There is more than one way to host your web presence:

- Shared Hosting

- Shared hosting offers you one account on a server. The server may host a multitude of websites or accounts. You get a little portion of the server and share an IP address with everyone else. If a shared server is properly secured your files should be off limits to anyone else.

- VPS Hosting

- Virtual Private Server Hosting. You are able to share a very powerful server with others, usually less than 20 people. The biggest difference is that you get more bandwidth and a higher speed connection but, more importantly, you get exclusive usage of a portion of the server. You can dictate your own operating system and software applications. VPS offers similar benefits to Dedicated Server Hosting except you do not get the entire server. You also get root access and your own IP address.

- Dedicated Server Hosting

- You get complete use of an entire server which can either lease or rent. You can configure it how you want and you have complete control over it. You can reinstall the entire operating system if need be without affecting anyone else. With Dedicated Server Hosting you get Root access.

- Colocation Hosting

- Colocation hosting means you either buy or build your own dedicated server. It is stored or hosted in a colocation data centre and you pay them a fee to use their facilities. You are completely responsible for the maintenance of it.

Colocation web hosting depends on a data centre or colocation centre. A centre is an area especially built that houses a number of servers. They also provide every means possible to protect your data at all times. The servers contained within a colocation centre are equipped with the best encryption software possible that even service providers cannot get through.

You can buy your own dedicated server and place it within this centre. The providers who own the colocation centre provide you with all that is necessary to ensure your server is safe and secure. They provide air conditioning and fire protection as well as every possible means of security and a managed hosting service that will monitor its performance constantly.

Complete control

However, as you own the hardware you are responsible for replacing it in the event of failure. If you live within a distance of the colocation centre you could replace your own hardware. If not, you need to make arrangements with your provider to replace it for you. Software applications are managed by you through your own interface panel.

Your server within the colocation centre is meant for your access alone. Without a password or user ID nobody can gain access. If there are any mishaps in the centre your data will be preserved. For instance in the event of a fire they have measures put in place that are able to seal the room and extract any oxygen from it. While everything else around it may burn down, the centre should remain untouched.

If you need or want complete control over your server then a colocation server will provide you with just that. You get a custom built server that is managed, protected and maintained without the need to hire your own staff to do it.

Ofcom carried out new research and provided a report detailing that results indicate almost one third of British school kids believed that Google ranks searches dependant on how true the source is.

SEO is an important marketing operation which improves search rankings by optimising websites design, layout and structure. These results give us an idea of how higher rankings impact kids opinions on the actual information the website provides.

Only slightly larger amounts – 37 percent – believe Google ranks the search results dependant on how useful or relevant the information is. Fourteen percent of 12 to 15 year old believed websites pay the company money for their top search results.

This enforces the importance of having a top search result and how top search results are viewed by youngsters.

Many of the reasons for a switch over to a dedicated server have to do with performance and security. Poor performance can kill a web presence, while poor security is passed onto customers with detrimental affects to both parties.

The difference between a dedicated server and, perhaps, a home PC or a shared server is the operating system. Dedicated servers use specialised applications and minimal user interface, so the majority of the work is done on the network. They also offer vast amounts of storage and memory.

Dedicated servers also allow users to upload their own operating systems and operating software, when they want and how they want. Their actions have no bearing on anyone else and if they need to re-boot they will not be affecting other users sitting on the server.

What is the need for a dedicated server?

Another form of web hosting comes in the form of shared hosting. Shared hosting allows many users to share the same server. Immediately you can imagine the issues that may arise from this. For one, if the other users hog the space and it reaches its limits and implodes, you are diversely affected. Security is another reason, if someone is able to hack into one web presence they are only milliseconds from accessing yours.

Shared hosting also dictates both hardware and software configurations which don’t allow any individual software needs. Dedicated servers on the other hand mean you are in complete control. If your business relies on certain hardware or software you can install whatever components are necessary without any prior consent.

A dedicated server will usually offer multiple processors and high speed connections. If your web presence relies on processing confidential items and providing info to a large pool of clients then you are probably ready for a dedicated server.

Many providers use the term “unlimited” in many of the features they off, currently you can expect some accounts to offer things like unlimited bandwidth or unlimited disk space. It is important to understand these concepts properly when deciding if an “unlimited” package is the right one for you.

If you take unlimited disk space as an example, there has yet to be a hard drive invented which has no set size or limit. All hard drives are limited in physical size, even if your provider operates a disk array where they can add extra space easily, they are still limited by the number of drives they can physically add. The same is for bandwidth, there is no unlimited internet connection, each connection will have a maximum capacity which it’s not possible to exceed. This begs the question, why is it called unlimited when it is clearly not?

Almost all providers who offer unlimited accounts do so with two factors to take into consideration. Firstly they can look to expand their space or bandwidth based on use, so if a user hits the physical limitations of the service, these limitations are increased accordingly. As such, the user does have unlimited resources as the physical limitations are increased as they are met. This however then raises the question “If I have unlimited resources, then how come I cannot host the busiest site in the world on an unlimited account” ?

The most important thing to remember is that in life, you get what you pay for. If you pay £10 for hosting, you can expect to get about £10’s worth of hosting and service. If it is marked as “unlimited” then although you have no actual set limitations, you can expect that your hosting provider will not be able to match your hosting needs with such an account should your site become the next twitter. Always invest in hosting based on your expected returns otherwise you might get hit by the fair use policy of your provider. Most fair use policies are setup to ensure that services are used for what they are designed for and to prevent users exceeding the products specifications and negatively affecting other users on the same product.

To ensure you are not caught out by the fair use policy, always familiarise yourself with it (usually mentioned in the terms and conditions) but more importantly, make sure you get the right package for your needs and for your expected returns.

Managed hosting falls under the label of web hosting. It is a means of realising your continued web presence. It offers services that provide many different ways of taking care of your web hosting requirements. While some managed hosting only provides the hardware there are also those who offer software that help in managing the server applications.

You don’t have control over the web server in managed hosting as it is controlled by your hosting provider. They also manage the operating systems. This means you have limited access to it. You can only get access via an FTP, or file transfer protocol tool. However, this offers benefits in terms of security as the possibility of the web server being compromised is reduced.
With unmanaged hosting you are responsible for updates or patches as well as being responsible for the security of the web server.

Do you need more freedom?

If you need more freedom over your server then you might want to consider a dedicated server in conjunction with managed hosting. You get an even higher level of security as you are not sharing your server with anyone else.

Managed hosting is not as economical as shared hosting or unmanaged hosting, but you won’t have to worry about any sever issues and are left to concentrate on your data instead. You may need to look long-term though when it comes to your bandwidth as you will need to bear any extra costs involved by upgrading later on.

You get 24/7 customer support, and with it, fast correction of any problems which could otherwise compromise your web presence.