Is it Time for a Dedicated Server?

If you’re a website owner, or you’re thinking about getting a website for you or your business, you will at some time ask yourself whether or not you need a dedicated server. Of course you want to have the very best, and the very most, resources and features for your website. But you also don’t want to pay too much for it – and you’ve heard that dedicated servers can be very expensive. So, how do you know when it’s time to make the move to dedicated?

Your website is taking too long to load
Take a visit to your website, just as any other user would, and take note of how long it takes it to load onto your computer. Is it up in the blink of an eye? Or are you waiting for an entire minute? Or even more? If there’s a significant lag time it will turn users and customers away, and it’s a clear sign that it’s time to move to a dedicated server. If you don’t have a website yet but know that you’ll receive a large amount of visitors once you do, it’s best to start off with a dedicated server from the get-go.

You can’t add customization software
Do you want to add a database, a shopping cart, SSL certificates, or any other customizations to your website? If so, you won’t be able to do it using a shared server, and probably not even a VPS. If you run across a feature that you want on your website but your current server doesn’t support it, this doesn’t mean that you simply can’t have it. It just means that it’s time to make the switch to dedicated hosting.

You can’t add additional resources
Do you want to make your website bigger and need more storage space to do it? Or do you know that you’re going to need to upgrade the hard drive? These are things that you absolutely won’t be able to do with a shared server, as often what you get is what you’re stuck with. If at any time you want to add onto your current resources, you’ll most likely need to move to a dedicated server.

You need more security in your site
Unfortunately if you’re using a shared server, your web host probably doesn’t pay too much attention to it. This is because shared web hosts typically service smaller websites – but a lot of them, splitting one server up into many different accounts and clients. Because of this they can’t possibly monitor all of the sites, or perform backup on them either; and that means it will be your responsibility. The problem is that when your website becomes very big, or when many changes are made, you might not have the time to perform these tasks yourself. When this becomes the case, it’s another sign that it’s time to move to a dedicated server.

Choosing to make the switch to a dedicated server can seem like a big one, mainly because these servers are more costly than shared servers. Once you do though, you’ll notice immediately what a difference those little changes make, and how they let you make the very most of your website – and your time!