are many different solutions to this problem, but the foundations of website speed usually come down to the server that is hosting it.

What is dedicated website hosting?

All websites require hosting to allow visitors to view the site. In order for your website to be visible on the internet, the files for the site have to be stored on a computer somewhere that is constantly online and connected to the internet.

A web server is much like your home computer, but it allows people from around to world to access your website files at any given time, without requiring you to keep your computer turned on ready for visitors.

Not all hosting services are created equally

There are different types of hosting services available, so to understand if you need a dedicated server you must understand all the options on offer.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting packages are usually the cheapest solution available. These servers effectively share their resources with potentially hundreds of sites held on the same drive. Shared servers will have very limited resources and, because their resources are shared, you may experience performance issues if another website on your shared server experiences high traffic.

A simple explanation of shared hosting is that it’s a trading estate with a small track leading up to it that is shared by all the other businesses on the estate.

If one of the other businesses is exceptionally busy it will limit the flow and speed at which your customers can connect with your business.

Virtual Private Servers

Virtual Private Servers are the next step up from shared hosting servers. Virtual Private Servers (VPS) are still “shared” in terms of the machine hosting the website; however, you have your own dedicated portion of the server’s resources to limit the impact from other websites using the server.

VPS are slightly more expensive than shared hosting packages and are a little more complicated to maintain, however, they offer far more in terms of speed and reliability for your website visitors.

Using the explanation from before – VPS are like sharing a trading estate with other businesses however, you have your own lane that it dedicated to just supporting the traffic for your customers.

Now that we have looked at the two other main types of hosting packaging, we can look at the pros and cons to having your own dedicated server hosting for your website.

Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting is what it says on the tin; it is your own personal server that is not shared with others and only deals with your traffic and files.

A dedicated server, or even multiple dedicated servers, is designed to give your website use of all the server’s hardware to maximise performance. The only limit on a dedicated server is the hardware installed in the server.

Dedicated servers are certainly not a cheap option for hosting, however if speed, storage and security are your top priority, then dedicated servers are something you should consider.

Statistically, if your website does not load within 3 seconds you will lose up to 50% of your traffic. In the world of instant information at your fingertips, web viewers are impatient.

Dedicated servers usually require a lot more experience to manage too. As you are effectively dialling into a computer in a data centre you will need to be able to control the server through a more complex procedure to set it up.

What is a managed dedicated hosting package?

Managed Dedicated Hosting makes things easier for you to look after. A managed server service will do all the tricky setup and installation for you. Depending on the provider, you will have access to a simplified dashboard to manage your website, much like with a shared or VPS service.

This form of dedicated hosting is very popular for large businesses, businesses looking to scale up dramatically, or websites looking to host an online service. With Managed Dedicated Hosting, the hosting provider deals with the most technical sides of server management, while providing the best possible service to your customers through your website.

What is the best server hosting package for your business?

Shared hosting tends to be the bottom of the barrel, while it gets your website online it is not designed to provide quality service. You will quickly outgrow a shared hosting package if you intend to scale up your online presence. This option should only really be considered for a business if you are just looking for a very small website and presence online.

VPS hosting is a very good option for small/medium businesses looking to host their website on a platform that is fast and reliable. Depending on how you plan to scale your website a VPS hosting service may be all you ever need for your website.

Dedicated Hosting/Managed Dedicated Hosting is best suited for online stores, larger scale web services, and people who want to offer the highest quality web experience for their visitors.

Still confused?

If you are looking for more information about the different types of hosting packages available, then talk to our team. Squarebird have years of experience in building and maintaining professional web experiences for our clients.

We provide hosting packages that are designed to keep your website online and ready to serve your clients.

For more information on hosted packages for your website contact our team today.

Get a free consultation call with our team.