Client Side Hosting – Why We Don’t Recommend

Can I host my sweepstakes or contest program on my website?

Clients often ask us if it would be beneficial for them in some way to host campaign microsites for sweepstakes/contests within their websites. Whether the thought be for ease of navigation, awareness, or even cost saving potential. Unfortunately, even with a dedicated web services team there are still several key challenges that they will face.

1. Security Risks

• Web application-specific threats: Even with a dedicated team, the nuances of web application security are evolving constantly. While the team may be experienced with general web security, custom websites often introduce unique vulnerabilities, especially when custom code is involved. The team would need to stay on top of not just server-side security but also application-level security, such as protecting against cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and other web-specific threats.

• Custom code security: Custom websites often involve bespoke features that might not be part the client web services team’s wheelhouse. Even if the team has web hosting experience, ensuring that custom code is free from vulnerabilities requires deep expertise in secure coding, regular code reviews, and vulnerability scanning.

2. Technical Challenges

• Advanced server configuration: Managing the infrastructure for custom websites requires not only web hosting expertise but also experience with configuring web servers (e.g., Apache, NGINX), handling database scaling, and tuning performance for specific web applications. Even a well-equipped web services team might struggle with the nuances of handling large-scale traffic or complex web applications if they are not specialized in this area.

• Complexity of custom code maintenance: Custom code can introduce unforeseen technical challenges. If the dedicated web services team isn’t intimately familiar with the codebase (i.e. Laravel, Symfony, Zend), issues like bugs, compatibility problems, and performance bottlenecks can take longer to resolve, leading to extended downtime or degraded user experiences. Expertise in both coding and infrastructure is needed, and even then, being maintained by a developer other than the author can prove challenging.

3. Performance Issues

• Custom code performance tuning: Custom websites often have unique features, complex user interfaces, or third-party integrations, which can create performance bottlenecks. Even a specialized web services team might not have the deep application-specific knowledge needed to optimize custom code for performance. This can result in slower load times, poor user experiences, and even SEO penalties if not addressed properly.

• Scaling challenges for custom architectures: Scaling a custom website is more complex than simply adding more resources. Custom architectures often require tailored scaling solutions such as database replication, load balancing, or distributed caching. While the web services team may understand basic scaling strategies, custom websites can introduce unique scaling challenges that require deep architectural knowledge and constant monitoring.

4. Maintenance Burden

• Ongoing custom code management: Custom websites need regular updates and patches not only for the core application but also for any custom-built features or integrations. The web services team will need to keep up with the maintenance of both the server infrastructure and the custom codebase, which may require specialized developers. Managing these updates for custom code can be time-consuming and error-prone, as they often need to be tested thoroughly before deployment.

• Framework and dependency updates: Custom code often relies on specific frameworks, libraries, or third-party APIs, which regularly receive updates. Integrating these updates into a custom environment without breaking functionality can be a complex and risky process. The web services team will need to ensure these dependencies are managed and updated securely without disrupting the site’s operations.

5. Cost Inefficiencies

• Specialized skill set requirements: Even with a web services team, handling custom websites and custom code often requires additional specialized personnel such as developers who are familiar with the intricacies of the codebase. Hiring or training these specialized developers can increase costs significantly, especially if the site requires constant custom updates or bug fixes.

• Hidden long-term costs: While the initial cost of self-hosting might seem lower, custom websites tend to introduce unforeseen expenses. These can include extended downtime due to complex custom code issues, performance tuning costs, or hiring external specialists to address problems beyond the team’s expertise. Professional hosting services can often mitigate these issues with pre-built solutions, support, and automated scaling.

6. Compliance and Legal Issues

• Custom code and regulatory compliance: Custom websites, particularly those that handle sensitive data, often fall under stricter regulatory requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA/PIPEDA, or PCI-DSS (ecommerce). Ensuring compliance within a custom codebase can be much more challenging than with pre-built platforms. A dedicated web services team may have general compliance knowledge, but ensuring that custom code adheres to these standards requires ongoing audits, regular security patches, and possibly the involvement of external auditors.

• Data privacy complexities: Managing personal data securely on a custom site adds another layer of complexity. The web services team would need to ensure that encryption, access control, and secure data storage are implemented correctly, especially when custom code is involved. Any data breaches could lead to legal liabilities, fines, and damage to the client’s reputation.

7. Support Limitations

• Lack of specialized support: Even with a web services team, there may be limits to the type of support available for custom websites. Managed hosting services often provide 24/7 support that is specifically designed to handle server-level issues, security breaches, or performance problems. With a self-hosted solution, the internal team must manage these issues, potentially leading to longer resolution times during emergencies.

• Custom code-specific issues: Debugging custom code often requires in-depth knowledge of the codebase, which may not always be readily available within the web services team. If the original developers are not part of the team or no longer available, this can lead to extended downtime or errors that are difficult to troubleshoot.

8. Challenges with Custom Code

• Complexity in debugging and troubleshooting: Custom websites tend to be more complex than off-the-shelf solutions and debugging custom code can be particularly challenging. Even a dedicated web services team might struggle with identifying the root causes of certain performance issues or bugs, especially if they do not have deep knowledge of the custom codebase.

• Third-party integration management: Many custom websites rely on third-party services such as payment gateways, CRM systems, or APIs. If these integrations change or update, the custom website may break or experience compatibility issues. Managing these dependencies requires constant monitoring and updates, which can add significant overhead for the web services team.

9. Embedding vs Client Hosting (Not Recommended)

• Not all solutions may be available depending on the application in use.

• Iframes: While often the most straightforward method to embedding content, it’s also the most limited in terms of control over appearance and behaviour, opens potential security issues and features poor SEO integration.

• JavaScript-based Embedding: Typically provides better integration, however like Iframes there is limited control over the appearance and behaviour. And it can still introduce performance issues depending on the external site’s behaviour.

• Embedding via API: Pulling external content from an API and then embedding it into a website can provide complete control over how external content is integrated and displayed. Optimized for performance, user experience, and SEO. Requires more development effort and an API to be available from the external site.

10. Custom Rebuild on Client Servers (If There is No Other Option)

• All RAVEN5 programs are tailored and built to run on our dedicated servers by our web services teams. They have been tested and maintained, updated and debugged consistently.

• While it is highly recommended that we build, host and maintain, we can and will in certain circumstances provide a complete rebuild on client servers where required.

• This is a large undertaking as it requires a complete overhaul of code that needs to be taken apart, rewritten and then rigorously tested while later being maintained by our web services team.

Conclusion

Even with a dedicated web services team, hosting a custom website presents substantial challenges. While such teams are generally better equipped to handle the basics of web hosting, custom promotional driven microsites—especially those with custom code—introduce complexities that require a higher level of expertise in areas such as security, performance optimization, and regulatory compliance. The burden of maintaining custom code, ensuring compliance, scaling infrastructure, and troubleshooting issues can overwhelm even specialized teams. Managed solutions by the original developer such as RAVEN5 provides better security, support, scalability, and cost efficiencies, especially when dealing with custom-built solutions.

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