Have questions about web hosting? Find answers from web hosting comparison site Pickuphost.com, here!

1. 8 Questions about
Web Hosting

2. Q: What is shared web hosting?
A: We can think of shared web hosting as the most basic level of hosting. With shared
hosting, a server is divided among multiple users who use the server’s resources to run
multiple websites. In other words, customers are “sharing” a server.
Many like shared hosting because these hosting plans are typically offered at very low monthly
rates, sometimes less than $5.00. Shared hosting plans usually also come with a great deal of
customer service support and web design tools, as most users of shared web hosting are
novice site owners.
Shared hosting is ideal for:
• Professional bloggers
• Personal websites
• Small forums
• Small businesses
• Sites that experience average traffic
• Sites that use an average amount of resources

3. Q: What is “the cloud”?
A:The “cloud” refers to a virtual internet network comprised of multiple physical servers
that allow websites to be accessed from multiple users in remote locations. Cloud hosting
therefore allows a website’s authorized users to access things like databases on its site, which
for many companies, helps encourage collaboration and improve efficiency.
Cloud hosting is a far more powerful form of hosting than shared hosting, as it features more
bandwidth, storage, memory, advanced CPUs, and speed accelerators, among other features.
It’s for this reason, too, that cloud hosting packages will be significantly more expensive than
shared hosting.
According to Goldman Sachs, spending on cloud computing
Infrastructure and platforms will increase 30% from
2013-2018.

4. Q: What is a dedicated server?
A: A dedicated server is a server that’s used exclusively by a single customer. If you’re a
customer of dedicated hosting, your website can leverage the full extent of a server’s
resources, allowing for maximum bandwidth, hard drive space, speed, etc.
Many large businesses need dedicated hosting because their sites are far too expansive, and
generate too much traffic, to operate within the resource limitations of a shared hosting.
Dedicated hosting is also preferred for its enhanced privacy, as there’s no chance that another
party on the server could somehow gain access to your site.
Dedicated servers also enable customers to install software and applications far more flexibly
than they could on a shared server. Any change made to a dedicated server will only affect one
party—the customer!
Most dedicated hosting packages can be either managed or unmanaged. If you’d like full root
access to your server, select and unmanaged plan and operate without limitation.

5. Q: What is VPS hosting?
A: VPS hosting is in many ways a combination of shared and dedicated hosting. These
Virtual Private Servers operate as virtual platforms that run copies of operating systems on a
server that is shared among multiple users. In this way, a VPS is much like a shared server;
however, customers of VPS hosting access their own operating system, which means they can
make installations, updates and changes as they’d like. Resources are accessed completely
independently of others on the server.
Many turn to VPS hosting for its elevated privacy and enhanced performance. VPS servers are
faster, more secure, and can support larger sites than a shared server can.
VPS hosting plans can also be fully managed, partially managed, or unmanaged with full root
access. In this way, a business can choose the level of management that best fits the
constraints of their technical expertise, time and budget.

6. Q: What is uptime?
A: Uptime refers to the average amount of time hosted websites are up and running in full
operation.
Uptime is a very important figure to considering when selecting a web hosting company, as for
many, poor uptime means a severe drop in site traffic and revenue.
While most hosting companies will maintain average uptimes of 98-99%, there are some that
guarantee 99.99% uptime. In many cases, companies with these uptimes have never
experienced downtime, but for the sake of accounting for potential future downtime, report an
average of less than 100%.
Load time, which refers to the amount of time it takes a page to load, is also important. Look
for companies that maintain competitive load times to ensure you don’t end up accruing a high
bounce rate.
To ensure a company has fast load time averages, use the Pickuphost speed test to test the
load time of any hosting company, instantly.

7. Q: What is a CDN?
A: A CDN is a content delivery network. A content delivery network is comprised of various
end servers in multiple geographic locations that help reduce a site’s latency. A CDN can help
users in Europe access a site that runs on a U.S. server download content faster, as content is
provided from a closer end server, such as a one in Spain, rather than from the main server in
the United States.
In short, by using a CDN, it takes less time for users to access site content.
CDNs like CloudFlare have become widely sought by ecommerce
sites as a way to reduce bounce rates. According to a recent study,
users will leave a web page after waiting just 3 seconds for it to load.
Use of a CDN can be found in many hosting level packages without
any additional cost.

8. Q: How can I find the best web hosting?
A: Finding the best web hosting can be a tedious or simplistic process, depending on how
you go about it.
For those that attempt web hosting comparison on their own by visiting individual company
websites to evaluate plans, it can be difficult to keep track of the pros and cons of each
package. Plus, there’s always the question of whether or not a company is being truthful about
what they can actually deliver.
With web hosting comparison from Pickuphost, which features a compilation of authentic,
objective reviews from users who are actual customers of top web hosting companies, it
becomes far easier to determine which hosting companies can be trusted, and which might fall
short.
The Pickuphost web hosting reviews are featured in conjunction with an easy-to-navigate
rankings chart of the top hosting companies based on hosting level and characteristics like
speed, price, user-friendliness, tech support and more.