For bloggers who may find it difficult to select a good web host for their blog, this article is for you.
Not all web hosts on the web are good, I’ve tried some hosting companies and I had to quit using those hosts because they did not give me the services I needed.
Currently, some blogging platforms will host your site themselves e.g. Weebly.
Weebly is a free blogging platform with its drag and drops website builder and once you get a domain on Weebly, the subdomain must go with Weebly.com e.g. example.weebly.com.
The best host as recommended for a WordPress platform is Bluehost. WordPress too is a blogging platform that you’ll enjoy if you use the right host. You can use Cloudways Promo Code for affordable prices.
There are also some other hosts you can use on a WordPress platform e.g. Hostgator and Hostinger.
This article will help you start a WordPress blog.
These hosts have affordable and costly plans depending on what your domain is all about. On these hosts, you can also move to higher plans as your blog grows.
Table of Contents
How to choose a good web host
- Ask questions
- Use the host recommended by the blogging Platform
- Check Disk space
- SSL certificate
- Website security and files backup
- Website uptime guarantee
Ask questions
One thing I can assure you is that no matter the web host, someone has tried it out so the first thing I’ll tell you to do is to ask questions.
Platforms, where you can ask questions, are Reddit, Quora, and Facebook blogging groups.
Asking questions and getting to know people’s side of the story is the best way to choose a good web host.
Some web hosts are good mainly for an article blog while some web hosts are good for music download sites and video watching.
Imagine using a web host that is good for content publishing to start a music blog, things won’t just go on well.
A web host meant for watching videos can host a content publishing site perfectly.
Use the host recommended by the blogging Platform
Now some blogging platforms like I stated earlier recommend some hosts and in other to get the best experience you have to use those hosts e.g. WordPress.
As we all know, WordPress is the best blogging platform so far because you can control all that happens on your site the way you want with plugins.
Although WordPress recommends Bluehost, it doesn’t mean you can’t use another host.
Check Disk space
After choosing a web host, do well to check out the plans and choose a plan depending on what your niche is all about.
Each plan will have a particular web disk space so you have to choose a plan according to the web disk space
If your niche is on music downloads then you have to choose a large web disk space maybe 500 GB for it to contain so many songs and videos.
If your niche is an article niche, then you have to choose a lesser disk space.
A web disk space plan for an article niche can never go on well for a music niche.
SSL Certificate
Yes, this is very necessary when choosing a hosting plan, if your hosting plan doesn’t have an SSL certificate then you’re missing out and people won’t be comfortable visiting your site because your site will look like a fake site.
Another reason is that Google won’t rank your site or display your content on search results because it will see your domain as fake.
Have you ever visited a site and you see this message “Connection to the site is not secure” this is a message from a site without an SSL certificate, it will even go on to tell you not to pass private information like your card details on the site so that it won’t be hijacked or stolen by attackers?
A site with an SSL certificate will always show a locked padlock beside the domain’s URL and a site without an SSL certificate will show a danger sign beside the domain’s URL.
Website security and file backup
Make sure the hosting plan you’re going for is a plan that will protect your website from spam and attackers too so that your files will be safe.
Choose a backup plan and backup your files regularly so that when anything goes wrong on your site, it can be easy to retrieve all documents.
Some plugins like jetpack and updraft plus can also be used for site backup.
If you don’t back up your site regularly and make a major change to your site like changing the theme or installing the latest version of WordPress, it might affect your site and you may lose everything you’ve worked hard for.
I bet no serious and hardworking blogger will like to lose all he/she had worked hard for.
I know a friend who had 110 articles but unfortunately for him his site was attacked and the attack made him lose everything he had worked hard for so he decided to quit blogging because he couldn’t start all over again.
So you just have to do the necessary things and leave the rest to your hosting provider.
Website uptime guarantee
So many web hosts promise a 99% uptime guarantee but I promise you, not all hosting providers can give that service.
It’s good to hear that web hosts these days promise a 30-40 days free trial before payment so I’ll advise you to check out the host for a month before making payments.
If you don’t like the host or if they’re not giving you the service they promised, all you have to do is either change a hosting plan or switch to a new host.
Conclusion
Now do not buy a hosting plan because you don’t have sufficient funds, you can wait till when you get enough money.
Buying a low hosting plan for your site will end up ruining your hard work.
If you buy a hosting plan, try it for one month before making the full payment as I stated above.
The best hosts to use are Hostinger, Hostgator, and Bluehost.