When you’re searching for a hosting provider to host your affiliate site there are a handful of various solutions you can choose. However, there are two types of hosting plans that have the highest popularity among other website owners just like you. They are:
- Shared hosting plans.
- Dedicated hosting plans (dedicated servers).
The former is the most basic hosting solution you can find. If you go to a provider like Blue Host, for example, then you can get started at $5.95 per month, so it’s not what you call expensive.
Sign up for Blue Host.
Essentially, shared hosting is a solution in which you have to share one physical machine (a server) with other clients of your hosting provider. Hence the name – shared hosting.
Dedicated servers, on the other hand, mean that you get the whole server to yourself. You don’t have to share it with anyone else, and you also get full control over the machine and its configuration.
Depending on the offer, you can usually choose the operating system, hardware components, and so on. The server itself is still managed by your hosting provider, and they also have to take care of maintaining the machine. In essence, this works on a lease basis – you’re not the actual owner of the machine.
Should You Go for a Dedicated Server?
It all depends on the scale of your affiliate business. If you’re just starting out with a new site then you probably won’t need a dedicated machine. Shared hosting plans are more than capable of handling every newborn site.
HostGator, for example, lets you host unlimited domains, gives you unlimited disk space (for normal use), and unlimited bandwidth, all for a small payment of $6.36 per month.
Such plans are perfect for getting a site off the ground. However, when you reach a given threshold, or when you notice that the loading times of your site are increasing, and that the site is responding much slower than before then it’s probably a good moment to start thinking about a dedicated hosting plan.
Dedicated hosting plans should always be chosen after a consultation with the hosting provider’s support or representative. Those people are experienced professionals who will help you to choose the best plan depending on your site’s current popularity and size.
When it comes to the price it can vary quite a lot. At Blue Host, the prices of dedicated servers start at $74 (for the first month, and then $174 per month recurring), and end at $299 (for the first month, and then $374 per month recurring).
Sign up for Blue Host.
It all depends on the configuration you choose. Of course, you can upgrade further down the road, but it’s always good to get a well-tailored configuration right from the get-go. That’s the reason why you should start by contacting a representative.
If you decide to switch to a dedicated plan, your hosting provider will either take care of transferring your site themselves or assist you in every step of the process. Either way, transferring a site from shared hosting to dedicated hosting rarely causes problems.
What’s your current hosting plan? Are you using shared hosting or a dedicated server?