By David Haskin
2006-08-22

Web Hosting - Cheaper and Easier for Small Businesses

Most small businesses these days try to use the Internet to compete more
effectively. The trick, however, is to accomplish that goal without spending too
much of your precious money and time.

That's becoming increasingly possible, according to some experts. You still
must hire somebody to create and update your website. However, prices for hosting your website are falling rapidly, which
will enable small businesses to create sites that are more sophisticated.
Hosting services provide the computers, or servers, on which your Web site is
located.

Most small businesses typically use so-called shared servers in which your
website shares a server with the sites of other companies, according to Steve
Dauber, vice president of marketing for Ensim. Shared servers typically cost
between $10 and $50 a month, he noted.

A better solution is to have your own, dedicated server, but that previously
was too expensive for many small companies - typically about $200 a month,
according to Dauber. His company develops software to help manage both shared
and dedicated servers.

"Now that price is coming down to as little as $100 a month," Dauber said.
"And I'll bet it'll get even lower."

Dedicated servers have many advantages, Dauber said. But, he cautioned, they
also create new challenges.