Unless you’re a brand new site manager, you’ve probably started to think about the benefits of switching to a dedicated server for your website.
While shared hosting is great for new and small websites, there are several reasons why switching to a dedicated server provider is good for anyone who wants to grow their website beyond a small blog. If you’re looking to get into eCommerce or otherwise make money online, then a dedicated server is something you should be looking into. If you’re still not convinced, here are five good reasons to make the jump from shared hosting to a dedicated server.
1. Security
A dedicated server will always be more secure than a shared one, no matter how tight your hosting provider’s security system may be. The fact of the matter is that a dedicated server is… well, it’s dedicated. That means there are no other users on that server but you. Security threats like data breaches or hacking attempts can only affect you if someone directly hacks into your server, something that’s very preventable with the most basic of security measures. If you’re running a business or collecting sensitive data from people on your website, then you absolutely want to make sure that your website’s security is airtight. If someone’s information is stolen from your site, they could hold you responsible. Moving your online business to a dedicated server gives both you and your customers peace of mind that’s well worth the extra monthly cost.
2. Traffic
Growing your website means enticing more people to come to your site. The more traffic you have, the better. Right? Well, not if your site crashes because you maxed out your server’s resources. Downtime is death to an online business. Not only do you lose potential customers, but repeated crashes can negatively impact your SEO. On a dedicated server, you don’t have to worry about maxing out your resources. Unless your website is so monstrous that it literally requires 100% of an entire server’s resources, you’ll never have to worry about an upsurge in traffic shutting your site down. You can focus on growing your site to its full potential, secure in the knowledge that your site can handle as many visitors as you can get.
3. Loading Speed
Having access to resources isn’t just about managing traffic. Maxing out of resources like bandwidth can negatively impact your site’s page loading speed as well. No one likes watching the little wheel spin while they’re waiting for a page to load. As online businesses become more and more sophisticated, the average wait time for online customers gets smaller and smaller. Google estimates that the average person will only wait 3 seconds for a page to load before moving on to something else. And Google’s estimates should be taken seriously, as Google factors loading speed into its SEO algorithms. Long story short, if your site is taking forever to load, you lose the interest of your visitors and stand to take a hit on your SEO. With all of the resources of a dedicated server at your disposal, however, your loading speed should be lightning fast, regardless of how many visitors you have.
4. Customize Your Server Space
If you’re a long-time site manager, increased control over your server settings is another benefit of switching to a dedicated server. Shared hosting providers often limit your ability to customize your server settings, for the obvious reason that you aren’t the only user on that server. But your own dedicated server space comes with admin control. That puts things like cron jobs, shell scripts, and custom software all within the realm of possibility. Whether you’re on a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or you purchase a physical dedicated server, the result is the same. You have full control over your hosting environment, with nearly unlimited programming customizability.
5. Growth Potential
Your site may be small now, but if you expect it to grow anytime in the future, you should make the switch as soon as it’s financially feasible. Many sites advise starting with a shared hosting plan, and then switching to a virtual or dedicated server once your site starts to outgrow its resources. The problem with this logic is that the bigger your site gets, the more difficult it will be to change servers. This is especially true if the shared hosting provider you’re currently with doesn’t offer dedicated plans. The earlier you make the switch, the smaller the impact will be on your site’s consisted users. If you have an online business, it’s especially true that you’ll want to make the switch as soon as possible. Changing servers inevitably means downtime, and for an online business, downtime means money lost.
