You have created your first WordPress blog, and now you want to make it live. The problem arises where to put your site. You could choose to use a shared hosting site or use a very private server (VPS). Which one is the best for a beginner blogger? Read on to find out.
The ease of a shared server
One of the primary draws of a shared server is the ease of use. Most shared servers require little to no technical experience to use the platform. Many run on a drag-and-drop method of loading the pages and having the content in the correct folders. If you can read the tabs, then you should be good. Some sites offer a bit more complexity for WordPress web hosting services, specifically where images and external content are concerned, but few.
Most of the affordable WordPress hosting sites will have a plugin for WordPress hosting. Once you have linked the site to the shared hosting, then it is only a matter of you understanding the admin dashboard of WordPress to update your blog.
The speed of shared hosting vs VPS
The risk you have with a shared server is that they are not as secure as VPS. You share the server with other sites and, therefore, can have problems with your page if another website gets hacked. As you are sharing the site with others, the speed and performance are based upon the overall usage of the shared hosting site. The more people that use the site, the slower your site will become. Because VPS is focused on you, you get your own private server space. The speed and the performance will be faster. You will not have to worry about lags because of other sites.
Regardless of whether you use shared hosting or VPS, consider the content that will be placed on the site. Images and videos slow down a site and should be compressed. It may be that a shared hosting site offers a guaranteed capacity and RAM, but the site still performs slow. When this happens, it results from too many sites on the hosting server or content on the hosted site.
Scalable Plans
When using shared servers, you may not have a scalable plan, meaning that you cannot adjust the plan as you go. VPS allows you to scale your plan as needed. VPS offers more security than shared hosting. The downside to the VPS is in the cost. VPS is typically more expensive than shared hosting. For a beginner WordPress blogger, consider an easy WordPress hosting platform that offers low price web hosting until you have become more established. You can always transfer your domain to a VPS should you choose.
The resources available and the workaround
VPS has more resources available to its users. But this does not mean that they are easy to use. Most VPS requires you to have some IT knowledge to use the platforms well. A beginning blogger may find that more time is being used in the technical aspect of the blog than in the actual blog. Shared hosting has fewer features but is easily navigated. But what do you do if you want to have a bit more customization and resources? You use WordPress.
For a WordPress blogger, the resources and the plugins may be the workaround to the lack of resources available in shared hosting. For example, if your low-price web hosting does not offer SEO tools, you can use Yoast on WordPress. Don’t have analytics on your shared hosting? Use a WordPress plugin to get the information. It is not so much to find the resources you need, but how much time and effort and where the resources are located must be factored in.
Which is better, VPS or Shared Hosting
It is the opinion of this article that beginners seek a shared hosting site. While there may be some concerns about security and performance, it is not an enormous factor for the beginner. WordPress blogs already have a level of security. Placing them on a site that offers SSLs to their clients and performance guarantees will increase the security. Due diligence should be used when choosing a domain and hosting web service.
VPS for a beginner is a bit like giving a kid with a learner’s permit a Ferrari. Sure, it looks great on the road, but the cost, the risk of not knowing how to navigate, and the overall power may be too much to start with. Start with a shared hosting provider. Once you have established a more significant following and need more secure options, higher levels of performance, and more resources, transition to a VPS.