Web Hosting: Justifying a VPS.

note: This post is directed at freelance web developers that supply high end CMS solutions to small businesses.

Shared hosting providers have allowed for a large number of very inexpensive, diverse and flexible plans. $10 a month will usually buy a decent web panel, one click installs, plenty of MySQL databases, FTP access, etc. This is great for freelance developers looking to develop sites quickly and under budget.

The problem?

1) The best option is always going to be using a VPS (Virtual Private Server). The reasons for this are layered: Security, performance, development freedom, a higher quality of customer service, less downtime, etc. But this is expensive.

Note: It can and will be argued that any company that needs a dynamic, flexible, and powerful CMS should expect to pay for above standard hosting. But how much and how soon?

2) Developers aren’t quite system admins in the same way that Designers aren’t quite Developers. So for the average freelance developer the setup needs to be easy.

This is of critical importance when you are trying to do a freelance website for a decent price point. Anyone who has taken a website from fresh co-located server install to launch knows that the budget isn’t something that small businesses can afford.

Imagine a customer, we’ll call him ‘Chris’. Chris runs a small but successful computer repair shop which also sells custom high end gaming desktops. Chris has a budget of $5000(USD) to start a website. What Chris wants is a slick blog and website where he can post benchmarks and gadget reviews. Sounds logical.

So you, as the developer needs to do project management, discovery meetings,  consultation, development, [contract] design, test, conduct training, and deploy this new web site. To say nothing of documentation, and writing 3/6/9 month maintenance plans. The solution needs to be robust enough to suite the clients needs, and not be crippled by the first big traffic spike. It also needs to be stay under $5000(USD).

3) The last thing that a small business owner wants to hear is that they need a VPS that is going to cost them $100 - $200 a month for a website which will only demand more of their time and has no guarantee of success. Especially since they just cut you a check for $5000(USD).

The solution:

Consider this an endorsement for Dreamhost. For an additional $15(USD) you can get a quasi-VPS from Dreamhost. Dedicated memory/cpu, dedicated IP address, and the use of xCache make it reasonable.

The big plus is that it’s scalable at any time. This is good for when you’re doing the cost benefit part of your 3/6/9 month maintenance plan. Clearly at some point in potential growth you may want to switch to a true dedicated server. A well written maintenance plan should make it clear when this should occur. It’s also a value piece of documentation for the business owner (think asset depreciation, and ROI).

I’ll leave the rest of the math to you.

The links:

DreamHost Web Virtual Private servers: http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting-vps.html

note: If you want to kick me a little kharma then use this link to sign up: http://www.dreamhost.com/r.cgi?236261