Learn from the Best
The Best in Blogging series gives you proven strategies from top industry experts.
Choosing a host can be a difficult process, leaving you questioning what you “really” need and what’s just overkill. If you want to have a self-hosted WordPress.org installation though, it’s a task you’ll have to undertake.
Features you should take into consideration
- When you’re looking for a host, remember that you can start small and upgrade as your site demands, so look for a company with fair prices at both the lower end and upper end of the spectrum.
- It’s very common for hosts to have an easy WordPress install, so you can expect the major players will have this feature – it’s definitely a time saver. (Read below for more details.)
- A great support team is integral to helping you solve issues you run in to, so above all make sure the company you choose has customer reviews highlighting this.
- The usual: disk space, bandwidth, and reliability – obviously you want to maximize these – and do not compromise with the third one.
These features are for a standard site, but if you’re running something a little more specialized, you’ll want to look into specific considerations for those. For example, an eCommerce site may want a dedicated IP and private SSL.
Web hosting companies I’ve heard a lot about
The most common choice is usually “who do my friends use?” I see a lot of BlueHost answers, for this question. I have to be honest, to my knowledge BlueHost isn’t a poor choice. It’s affordable and convenient.
Personally, I’ve been using the same company since 2008: Web Hosting Buzz. I used a coupon from RetailMeNot.com to get a good deal and since that price is reoccurring I’ve been very happy! I’m on the equivalent of their “Buzz Power” shared plan. Their poor support team probably dreads when I come knocking, but to date there’s only been one problem they couldn’t fix for me: when my site was infected (because I wasn’t updating my plugins!!) and even for that they were able to restore my site to a point where it was repairable (more than I could have done myself).
Another company I’ve heard great things about is the support at A Small Orange. Of course, the amount of files I have on my server is nearly 40 GB (don’t ask me how!) so I wouldn’t fit on any of their shared hosting plans, and I can’t afford the luxury of a VPS plan.
Installing WordPress for the first time.
I’ve installed WordPress both manually (multiple times) and automatically (multiple times). In fact, I have installed WordPress a silly amount of times. Of course, I’m only running one installation now – which was installed automatically. That being said, different installers run differently… so I’ve read on the WordPress forums of users having problems with a certain host’s installer. WP Beginner has a great article outlining the different ways you can install WordPress (and includes some hosting coupons, so check it out).
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