What Is A Dedicated Server?
If you are familiar with web hosting, you might’ve heard about dedicated servers for your web hosting solution. There are different tiers of web hosting plans that can be utilized by businesses and websites of different sizes. Shared hosting, virtual private servers, and dedicated servers all offer their own unique benefits to businesses. It is important to understand how the three work and how they differ from each other to decide if your business needs a dedicated server for its hosting option.
StatCounter gives its members great analytical tools to monitor traffic and gain deep insight into their website. As your traffic grows, it is important to optimize your website to handle more of that traffic and convert more visitors into sales. Though we don’t provide hosting, we understand the importance it plays in your website’s success. Here is a look at dedicated servers, what they are, the benefits they provide, and why they might be a viable tool for your business.
Suggested Reading
Knowing about different web hosting services and their benefits is important to finding the right plan for your business and website. We provide a lot of articles on the topic that can prepare you for these decisions. You can read more through the articles below:
The Basics of Dedicated Servers
There are three main types of web hosting services that are available for businesses to get their sites online. The most intensive solution is a dedicated server. In this type of web hosting service, your business has control over an entire server that is dedicated to your business. This means that no other user is hosted on this server and you get complete privacy. In other hosting plans, many users can host their websites on a single server. Dedicated servers are only used by a single entity to host their website or websites.
A dedicated server is a powerful solution because all the computing power is reserved for your business. This solution tends to be best for large businesses or websites with a lot of traffic and needs for customized tools. It can be appealing to have a dedicated server for your website and business, but the extra resources come with their price. Dedicated server plans tend to cost more than shared and VPS hosting, so it is important to determine if your business needs a dedicated server.
Beginner Tips
Most new websites can use a shared server or a VPS rather than a dedicated server. Once your website begins to receive a high-volume of traffic, you will need to upgrade to a dedicated server. However, you will want to build your online presence before investing in this web hosting solution.
The Different Types of Hosting Plans
It is important to recognize what kind of web hosting solution is right for your business. In order to do so, you need a basic understanding of the different web hosting services. This will let you pinpoint the type of service that is right for you and save you from spending too much money on a plan that isn’t needed by your business. While there are many benefits to using dedicated hosting, the power they provide isn’t always necessary to build a successful site. Here is a quick look at shared hosting and VPS.
Shared Hosting
This is the most basic form of hosting but for the vast majority, shared hosting plans are the perfect solution. Shared hosting puts your website on a server along with many other users. A shared server can host up to 1000 different users. The users on the server all pull from the same pool of resources. A shared hosting plan is a great service for businesses to start their website at an affordable price.
This service typically works great but it does come with some risks. For example, if any one site experiences too much traffic, the server can begin to slow or even crash. Also, anybody on the shared environment can introduce security risks to a server and cause data loss. Rest assured, however, that these are rare issues and web hosting providers are quick at addressing these issues so your website runs smoothly.
Virtual Private Server (VPS)
A VPS is a hybrid type of plan that gives you dedicated resources on a shared server. Each server hosts 10 to 20 users and they each get their own dedicated resources within the server. This type of plan is a great step up from shared hosting because your site will be able to handle much more traffic. You will also get more access to the server and be able to implement some extra tools on your website.
This type of plan gives you more power, but it does cost more than a shared hosting plan. Your website will gain a bit more security as well because your data is more locked off from other user’s data. Overall, this is a good next step that falls between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. A dedicated plan will be able to offer more than VPS, but once again, it will cost more per month.
Why A Dedicated Server Is Needed
Now that you know some of the basics of the different hosting plans, you will be able to determine if a dedicated server is right for you. It all depends on your website’s needs. Is it getting large amounts of traffic? Do you want to implement tools on the server that will add different types of functionality on your site? Are you growing and need multiple sites to represent all your brands? Then it is time to find a dedicated server solution that can handle hosting all of your sites.
With the dedicated power, you improve the performance of your site, load speeds, and security. Search rankings are incredibly important for websites. Having a dedicated server actually helps your site rank better by providing better load speeds and security options. Having a reliable site with secure access will improve your site’s reputation and it will be rewarded with better rankings.
Monitor Web Traffic With StatCounter
If you have a dedicated server for your website, this means you’re probably getting a lot of traffic. StatCounter provides the best tools for our members to get more out of analyzing their website. Members have the ability to see their traffic, where it is coming from, what pages are drawing them in, and how visitors interact once on their website. With this insight, your business can replicate the success of its top performing pages and continually increase traffic. StatCounter makes it easy to improve your website.
We are always available to answer your questions about our tools, you can contact StatCounter member support by filling out the form below.
As our trusted domain and web hosting provider, 1&1 offers dedicated server hosting at an affordable price. 1&1 also give you an assortment of features and tools to improve your website performance. To learn more about 1&1’s dedicated server plans, visit their website.
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