If you plan to host your blog onto a domain of its own, you will require a good web hosting service to ensure that your site faces as little downtime as possible, has the right amount of disk space, bandwidth, script support, choice of databases, FTP accounts, and technical support. Of course, all of this will have to come within a budget the works for you.
Before you actually pay for any web hosting services, keep in mind there are quite a few free ones out there that you can consider. However, if professionalism is what you are looking at, then a paid web hosting service is your best bet. Assess your needs. If you are hosting a static website, then all you need is a small amount of space on a secure linux-based web hosting service. However, if your site is going to be more dynamic, then you have to consider the amount of storage space you require.
Small dynamic sites may not need more than 2-3 GB, but if you are expecting high traffic on the site with a serious amount of uploads and downloads, then you have to factor in bandwidth. Bandwidth refers simply to the amount of data you plan to upload or download in a month. If you have heavy videos that you share, and opt for a 50GB bandwidth, then that is all that your server will allow you and your user to upload/download in a month. If such heavy data forms the base of your site, look into how much bandwidth you will need.
As the owner of your domain, you should be able to create and upload pages to your site from any location and this can only be done with FTP access. Ask your provider about the scale of FPT that is provided. This is a mandatory feature, no matter how new your site is; it goes a long way in ensuring that expansion is factored in.
As you expand, you may feel the need to add sub-domains to your site. If you have not done your research to begin with, you will find that your host has a restriction on the number of sub-domains you can create. To make sure you don’t have this problem, plan for expansion and check with your provider.
You will need technical support available to you around the clock. Well-established domain providers have a number of communication options, and you can choose the one most convenient to you.
Some top ranking web hosts for this year are:
Inmotion Hosting This is one that is quite popular among businesses that need a secure and dependable set up. They are backed by an expert team of professionals with years of experience in their core fields. It provides fast email service with an inbuilt spam blocking option. They have the best 90-day money back scheme currently in play. They have an uptime of around 99.9%, which is fabulous and it comes with a decent unlimited disk and traffic service. The only hitch is the occasional problem with sales chats.
Web Hub This is one service that is great for start-up businesses. Their plan is all-inclusive making it a quick one to implement and run. Their back end service is superlative, as is the 99.9% uptime they ensure.
iPage This service has more than a decade of web hosting experience behind them. They have been used across the spectrum of personal, social and professional domains. They have an unbeatable, anytime money-back guarantee, and offer a lot of flexibility without rmaking things difficult. They also give you $400 worth of freebies, and are a completely green set-up.
