When you\u2019re first launching a website project, the sheer span of hosting options can seem overwhelming. In the beginning, if you are just starting out your adventure of having your own website, it\u2019s often safe to figure you can rely on one of the more basic plans and then upgrade when the time comes. It\u2019s fair to say most first-time website owners opt for a shared hosting plan. It has all the features to get your website off the ground; it is low-cost and beginner-friendly at the same time. FastComet has plans available that range from maintaining a simple blog all the way to more complex and larger corporate needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
As your business grows and your website has a bigger job to do, at some point you need to switch and scale to a web hosting plan that matches your growing needs. There are a bunch of other hosting plans out there to help you size up. Many provide additional features to keep your growing site performing smoothly. It\u2019s much like moving homes as your family grows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So let\u2019s get started. First, I\u2019ll explain why you might want to upgrade and when you should. Then we\u2019ll walk through some of the most common types of hosting plans before showing you how to start the upgrade process. Let\u2019s start with the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Building out your own a fully functioning and nicely designed website isn\u2019t rocket science. It\u2019s quite easy actually, even for a complete novice who hasn\u2019t had much experience with computers. Unlike the old days, you don\u2019t need to code a website to make something amazing manually. In fact, you can choose from an abundance of platforms to help you construct a website without entering a single line of code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re setting up a blog, personal website or a business website, you will need both a domain name and hosting package. With the hosting package, you also get unlimited email addresses that are assigned to your domain name! Most first-time website owners with limited tech background don\u2019t know a lot about hosting, though. They are usually tempted to opt for the affordable entry-level plan they can find and go back to focusing on designing their site and creating content. Since it is basically the cheapest plan, it is economical. There is nothing wrong with this approach actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deciding on a hosting plan lays the groundwork for building your site. Think of it like buying a plot of digital real estate to build your online structure. You’ll almost certainly be getting a shared hosting package, which means your website will be hosted on the same server many others. Basic entry-level hosting, whose name would generally include keywords like \u201cstart\u201d, \u201ctiny\u201d, \u201cintro\u201d, can serve you well during your site\u2019s early stages. If you\u2019ve ever lived in an apartment complex, you\u2019ll know the advantages of shared hosting. You reside the same building, but still, get your own apartment, and get to share all the other available amenities that are available. In other words, you rent out part of the server and share the resources: CPU (processors), memory and disk space, bandwidth, etc. with the other users. This works adequately for the majority of small websites, most of the time, as the speed, storage, bandwidth and reliability you need, generally function without a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As your needs grow and your website gets more popular or becomes of greater importance to you and your business, it’s time to start thinking of upgrading from entry-level shared hosting to the next level corresponding plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, we talked about how poor optimization<\/a> can affect your site\u2019s performance. In order to determine if you actually need a larger and more powerful plan, you first need to evaluate the pain points your web hosting account is experiencing. Perhaps your site is running slower than normal, loading slowly, or not loading at all? Have you been experiencing an increase in traffic<\/a>? Or perhaps your website is dynamic and heavy<\/a>, or running numerous scripts? There are many factors that can contribute to any of these symptoms, so we recommend trying a few things to improve your site\u2019s performance. If you\u2019ve already worked on optimizing your website\u2019s performance, but you\u2019re still not seeing an improvement, then it\u2019s definitely time to think about an upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on your business needs or preferences, there comes the point when you may need to upgrade your hosting. You may want to consider the next level of shared hosting plan. It could be that you need a VPS or dedicated server instead. However, knowing if it\u2019s really the right time to upgrade from shared hosting isn\u2019t always a straightforward process. To help narrow down your decision, here are some of the signs to look out for before making the switch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As your business grows, your hosting needs may change as well. Are your monthly traffic numbers steadily increasing? Well, good for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this stage, you need to switch to a more powerful plan that can handle a larger amount of traffic. Keep in mind that if your website has a large amount of incoming traffic, it becomes difficult for your shared server to keep up with the demand. As a result, performance starts deteriorating and probably your website takes a long time to load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the world of eCommerce, any slowdown can have extremely negative effects on sales conversions, so it pays to offer your customers a consistently fast experience. If you constantly feel as though your website is sluggish and you feel like you are losing sales because of it, then it\u2019s usually time to upgrade your hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it\u2019s true that more expensive hosting plans are usually able to handle a lot more traffic, that\u2019s not the only upside to upgrading. In most cases, you\u2019ll also gain access to new and exciting features. Generally, basic shared hosting plans only enable you to run one website using your package. More expensive plans often raise that limit or remove it altogether. If you have multiple single website shared plans then it could be beneficial to bring all of your sites under a single hosting plan – name it more powerful shared hosting plan or a cloud VPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe you want to host some script that has some special requirements – there are many possible reasons you may need to upgrade. If you\u2019re interested in pursuing changes to your website that require the ability to do more customization or use unsupported software, then you\u2019ll need to switch to a hosting plan that provides that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By paying a bit more money, you can get more resources, a larger amount of traffic and free value-added extras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you run a business online, website security has to be one of your top priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some basic hosting plans don\u2019t include many features or options in terms of security since not all websites require them. But if you\u2019ll be collecting any kind of sensitive information from your visitors, especially financial information, then it\u2019s your responsibility to do everything in your power to keep your website secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you started out with a hosting plan that didn\u2019t provide security features, then you should upgrade as soon as possible to a business plan that satisfies your security needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moment you plan on running an online store is the moment you should upgrade your hosting plan. Even if it\u2019s a small eCommerce site or a very large one, a VPS plan will be a better investment for this situation. Why? Because with VPS, you have a secure and dedicated virtual server where you are more likely to pass a PCI compliance test. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard was established by major credit card brands to protect against cardholder data theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are accepting credit cards on your website, you want to do everything you can to ensure the safety of your consumers\u2019 financial information. Since VPS is more secure than shared hosting, it\u2019s the better option for eCommerce websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our significant investment over the last year into developing a platform that optimizes speed and applies performance-enhancing technologies, as well as better network and server infrastructure, has gradually brought into question the feasibility and inclusion of our former Single, Multi and E-Commerce packages as a continued focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We underwent several promotional campaigns that offered our customers favorable ways to upgrade their plans to any of our newly introduced plans<\/a>. More than 60% of the legacy plan customers made the decision to move forward and took advantage of these promotions. During this transition, they got more feature optimized parameters, SSD in RAID 10 for all plans, extremely high-end server hardware, redundant infrastructure, increased RAM, CPU, and speed while enhancing security and much more. Want to take advantage, too? Contact us for an exclusive offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, the decision to upgrade your hosting comes down to money. How much money are you going to lose if your site becomes sluggish or goes down? How much money are you going to pay more to upgrade to the next level plan and preserve yourself a bit more resources in advance? Is it worth it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, you need to gauge whether paying the extra money will end up being a net positive for your business. But honestly, given how cheap VPS hosting is these days, you would have to be making extremely little with your site not to justify an upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If even one of the above applies to you, it\u2019s worth looking into other hosting options. A simple upgrade to a larger, more comprehensive plan might be all you need to eliminate these problems and secure the best possible experience for your users. It\u2019s true that a dedicated hosting package can also solve these problems. However, it\u2019s important to note that dedicated servers are a pricier option. If you need to improve your bandwidth, increase your security, and get more RAM, then the most affordable option is to opt for VPS hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first thing is to determine what you need and try to some extent to anticipate your future needs. Once you believe you have determined what you need, begin looking at plans that may meet your requirements, carefully examine the specifications of these plans and don’t be reluctant to ask questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here at FastComet, we can offer recommendations if you like, and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Then, once you have decided on a new plan, your next actions depend on the hosting plan you are moving from and the one you are moving to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important note: even though I\u2019m going to run you through the upgrade options available from FastComet \u2014 because, honestly, I am convinced they\u2019re pretty amazing \u2014 this info will still be pragmatic to you no matter which provider you decide to go with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SpeedUp<\/a> – It is the perfect solution for those site owners that don\u2019t need the expense of a dedicated server but more processing power than a normal shared hosting package for a fraction of the price. The new platform gives you the best of two worlds \u2013 the easy to use cPanel and the top performance custom environment setup with 5 layers of caching including Varnish, APC, OPCode, LiteSpeed LSAPI PHP, and Memcached. Best for fast-growing, high-traffic websites where performance and speed are key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The SpeedUp Plan’s successor is called FastCloud Extra. You can read more on the change in our FastCloud plans Introduction<\/a> post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve decided that it might be time to opt for a non-shared hosting plan, your next question will likely be: What type of plan should I get? So let\u2019s discuss the three options we offer at FastComet that are the natural next steps from a shared hosting plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen You Should Consider Upgrading Your Hosting Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Your Site\u2019s Performance is Suffering <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Need More and Better Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Want More Security Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Have an Online Store<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You are on FastComet\u2019s Legacy Plans and Want to Switch to Our New Plans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You Have Done the Math<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What do I do when I need to upgrade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What Your Hosting Upgrade Options Are (And How They Work)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n