The web hosting industry is perhaps one of the most saturated markets in existence, as everyday hundreds of people make their way into the world of eCommerce, and even thousands more ponder upon the idea. This saturation has lead to an incredibly competitive web hosting industry that literally employs every marketing method known to man to bring their sales just a tiny bit higher than that of their competitors. The deals on offer seem almost too good to be true, as it is now possible to get your site up and running on the internet for as little as $5 plus the cost of a domain name. Some hosting companies even propose to include a free domain within the total cost!
The claims and promises made by web hosting companies when pertaining to features are nothing short of amazing. The prices continue to go down, as the market continues to become more saturated. It seems logical that the most professional and powerful web hosting companies could offer the best plans, which would include unlimited services, however there really is much more to the equation.
Unlimited Everything
It seems as if every web hosting provider is now offering plans that are completely “unlimited” for a fee of round $5 to $10 per month! How can his be? After all, web servers are physical items that have restrictions and limitations both in space and technological capabilities. The question is, how can they afford to let people have as much server resources as they’d like without going out of business?
The Buffet
The concept is very similar to that of an all-you-can-eat buffet. You see buffets offer a very wide selection of delicious food, and they allow their customers to partake in as much of this food as they’d like. Buffets operate on a very simple concept – although there is an abundance of food available, not all of the customers are going to eat enough food to cost the price of their admission. Thus the buffet makes a profit by taking advantage of the people that are not going to eat that much. Web hosting companies offer “unlimited plans” because they know that the consumers that are most likely to buy a $10 per month plan, will never consume enough server resources to outdo that $10 per month allocation of server resources.
Is Limited Better?
While this may sound odd, limited web hosting plans may actually offer more resources, than “unlimited” web hosting plans. The first term that may come to mind is “false advertising.” However the companies that offer these so-called unlimited hosting plans make sure to include fine-print in their terms of service agreements, which clearly outline a set limit that cannot be exceeded by the customer. It is indeed ironic that the companies that offer limited hosting plans are actually more honest, and more reliable than the companies which do not.
