Pros and Cons of Shared Hosting for Responsive Websites

A shared hosting service is simply a collection of various websites sharing a single server platform, which can accommodate hundreds of different websites, depending on its capacity to allocate resources such as; disk space, bandwidth, and data transfer allocations. Personal websites are ideal for shared hosting, and small (and even medium-sized) business websites could also benefit from a shared hosting environment – particularly for responsive websites – as long as their hosting requirements conform to the server’s resource allocation capacity. It is becoming far more important for businesses to ensure their sites are accessible from every device, as Google’s algorithm update will reward businesses with mobile/tablet friendly websites – so it’s definitely something businesses should consider.

Bloggers and small time business owners usually prefer using shared hosting because of its affordability, as it allows everyone to share resources and server space. You can still manage and control your part of the site, but the host will do all the maintenance when it comes to the servers. Shared hosting can be great for responsive websites, as they often have much cleaner code structures that make it easier for search engines to read and take up less space when on the server.

Shared web hosting Australia can be divided into two subtypes: free or paid. Every hosting type has its advantages and disadvantages, and knowing the pros and cons of shared hosting for your responsive website will guide you in deciding whether to choose it or not. This article covers the pros and cons of shared hosting in depth to give you a complete picture, so you can make an informed and educated decision.

Advantages

Affordability

Shared web hosting is appealing mainly because of its cheap prices. Anybody can set up shop online for as little as 4 AUD per month, or approximately 40 AUD per year, not including domain registration prices and taxes, of course. Shared hosting is cheaper when compared with a dedicated web hosting service simply because there are many people who are responsible for server maintenance, dividing responsibility and expenses. If you have a responsive website, the upshot is that there will be less code, which means less data and a smaller file size. This should fit well with shared hosting as you won’t be taking over the majority of a servers storage – allowing you to benefit from a cheaper price.

Easy To Use

With shared web hosting, the provider handles all management responsibilities, including the installation and maintenance of the operating system, security software, databases and server modules. The limited functions available to you can be accessed through an extremely easy-to-use control panel and you don’t even need to have sound knowledge of cPanel hosting, servers etc.; technical assistance is usually provided. Shared hosting allows a site to be easily set-up and on the Internet in a few hours, so you can set the ball rolling on your new online venture in no time at all. Moreover, with many shared hosting providers, there is a guarantee of some form of technical support, which can be particularly helpful when you’re going mobile (responsive) for the first time – as there are sometimes teething problems that will need to be resolved.

Quality Support

Shared hosting providers typically provide 24/7 technical support, by email, phone or instant chat. This means that any time you encounter a problem; you need only to get in touch and the provider will resolve it for you, which has proven to be extremely useful for individuals with limited technical expertise. Many hosting providers offer enough resource allocations to meet the requirements of setting up a small and medium sized business websites and can provide guidance on going responsive, allowing you to take advantage of their expertise for no extra cost than your usual hosting fees.

Disadvantages

Limited Space/Bandwidth

In the world of web hosting, ‘you get what you pay for’; if you pay for a cheap shared hosting service, you’re likely going to find yourself with extremely limited storage space and bandwidth. However, if your site is relatively small, which some responsive websites are, this shouldn’t cause you any problems. Although, if you intend for your website to grow and expand, then a shared server could become a problem in the future and may not be sustainable for what you need it for. Since there are many websites running on the same server, there is the possibility that one or more might be drawing a lot of traffic and using up most of the resources, which will affect other websites too. This might overload the server and adversely reduce loading speeds for some websites, which means that users or visitors might have to wait some time on a website as the server loads the information. Choosing a good hosting company will usually ensure this doesn’t happen, particularly for responsive websites, so by using a good hosting provider you can ensure faster load times, more files stored on server and a better price for you.

Limited Management Options

Not having to worry about server management can also be a bad thing, especially if having the ability to choose a particular operating system and server software is essential for your business needs. Furthermore, you cannot install custom security software, meaning the security of your website lies solely in the provider’s hands, and it is unlikely that you will have the freedom to install different types of programs with shared hosting. Hosting service providers are in charge of the technical aspects of your website operation, including hardware, software and operating system installation, security management, resource upgrades, and maintenance operations.

Poor Support

Not all hosting providers are equal, so it’s wise to check up on a host’s reputation before signing up because some providers offer bad support. To make matters worse, some providers refuse to support issues not directly related to hosting, such as problems with third-party applications like WordPress or advice tailored to responsive websites.

Security

One of the biggest drawbacks of shared hosting is that there is a lack of security and, because the server is shared with a lot of individuals and organisations, there is more risk involved as far as security is concerned. If you’re offering E-commerce on your responsive website, then consider your options extremely carefully and have a chat with your chosen hosting provider to see what reassurances they can offer you.

Extra Charges

There is always bandwidth assigned to each website if you opt for a shared web hosting service, so if a particular website exceeds or goes beyond the assigned bandwidth, the server company charges them extra for that month. In addition to this, some hosting service providers resort to overselling to gain profit, which means that more websites than the server platform could handle. Should this happen, it could result in a server slowdown because the bandwidth, memory allocations and CPU cycles cannot cope up with the demands of the resident websites, but a good hosting company has a solid plan in place to protect it’s customers. However, if you are going mobile and getting a responsive website, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue due to smaller file size.

Server Downtime

The possibility of a server failure can take down all resident websites resulting in the temporary shutdown of operations for all concerned. One reason for this is the failure of the shared hosting service provider to set up its resident website in their separate partition, which is another question to ask before you choose your host.

Dynamic IP

Another important problem with shared hosting is the lack of stagnant Internet Protocol and changing this is a risk for the user who is performing e-commerce transactions. However, this problem can be overcome by the selection of a company that provides static Internet Protocol. Shared hosting is also unsuitable for an e-commerce site with a huge database, as it is hard to get the required resources.

In conclusion, the best type of responsive website hosting depends on what kind of site you intend to set-up. If you are planning to set up a business website with a lot of traffic and applications specific to your business or a large ecommerce store with a huge inventory, you should look for a dedicated or virtual private server web hosting service. However, if you only intend to set-up a personal website or small responsive business website with provisions for advertisements and affiliate marketing to attract some Internet income, a shared hosting service could be ideal for you and could save you money in the long run.