Perhaps you have been running your small business on a shared hosting account for some time now and you’re wondering if it is time to switch to a reseller account. Or you’re new to all the various hosting options available and you’re wondering which environment is best for your website. You’re not alone. We get many questions about hosting on a daily basis. With so many options it can be a bit daunting to decide what is really best suited for your business’ needs especially if you’re not tech savvy.
Not worry. We understand how hard it can be so we’ve decided to write this guide to share with you the advantages of both shared and reseller hosting and how they can best suit your needs.
Let’s dive right in.
Table of Contents
Shared Hosting: What is it exactly?
Shared hosting or web hosting is still the number 1 sought after hosting environment. This is because with shared hosting many websites operate on a shared server. A hosting provider will allocate resources on a server to operate multiple websites. Since the server’s resources a shared amongst the users it makes this hosting option the most cost-effective. Users share space, CPU allowance, Hard disk space, RAM and other resources to help power their websites.
The great thing now about shared hosting is that plans range from the most basic to ultimate (where resources are virtually unlimited) and with prices as low as £2.40 you can see why shared hosting is so attractive.
Advantages of Shared Hosting
- Excellent value for your money with low prices to suit any budget making it the most affordable option in hosting.
- Easy to use with cPanel. You can manage more than one website on one control panel.
- Use your favourite CMS like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla with one-click install included.
- Scalable options are available to upgrade your shared hosting experience as your website grows.
Who is Shared Hosting For?
Shared hosting is for everyone! Whether you are starting a small business online, a blog or forum etc. When starting your website you will need a hosting solution that won’t break the bank and with shared web hosting, you get all the great amenities a hosting provider can offer for a lower price because you’re sharing server resources with other websites.
The great thing about shared hosting is that if you do begin to outgrow the parameters of a shared server you can upgrade at any time. You will have the option of upgrading to another shared hosting plan with more resources or you can switch to a VPS Hosting plan.
With Virtual Private Server hosting (VPS) you get the benefits and affordability of a shared and dedicated server. Instead of sharing server resources all of them belong to you on a virtual private server.
A dedicated server is also an option for when your business explodes and you need your own server, more power, bandwidth and the ability to install specialised software. With a dedicated server, you own the entire server space making this an extremely powerful hosting solution. While it can be pricey no need to worry. This hosting option is used for extremely large websites with heavy daily traffic flow.
Reseller Hosting
Reseller hosting or White Label Hosting is a type of hosting where an individual or company purchases hosting services from a hosting provider and then rebrands and packages those hosting services to be sold to their customers. In a nutshell, with reseller hosting, you become a hosting provider and with white label hosting as a feature you are able to create your own hosting company without the technical headaches. You can create your own logo and fully brand all the services.
Another great feature of opting into reseller hosting is being able to host a number of your own websites by utilising your own hosting packages. This is a type of hosting that provides you with the necessary tools to become an entrepreneur within the hosting sphere.
Advantages of Reseller Hosting
- Reseller hosting is affordable with plans starting as low as £6 per month.
- It is easy to use and fully
- WHM (Web Host Manager) is included in all plans and enables you to manage customer accounts and handle billing.
- cPanel integration
- Bring in revenue from your clients while hosting your own websites.
- Great to provide complete web packages for web development companies.
- Private name servers based on your own domain name.
Who is Reseller Hosting for?
Reseller hosting is for anyone wishing to break into the web hosting business with a fully white-labelled hosting option. Especially suited for web developers, web designers, web programmers, investors, and anyone who wishes to offer their own brand of hosting services and grow a thriving hosting empire.
What the Difference boils down to?
As you can see, these two hosting solutions are very different and offer different things in terms of their structure. It just simply boils down to what your business needs are. If you are interested in starting a hosting business while running your own website that reseller hosting is the solution for you. You have the free reign to run your hosting business as you wish and still support and host as many of your own websites as you wish, which is great value for the affordability of reseller hosting. If you are simply a small business looking to host your website and receive value for money then a shared hosting solution is best for you. Shared hosting is scalable and is perfect for your business’ long term success. What’s more is that when you do outgrow shared hosting you can choose other hosting options like VPS Hosting.
When Choosing a Hosting Solution Remember to Consider these Questions
- What resources are available to you in terms of building your website? Do they offer templates?
- Do they include one-click installers for CMS like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla?
- Are their hosting solutions fully scalable? Can you upgrade easily from shared hosting to VPS to reseller or dedicated?
- Do they offer around the clock or 24/7/365 Technical support?
- Do they have backup services available, monitoring tools and internet security?
Conclusion
Regardless of which hosting solution you choose Hosting.uk is your ultimate hosting provider ready to provide all your hosting needs.
So just to recap, reseller hosting is perfect for anyone interested in investing and starting their very own branded hosting company, while shared hosting remains the popular and affordable robust hosting solutions for new and existing small businesses and bloggers.
