A little over a year ago, during a high traffic spike, without notice, my web hosting company suspended my account. When I contacted them to find out what the problem was – they told me my site had used too many resources.
I was confused – what happened to the “unlimited” hosting they had promised?
They sent me their Terms and Conditions statement with a highlighted portion that said that they reserved the right to terminate accounts that used a higher percentage of resources – in other words – it wasn’t unlimited at all!
To this day, I shake my head – they must’ve had a really creative lawyer draft that document. For a while, I wondered if it might be worth getting a creative lawyer of my own who could dig up some evidence of “bait and switch” – but I had too much going on at the time to pursue it and later discovered that most web hosts have the same kinds of terms.
Since then, I’ve moved to and from a few different hosting companies. I couldn’t justify the expense of a dedicated host, so that wasn’t an option to begin with. I moved to a VPS, which was frustrating because tech support was minimal. I couldn’t even get help transferring my large files! I was forced to learn how to use SHELL… did you hear me?! I had to learn SHELL, I say! I was traumatized!
Eventually, my blog began overloading the servers there, so another move was in site, but where to?
At the time, I didn’t know very much about cloud based web hosting, but recently, I’ve gotten curious and decided to do some research.
What is cloud based web hosting?
It’s actually really cool! Rather than using one server to host your blog’s files and software, the cloud uses a balanced combination of servers, spreading your blog’s resources evenly among them. If you need more resources during a high traffic surge, you can log in and immediately make adjustments. When you no longer need those resources you can readjust your settings. In a way, it becomes unlimited web hosting in the sense that you have access to as many servers as you need. Not all web hosts offer cloud based hosting. Some charge extra when you pull in extra resources.
Recently, I ran across a site that is offering cloud based web hosting at a very affordable cost. Optimal Hosting is running a six-months free special, so if nothing else, here’s a chance to check it out and see if it’s right for your blog.
If you’re thinking of starting a new blog and haven’t decided on a domain name yet, Optimal Hosting also offers a domain name checker that will help you choose the right URL for your blog.
So if you’ve been confused about where to go after your shared hosting has failed you, here’s a site that just might work for you.
About Kiesha Easley
Twitter: NnadiDonatus
says:
Cloud based web hosting is not bad but am still okay with my shared hosting from hostgator. Thanks for sharing
Donatus recently posted..What Your Car Insurance Company Will Ask For?
Twitter: vagish
says:
I have my own dedicated server, as I find I have more control over things.
I haven’t really forayed into cloud hosting. It seems to cost more than a dedi sometimes.
Vagish recently posted..AM2 games on your Bespoke Arcades machine
We’ve been on cloud based hosting for some time now and have never had any problems with service or overuse of resources,I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of switching hosts.
Luis recently posted..Responsive Design Español
Twitter: treysmithblog
says:
Apparently, cloud based hosting is a practical choice for may many bloggers and website owners. Anyway, thank you for sharing your experience with your previous hosting company. Before signing or agreeing to any agreement make sure that you fully understand the terms in the contract.
Lei Broch recently posted..The successes and horrors of Android
Limited is the new unlimited. Suspending the account without prior notice is just unfair. I can understand why wouldn’t offer unlimited bandwidth, but suspending without notice – unfair.
Nish recently posted..How to Turn an Ugly Contact Form Into a Pretty One
Twitter: Ajayudayagiri
says:
We may face the situation of getting suspended when we use a free web hosting. But i don’t came across such suspensions in premium unlimited hosting. So, i think its better to go with cloud based hosting which assure unlimited hosting.
Ajay recently posted..Angry Birds Star Wars Full Version Free Download For PC
Twitter: iAm_Chetan
says:
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my kaligs were just preparing to do some research on this.
Chetan recently posted..How to select best Juicer
Twitter: Rohitkabdwal
says:
very nice article kiesha,
the concept of cloud based seems very interesting and but somewhat hard to understand., the incident you’ve quoted here is very true my many blogger friends fell into this type of situations. when the remote web hosting providers suspend your account due to the high traffic..
very nice and informative article:)
Rohit recently posted..8086 Microprocessor architecture (fully explained)
Yeah I know about this stuff, at least they should inform person that they are going to cancel your hosting account. what they really do, they send you an email just a day before they are going to cancel your account.
Hemu recently posted..I May Not Be Perfect Quotes
Twitter: prabhatrayal
says:
hey kiesha
the similar thing happed to me. my traffic increased and i recieved a mail from hostgator that i was using high resources so they suspended my account. this is really irritating
prabhat recently posted..Top 5 Best Weather Apps for Android 2013 Free Download : iEatTraffic
Hi Kiesha, I have been hearing about cloud based hosting since sometime now and I personally feel it is very good for bloggers. Firstly because of the unlimited access which you too mentioned, and secondly because cloud hosting doesn’t crash in peak hours. This is a problem with shared servers.
Twitter: semaglive
says:
cloud based web hosting is the best choice these days, cloud hosting is completely customizable and having good resources such as firewall, load balancing, snapshots, and images.
Twitter: earningguys
says:
Hello Kiesha, I am curious to know have you moved to optimal hosting as I am also looking for a better solution for my hosting needs. At present, I am on VPS hosting but not getting the good results. I am looking for Cloud hosting or Cloud VPS do you have any experience on this.
Ravi Ahuja recently posted..10 Safe Ways of Link Building
Twitter: Incionweb
says:
Cloud based web hosting provides flexible servers that can be adjusted when website required more traffic. I have read your post and got some new ideas about cloud web hosting.
Alex Thompson recently posted..Benefits of Mobile Optimized Websites
Twitter: SamuraiTradingA
says:
The idea of cloud based hosting is something entirely new to me. I know I will have to move to better hosting services soon for a couple of my sites so it’s probably about time to start researching this more. It sounds like it would a pretty good solution as I’ve found it hard in the past to find a middle ground based on what I need.
A lot of the options are either extremely expensive and more powerful than I need or cheap and slow. The Cloud option just might help fit what I’m looking for.
Cody recently posted..Emini Day Trading Series: 8 Advantages of Trading Emini S&P 500 Futures
Twitter: blogsmartguide
says:
One of the main advantages using Cloud Based Hosting is definitely the less cost. “Server Resources Exceeded” is the most common problem seen in case of normal hosting but isn’t any problem in case of Cloud Hosting. Also, it is very easy to add-on any extra configuration which is obviously a complex task which is directly depending on the cost in case of normal hosting.
Regards
Phanindra
Phanindra recently posted..[Workout] – How To Increase Adsense Income With Just 2 Minutes of Work ?