Burlington's Essential Guide to Web Hosting

Introduction

When is a stash of gold coins not a treasure? When it isn’t yours.

Now imagine your business’ presence online. What’s the point of having a presence online if it’s not tailored to your needs and wants, and more importantly – it’s not generating revenue or increasing traffic to your business?

Any solution is pointless if it isn’t yours … and any website is pointless if it isn’t live and working. That’s why you should only choose a hosting provider you can trust to keep your site online.

RVB Data Sciences proudly serves Burlington, Guelph, Milton, Hamilton, Oakville, Mississauga, and other Canadian cities. We’ve provided our services to businesses like Legacy Exteriors Incorporated and S&V Memorials in Windsor, Seniors Helper in Burlington, and more, including web hosting. You can count on us.

But before we dive into this pile of coins: what is hosting, and why do you need it for your website?

What is web hosting, and why is it the golden key to your business’ success online?

Web hosting is secure storage for the online content that goes on and into your website. That includes every piece of text, code, videos, and all images – something your website will have a lot of before it’s even completed. All that helpful, SEO-friendly content must go somewhere. Speaking of SEO Content, here are Three Search Engine Optimization Tactics to help you rank online. Hosting is essential, whether it’s done from a personal computer, server, or a provider.

Most forms of web hosting store your data off-site. Off-site hosting saves you from construction and maintenance costs, and more importantly, time. The issue of physically building a giant server room AND maintaining it is eliminated. If you’re not using a dedicated server, you won’t need room in or out of Burlington just to host your site. Leave it to web hosting services.

A clear advantage of a strong hosting service is the security that comes with it. Any worthy host of your online content will use regular or automatic back-ups, keeping your content from being lost forever after outages and major catastrophes. You don’t want to lose all your hard work, after all.

Oh, and did we mention today’s top web hosting companies use cutting-edge tech? That often means lightning-fast performance for users visiting your website thanks to more processing power, internal memory, and resources. You can learn more about hosting and what makes it critically important at HP.com’s Tech Takes blog post and Tech Target’s ‘What Is’ definition post.

From the smallest of local businesses to giant corporations, every business uses hosting. Most users choose third-party services for their online hosting because cuts in service or issues with hosting are handled by the cloud provider – not the website’s creator and owner. It’s important to choose a hosting provider with features that align with your needs – including a strong customer support system. As you’ll learn, the team at RVB Data Sciences is flexible to your needs.

What different types of web hosting are there for MY site?

Making the right choice when choosing a hosting method often depends on the size of your business, your experience, and your specific hosting needs. We’ve listed four options below that will help you further understand the world of web hosting.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is a good option for small local businesses and beginners to the online space. A single server will store multiple websites and share its resources (like the server’s RAM and computer processor). It’s the least expensive option and as a result works well for smaller websites with few internal pages.

However, you’re sharing those computer resources between your site and other sites in the same server. It’s no different than grade school math class: if Bobby has five apples and he gives two to Jody, but Tom, Sam, and Peter want two each as well, Bobby will need to climb that apple tree for three more apples. Except website server computers can’t magically create more resources like Bobby. They can’t climb trees, either.

This is not the same as automatically sharing your website’s content and sensitive information with other users – but if someone uses the server resources you need when they’re on the same server, they won’t be there for you. Additionally, this option is less secure from hackers than a dedicated server. Once your business grows and becomes established online, it may be time to investigate more advanced options.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is ultimate control over your server. You can choose the operating system and associated security tools (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc.), plus, you won’t be sharing the server’s resources with anyone else. That means you’ll have as many resources as you’d like. It’s best suited to large companies with high traffic or specific needs for their web hosting.

The ownership of resources means stronger performance and reliability all around – plus the flexibility of choice as we mentioned above. This option still comes with its own challenges. Because you more or less own the server, you’re paying a higher price for your hosting. Plus, it can require some technical knowledge as website owners are responsible for management and upkeep of the server.

Dedicated servers are usually on-premises, meaning maintenance and cooling costs. You try working in a hot server room – you’ll be sweating more than business costs!

Cloud Hosting

A newer option for hosting, cloud hosting uses virtualization technologies to pool resources from multiple servers. As it’s drawing resources from more than one server, resources can be manually scaled up or down. It’s perfect if you have different usage requirements at different times of the year – like a toy retailer online seeing an explosion of traffic during the holiday shopping season.

Cloud hosting also includes an auto scale option that allows resources to grow automatically during traffic spikes. On top of its numerous benefits, it’s surprisingly cost-effective, too. E-commerce websites in particular benefit from cloud hosting, given the adjustable use of resources and flexibility during traffic spikes.

As with every hosting option, there are downsides. Your business is dependent on a cloud hosting provider’s infrastructure and resources, meaning if the provider is experiencing technical difficulties, you may be too. If a TV channel is showing static, your show won’t air, and you’ll lose advertising dollars … or, in the case of hosting, potential revenue for your business. Some users have data privacy concerns with cloud hosting as well. You’ll learn plenty about cloud hosting by reading iTG Technologies’ LinkedIn article here.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

A middle ground between dedicated server hosting and shared hosting is a Virtual Private Server (VPS). This uses a dedicated portion of a server for website owners, ensuring you have dedicated RAM and processing power. Performance issues are rare due to the dedicated resources.

VPS servers are more secure than other hosting options – far different than the hacking risks seen with shared servers. The main server is secured against DDoS attacks and security exploits. Peace of mind is just a click away if you’re thinking about VPS hosting.

VPS hosting is an amazing option for small businesses owners as it still allows for customization and specialized software installation. However, massive online storefronts need not apply – same for those with the need to stream large media files on their website. It’s just too much for VPS hosting to handle, unlike fully dedicated hosting servers. Learn more about VPS Hosting at ResellersPanel.com.

What makes RVB Data Sciences the ideal web hosting provider?

What services make RVB Data Sciences the right choice for your web hosting?

We keep your site running smoothly – and live – with 99.9 per cent guaranteed uptime.

Consider this. You’ve put ample time into your website’s content and lots of work into making it looks pretty. When buyers try to reach you online, it’s pointless unless your site is up and running. A commercial site that’s down could mean potential income lost. Of course, errors and downtime happen – but with our 99.9 per cent uptime, guaranteed, we make sure your site your site is accessible when they want to access it.

Our hosting plans are 100% scalable.

The need for larger data storage in hosting can change at a moment’s notice. Maybe you’re seeing more traffic to your site, or you’re offering a plethora of new products in your online store. As your business grows, we’ll grow with you. It’s easy to upgrade with RVB Data Sciences, letting you better manage website traffic in an uptick and have enough storage for all the files.

Our data centers are secure.

Remember those servers we mentioned before? Ours are in secure data centers, letting you rest easy that your site is protected from attacks and physical damage. We meet all modern redundancy and compliance standards and are dedicated to ensuring your data is safe. All of this means you can focus on your business with one less thing to worry about … or, several things.

Your sensitive information? Safe … really.

You may be running and creating your website from Burlington, but attackers are coming from everywhere. Viruses, ransomware, trojans … the list goes on for thousands of miles. The SSL certificate you need is provided with all our hosting plans – something that will encrypt data transmitted between your website and everyone who visits it. Like our data centers, your sensitive information is secure and protected.

Automatically back-ups for when your back is up against the wall.

What happens when a server fails, or your data is lost? Without automatic backups from RVB Data Sciences, everything is lost. The customer data from your website, the hard work you put into it … all gone! Your site and files are updated on a regular basis, so you can easily recover your website from a recent state. No need to scramble anything but eggs.

Where do we go from here – and what’s RVB’s web hosting ‘golden rule’?

Every coin collector is different. Some view it as a timeless hobby, others as a future investment. Some collect coins from the past, others from the present.

And that’s what makes our hosting worth its weight in gold – our golden rule: there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for any client. A coffee shop in Oakville and a large corporation in Mississauga have vastly different needs and appropriate solutions. With three tiers to choose from, you’ll always have an adaptable, flexible solution for your business. RVB Data Sciences even offers custom solutions for your hosting needs. For more details on our hosting services, visit us here.

Whether you’re in Burlington, Guelph, Milton, Hamilton, Oakville, Mississauga, or elsewhere in Canada, we’re happy to host your website or one we develop for you. Speaking of ‘developing’, here’s some news: our web development services are our specialty. If you’re just starting out online or are unsure about your current business site, our tiered web development options are for you. You can learn more about our web development solutions on our main service page.

You can win or lose in a coin flip, but you’ll keep winning when you choose RVB Data Sciences as your hosting provider. Reach out to us via our contact us page and prepare for the future of your business!