December 10th, 2020
Dedicated servers can help your website thrive, yet what are they? How are they different from other internet servers?
In a world where over a third of small businesses don't have a website, articles about servers can sometimes get overwhelmingly technical. In this article, we're going to show you, in non-technical terms, what dedicated servers are and how they can help you.
Ready to learn more? Then keep reading.
The Alternative: Shared Web Hosting
To explain dedicated servers, we should first take a look at their alternative: shared web hosting. Shared web hosting is where one server hosts and deals with traffic for multiple websites.
If you're running a hobbyist site or other such personal site, shared hosting could be fine for you. Yet, there are some significant downsides. Having so many websites on one server means that all the server's resources need to be split between several customers.
This means that if one website experiences a lot of traffic, everyone else's site on the server slows down too. These slow speeds can frustrate customers and even affect SEO.
Yet, there is another significant downside to shared hosting: it has some real security risks.
The security of your website is no longer only your responsibility. If another site's owner on your server doesn't run a tight ship, you could suffer. Alternatively, if a site on your server is sharing malware or running a scam, the server as a whole can get blacklisted and penalized by Google, so you'll be punished too.
How Dedicated Servers Can Help You
The problems that we've outlined are serious ones faced by businesses on shared web hosting every day. Sites on dedicated servers don't have to deal with these issues.
Each dedicated server is dedicated to hosting one website. This means that the site gets all of the server's resources, which means a faster and more responsive website. This means less frustration for your customers and, due to Google making page speed a ranking factor, better SEO.
Security is also not a shared responsibility on dedicated servers. You don't need to rely on the other site's admins, and you can make your website as secure as you like. If you aren't serving malware, you can also be assured that your website will not be blacklisted. You don't need to worry about what anyone else is doing.
Due to these factors, using dedicated servers is a must for businesses. If your site is slow or you get infected by malware, fewer customers will be able to find you, and their user experience will be worse, which may stop them from using your business.
Shared Hosting Doesn't Cut It
For businesses in the 21st century, using shared hosting is no longer an option if you want to run a great website. Dedicated servers are the only way to get great speeds and tight security at all times.
If you'd like to learn more about dedicated servers or ask us any questions about them, look around our site or get in touch.