How Much Is Shared?

Fortunately, sensitive site information  (such as financial data) is not shared between unrelated sites in a shared hosting plan. However all of the server resources, such as bandwidth, data transfer, and even storage space are shared with other users that are renting a hosting plan with your web host. Your site’s IP address is also shared with these users as well, which means that their actions may reflect on both the legal credibility and search engine ranking of your site.  Since you are sharing all of these attributes with sites that are not under your control, it is possible that unforeseen circumstances could arise, such as being de-indexed from search engines, or even having your site taken offline temporarily.

How Much Can You Save?

The main reason why anyone would purchase a shared hosting plan would be to save money. However, when you factor in the issues that could result from sharing all of your server resources with dozens of other sites, it becomes clear that you may not be saving anything at all. In fact, the percentage of people that will eventually upgrade from a shared hosting plan is rather high. Therefore if you’re inevitably going to upgrade in the future, then there may be little sense in paying for a plan which will soon be obsolete. The truth is you can save a lot of time and money by starting with a plan that is right for you.

When Would Shared Hosting Be Optimal?

If you are operating a personal blog, or a .info domain that is not of high importance to you, then a shared hosting plan could accommodate your needs. Shared hosting is only recommended for individuals, and is not an ideal solution for the online business owner. If you are currently using a shared hosting account for your online business, you may want to consider switching to a VPS or Dedicated hosting account instead. Dedicated and VPS hosting plans offer flexibility, privacy and capabilities that cannot be found in any shared hosting service.

Related posts:

• September 1, 2011 – Budget Web Hosting: Is It Worth the Buck?
• September 7, 2011 – Pros and Cons of Shared Hosting
• July 22, 2010 – Critical Dedicated Web Hosting Factors for Arcade Sites
• May 6, 2010 – Managed Web Hosting For Novice Users
• April 29, 2010 – What is 95th Percentile Monitoring?
• March 1, 2010 – Web Hosting Plans: Disk Space and Bandwidth – Are They Really Unlimited ?
• February 3, 2010 – Assessing Storage Needs for Your E-commerce Domain
• June 9, 2009 – Finding the Perfect Balance of Disk Space and Bandwidth
• December 22, 2008 – Shared Hosting: The Ideal Small Business Solution
• December 2, 2008 – Is Free Web Hosting Really Free?

Shady Business Partners

More and more, we are seeing business professionals lose ownership of their domain name to a partner or co owner.  In many cases, the name is initially registered in one person’s name and with access to the account, the other partner redirects the domain to another website, a move that essentially puts the original company out of business.  More often than not, the co owner demands money or other type of collateral in exchange for the domain, using it as leverage to get something in return for something that could not be obtained in the context of a partnership.  Surprisingly enough, this is one of the most common examples of theft as domain names are stolen in this manner at a staggering rate of about 25%.

Disgruntled Employees

It is very rare for management figures to be involved in the domain name registration process.  This part is typically handled by a member of the IT department but may also be designated to lower level employees.  When this occurs, domain name theft becomes a much more probable crime.  Should an employee leave the company on bad terms, they just might take that valuable information with them.  This could lead to a nasty dispute between the ex employee and their former employer.  While there is a possibility of getting the domain back, retrieving it is quite difficult when the important registration details have been stolen.

Third-Party Partners

There have been cases involving developers supplying their own information when registering domain names for customers.  Some have even gone as far as to list the name of their company as the legitimate registrant of the customer’s trademark.  Should there ever be a billing dispute down the road, the developer then leverages the domain you thought was registered in your name to get their demands met.  More common is the vendor that registers a domain name on behalf of the customer only to go out of business, leaving the customer with no idea of how to renew the name or regain control of it in any form.  These are two very crucial examples because if the vendor folds or the developer becomes irrate, you could find yourself in the middle of web-based extortion and fighting an uphill battle for your online identity.

Domain theft is on the rise and occurring far more frequently than one would expect.   As an online business owner, you must keep in mind that your domain name is a piece of intellectual property and secure this vital intangible just as you would tangible assets.  Fortunately, this is pretty easy to do.  Do business with a reliable registrar, obtain the necessary security features, maintain control of your account details and you will be much less susceptible to domain theft.

Related posts:

• December 19, 2011 – Top 10 Domain Registrars
• October 28, 2010 – The Difference Between Private and Business Domain Registrations
• November 26, 2008 – Finding a Domain for Your Business
• November 14, 2008 – Someone Registered My Domain – What Now?
• January 4, 2012 – Top Domain Registration Services
• December 9, 2011 – NameCheap vs. GoDaddy
• September 9, 2011 – Multiple domains – When Will This Benefit Your Endeavors?
• August 10, 2011 – Ongoing Battle over the new .Music Domain Extension
• July 18, 2011 – Domain Name Expansion Expected to Create Major Problems
• June 10, 2011 – How to Prevent Domain Hijacking