Hosting: What is a dedicated IP?

A dedicated IP address looks like this: 64.178.34.77

It is used for a single domain or website only. Most reputable hosting companies sell dedicated IP addresses for around $2 month per website.

Do you really need a dedicated IP address for hosting your website? If your site is popular and you take orders online, then yes, its worth the price because unlike shared hosting, your IP address is unique and can only be used by your site.

Benefits of a dedicated IP address: allows you to use your own SSL certificate for accepting credit cards online. Setup your own Domain Name Server, such as ns1.yoursite.com, ns2.yoursite.com so if you decide to become a hosting reseller you'll appear more professional.

I highly recommend using a dedicated IP address for websites you want ranked highly in search engines like google.com and yahoo.com.

I don't want my site penalized if another website on a shared server gets banned using unethical search engine ranking practices.

Most experts would disagree with me and thats fine. But the amount of time and effort I put into getting my sites ranked high is worth going that extra step and getting my own dedicated IP address - I don't want to risk anything.