How to Select Right Web Hosting to Fit Your Clients’ Requirements
Whether you are a digital agency, a web expert, or an IT service provider, selecting the right web hosting to fit your clients’ needs is the preliminary act towards creating a great business relationship. Begin with understanding the needs of your clients for their website(s).
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The kind of web hosting they want is usually dependent on the nature of their business and objectives. Whether they want to stream online games, sell their products, or promote their content to attract a huge amount of traffic, make it your command. Have a look at the following types of hosting to find the best suited to fit your clients’ requirements.
1. How to Select Right Web Hosting
Shared Hosting is a suitable option for a small business with a site and low-to-medium traffic. Think of like shared places of residence. With Shared web hosting, you only share the server space with your roommates, not your living quarters.
| Pros | Shared Hosting is ideal for people who are on a tight budget since it is most affordable to make your site up and running. Most of its plans begin at only a few dollars a month. There is also the chance to scale up to get additional features and perks. Further, it is user-friendly, meaning it is great for less tech-savvy hosting beginners and clients. Many plans feature a hosting control panel such as cPanel which simplifies the common tasks, including adding users, installing software, and more. It also works great if your client agreement has no hosting support included. |
| Cons | Even though it is affordable, Shared Hosting isn’t actually equipped to handle huge website traffic. Resulting in an extremely slow site that can stop the visitors from returning. Also, there is a lack of control over the shared server itself. When multiple clients chose the Shared Hosting and asked you to manage their accounts individually, things can get overwhelming like managing many credentials, spending time logging in and out of accounts, etc. |
1.2. VPS Hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting offers more powerful hosting services than normal Reseller Hosting. It provides you more flexibility when it comes to the control panel choice, number of resources allocated per user account, and level of customization for your server environment.
| Pros | Whether you prefer to manage hosting on your own or like to get help from your hosting provider, a VPS provides you the ability to run batch files, install/ update the software, make backups, and more. Though it is pricier than Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting is comparatively less costly than a Dedicated Server. That is to say, it is a nice connection between Shared Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting. |
| Cons | While it gives your site the private virtual space, technically you still share a server. However, its overall performance is more consistent than Shared Hosting. |
1.3. Dedicated Server Hosting
Let’s say, if your client’s site enjoys high traffic or needs a specific software, you are considering a Dedicated Server for them. A Dedicated Server refers to a physical machine having all resources kept specially for your usage. It is your best bet if you like to share the available resources. This allows you to choose a server that lets you use different resources for business purposes while sharing the remaining resources amongst your client projects.
| Pros | If you are someone who wants to have all the control and resources at your fingertips, a Dedicated Server is a solid option for you. With this, you are in full control when it comes to the installation of the type of software, type of monitoring tools, type of control panel, and level of server access for your users. While it has qualities similar to VPS Hosting in terms of root access, the Dedicated Server offers greater customization options, server security, uptime, and quicker page-loading times. |
| Cons | In case you don’t want to get the server management from your respective Dedicated Server Hosting provider and be the server administrator yourself, note that its configuration and optimization can be labor-intensive. This indicates that you will need to hire an external developer for managing things technically. While the price can be high for the Dedicated Server, it is worth it when it comes to performance. For this reason, many hosting providers offer Entry, Medium, or Advanced category levels for Dedicated Server Hosting to meet or exceed your clients’ budget and business requirements. |
1.4. Reseller Hosting
Since we are discussing multiple clients, here is another type of hosting – Reseller Hosting. With this hosting, you can rent your server space to turn it around and sell it to your clients. Basically, it allows you to sell the hosting plans to your current clients with the involvement of a third-party hosting provider. It serves as a great way to make an additional source of income.
| Pros | Reseller Hosting is quite affordable and easy to set up. It is well-suited for web designers and programmers whose clients need hosting. You simply need to give a monthly fee to your respective hosting provider and can get desired money from your clients. Note that the price you pay for this hosting is normally dependent on the type of resources you are renting. Reseller Hosting, with WHMCS billing software, enables you to easily send the bill to your clients. You can make use of the white-label solution if you don’t want to reveal your hosting provider to your clients. It also comes with a hosting control panel like cPanel with different access levels for you and your clients. This provides a smooth user experience for both parties. |
| Cons | Reseller Hosting has a lot of benefits on offer; however, you need to think carefully about the level of service you’ll provide to your clients and their charges. Always remember not to offer your clients more than you can actually provide. For example, if you will not be dealing with the technical hosting problems your clients may face in the future, you should tell them this at first. Because if you overpromise, it will only have an adverse effect. |
2. Final Thoughts
To select the web hosting for your clients, it is important to get their requirements completely like the complexity level of their website, the required software application, the amount of expected traffic, and the number of resources needed. Don’t forget that you are the master and your job is to help your clients in understanding what they need in a web hosting service.
It is advantageous, both financial- and business-wise, to add web hosting to your portfolio. When your clients begin to trust you and your web hosting services, they’ll share their experience with others also. And in a short time, others will also consider you for support and guidance. If you make the best use of these opportunities, it will generate more money since these short-term projects can become longer ones later.
Since there is not a defined web hosting solution for all your clients, it is advised to discuss with them. Ask the right questions and what are their expectations for their websites. You can make them invest in the right offer as per their requirements sans compromising on the performance or paying an excessive amount of money.
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