The whole time of being online with my Freelance Writing blog (which nears one year next month by the way), I have been on a shared hosting account. Little did I know that this could potentially get me into some deep trouble.
For starters, did you know that being on a shared host could get your Adsense account banned? Yes, it’s true. A friend of mine shared his hosting account with a spammer and got shut down by Google. No remorse. They simply don’t care.
How would you feel if that happened to you? What if the main portion of your income relied on Adsense. This is a heavy pill to swallow and certainly not what I would want to happen to me either.
Especially since I’m getting into niche marketing seriously know. My first site is up and running and after building for some weeks I finally put my Adsense up and now I’m already earning.
Already ranking in the tops spots on Google for several keywords, this site will go from strength to strength and that’s only the beginning. Plus it helps having been mentored one on one by a leading niche marketer too. Besides this, I’m also building BANS sites and while doing so having a whole lot of fun getting my domains.
So the decision to move to my own server was necessary to save me potential headaches in the future.
See, if you are on a shared domain with someone, you are sharing the same IP address and this could mean serious trouble. Another friend of mine lost his blog overnight, because the guy who shared his server was another spammer and he got shut down without warning.
Eventually after much headaches and annoyance he got his blog hosted again on another host, but it wasn’t really necessary. That is also why I strongly recommend you go with a reputable company like Hostgator for example.
Bluehost stuffed up another friends blog last week. It just disappeared without trace and naturally he was freaking out. So he too had to find himself a good host.
We work too hard on our blogs to have this happening to us and I warn everybody NOT to go with some cheap hosting company, just because they are cheap. Look for a reputable business who has been in the industry for some time and has a great track record.
Then once you can afford it, move to your own server.
I’d love to know from you guys on what hosting company you recommend. Not because you heard it from a friend, but because you are using it and are happy doing so. Who knows, we might get a good collection of companies that we could recommend without worry.
Please let us know in the comments below.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
While shared hosting does have it’s drawbacks (blacklisted IP’s because of spammers, load, possibly slow due to another site, limited growth, etc.) I think as long as you choose an excellent provider you’re at the very least off to a good start.
Select a provider that has a wide range of upgrade paths so that when you outgrow the shared account they’ll be willing to get you hosted on another service — e.g. vps, semi-dedicated or dedicated.
Despite the inherent flaws of sharing anything it still gives sites a place to grow. Without it, there wouldn’t be that many sites out there — not everyone can afford to expend hundreds every month on a dedicated server.
Anywhom, you should check out http://www.hostjury.com if you’re hunting after a provider. It’s got tonnes of ratings — add your own!
You don’t want to scare people too badly.. Sure this can happen ( as in your friend’s case ). But how often does it really happen? Thousands ( millions? ) of people are on shared hosting and do just fine – no problems to report. For the majority of folks, shared hosting is just fine. The tiny cost is what allows many people to be online.
Dedicated hosting is great, if your business supports it. Realistically it’s extremely expensive and hard to justify for most.
Hey Monika. . . I use HostGator for my own sites and for all my clients. I haven’t had a lick of trouble, and their customer support is very responsive too. They get my “two thumbs up” rating!
@ all: thanks guys for your great comments! It wasn’t my intention to scare people off at all, but rather to inform of what could happen.
It is always good to know your options and I totally agree that most people can never afford dedicated hosting either.
I myself made a choice to move, but not because i had ever any problems.
Just covering my bases for the future that’s all.
I use IXWebHosting, they allow you to host unlimited sites at a very affordable rate. But I never host more sites than the allocated dedicated IP addresses in each account, that way none of my sites are considered “shared”.
Good luck
Damian
I’ve been using Site5 for my shared hosting for over a year now and I find it very secure, fast, and flexible. They offer a ton of different hosting plans at rates very similar to hostgator and they are really up to speed on keeping everything technology updated. One reason I prefer them over Hostgator is because everyone uses Hostgator and I do worry abour bad neighbors and hacked C-Panel accounts. Site5 uses a variation of C-Panel, so I just feel safer. And their forums are very useful. Lots of geeky people use Site5, so you can actually find useful information about lots of obscure subjects in addition to the usual newbie questions.
@ Damian: never heard of them before. But I appreciate your comment since some of our readers here might want to take a closer look.
@ Sue: sounds great. You are somewhat correct there with Hostgator. All though up until yesterday I had no complaints. Now they lost my last two posts and all the latest comments while changing server and I’m not a happy camper at the moment. Luckily I do have backup if need be.
We’ll see…
Personally, I use GoDaddy for my WP stuff. Lots of features, low cost and unlimited domains make them a good place to incubate new sites. I’ve also used Host My Site for WP and other projects. They’re more expensive, but offer good support.
The real issue here is whether or not you’re sharing IP address or not. For example, GoDaddy’s shared hosting also shares IPs. Host My Site does not.
If you don’t know if your provide offers you a dedicated IP, you can find out at My IP Neighbors. Enter your domain and the site will return all of the domains hosted on your IP. You can also quickly click each one to see your neighbors’ sites.
@ C: thanks for the URL on where to look up our IP partner sites. Great tool that one. At least we can check up on our neighbors now.
OMG< I am still share the host with 10+ bloggers, …
That My IP Neighbors site is very useful… and pretty frightening! Imagine having a bunch of sites you’ve worked on hard and long only to discover that you’ve suddenly had an influx of trash sites from people who just bought a bunch of those ‘150 Automated AdSense Sites’ packages from some guru’s latest million-emails-marketing-blast. Whoops! There goes the neighborhood!
I don’t think anyone can afford the time and expense of changing hosts every time that happens. All the average person can really do is take care of their own properties, work on increasing revenue, and eventually move to a dedicated server.
Monika’s original post seems a LOT more relevant, even to us little guys, now that I think about it!
Shared hosting cant be that bad compared to my experience with these 4 hosts:
1. Yahoo – no access to .htaccess file
2. Godaddy – cpanel not as friendly as the common cpanel
3. Netfirms – cannot unzip folders from server
4. Hostgator – my brand new site 3 days old got hacked!
so finally from the recommendations of several internet marketers, I moved to AceNet and never looked back.
Best support ever, they even helped me moved everything and their tech are always there to help with any scripts error.
Dreamhost.com is the webhost I use and they offer people on their shared hosting accounts the ability to buy there own ISP address. So if the sharing ISPs with possible spammers can be a potential problem this option my be the solution for people who cant afford a dedicated server as yet.
@ Steven: your hacking had nothing to do with being on the Hostgator server but everything with your sites security. It could have been the theme you were using, a weak password, an obvious user name like admin and several other factors like not updating your WordPress software (if you use it, etc.)
This isn’t your hosts fault. You alone are responsible for your own accounts. You could also get hacked at the one you are at right now.
@ Sherese: that seems like a nifty thing to offer. Thanks for the mention.
Good info again, Monika!
Shared hosting share a common IP address and if you have a shared hosting with a spammer, “you are the weakest link….goodbye”. End of adsense or whatever for you.
Shared hosting packages are more affordable and it’s something most beginners start with….unfortunately! (I am on shared hosting!)
The only other way is to host your site (and not be restricted by zipped files or mp3 or whatever) on your OWN computer and keep it online (connected to the internet 24/7); since the hosting is from your computer, webhosting will practically be ‘free’. + you know no spammer is using your server.
I’ve not explored this option YET so i have no idea how to link a domain to my own computer. If others have tried hosting from your own computer, please let me know if it works and how. Thanks!
I would never go with hostgator again for a dedicated server. I have one reseller account with them which is fine, but we had nothing but trouble with the dedicated server we rented from them.
Plus they refused to admit there was a problem with the server.
We’ve moved over to Pacific Rack, and except for a few teething problems (which is to be expected), we are really impressed with them.
Our experience with hostgator was so bad, it practically left my webmaster traumitised