With
the rise of the self-media, more and more people prefer to build their own blog
site. Independent blog site has a great advantage with respect to the many free
blog platforms. But for many on WordPress is not too white for understanding,
build a blog platform is not an easy thing.
Finding a WordPress hosting solution for your new website isn’t always easy. There’s a lot of options out there and even if you do settle on a host, how do you know which type of hosting you should choose?
This can be a minefield for bloggers new to WordPress, who just want to get their site up and running. Experience too many obstacles and you might just want to give up before you even start.
The good news is it doesn’t have to be so hard. There are solutions out there that are perfect for those of us whose technical know-how is non existent. Read on to find out what those solutions are, what types of WordPress hosting you can expect to find and which one is perfect for your needs.
Why should I use WordPress?
Some
people must be very curious as to why there are so many free blog platform, why
they have to spend money to build their own blog site? First from the content
management, the independent blog sites with full autonomy, it can be completely
control content on the blog. But for the other free blog platforms, their own
published articles likely to be deleted platform. On the other hand, build
their own platform on top of blog advertising to obtain certain benefits, this
advantage is generally free blog platforms do not have.
What are the main types of hosting?
There are various hosting options available, the main type of hosting are shared, WordPress, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting.
Share Hosting - this is where your website is sharing one server with other users websites. This is the most basic type of hosting, its great for starting out with a website and for websites with little content. This type of hosting will be suitable for around 90% of websites, just make sure to look over the package specifics and invest a little more to get slightly better options.
WordPress Hosting - specifically tailored for WordPress websites, its a service where all technical aspects of WordPress is managed by the host. This includes security, speed, updates, daily backups, website uptime, and scalability. It is not required for a basic site running WordPress, but if you want to make sure its all managed then its a good package and probably one of the more secure packages for the basic user.
VPS or Virtual Private Server - Still a form shared hosting, however giving more flexibility on what is run on the server. This type of hosting gives you more flexibility for customization, great for having multiple sites and or if you expect greater amount of traffic as the bandwidth isn't limited like shared hosting, as well as offering better security.
Cloud Hosting - Similar to shared hosting, its a virtual option that uses a cluster of computers to provide your site with one operating system, unlike shared hosting it allows for great levels of security, also providing greater scalability as most cloud hosting solutions are pay per usage.
Dedicated Hosting - Dedicated hosting is a hosting configuration in which a server is devoted to a single organization or for a single purpose, such as a website. The most expensive option, used for larger websites with large amount of traffic, also requiring a system administrator to look after it.
Site Traffic
Got huge amounts of traffic or only starting out? This should be taken into consideration when choosing your hosting. If you're a new business you're likely to have low traffic so a shared hosting plan is going to work for the first 6 months to a year, if you have an established blog or site and can see considerable traffic coming to the site, a shared hosting plan isn't going to work.
I would recommend using Google analytics to carefully track your sites progress and the number of visitors, this is also useful for considering when you should upgrade your hosting plan or think about a change.
Speed
Speed is important for your website, look at the various options that your hosting provider offers, this can be anything from shared hosting (which has the least bandwidth) to dedicated server hosting (very fast only for your site). Also consider if the provider you're choosing supports WordPress as this will be the CMS of choice if choosing Flothemes.
Content
What content will you be showing? If you're going to be showing large amounts of imagery 30+ images in your blog posts, galleries, or pages, then you must consider using a better hosting package, as it will require extra punch to push the files to your users. If your site is loading slow this is the most likely reason, or your images have not been optimized for the web. Read more on image optimization here.
Price
What is your price range? In my experience, spend the most that your budget allows, better hosting will improve your sites speed and increase customer satisfaction, which hopefully in turn can help with conversions for your business. Slow sites lead to high bounce rates and users will be more likely the leave the site before even seeing your great content.
The best value providers are Bluehost, Hostgator, Site5 and Siteground (yes they are affiliate links) we have tried and tested them with hundreds of websites and value for money they are great.
Higher up the spectrum we have the WordPress specific hosting providers, offering built in caching, and optimized loading time specifically for WordPress sites. Our recommendations are Flywheel and WP Engine, whilst they are more expensive, especially for multi sites, if you have large amounts of traffic, require fast speed and have the budget, its an investment worth making.
Support
Check out what people have been saying about your hosting provider, do they have good reviews, what is their up time (the time that websites are likely to be live) and do they respond to their customers promptly. The providers we have recommended above we also choose due to their support teams, all offering good support with prompt responses. Again check their locations to make sure that they work well with your time zone.
Conclusion
If you have a current hosting provider and are considering a change, I would recommend contacting one of the aforementioned providers, check the options available, many will provide free, or paid switching services so you can be assured that your content is going to be moved correctly.
Overall, choosing a great hosting service is a business investment rather than an expense, don't just go for the first provider, and don't consider cost as the main factor, with hosting you really do get more for your money, your decision here will decide how well your website works and that is reflected in the experience your customers receive when they view your site. For a large number of you that are uploading larger amounts of content in your posts then consider a middle of the range package as it will work best for your business needs.
There are various hosting options available, the main type of hosting are shared, WordPress, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting.
Share Hosting - this is where your website is sharing one server with other users websites. This is the most basic type of hosting, its great for starting out with a website and for websites with little content. This type of hosting will be suitable for around 90% of websites, just make sure to look over the package specifics and invest a little more to get slightly better options.
WordPress Hosting - specifically tailored for WordPress websites, its a service where all technical aspects of WordPress is managed by the host. This includes security, speed, updates, daily backups, website uptime, and scalability. It is not required for a basic site running WordPress, but if you want to make sure its all managed then its a good package and probably one of the more secure packages for the basic user.
VPS or Virtual Private Server - Still a form shared hosting, however giving more flexibility on what is run on the server. This type of hosting gives you more flexibility for customization, great for having multiple sites and or if you expect greater amount of traffic as the bandwidth isn't limited like shared hosting, as well as offering better security.
Cloud Hosting - Similar to shared hosting, its a virtual option that uses a cluster of computers to provide your site with one operating system, unlike shared hosting it allows for great levels of security, also providing greater scalability as most cloud hosting solutions are pay per usage.
Dedicated Hosting - Dedicated hosting is a hosting configuration in which a server is devoted to a single organization or for a single purpose, such as a website. The most expensive option, used for larger websites with large amount of traffic, also requiring a system administrator to look after it.
Site Traffic
Got huge amounts of traffic or only starting out? This should be taken into consideration when choosing your hosting. If you're a new business you're likely to have low traffic so a shared hosting plan is going to work for the first 6 months to a year, if you have an established blog or site and can see considerable traffic coming to the site, a shared hosting plan isn't going to work.
I would recommend using Google analytics to carefully track your sites progress and the number of visitors, this is also useful for considering when you should upgrade your hosting plan or think about a change.
Speed
Speed is important for your website, look at the various options that your hosting provider offers, this can be anything from shared hosting (which has the least bandwidth) to dedicated server hosting (very fast only for your site). Also consider if the provider you're choosing supports WordPress as this will be the CMS of choice if choosing Flothemes.
Content
What content will you be showing? If you're going to be showing large amounts of imagery 30+ images in your blog posts, galleries, or pages, then you must consider using a better hosting package, as it will require extra punch to push the files to your users. If your site is loading slow this is the most likely reason, or your images have not been optimized for the web. Read more on image optimization here.
Price
What is your price range? In my experience, spend the most that your budget allows, better hosting will improve your sites speed and increase customer satisfaction, which hopefully in turn can help with conversions for your business. Slow sites lead to high bounce rates and users will be more likely the leave the site before even seeing your great content.
The best value providers are Bluehost, Hostgator, Site5 and Siteground (yes they are affiliate links) we have tried and tested them with hundreds of websites and value for money they are great.
Higher up the spectrum we have the WordPress specific hosting providers, offering built in caching, and optimized loading time specifically for WordPress sites. Our recommendations are Flywheel and WP Engine, whilst they are more expensive, especially for multi sites, if you have large amounts of traffic, require fast speed and have the budget, its an investment worth making.
Support
Check out what people have been saying about your hosting provider, do they have good reviews, what is their up time (the time that websites are likely to be live) and do they respond to their customers promptly. The providers we have recommended above we also choose due to their support teams, all offering good support with prompt responses. Again check their locations to make sure that they work well with your time zone.
Conclusion
If you have a current hosting provider and are considering a change, I would recommend contacting one of the aforementioned providers, check the options available, many will provide free, or paid switching services so you can be assured that your content is going to be moved correctly.
Overall, choosing a great hosting service is a business investment rather than an expense, don't just go for the first provider, and don't consider cost as the main factor, with hosting you really do get more for your money, your decision here will decide how well your website works and that is reflected in the experience your customers receive when they view your site. For a large number of you that are uploading larger amounts of content in your posts then consider a middle of the range package as it will work best for your business needs.
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