The Benefits of Hosting Your Website on a VPS
A Virtual Private Server (or VPS) provides the benefits of having your own personal web server while being part of a larger, dedicated system. This system can host the platform and various tools that your business needs to operate on the web.
A VPS provider compartmentalises its offering for each customer, essentially operating as a stand-alone system. This allows businesses to access a more flexible and responsive web hosting platform, tailored to their individual needs.
The Benefits of Hosting Your Website on a VPS
For SMEs operating on a tight budget with specialised online requirements, VPS hosting offers a range of advantages over traditional dedicated or shared hosting:
Better Neighbourhood
One of the main advantages of VPS hosting is your “neighbourhood.” With shared hosting, your website sits on a large server alongside other websites, but you don’t get to choose your neighbours. Imagine moving into a house, decorating it beautifully, only to find out your neighbours have ASBOs (spammers), are drug peddlers (Viagra and diet pill sites), running illegal gambling operations, or worse, are x-rated. When your site shares an IP range with these types of sites, search engines can penalise you simply by association. VPS hosting removes this risk.
Customised Software Options
VPS hosting provides a range of software that many SMEs are looking for, including web servers, FTP programs and mail servers, as well as more specialised solutions like blogging platforms and e-commerce options. You have greater control over your environment.
Cost-Effective IT Power
Most SMEs can’t afford the luxury of a fully customised dedicated server. VPS hosting, however, allows access to the IT power they need, without the hefty price tag attached to dedicated servers. It’s a cost-effective solution that delivers performance.
Multiple Platforms and Websites
VPS allows businesses to operate multiple platforms with ease. You can host an unlimited number of websites, as well as other server types such as FTP and email servers, all on the same system.
Greater Choice of Programs
Where entry-level shared hosting solutions often dictate which programs or services you can use, VPS hosting gives you a wider choice. You can run the programs or systems that suit your business best, without the restrictions of shared hosting.
Unlimited Email Capabilities
Shared hosting often restricts email usage, limiting the number of connections or the volume of emails you can send. For many SMEs, this is a deal-breaker, especially when it comes to email marketing campaigns. VPS hosting eliminates these issues, allowing for higher email volume and seamless marketing.
Scalability
A key benefit of VPS hosting is its scalability. As your business grows, your VPS can grow with it. You can start with a smaller amount of disk space and processing power, and as your business expands, it’s easy to upgrade your package to match your evolving needs.
For SMEs Looking to Make an Impact Online
A VPS hosting solution allows SMEs to avoid the hassle of server maintenance, as this is all handled by the provider. Your VPS is largely independent, meaning more website uptime. In contrast to shared hosting, where performance depends on other users on the server, VPS ensures your website benefits from its own dedicated resources, resulting in faster load times for your visitors.
If you decide to move towards VPS hosting, here are a couple of essential tips:
- Hire a Knowledgeable Web Developer: It’s crucial to have someone on hand to manage the server, handle maintenance, add new sites, direct domain names and protect your server from hackers. Our developer, Anton, manages all of this for us, ensuring everything runs smoothly.
- Back-Up Your Server: A VPS is cost-effective, but don’t forget to back it up! For a small fee, around £40 per year, we continuously back up our servers to another server in a different country. This means that if something happens to our main servers, we can simply redirect our domains to the backup from the previous evening—much better than losing everything!
Cost Considerations for SMEs
The cost of VPS hosting is spread across multiple customers, so it’s far more affordable than a physical server system. The trick is finding the right VPS provider that meets your business needs both now and in the future.
At The Last Hurdle, we use Ramnode VPS for our servers, and we highly recommend them for their excellent support, great response times and easy-to-use services.
If you’re considering moving to a VPS solution, feel free to get in touch. We can help guide you through the process and ensure your website hosting is both secure and scalable.
