On initial set-up you will probably decide to host your web site on a shared server provided by one of the many web hosts out there, this is generally a much more cost effective and risk free option with the additional advantage of requiring much less know how and input on your part. But as your business grows so will the content of your website, and more importantly so too will the traffic your web site receives. Many shared solutions offer masses of storage and unlimited bandwidth but it should be noted that this bandwidth refers only to the maximum you may use in one month without incurring an additional charge from your web host and does not mean you are able to accommodate an unlimited amount of visitors at any one time. With shared host you share your server with many other websites and if any of them are receiving lots of traffic the speed of your site will be adversely affected, this is where dedicated hosting comes into it's own.

Managed Server Hosting, is where you lease the Dedicated Server from your web host and they run it for you, managed server hosting costs slightly more than unmanaged server hosting but gives you the peace of mind that all up-keep, maintenance and required upgrades are provided by the host.

Un-Managed Server Hosting, is naturally cheaper that managed server hosting, but comes with some additional responsibilities, primarily that of maintenance. You will be expected to carry out any up-keep required including adding patches, security and software upgrades and altering configurations, you should only choose to host your web site on an unmanaged server if you are comfortable with how a server works and how to maintain it.

Dedicated Server Hosting as with shared server hosting comes with many choices, the first of which will be that of disk space, then of processing power and finally but very importantly of platform, Windows or Unix based. Your choices will be driven by the type of web site you are hosting, how many visitors you receive and what you are intending to host on it. If you are intending to run Windows based software such as MS Access or host windows media files WMVs for music or video then compatibility and licensing issues will require you to use windows based hosting. If you do not need to host these type of software, and will be using mp3, Vlc or Quicktime instead then you will be able to use a Unix based server, which can prove much more cost effective as most providers use the Linux form of Unix which is open source software and free, a saving which can be passed on to you.

Your dedicated server will usually be provided to you at a set cost per month which is made up of the lease of the server plus any extra packages including server management and software if you choose to have them. Most dedicated servers come with a graphical user interface in the form of a control panel not unlike many of those provided by the shared hosting options, although you will have much greater flexibility over the configuration of your web space as you are able to alter the server's configuration yourself. There is no limit (other than disk space) to the number of domains you can host which makes dedicated hosting a valuable option for those who want to avoid having to pay for each of those domains to be hosted separately.