Web Hosting For Multiple Domains

Thanks to how low domain names cost as well as hosting fees, these days you can own several websites without breaking the bank. Domain names can be managed in several different so it is important to know what your options are and the advantages and disadvantages of every method.

When administering multiple domains, the basic choice is whether or not to do so with the same host. The majority of hosts offer packages which can be set up to allow several sites on one account, or to allow individual sites to be activated under split accounts.

You might have an existing website and are satisfied with the services your host provides you with. If you choose to start a new website by using the same host, you will feel assured that you are dealing with a company you can trust and are familiar with. You might also get a reduction for each additional account you open with the same host. Alternatively, making use of a new host for a second (or third or fourth) website can enable you to between the various qualities of hosting offered by different companies. Additionally, separate hosts will provide each of your web sites with a different IP address.

Having dissimilar IP addresses can be an important element if you plan to link the sites together to help with the search engine optimization. Incoming links are an important indicator of the significance of a website, so it is possible for a site with a lot of incoming links to get a higher position in search engines like Google. If all the links are coming from the exact same IP address, however, their value may be reduced. Hosting your many sites with different hosting companies will ensure that every site will have a different IP address. Individual IP addresses, nevertheless, are available as an additional tool from most web hosts. For a yearly fee each website is able to have its own unique IP address. This can help with search engine ranking and will also be required if you want to have a secure connection (https) on your site.

If you decide to get all your sites hosted with the same company, there are three basic methods you can employ. Each site can have its own account; you could sign up for a re-seller account; or you can get a dedicated server account.

As a re-seller you will be acting as an agent for the hosting company. You will be given a certain quantity of disk space and bandwidth and you will be free to make use of them as you like. There could be a limit to the amount of websites you can host with your re-seller account, but if there is some space left over after using this account for your own sites you could put some extra money in your pocket by selling your accounts to other people. The benefit of a re-seller account is that all the technical details will be taken care of by the hosting company. Some will even provide gateways for helping you to better bill your customers.

A dedicated server account will help you better control all the resources of an entire server. You will be free to setup as many websites as you would like to and allocate disk space and bandwidth as you see right. The disadvantage to this kind of account is that you will be responsible for the server’s upkeep. This might mean that you will need a significant level of technical experience. Therefore, if you don’t have that knowledge or if you don’t feel like learning about it, dedicated servers aren’t for you. Obviously, it will always be possible for you to go with a managed dedicated server. The disadvantage of this is the higher cost that will be involved.

Having all your sites hosted with only one host can offer lots of advantages but there is one major disadvantage which is that if your server goes down, all your sites will go down. If you depend on your sites for income this can be a potentially fatal situation for your business. Due to this fact, it is a good idea for you to have at least one of your sites with a different host. If your sites are important for your livelihood and you cannot afford any down time whatsoever, it would be better advice for you to host everything with two hosts minimum.


Nora Roberts is contributing editor at WebDesignArticles.net. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.

Dedicated vs. Shared Web Hosting

Two basic types of web hosting packages exist– shared and dedicated. This article will explain to you what these terms actually mean and how you can choose an appropriate type of hosting for your web site.

Websites are kept on servers – which are special network computers that respond to data requests via the Internet. Each server has its own Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address consists of four numbers separated by dots – 123.456.78.9 for example.

A web site that uses dedicated hosting will have the server all to itself. This implies that all the resources of the server as well as the IP address will be unique to that web site. Shared hosting, however, will place several websites on the same server, all of them sharing resources as well as the same IP address.

It is also good to know that shared hosting is a lot cheaper than dedicated hosting due to the cost of operating the server being split between many different customers. Shared hosting is available for a minimum of $2 a month but dedicated hosting could cost you up to $100 a month or sometimes even more.

Shared Hosting

As mentioned above, websites that share a single server will be sharing all the resources of that computer. This comprises disk space and bandwidth as well as the IP address. In order for your host to provide adequate service to all sites on a server, your host will have to limit each site to a certain amount of disk space and bandwidth used per month. All sites that exceed these limits might have to pay a heavy fine.

Due to the fact that each server has a limited amount of bandwidth, the amount of traffic your neighbours receives can affect how quickly your web site shows up. Each request coming in to the server is handled in the order it was received, so if there is a large queue, the waiting will be quite long.

The amount of sites that share a particular server won’t be as important as the amount of traffic each site receives. For instance, a server hosting 200 low traffic sites will respond much more quickly than a server which has 50 sites that are receiving a lot of visitors.

A few risks are inevitably linked with shared hosting. For example, the entire server could be affected if one of your neighbours runs a badly programmed script that runs amok. In extreme cases this could cause your site to be unattainable for a while. Another risk is that if one of your neighbours is banned from search engines (for spamming tactics, for instance) it could affect everyone sharing that same IP address. Make sure that you check with your hosting company and verify their policy about third-party scripts and inappropriate activities.

Dedicated Hosting

If you choose a dedicated server all the resources will be yours to use as you like. You can use it to host a single site or many sites, you can have access to the full bandwidth of the server, and you can use as much disk space as required. Companies with large and complicated websites that get a lot of traffic will definitely need to get dedicated hosting. Sites that make use of a dedicated server will also be free to run any kind of script they would like. This could be the best solution for those who are developing new scripts and need to test them without it harming other websites.

What Choice To Make?

In general, small websites are often better off with shared hosting. The cost is also more reasonable – especially for small companies and individuals. A reputable host will be cautious not to allow activities that could jeopardize your site. Large complicated sites that get more than 1000 visitors every day will be better off choosing dedicated hosting. Dedicated hosting is also a favourable option for developers who would like to experiment with new Internet technologies.


J.M. Stevens is contributing editor at WebDesignArticles.net. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.