An Internet service provider (ISP) is an external hosting solution where the ISP is responsible for connecting your website to the Internet. This involves the ISP storing your website on a powerful PC that is often referred to as a server. ISPs are a very common option and you can upgrade your service with them or move to your own in-house server when your web traffic grows and, more importantly, profits dictate.

 

ISPs offer three different hosting packages:

 

Shared server: You are given space on a shared server. This means several businesses use the same server – this is the most common option for 80% of companies. Each website has unique hard-drive space and a unique web address. Shared servers are an economical option but if you plan to run lots of software and special programmes (scripts) there may be some limitations or additional costs to enable these (see below).

 

Dedicated hosting: You are given an entire server to yourself. This may be an option if you have a very big site with lots of traffic (visitors to your site). It is not a cheap option and you should only consider it when your sales really start growing and you are planning some complex development of your website.

 

Co-location: You buy a server and the ISP hosts it for you in their premises. This means the ISP provides the internet connection and backup services but you will have to maintain the server and all the software. This is a very technical option used only by very large organisations.