When you’re ready to get a site online, whether it is a full-out website or just a simple blog, you’ll need a hosting provider. Don’t confuse hosting with domains. Your domain name is just that — a name. It will not provide you with a spot on the internet.
More technically speaking, a web hosting server gives you space on their server. This enables your website to have internet connectivity.
Competition is plentiful, so when searching for a hosting service, you will have thousands of options. I recommend two criteria to look out for when choosing the host.
1. Good customer support — You never know when something will go wrong with one of your websites and you’ll need assistance. Getting a customer support agent on the phone quickly and easily is a huge benefit, especially for beginners. You might be losing money every minute your website is not online and fuctioning.
2. cPanel — Many hosting services come with cPanel, a specific type of control panel. This control panel comes with all sorts of easy-to-use features that help you manage many aspects of your site. These features include:
- Setting up re-directs
- Email system
- Web statistics
- Shopping cart
- Security features
- And much more
The best thing about cPanel is that is comes with Fantastico, an auto-installing program that lets you activate many website additions with the click of a button. Fantastico is the easiest way to install your WordPress blog, a chat room or message board, an e-commerce system, an image gallery, polls and surveys and a ton of other additions.
Taking all of this into consideration, which hosting service should you buy? HostGator.
Full disclosure here: I am an affiliate for HostGator, hence the banner graphics on this site. But I only promote products or services that I use myself and strongly believe in.
This site is currently hosted with a cheap HostGator account, and this same account hosts all my other websites.
I recommend the Baby package, which is $7.95/month and lets you host an unlimited number of domain names. Now you’re ready to start blogging.
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