In contrast with shared hosting each VPS customer receives root access to their Virtual Server meaning they can customise their services to suit their individual business needs. Each VPS client has their own disk space, bandwidth, memory and allotment of system resources which will not be affected by the traffic or usage of the customers which co-habit the rest of their physical server, this is known as performance isolation. In-addition to performance isolation a VPS is isolated from errors, viruses and other problems which may be present in another VPS within the same bit of hardware, this functional isolation also provides greater security for businesses engaged in E-commerce and allows users to install their own software packages relevant to their business area allowing the use of customised shopping cart software.

Due to the great, secure functionality offered by VPS hosting it is often the next step from a medium to large shared hosting plan for those who wish to have greater control of their web space and enhanced security for conducting online transactions.

On initial set-up you will probably decide to host your web site on a shared server, this is generally a much more cost effective and risk free option with the additional advantage of requiring much less know how and input on your part. But as your business grows so will the content of your website, and more importantly so too will the traffic your web site receives. Many shared solutions offer masses of storage and 'unlimited' bandwidth but it should be noted that this 'bandwidth' generally refers only to the maximum data transfer you may use in one month without incurring an additional charge from your web host and does not mean you are able to accommodate an unlimited amount of visitors at any one time. With shared hosting you share your server with many other websites and if any of them are receiving lots of traffic the speed of your site will be adversely affected, this is where dedicated hosting comes into it’s own.

Managed Server Hosting, is where you lease the Dedicated Server from your web host and they run it for you, managed server hosting costs slightly more than unmanaged server hosting but gives you the peace of mind that all up-keep, maintenance and required upgrades are provided by the host.

Un-Managed Server Hosting, is naturally cheaper that managed server hosting, but comes with some additional responsibilities, primarily that of maintenance. You will be expected to carry out any up-keep required including adding patches, security and software upgrades and altering configurations, you should only choose to host your web site on an unmanaged server if you are comfortable with how a server works and how to maintain it.

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Dedicated Server Hosting as with shared server hosting comes with many choices, the first of which will be that of disk space, then of processing power and finally but very importantly of platform, Windows or Unix based. Your choices will be driven by the type of web site you are hosting, how many visitors you receive and what you are intending to host on it. If you are intending to run Windows based software such as MS Access or host windows media files WMVs for music or video then compatibility and licensing issues will require you to use windows based hosting. If you do not need to host these type of software, and will be using mp3, Vlc or Quicktime instead then you will be able to use a Unix based server, which can prove much more cost effective as most providers use the Linux form of Unix which is open source software and free, a saving which can be passed on to you.

Your dedicated server will usually be provided to you at a set cost per month which is made up of the lease of the server plus any extra packages including server management and software if you choose to have them. Most dedicated servers come with a graphical user interface in the form of a control panel not unlike many of those provided by the shared hosting options, although you will have much greater flexibility over the configuration of your web space as you are able to alter the server’s configuration yourself.

There is no limit (other than disk space) to the number of domains you can host which makes dedicated hosting a valuable option for those who want to avoid having to pay for each of those domains to be hosted separately.

When choosing business web hosting there are a few more factors to consider than when just buying a family or personal web space, if your site is to do anything other than purely market your business or if you are setting up an E-Business your hosting plan will need to have some specific features.

Statistics, tell you who is visiting your site, when they are doing it and which pages they are looking at, it will also tell you which page they land on first, all of which help you to market you site more efficiently most even record which browser visitors to your site are using which can be invaluable information for targeting software sales for example.

Email, is a basic requirement of every web hosting package, but a business site will need more accounts and the ability to manage mailing lists for communicating with your subscribers, an incredibly valuable marketing tool. Another Email utility is that of an autoresponder, which sends out adknowledgments to Email enquireys and also, cleverly saves the contact information automatically to your contact database.

SSL, or Secure Socket Layer security is a must have for anyone intending to take payments over the internet, it is a way of encrypting transfers that makes paying on line safer and more attractive for your customers.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation is the process of getting your website indexed and then ranked by the top search engines, such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN, for the uninitiated this can be a very daunting and time consuming process and many good web hosts provide a Free rudimentary SEO service, in any event nearly all will submit your site to all of the top search engines for indexing. An additional incentive being offered although not really SEO ,is the inclusion of Free Google Adwords or similar coupons which help to get you started with one of the many pay per click ad campaign providers.

As you are no doubt aware it can take months of careful marketing for your website to start to rank in the search engines, this is all time when your site it not making you any money, so you may be loath to shell out for a top of the range business plan for this period. Fear not, help is at hand in the form of upgradeable packages or packages that enable you to bolt on extras, these plans enable your site to grow as required, and allow you to had more space, ecommerce options and additional domains as necessary.