Shared web hosting is a way to get your website online with a reliable server.  It has drawbacks when compared with a dedicated server.  Depending on your type of business, or reason for your website, you may be better off using shared web hosting. 

The following types of websites are much better off using shared web hosting than a dedicated server:

* Fan websites that do not sell products but are devoted to a particular celebrity;
* Personal websites that are used to keep in touch with family members all over the country;
* Self promotion websites, such as those that post your resume or art;
* Small business websites that sell a service where the client calls your phone number;
* Small business websites that sell specialty items and do not generate a lot of traffic.

These sites will do well with shared service hosting.  The way shared web hosting works is that the server hosts many different websites that all share the space and bandwidth.  The above websites are typical examples of those that can benefit from a shared service website that costs little money to maintain each month as well as low start up costs.

Businesses that need a dedicated server include the following examples:

- Dating sites

- Large product sale sites

- A law firm website for employees

- A corporate website for employees only

- Large social networking sites that rely on ad revenue

The above each need the maximum amount of space for databases, such as dating site forums and shopping carts, as well as bandwidth to accommodate large amounts of traffic.  Corporate and legal websites, as well as other websites that contain confidential information, also do better with a dedicated server as it provides additional security.

Forums and shopping carts tend to take up quite a bit of space, more than is usually allotted on a shared server.  If you are planning on offering such conveniences on your website, you will probably want to have a dedicated server.

Law firms must maintain confidentiality for their clients.  By having a dedicated server, they can doubly insure their security  Because no one else is on the server but the law firm, it heightens security.  And the service provider can make it additionally secure so that the confidential information remains confidential.

A large social networking site usually generates revenue from ads.  In order to accommodate the traffic these site entail, a dedicated server is necessary.  Sharing bandwidth with other websites will only slow down traffic to your site and lose ad revenue as people get disgusted with the down time and move on to another social networking site.

There are many choices to make when choosing the right web host for your internet site.  Whether you choose a shared server to host your site or a dedicated server depends upon the type of website that you have, the revenue you expect to generate and the traffic you hope to attract.   Although dedicated servers cost more to maintain each month, they may be well worth the additional cost in the long run and may actually end up saving you money or adding to your revenue.