Blog Tipz

A majority, if not a significant number of small bloggers use shared hosting, in which host companies place hundreds, if not a thousand or more websites onto a single server. While the technology is now there to support this in a more efficient manner, there are still some limitations to this, especially if you want to grow your blog down the road with features that aren’t included. That’s why you need to choose your web hosting plan wisely and with the right number of allocated resources.

Saving money on web hosting is no secret, really. You simply need to know where to look, and how to find the best hosting for your needs and requirements. For example, you don’t want to choose a hosting company just because they offer the cheapest rates, unlimited hosting, and other features that you’ll likely never use.

The Requirements

The following are some of the requirements that I look for when I choose a good, reliable hosting plan. They vary according to what you are looking for.

• Support for MySQL databases (4.0 or greater for WordPress)
• PHP support (4.3 or greater for WordPress).
• Hosting space should be at least 1GB. When you think about the amount of content being uploaded today, it will be easy to go over limits when you only have 50MB of storage. Let’s say you want to post a high-definition video to your blog that is ten minutes in length – that will easily take between a quarter and half of your storage at 1GB.
• Transfer space of at least at least 10 times as much as your storage. Let’s assume that someone visits and views all your information on your site, then you will be using (theoretically) 1GB of storage (for this example) just for bandwidth/transfer. You have to take into account the number of pages, images/videos, and other forms of medium uploaded to your site.
• Support that answers questions whenever they may arise, and multiple methods of contacting them. For example, Bluehost has a chat box, forums, email, and phone support. You can even see some of the positive feedback on their service on Twitter.
• Ability to easily install scripts and tools that make it easier to blog or run my websites.
• A free domain, although this shouldn’t be a requirement of all hosts.
• Ability to add a good deal of additional sub-domains to the main site.
• Ability to host more than one domain per account. You take the number of domains per account, to determine how “cost-effective” a plan is. For example, if you can only host one domain, then the site will cost you ~$100/year, while hosting ten sites will only cost ~$10/year, if you get what I am saying.
• Unlimited email support. Even though most accounts have this, there are some that only support a few, and that is definitely a limitation when you need at least three per domain, more if you have guest authors or other people on your account.

What You Can Look For

In your search for the best host, be sure that you don’t be confused with what the host is offering you. If they claim to have unlimited storage, don’t buy into their claims unless they can prove that this is available. Most of the time, “unlimited” means that they will support everything legal that you upload until they begin running out of resources and other sites are affected by what you are doing on your account.

Another main requirement is that your host delivers what is promised. If they are unable to deliver the uptime guarantee, seek a refund if it occurs multiple months on end. An uptime guarantee should be met as frequently as possible. When your site is down, there won’t be any new visitors arriving to your site, people may think that you forgot to renew your account/domain, and you may lose some credibility if it happens too frequently.

In terms of pricing, you want to receive the most “bang for your buck.” Saving time installing WordPress or other blog systems with scripts can be a huge advantage, especially if you value your time. Plans that don’t offer the very basics should be avoided, and those that offer too much could simply be marketing something they couldn’t possibly deliver.

Beyond anything else, you should only pay for what you need. That’s why I went with a plan that worked for me (at this time), Bluehost. They offer reliable hosting and are priced affordably, with an uptime that is one of the best out of any online company.