If you have been doing some research on the title of this article, then you have probably found an answer to the question: a resounding “never!” The general consensus, with just about anyone who has an opinion about it, is that you should never even consider hosting your own domain or website. That applies doubly if you happen to be a business and are considering running your own webhosting.

But is that the absolute answer? Aren’t there any extenuating circumstances for which the contrary is true? Should you blindly accept that the only way to go is to pay for a hosting provider to take over the handling of your website? Could it be so disastrous a decision that you should accept it as written in stone and hand your site over?

Well, not exactly.

There are times when you just have to hack it own your own, and below we’ll see when those times are:

You Already Have Everything You Need

If you already have the manpower, software and hardware in place (maybe you are a web hosting provider yourself), you wouldn’t need to go anywhere else to look for the services you already offer. (Ok, we cheated with this reason, but bear with us.)

But then you don’t only have to be a hosting provider. Many companies today have hi-tech servers, all the latest software already installed and the technical knowhow needed to run a mini-space station already in place. Adding a webmaster to the payroll (or simply assigning the task to a “lucky” IT guy) won’t take the company too far off its beaten track of doing things and won’t add too much strain on its day-to-day activities.

You Have Secrets You Want To Keep

No, we’re not talking about keeping stuff hidden from the government or the spy people out there (whoever may be watching) – you can try your best, but if they want to take a peek, they will do it… no matter what. We’re talking about your competitors, those that want to know your trade secrets. Or the local whiz kids who are so adept at hacking into almost anything, they’d break into a server just for the kicks of it.

By the same argument, you might ask how an individual company hosting its own site can beat hosting providers (who’s bread and butter it is to keep attackers out) when it comes to securing servers. Well, it might be tricky but you can do it. You will have less work on your hand, for one. You (or the lucky admin) will be able to keep track of the goings on of one server than say the poor admin(s) at the big hosting companies. Although there are software in place to prevent and identify unsolicited visitors, it still is an arduous task when you have to analyze the reports for thousands (even hundreds of thousands) of clients’ websites.

You Want Absolute And Unreserved Control Over Your Server

There are times when you will need to go behind and inside the inner-workings of your server so you can tweak and configure it to cater to some feature on your website. While hosting providers will allow you some freedom with their servers, there just is no way you will get an absolute free run with it. Well, you could pay for an unmanaged server (hire the whole server) but that would be expensive to begin with. Besides why would you want to pay them for something you could do on the cheap with your own server?

With full control of your server you could configure it to meet any requirements your website might necessitate. You can add and remove any application or software and work with any combination of hardware you deem necessary.

You Want To Retain Full Ownership Of Your Content

One problem with handing hosting control over to a third party is that you relinquish the absolute control you have over your content. Again, you might think that with all the experience hosting companies have they will be able to ensure you retain full ownership of your documents. But that comes increasingly complicated, what with cloud computing and servers taking over the industry and with companies spreading their servers over geographical locations. The legal ownership of electronic data simply becomes complicated.

In the rare chance that you get into a legal battle with the hosting providers, or they get into trouble with either their other clients or a government administrative authority, they might be served with an order to cease and desist, for example. You might be prevented from accessing your own files and documents and if the server is under the jurisdiction of another country, their laws will dictate when and if you will ever get them back.

With everything stored on your own server, none of these issues will be of concern to you. Of course, you should always bear in mind that it is no simple task to take on the responsibility of hosting your own site and that it needs full commitment and extra care – otherwise you’re better off going the hosting provider way – like everyone seems to recommend.