Many companies are operating on a shared hosting service. A shared web hosting service is web hosting that shares the web server with many other websites. Each site basically has its own partition that keeps it separate from all of the other sites. This method tends to be a rather economical method of maintaining a website because the cost of the server maintenance is shared by a number of other people.

A dedicated hosting service, on the other hand is hosting in which the website owner leases the entire web server and it is not shared by anyone else. This gives the company complete control over the server and allows the company to make all decisions regarding what operating system to use, what hardware to use, etc.

Indicators that your company may need a dedicated hosting service

? The company is in need of more traffic. By having a dedicated hosting service, bandwidth is increased significantly.

? The company needs a better return on investment. In many instances, the shared hosting service can actually reduce the return on investment because of the amount of traffic not being generated. If the site does receive a high number of visitors, bandwidth may be exceeded and potential sales are lost. A dedicated hosting service can actually increase the return on investment.

? The company is changing to an operating system or hardware that is not supported by the shared hosting service. Through a dedicated hosting service, operating systems and hardware can be chosen.

? The company is in need of more services provided by the host. Shared hosting tends to offer less services than a dedicated server such as backup.

? Being parked next to a website that shares the same server and has a bad reputation hinders online business. This can actually give browsers a bad impression of the company's site although the company has nothing to do with the neighboring site's doings.

?The company needs more disk size than what the shared hosting service offers. With a dedicated hosting service, the company can choose things such as disk space and bandwidth as well as many services that can be added on.

?The company needs a managed server. Many shared hosting services have un-managed servers, which can lead to technical difficulties. Many times, businesses cannot afford down time of any kind, so a dedicated hosting service will decrease the down time.

? The company needs reliable customer service. Sometimes shared hosting services do not have dedicated customer service. There may be one person answering the phone or a few people who do not know much about the service. Dedicated hosting services have customer service representatives ready to take on all issues and inquiries.

? The company needs multiple domains. Many companies decide that they are in need of multiple domains. Where shared hosting may result in the company sharing domains with others or only allowing them one domain, a dedicated hosting service will allow the company to have multiple domains on the same account.

? The company needs databases. MYSQL databases are very important to many businesses and shared hosting does not usually offer databases. If they do, they may only offer one. A dedicated hosting service may offer several.

So these are indicators that a company may need to move from shared hosting to a dedicated hosting service. It will bring more business and more respect from visitors by having a legitimate domain name with all of the bells and whistles a website should have.