Web Hosting Plans
Like many other services, there are a variety of tiers to web hosting that can make choosing a plan a bit confusing. Web hosting plans can vary in price depending on the type of servers you choose to host on, or what types of services they can provide. Websites are increasingly crucial to your business and its success so it is important to know what kinds of plans there are. Plans are also dependent on the current position of your business.
StatCounter focuses its efforts on their valued members and the success of their websites. We provide valuable analytics that can give businesses great insight on its website’s success. A website is a powerful tool for your business, and while we don’t provide web hosting, we do equip our members with information regarding hosting plans. We aim to give you the information that leads to effective decisions with your website.
Suggested Reading
Web hosting plays an important role in your business. It is important to have an understanding about web hosting solutions. To learn more, take the time to read through the articles on the subject we have listed below.
Free Web Hosting Plan
There are free web hosting plans that make it really easy to learn more about web design and experiment with making content. A lot of people start out using a WordPress site or blog to start their own website. These plans typically give you a small amount of free web space and a free domain or subdomain name. Then you can choose from a number of free themes to give your website a design and some navigation.
Benefits of Free Web Hosting
You can start experimenting with a website without spending any money. Filling your website with content is the bulk of the work, and once you start doing so, you can get a better feel for web design. Best of all, your content is available to the public immediately because it is quick and easy to setup. It is important to note that a free web hosting plan is typically good for beginners. There are still a lot of limitations to the service.
Drawbacks of Free Hosting
Like all free services, the features available can be very limited and require payments to update them. For example, a domain name that omits the web host’s name will cost more. Many of these free web hosting solutions don’t let your business implement an ecommerce platform or sell products or services on your website. You may even have to pay to remove ads that the free web host runs on your site.
Beginner Tips
If you are starting a website for your business, free web hosting solutions are not the best option you have. With this, you are given a subdomain of the web host. For example, if you host through WordPress your website’s URL will look something like this www.MyWebSite.WordPress.com. Due to the unprofessional look of a subdomain, you will want to start with a shared server, or a VPS.
Shared Web Hosting Plan
A shared web hosting plan is typically the type of plan businesses and individuals start with. It is much better for businesses to start with a shared web hosting plan because it gives them much more control over their online identity. The “shared” in shared web hosting refers to the server. The data that makes your website is located on a shared server where users draw from shared resources. Regardless, it is a great place for a small site to start, and there are typically options to scale up if you need to.
Benefits of Shared Web Hosting
One of the best parts of shared web hosting is the ability to create an identity or brand that accurately fits your message. On a shared server, you get much more control over the look of your website and the tools that are used. You can install your own content management software, write your own code, and even add more security options. These options can strengthen your image and even allow you to sell your products and services directly from your site.
Drawbacks of Shared Hosting
Eventually, a successful site can grow too big for shared hosting. When this happens, you can be limited by the shared resources and it can slow or crash your website. Experiencing a lot of traffic can overload the server and cause downtime for you and everybody on the server. This is a good problem to have because it means your site is getting a lot of traffic and drawing in a lot of business. If this occurs, it is time to start looking into bigger plans such as VPS and dedicated servers.
Virtual Private Server Hosting Plan
VPS puts your data on a server with fewer people (typically 10 to 20) and gives you dedicated resources. Each user on the server has their own set of resources partitioned off to give them a dedicated feel on a shared server. Unlike a shared server, VPS gives your business its own RAM, bandwidth, and other features. These resources are no longer shared and you can even implement other software and security solutions.
Benefits of VPS
A VPS plan will give your business much more control over the server. You have more options for upgrading features such as CPU and RAM. One of the best benefits is access to the server to implement other applications that can help with other functions on your website. On top of the added control, you’re going to be able to handle large increases in traffic so you can keep growing the success of your website.
Drawbacks of VPS
A VPS plan will cost more and require more technical expertise. It is important to have a member on staff that understands technology and servers in order to get the best quality out of your server. There are also options to have your server managed by the host, but it will cost you more than an unmanaged plan.
Dedicated Server Hosting Plan
This plan is the biggest plan available to businesses. The entire server belongs to your business for its own personal use. It eliminates any other users and you can easily run your website and make any alterations to your server. The server is focused on your business and you can take that to your advantage. No other entity will be able to alter your server or data without your approval.
Benefits of Dedicated Hosting
Completely dedicated resources and server power is all focused on your business. This is going to give your business the most control and can handle all your projects. Business with large websites and multiple websites for certain brands will be able to keep them all in one server. Your security is also the best on a dedicated server because you are the sole user and can implement your own security standards.
Drawbacks of Dedicated Service
You’re going to be spending a lot of money and time on this type of plan. Luckily, if your website is big enough to require this plan, that’s a drop in the bucket. Your business will need experienced technical staff in order to manage this server. If this is the plan you go with, be aware of the extra costs with more IT staff.
As our trusted domain and web hosting provider, 1&1 has some of the most affordable priced web solutions to help your website grow and succeed online. Many of their web hosting plans also come with a free SSL certificate for added security, as well.
StatCounter Provides Website Analytics
If you have the right web hosting plan for your business, it’s time to start tracking your progress. With StatCounter web tracking tools, your business will get a clear insight on how their website is performing. Track your traffic to see where it is coming from, how it interacts on your site, and what pages are drawing it in. These valuable analytics will allow you to make effective decisions in regards to web design. You can replicate the results on other pages and grow your traffic even further.
If you would like to ask us questions about using the StatCounter tools, you can contact StatCounter member support by completing the form below.
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