Signs You Need To Upgrade Your Hosting Plan

For most start-ups, the most common plan for hosting is shared hosting. This is understandable since you’re just starting out and you might not have a flexible budget to spend on dedicated hosting.  Shared hosting comes with a couple of restrictions. There is a disc space allocation that you’re not supposed to exceed. A growing business will require more data processing and sometimes shared hosting will not provide the customization that you’re looking for. You will want to customize the server to meet your business needs.

To overcome such challenges, it will be a good idea to move to dedicated hosting. This is because the business will be growing and moving to a dedicated server can be seen as an investment that will eventually pay off in the long run. Here are some signs that you need to move to dedicated hosting.

If you are on a budget but you notice the issues discussed below, you can look into cloud web hosting. This alternative option is not as good as a dedicated server but it is still far better compared to shared hosting.

1. Slow Speed

You’re likely to experience slow speeds during peak hours. This will be the time where there are visitors on your site. If you run an e-commerce website, slow speeds usually result in a high bounce rate. Customers are spoiled for choice and will not have the patience for the site to load. With shared hosting, there will be a lot of resources competing for the RAM. The customer care rep will not be of much help since it is a capacity issue and there is very little they can do under such circumstances. With a dedicated server, you can customize the resources depending on the number of visitors that you get. You are also able to scale if you feel that the resources that are currently available are not sufficient enough to handle the traffic challenges the website is experiencing.

2. Sudden Spike

An increase in traffic is usually a sign of growth but your website might not be prepared for it. You stand to lose revenue because of downtime. That is why it is important to be prepared if you anticipate a spike in traffic. It will be wishful thinking to hope that the shared hosting will be able to handle the traffic. Shared hosting will do well for less than 10,000 visits. If you experience more than that, it will be time to start shopping for a dedicated hosting solution.

3. Customer Needs

Customer needs are always changing and it is up to you to ensure that they’re satisfied at every step of the process. With shared hosting, there is a pre-installed setup and you’re not allowed to do any customizations. This could be limiting when you want to add some features to your website or app. With shared hosting, there are multiple sites on the same server and making a change could affect all those sites. If you’re experiencing such a challenge, you will know it is time that you move to a more controlled environment. Dedicated hosting allows for root control access which allows for all the customization that you will need for your business.

4. Improved Security Features

Shared hosting comes with its own fair share of risks. Your business might be growing and there is a lot of sharing of sensitive information. With an increase in traffic, there will be security vulnerabilities if you’re on shared hosting. You’re more susceptible to scammers and hackers because it will appear to be you’re operating on a public network. Dedicated hosting has in-built security features that you wouldn’t find in shared hosting. You also have the freedom of customizing the firewall and antivirus.

5. Your Website Has Been Suspended

Most companies will suspend your hosting account warning. This could have a severe impact on the operations of the business. In most instances, they will suspend your account when they feel like you’ve been abusing the resources allocated for your account. It could be bandwidth or capacity issues. Instead of trying to plead with the hosting company, a logical move will be to start shopping for the best dedicated server hosting in Canada. You’re likely to experience the same problems with the company. You will also have to get rid of some files if you’ve used up all the allocated space for your account.

5. Uptime Guarantee

If you depend on your website for the majority of the sales, it is crucial that it is online. A small downtime could have an impact on the revenues. Moving to dedicated hosting will give you the closure you need. You need an assurance that the website will always be up, no matter what happens. Only dedicated hosting can provide assurance on uptime. You don’t have to worry about restrictions and resource allocation.