Magento is one of the most powerful and versatile eCommerce platforms available, making it the number one choice for many online store owners. However, the performance of your store is dependent on the hosting solution you choose. Make an ill-judged choice and you could be left with a slow loading site that is frequently offline, struggles to handle busy periods and which doesn’t provide the security your customers demand. In this post, we’ll look at how small and medium-sized stores can benefit from dedicated Magento hosting with VPS.
Why it is time to ditch shared hosting
As a powerful platform, Magento needs significant server resources to perform optimally, especially when there are spikes in traffic. So, while it can function with traditional shared hosting, the computing resources available to it are not going to provide everything it needs to cope with high demand, especially when other clients using the shared server are equally busy. This can lead to your site loading and performing slowly and even puts it at risk of crashing.
It’s not just the amount of resources that are important, either. Sometimes, just the way a server is configured can impede Magento’s performance. Ideally, Magento websites need servers configured specially for the Magento platform and this isn’t done with shared hosting solutions as they are configured for multi-platform compatibility.
One of the main reasons online stores opt for shared hosting is because it is the cheapest option. However, with dedicated Magento hosting using VPS starting at only £12.99 a month, it is only fractionally more expensive than shared hosting yet provides the increased speed, performance and reliability that has been proven to boost conversion rates. In this sense, the few pounds saved using shared hosting could be costing you much more in lost sales.
6 key reasons to choose dedicated, VPS Magento hosting
- Exceptional performance boost
A virtual private server (VPS) is, essentially, a mini dedicated server that provides users with their own, independent hosting environment. So, not only do you get a huge increase in resources, you won’t have to share them with other users. If another VPS using the same hardware is exceptionally busy, it will have no effect whatsoever on the performance of your site.
Designed for small to medium Magento stores, VPS offers users an excellent performance to cost ratio, far in excess of shared hosting, providing all the processing power, RAM, bandwidth and storage needed. - Magento optimised VPS
One of the big advantages of dedicated Magento hosting is that, with no other platform being used on the server, it can be fully optimised for Magento. In other words, it will be configured to ensure your eCommerce store performs optimally.
Putting this in place requires a Magento-specific configuration for the hardware, operating system, database, web server and network. When this is set up, your Magento store will have enhanced performance capabilities that help it load at blistering speeds, cope effortlessly in times of peak demand and run multiple website apps with ease. This level of performance isn’t achievable using a standard server setup, so you won’t even get this enhancement even with an ordinary VPS hosting package. - A site that stays online
One of the key attributes of a VPS is that it is virtual and this means that it is not tied to any single piece of hardware. If there is an indication of a hardware issue, the entire VPS (which is backed up as a server image) can be installed on other hardware without the need to take it offline. This makes it ideal for sites that need to operate 24/7.
In addition, the extra resources provided by a VPS package means your site won’t crash or go offline if you are experiencing heavy traffic. - Robust security
A secure website is essential for any business that takes payments and a good dedicated Magento hosting package will include a range of robust security measures to help put this in place. At Web Hosting UK, we use intelligent, next-generation firewalls that protect your store from all kinds of threats, including malware, viruses and DDOS attacks. We also provide advanced intrusion detection and prevention, VPN and application firewalls, plus email spam filtering, SSL certificates and comprehensive backup solutions. - Regulatory compliance
If you take payments, you’ll also need to be PCI DSS compliant. It is essential, therefore, that you choose a provider that offers hosting plans which support SAQ-A and A-EP. Not only do we do this at Web Hosting UK, we’ll also guide you through the PCI process.
Additionally, any backup service provided by your Magento host is also required to conform to strict PCI standards. Make sure any hosting package stores your data remotely with both ‘end-to-end’ and ‘at rest’ encryption. Also make sure it checks backup integrity, logging and reporting to ensure your backups are secure and available when you need them. - 24/7 Technical support
Moving to a different form of hosting, especially if you are expanding the number of applications you are running at the same time, can raise a few technical challenges. For this reason, it is critical that you opt for a service provider that offers 24/7 technical support.
Technical support is different to customer service; it’s having a technical expert available to help you solve problems with your website whenever you need it. Here at WHUK, we offer round the clock support via live chat, phone and ticket, so whenever you need us, we are there to help and advise on subjects such as application installation, performance and security.
Conclusion
Dedicated VPS Magento hosting offers a range of benefits for small to medium Magento based eCommerce stores. It provides more computing resources than shared hosting, has Magento-centric optimisation that is superior in performance to standard VPS and has 24/7 technical support on tap. In addition, it can make your site more secure and help you with compliance.
If you are looking for dedicated Magento hosting check out our affordable range of Magento hosting plans.
