Definition of Shared Hosting

Shared hosting occurs when a hosting provider provides multiple clients a section, or space, on a single web server so that they can host their web sites. People who own small sites or personal blogs, or small to medium businesses who are just starting with their online client base usually use it. Shared hosting is known for being more affordable than other hosting solutions. With dedicated hosting, one client may have multiple websites on a single dedicated server used by him alon, making it more expensive than shared hosting. Each client account on a shared server has its own secure access and can only be accessed and controlled by the owner of the account.

Best Shared Hosting Providers – Features to Look For

Some of the most basic features people look for in a shared hosting plan are how much storage you are allowed on the server for your files. Some sites are simple and consist of a few pages. Other sites are more complex and can hold many images of products for example. Another consideration when looking for a shared hosting provider is the amount of bandwidth, or traffic, the hosting provider allows to your site each month. The other major consideration with choosing a shared hosting provider is how affordable it is.

Other things to consider are additional features that might be offered with your plan such as web email and the number of email accounts you are allowed to have with your account. Another thing to consider is the number of add-on or sub-domains that are permitted with the account. Some other final important features to look at when choosing your provider is database and scripting technologies like MySQL, ASP, and PHP, depending how you will want your website to function.

In addition to features and requirements for your website, you will want to consider how efficient and courteous customer support is. Read our shared web hosting reviews to find out if the customer support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and look at how technical support is handled. Some offer telephone, chat, or ticketing systems for technical support. Some companies provide all three.

Bad Shared Hosting Providers – What to Avoid

You will want to avoid hosts whose servers have slow transmission times for their sites due to excessive use by multiple sites. You will want to avoid hosting companies that are using older versions of database and scripting technologies and software because this is a good indicator that the hardware they are using is out of date too. Hosting providers that run older technologies probably do not maintain their servers as well and this makes your data more susceptible to security threats.