If your website is sitting on a shared web hosting plan where you are sharing server resources with up to 500 other customers, your website’s popularity plays a very important part in the server’s resources and CPU usage requirements. Most shared web hosting providers cannot support a website that makes it to the front page of Digg, so especially if your website is going to be constantly on Digg and a popular or trendy choice for surfers, you’re going to need to look into a reliable dedicated host who can survive the Digg Effect.

Firstly, what is the Digg Effect?

The Digg Effect is a phenomena that occurs when an article on your website is “dugg” on Digg.com and grows to such popularity that it makes the front page of Digg. While most articles don’t remain long on the front page, it can increase your website’s traffic by 50,000 unique hits/day at least.

Secondly, why is the Digg Effect bad?

If you’re on a shared server, I’m sure you can imagine why it’s bad! Those 50,000 visitors eat up your shared hosting bandwidth in seconds and put a strain on your website and thus the server, bogging it down for the rest of the users.

So what can you do to survive the Digg Effect?

Get a Dedicated Server. Dedicated servers will not go down just because your website has a sudden surge of traffic or bandwidth use. In fact, your dedicated hosting provider can likely recommend the best plan if you think your website is going to be Dugg. Having dedicated server hosting will also prevent you from overshooting your resources – your CPU will not be bothered by the Digg Effect.