If your company is planning to launch a website, one of the most important decisions is how the website will be hosted. There are several options. These are shared hosting, col-location hosting, or dedicated hosting. There are advantages and disadvantages to each one. Read this article to get an understanding of the difference in order to make the best choice for your company.

In shared hosting, your website files are stored on the same server as the files of other other businesses. Server resources are shared. Of the three types of hosting, this is the least expensive. That is because the hosting company spreads the cost of maintenance among the clients who share these resources. You pay the web host to do all the work for server maintenance.

The disadvantage of shared hosting is that you have no control over the server configuration. If your website needs the server to support a special type of script, you may not be able to have that function if it causes server conflicts for the other websites that share this server with you. You pretty much have to live with what the web host can offer you. Also, since server resources are shared, high demand of resources from other websites can affect your own websites load time.

A shared hosting package would work for you if you have little interest in custom server configuration and if cost is a major factor. This is good for small to medium sized businesses.

In co-located hosting, you own the server equipment that hosts the web files, but you rent the space in which the servers are housed. The advantage is that because these servers are yours, you can configure them and customize them in any way that suits your needs. You have your own personnel to maintain these servers so you have full control over how they are run.

Having your own personnel maintain these servers can also be seen as a disadvantage. That is because you will need to pay extra personnel to maintain these servers off-site. That adds to the operations expense. Traveling to the locations of the servers can be an inconvenience. If your company relocates, the servers will need to be moved. In addition, providers of co-location are mostly found around major city hubs, which means there are no options for smaller cities.

In dedicated hosting, you lease the server equipment and space, but you can have your provider configure it in the way that you desire. The server is for your website alone, so there is no sharing of resources with other companies. The hosting company has the responsibility of maintaining and upgrading the equipment, so that frees your own staff from the responsibility. However, to some businesses, not having physical access to the server may be seen as a disadvantage. If the host’s support is inadequate, you cannot get your own people over there to troubleshoot the problem.

The choice of the type of hosting really depends on your business needs. There is no one definitive choice that is best for all circumstances. Just make sure that you understand the differences so you can make an informed decision.