Hosting

Finding the right web host to provide the most reliable, affordable and all around useful website experience is key to online success.  Whether you just want a nice, self hosted blog or need to house a full blown CMS website to sell products and/or promote services, you need to be sure you’re working with a hosting company that provides a solid server solution to effectively meet your needs and excellent customer service to go along with it.  More than this, you want to be sure that your web host is particularly suited for the unique requirements of a WordPress self hosted website.  So below I’ve provided some personal suggestions from first hand experience.  Choosing from hundreds of available hosts can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.

Before I get into the details of my suggested web hosts, let me run through a few things you might want to know about today’s self hosting plans.  I like to use the analogy of buying a computer.  It used to be that the difference in specs from one computer to the next was quite large.  One computer might house a hard drive that can hold all your documents and then some, while a lower budget model provides just enough space for the basics, but will run out of room before you know it.  These days, though, you can buy pretty much any computer and get a hard drive that is way more spacious and most any average user could ever even dream of filling.  So if someone asks me which specs to be aware of when buying a computer, I no longer mention the hard drive as it’s no longer something to be concerned with.

My point is this.  Most any reputable web hosting plan includes more than enough online space to hold your website files 100 times over.  So when you look at their specs and see that you have unlimited space you think, “Well, I guess that should cover me forever.”  For most, this would be an accurate statement, but just keep in mind a few things.

Bandwidth: This is the amount of data transfer to and from your web server.  This limit is also quite large these days and is probably not a concern (my top 2 suggestions have UNLIMITED bandwidth, so this should not be a concern at all).  But a few hosting companies still restrict this quite a bit, so be sure to make note of these specs.

CPU Usage: This is the big one.  Most shared hosts provide plenty of CPU Usage for average users, but if you were to get a sudden surge of traffic and it was large enough to make your web server exceed this limit, your site would go down for a bit, until the surge subsided.  Most inexpensive hosts will provide more than enough for general use, but if your site (or sites if you plan on running multiple websites off of one server) start bringing in large amounts of daily traffic, you may need to upgrade to a more robust package.

Server Type: This one is simple.  Just be sure to grab yourself a LINUX server, not a Windows server.  Windows will work with WordPress, but LINUX is by far the easiest and best overall solution.

OK, so that was just a few snippets of info that is good to know going into a possible web host signup.  Below are solutions that should more than cover your WordPress and any other website needs.

Hostmonster

I’ve been using Hostmonster to host most of my websites for a few years now.  They are one of the top self hosted solutions and have been nothing but awesome all around.  From their amazing 24/7 technical support, to their affordable, reliable, user friendly and feature rich hosting packages, Hostmonster is currently my top pick for a WordPress Self Hosting Service.

I even house all of my domains there and have thoruoughly enjoyed their easy to use domain manager that provides all the common setting adjustments that you would normally require.  So if you’re in the market for a perfect match to your WordPress website needs, be sure to check out Hostmonster.

Specs:

• UNLIMITED Hosting Space
• UNLIMITED Site Bandwidth
• Host UNLIMITED Domains
• Unlimited Pop/Imap Email Accounts

Host Gator

Another great web host solution, Host Gator provides a huge bang for your buck.  I’ve worked with Host Gator a few times as I’ve setup WordPress sites for past clients and I’ve been quite impressed.  The feel and function is very similar to Hostmonster and the customers service seemed solid as well.

Specs:  (Reflects ‘Baby’ Package)

• UNLIMITED Hosting Space
• UNLIMITED Site Bandwidth
• Host UNLIMITED Domains
• Unlimited Pop/Imap Email Accounts

GoDaddy

Please Note: Since writing this I’ve heard a number of individuals tell me that they’ve had problems with Godaddy Hosting in one form or another.  So I would strongly suggest sticking to the first two suggestions mentioned (especially Hostmonster).

I’ve worked with GoDaddy many times and have found their customer support to be quite good and their products to be an overall positive experience.  They have an economy package for hosting that provides a very affordable self hosting solution, but if you plan on using it for more than one domain/website, I’d strongly suggest a move up to their next package in line or try one of the solutions I mentioned above.

I’ve also had some experience with GoDaddy’s VPN’s (Virtual Private Servers) and have found them to be a great deal.  But this is only for those in need of some serious web server muscle.

For the most part, I generally suggest GoDaddy for a centralized location for your domain registrations.  GoDaddy provides very extensive domain controls and reliable service.  So for hosting, I would say they are good, but the above mentioned are, in my opinion, the better solutions, but for domain controls and great prices, you can’t beat GoDaddy.com.

I hope you found this to be useful information and the first step in picking your perfect web hosting solution.  Whichever host you decide on, the frugal WordPress Theme should be a perfect match to make your online ventures takeoff!