Shared web hosting is the most common type of web server available for those looking for a place to call home for a web site.  Web hosting is the process of a company using a server they own to allow you to upload and run a web site from.  If you purchase your own web server and run a web site, it is a costly practice.  If you utilize a web hosting company, you can often pay for a dedicated server or you can go with what is called shared web hosting.  Shared web hosting is a service web host companies provide where you basically share a single server with anywhere from two to a thousand other web site owners.

Depending on the web hosting company and your web site needs, shared web hosting might be the right solution.  First, you need to examine exactly what you need for your web site.  This includes the amount of storage space, the bandwidth, database resources and any other miscellaneous needs.  Many shared web hosting companies offer incredible price breaks for your web site to be hosted with them but with that comes many hidden rules, regulations and disclaimers the average web site owner does not look into.  If your web site grows, you may outgrow the host and without warning find your web site disabled to protect server resources for other web sites that share that overall home.

If shared web hosting is not enough for your web site needs, you can either look for another company with more resources or you can look into dedicated web hosting.  Dedicated web hosting gives you more resources per server, where you may be sharing one server with fewer people or you may be given your own server to utilize.  Dedicated servers can be costly, and if your web site is still growing, it may be too much to start out with.  You can always upgrade to a dedicated server, shop around for the best deal or invest in your own server running from the home or office.