Your website has become successful and at last you are getting the sort of traffic you have been dreaming of. Then you get the dreaded email, your web host informs you that the high traffic is monopolizing the server and your account may be terminated (often without a refund) for breaking its terms of service.
So what are your options now? How can your website grow without the fear of your site being terminated?

Well you will be pleased to know that there are several different options available to you! This article will cover each one, so that you can be sure you choose the option that is most suitable for your individual business needs.
Premium Hosting Benefits: –
Premium hosting is very similar to shared hosting except the packages have far more bandwidth (traffic) allowance and they are guaranteed to have a maximum number of accounts on each server.
The benefit of premium hosting is the fact that you are sharing the server with far less accounts (normally just 30-70); therefore your website can have high traffic without affecting the server speed or causing downtime.
The other great thing about premium hosting is that is requires no extra technical knowledge and of course you still have peace of mind knowing that you still have 24 hour technical support (of course this depends on the host you choose).
The last benefit of premium hosting is the fact there are several different packages to choose from, this means you only have to pay for the resources that you need at a given time. As soon as your website grows even further it is very easy to upgrade with only a slight increase in cost, which means your costs are always kept to a minimum.
Reseller Hosting Benefits
Reseller hosting is designed for individuals who wish to split up the resources allocated in their plan and resell each of these parts individually.
Resellers are normally web designers, or customers that have many websites or entrepreneurs who wish to start their own web host company. (Reseller hosting is also not suitable for audio, video downloading or video streaming websites and free/email providers for the same reason as above)
With reseller hosting you can host unlimited domains, so you decided how many accounts you want to create and you decide the price you want to resell them for.
Each of the reseller customers has their own control panel, personalized email and FTP accounts, fantastic scripts. The reseller can even have their own name servers which make them look very professional. The other benefit of reselling is that although it requires slightly more knowledge of the industry, there is always technical support close at hand.
The great thing about reseller packages is the fact that the web host will continue to provide the technical support to these customers anonymously, which means you don’t have to worry about getting your own staff.
Dedicated Hosting Benefits
In a dedicated hosting service, you are the only user of that server. The price depends on the quality of the server and whether it is a ‘managed’ or unmanaged one. (Always be sure that the server you get is from a reputable company).
An unmanaged Server is generally cheaper, however you must know first hand how to run your server (or hire a system administrator that does) as you will be responsible for all the server side problems and configurations.
With a dedicated server you have
– Full root access so you can modify the configuration of the server to
whatever suits you best.
– You can also install any software or scripts that you choose (all of which are
not possible with shared hosting.
– Better reliability. If you are the sole user, no worries about other domains
affecting your server speed or security.
The second option is a managed server. Although this option still requires technical knowledge, you have peace of mind knowing that your web host will always have technicians there to assist you, which means you do not need to hire your own administrator.
When considering an upgrade to your existing e-Commerce hosting service, these are the key options to consider. While certainly not an exhaustive listing of everything you need to consider this should get you on the right path to narrow your choices down to at least three or four services.

Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com

The author has done his masters in computer science and presently he is assisting serverplex.com. For more information please visit us at www.serverplex.com

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Whether you’re an entrepreneur thinking about starting a website business or a website developer who needs to find a good host, its a good idea to know how web hosting works to ensure that your website launch goes smoothly.

There are many website hosting companies on the internet, and each offers a different list of services for different types of websites. Here are some of the common features that you’ll see on most web hosts and how to decipher them.

Website Space: Website space is the physical location of where your website files and images reside. Your HTML web pages and also your web programming pages will be stored at this location. Some web hosts offer 100MB and others offer up to 10,000MB or more.

If your website only takes up five to seven pages then even 100mb might be too much space since most webpages take up very little space.

If your website is content based and requires lots of images, text, articles, videos, then you should make sure your host has more then 100mb of webspace. Often though webspace will not be a major factor when searching for a webhost. Most web hosting companies will provide more then enough space for the average website.

Bandwidth / Traffic / Monthly Transfer: Bandwidth is how much information can be transferred from your website.

Think of it this way. If you have 1 webpage that takes up 1mb and you’re monthly bandwidth limit is 100mb. This means that once 100 people visit your website, your bandwidth limit will be maxed out. You won’t have any bandwidth available until the next month. Usually webhosts offer monthly bandwidth limits of 3,000 MB or 10,000 MB. Don’t worry about bandwidth because none of you’re webpages will take up 1mb.

Once you start receiving thousands of visitors monthly and see your bandwidth increase then you may have to pay additional fee for that month for the extra bandwidth, and consider upgrading your services. As with website space bandwidth will not be a factor when searching for a webhost because most will provide you with more then enough bandwidth for your website.

Web Programming Language: If you have features such as Comments Form – to email comments from visitors to your email account, Newsletter Signup for your visitors or other dynamic features then you will need a web programming language. There are numerous web programming languages. To find out which one you need for your website ask your website development team or your webmaster. They’ll let you know which programming language they plan on using for your website. Common Web Programming languages include ASP.NET, PHP, and ColdFusion MX.

Web Programming language will be a big factor when searching for a webhost because each webhost will offer a different combination of support for web programming languages, so choose wisely.

Database: If you plan on storing your visitor’s email address, name and other information, or keep a catalog of your products then you will need to use a database. Some of the common databases that websites use include Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and Access. Most hosting plans will provide support for atleast one of these databases. As with web programming, you need to ask your website development team which database they plan to use.

Domain Hosting: Usually a website host will allow you to host one domain name such as a .com, or .net, but some website hosts support hosting for more then one website name. This is a great feature because it allows you to host multiple websites on one host, and manage everything from one convenient panel. The downside is that you’ll have to share your space, your bandwidth, and maybe even other features with your second website. If you plan on having more then one website then it’s a good idea to find out how many domains your web host allows on your hosting plan.

Email: Email should not be a factor when researching a webhost. Most webhosts support some type of email account which allows you to have an email address with your website name: sales@mywebsitename dot com or something like that. Keep in mind the amount of space you use in your email might be limited to your overall website space, so get rid of large and unwanted emails.

Customer Support: Customer Support isn’t a factor until it becomes one. That’s why its a good idea to talk with a hosting reprensentative and see how they respond. Good customer support will become a very important factor, and usually it will be your webmaster that will be working with them.

So how do you decide which website host is right for you?

A good method is to find out which of these features is important for your website. If your website provides business training videos that take up a lot of bandwidth then you will need a website host that can provide you with a lot of bandwidth before it turns into a bottleneck. Videos take up hundreds if not thousand times more bandwidth then your average webpage and in this case your first priority during your search will be to make sure that your host offers adequate bandwidth. Or if you find a host that you like, and if bandwidth does become an issue then make sure that they offer the ability to upgrade your hosting services. Be prepared and make sure to find out the prices for the upgraded plan.

Once you’ve found your host try hosting your website on a monthly basis instead of the yearly plan. Just as other businesses, web hosting companies offer lower price to entice you to sign up for long term contracts. There’s nothing wrong with having a long term contract, but it’s not worth it if you decide you don’t like this host, or if you find a better host.

If you’re still not sure which host to sign up with then talk to your website development team. They can recommend web hosts or offer to host your website with them. You’ll also see website hosts provide you with additional features such as shopping cart, website statistics, easy to use control panel software such as Plesk, and other features and software programs to help you manage and profit from your website.

Dedicated Server
If you don’t like any of the plans or if you plan on creating a huge website, with tons of content, images, videos, and if you want to be able to install your own custom software then there’s another option for you, a dedicated server. With a dedicated server you can install your own software, support for your own choice of programming languages, and as the name suggests it is dedicated for your website or websites depending on what you need. The cost is usually 8 to 10 times more then your average web host, but it will allow you more control and provide you more ways to customize it. And if you plan on hosting dozens of websites then you should consider using a dedicated server.

Sam S. runs a website development firm for entrepreneurs with great ideas, and for small and growing businesses. To find out how to launch your website you can contact him at Sam@Netlyte.com for a free consultation. WebsiteDesignHouston.net