There are several web hosting options available to business owners when they wish to host their websites. Below are the most common methods, and then we cover some of the technical items in non-technical words so that you can choose what is best for your business.
Types of Hosting Options
Note: The prices below are not Fawkes Digital Marketing prices. They are noted here to educate and inform you about the industry's best practice prices so that you can make the best-informed decision for your business.
- Shared Hosting: Shared hosting is just like it sounds. You share your business with hundreds, even thousands, of other websites. Expect a minimum of 1,000 websites running on a single server with most webservers being at 2,500+ websites (2025 seems to be upping this to 3,500+ websites for many hosting providers). Hosting companies determine how many sites based on the processing power, memory, and how many files they are storing. Shared servers will often have email and website traffic on the same server. You will end up with busy websites and non-busy websites. Their "hope" is that overall performance is acceptable to you. These packages cost anywhere from $Free to $19.95/month.
- Cloud Server: These are similar to shared hosting but are limited to 50-500 websites, giving you better performance and more granular control over all aspects. You can easily be moved to different servers based on need. Email and web server traffic will be on the same server if your provider doesn't understand that sharing information adds a performance penalty. These servers can increase their resources to meet changing business needs. 65% of all Fawkes Digital Marketing servers are cloud servers. These servers cost anywhere from $30 to $250/month, depending on resources and unique needs.
- Dedicated Server: You get an entire server to yourself. These servers are dedicated to meeting some particular business needs. These range from HIPAA compliance to added security needs. Web server and email traffic are typically on different servers and not on the same server, so you have the highest level of system uptime. You will have the highest performance available to your business. These servers cost $300+ per month, depending on your business's physical hardware requirements.
- Fawkes Digital Marketing utilizes all dedicated servers configured into an optimized cloud server configuration. We limit all servers to 250 or fewer websites on the same hardware as those handling thousands. Fawkes Digital Marketing currently has seven web hosting servers. Currently, no server hosts more than 120 websites. With this configuration we can also meet the needs of those requiring HIPAA.
What is Managed Hosting?
Managed hosting means we take care of the server, perform updates as required on your website, make daily backups, and make sure performance levels are always kept.
There are some key factors to know beyond the hosting options available to you. The first one is what is managed hosting and why your business needs it. You have a desktop, laptop, tablet computer, or phone. Each week, month, or quarter, you will receive updates. These updates fix bugs as well as security vulnerabilities. That is what managed hosting takes care of at a high level. You will get all of these patches and fixes installed in a manner that will normally not affect your website. You may wonder why we say "normally to affect your website." The reason we say this is a webserver is a computer, just like your computer. Some updates require a server to be rebooted. This has the potential of affecting your website for a few minutes each time. There are ways to reduce this downtime with features like content delivery networks (CDNs), which can also provide you with performance improvements. We will cover CDNs a bit later.
Beyond making certain your webserver and website are patched and updated, management also means that your website is being backed up on a continual basis. This is typically daily or even hourly for those who need that type of backup.
Email Hosting
We offer top-tier email hosting solutions using SmarterMail Exchange-compatible and Microsoft 365, ensuring seamless communication, enterprise-level security, and unmatched reliability to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.
Security Certificates
We implement Let's Encrypt SSL/TLS certificates to guarantee secure website connections, providing robust encryption and trust for your online presence while enhancing SEO rankings and user confidence.
Firewalls
Our advanced firewall solutions from AWS, Microsoft, SiteGround, and Wordfence protect your digital assets from cyber threats, ensuring uninterrupted business operations with cutting-edge threat detection and mitigation.
Viruses, Ransomeware & Malware Protection
We safeguard websites against malware, ransomware, viruses and other cyber threats using top-tier security solutions from SiteGround, Wordfence, and Cloudflare, delivering real-time scanning and proactive threat prevention.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)?
Enhance website speed and global reach with our optimized CDN services powered by SiteGround, Cloudflare, and AWS, ensuring faster load times and superior user experiences. A content delivery network or CDN gives you a few advantages:
- Puts the data closer to your customers.
- Adds a layer of security protection.
- Reduces system downtime by caching commonly accessed pages.
- Decreases the load on your web server.
- Better protection from hackers.
Our Primary CDN Network
Backups & Restores
We provide reliable, automated backup solutions through AWS, SiteGround, and Microsoft, ensuring that your critical business data is always safe, recoverable, and protected against potential data loss.
A backup is an exact copy of the files of your website and the database that is storing the information. All of the services above will give you sometype of backup. This can be from monthly to every minute depending on what you've signed up for and the needs of your business.
Great, you've backed up your data. Beyond backing up, though, you need to be able to test the backup so that if you ever need to restore the files, you find out that the backup actually worked. We've seen all too often people put "blind trust" into a backup and later found out none of those backups were good. This is why we always perform a monthly restore, to a test server, of every client to verify that the data is correct and working.
You're almost there now that you've backed up and tested the restore process. The next level of a backup you need to be aware of is making sure the information is off-site and the data is fully encrypted so that the information is available only to you and your organization.
Server & Website Monitoring
Our proactive monitoring services utilize Brilliance CRM and Microsoft to ensure optimal website performance, minimizing downtime and swiftly addressing potential issues.
It is never good when your website goes down. This may not be because of your website but your web server going down. You need to monitor both at a minimum of every 5-10 minutes. If your business needs to be highly available, this can drop to once every minute. If there are any issues, you need to be notified on multiple channels (email, phone, text message, etc.) so that you can address and fix them. A sound monitoring system will get the site being worked on before your customers are even aware there is (was) a problem.
Analytics & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Unlock actionable insights and optimize your online presence with powerful analytics and SEO tools such as Google Analytics and SE Ranking, helping businesses achieve higher visibility and better search engine performance.
eCommerce
We offer tailored e-commerce solutions using WooCommerce, Squarespace, BigCommerce, and Wix, empowering businesses to create seamless online shopping experiences that drive sales and customer satisfaction.
Online Chat Component from GoHighLevel Included
As a valued web hosting customer with us, you'll receive GoHighLevel's powerful chat component, complete with a dedicated mobile app, at no additional cost. This feature allows you to engage with your website visitors in real time, capture leads, and provide exceptional customer service—all from your desktop or mobile device. With instant notifications, automated responses, and seamless integration into your sales pipeline, you'll never miss an opportunity to connect with potential customers. Enhance your business's communication strategy and take advantage of this exclusive offer included with your hosting plan.
Web Software
Our team specializes in website development using industry-leading platforms such as Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress, delivering stunning, user-friendly, and high-performing websites tailored to business goals.
Graphic Design & Videos
We utilize the full suite of Adobe Creative Cloud tools to create compelling visuals, optimize website designs, and produce engaging video content to enhance your digital marketing strategy.
What is system uptime?
Uptime is how often your server is down. This is for any time that is not scheduled. Down, meaning your website is not available for people to use. This is bad. Fawkes Digital Marketing strives for and has exceeded 99.999% uptime since 2013. The information below shows how long your website is unavailable for a customer to visit.
99.9% Uptime
Daily: 1m 26s
Weekly: 10m 4s
Monthly: 43m 49s
Quarterly: 2h 11m 29s
Yearly: 8h 45m 56s
99.99% Uptime
Daily: 8s
Weekly: 1m 0s
Monthly: 4m 22s
Quarterly: 13m 8s
Yearly: 52m 35s
99.999% Uptime
Daily: 0s
Weekly: 6s
Monthly: 26s
Quarterly: 1m 18s
Yearly: 5m 15s
99.9999% Uptime
Daily: 0s
Weekly: 0s
Monthly: 2s
Quarterly: 7s
Yearly: 31s