Considering the fact that you can get “hosting” for as little as $3 per month, why would anyone even bother to look at VPS hosting? Well, depending on what you want to do online, and for how many people, you may actually be better off with a VPS and not just “hosting”.
So – for the uninitiated: What is VPS hosting?
Just for the sake of perspective, shared hosting means that a number of websites share one (server) computer with one operating system, and one hard drive. A dedicated server means that you have the whole (server) computer all to yourself. While shared hosting is the cheapest, a dedicated server is the most expensive. A VPS lies somewhere in between: both in terms of cost and in terms of performance.
In contrast to that, a Virtual Private Server is exactly what it says. You have your own unique setup of “server operating system” (Windows or Linux depending on your needs – bloggers use Linux), and your own file system. Your operating system runs independently from the next user’s setup, which has a number of advantages over both shared hosting:
1. Speed
Due to the fact that you don’t have to share your software files, or the “brains” of your hosting facilities, with a multitude of other people, a VPS is faster than shared hosting. With shared hosting, you never really know how many other websites are on the same server. As such, you also never know just how much traffic any of those sites are receiving, and how many complex scripts they are trying to run for many different people.
Being on a VPS means that you are shielded from that to a large extent and that in turn makes your own site faster.
The additional speed also means you don’t have to worry about not being able to send larger amounts of paid traffic to your site or blog. The fact that you control your own environment to a large extent means that there is much less chance of your site jamming up under the load.
2. Stability
In a shared hosting environment, especially if there are a lot of websites running on the same server, there is an increased risk of something going wrong on one of the sites, requiring maintenance, slowing everything down, or demanding a reboot. In the case of a site being hacked, the server admin will isolate the domain/files and reboot the system – but during that time everyone could be off the air.
You could also be sharing the platform with someone who decides to send a boatload of visitors (for instance PPV traffic), which then clogs the system up for everyone. On a VPS, the impact of that is drastically reduced.
3. Better security
If your site or blog runs on a VPS, you have a lot more control over the settings. As such, you are in a position to set up better rules for your firewall, which protects you against advanced hacking attacks. You can choose to only allow that which you absolutely need, and block everything else from being executed.
Note: If you lack the knowledge to do any of this, you can always go for a managed VPS package – and the server admin will handle everything for you.
In addition to being able to tailor the security settings to your own needs, you also enjoy more isolation from malicious scripts running in infected sites on the same machine. Because you have your own operating system setup, your file system is mostly isolated from the rest of the machine, and as such, it is a lot more difficult to attach your site via another site.
4. It’s better for email marketing
When your blog is on shared hosting, you also share a mail server with everybody else on that server. Unfortunately, you have no idea whether the other people on the server are playing by the rules. Some of them may be sending out spam, which can cause the mail server to be flagged.
As such, even though you didn’t do anything wrong, you may end up suffering in terms of email deliverability because of the actions of others. That means that, if you are building a mailing list (as any serious internet marketer should), you risk losing money due to the actions of other webmasters sharing the same host.
On a Virtual Private Server, you get your own mail server with its own IP address. As such, you are shielded from the actions of spammers who are using the same hosting company.
In conclusion
So – who does VPS hosting make sense for?
a. If you want to protect your blog – which is becoming more and more difficult by the day, as hackers simply ramp up their efforts all the time.
b. If you want to be able to ensure all (or as many as possible) of your autoresponder emails are delivered.
c. If you want your site to be faster, and to be able to send larger amounts of traffic without having to worry about the server can handle it.
d. If you don’t want your site to go down for a few minutes every time that some other webmaster has a problem.
In fact, if you look at the advantages, it would be irresponsible of any serious internet marketer not to have – at the very least – VPS hosting.
Once your income justifies it, you can consider a dedicated server – but considering the price, VPS hosting makes the most sense.
Don’t know how to set up a VPS? Don’t want to pay a fortune for one? Don’t want to get locked into some silly long-term contract for your VPS hosting?
Check out the $5 VPS training where I teach you how to set up a super fast VPS hosting for your web pages or WordPress, or most anything.
***I know you are thinking that the cost of VPS hosting is too expensive, but in this training I also show you how to pay as little as $5/month for quality VPS hosting. Check it out here!***
