Choosing the right web hosting company makes us confused always. The reason is very simple. Everyone is recommending a different hosting as best web hosting. Then how to make a decision & go with the best hosting service?
Majority of the customers and clients have a number of websites, especially the bloggers. Bloggers and e-commerce owners generally have multiple websites that is directly related to their business. So, they need a hosting company who can host multiple websites.
For a beginner, it is very difficult to pay high hosting charges. So they look for cheap web hosting plans. On the other hand, for high traffic websites, one needs a good VPS Hosting or Dedicated server.
This way, your web hosting need differs as per your budget & business need. There are few popular hosting companies who are really doing well. But to find the best web hosting company, you must analyze the hosting company with these below mentioned 7 checklists.
7 Checklist to Choose the Best Hosting for Your WordPress Blog in 2023
You need to consider these tips and factors before you choose a web hosting company or a web hosting service provider. There are many web hosting companies in the internet world with the topmost data centers across the planet. Still, it is necessary that you opt for the right ones for your first website.
You need to remember, your website is the face of your company or brand. Hence, apply and use these tips to choose your hosting service.
1. Understand Your Hosting Need
As I already mentioned, there are different types of web hosting plans offered by every hosting company. E.g. Shared hosting, Managed Hosting, WordPress Hosting, VPS, Dedicated server etc. Choose the one as per your need only.
For a beginner, it is always good to start with a shared hosting plan(cheapest web hosting plans). Shared hosting plans are very much affordable, have very good user interface and enuogh for a beginner to start with. I always recommend beginners to start with Bluehost ($2.95/mo for 3 years) as they offer plenty of amazing features with good quality support.
- 99% server uptime
- Free Domain for 1st year (Watch this video)
- Free SSL Certificate
- High Speed & Secure SSD Servers
- User-friendly Interface to manage Hosting
- Installing & Setting Up WordPress is very easy
- #1 Recommended Hosting By WordPress.org
- 50 GB Disk space, Undeterred Bandwidth, traffic)
- Create a free email account for your domain (E.g.santanu@bloggingjoy.com)
- 24X7 Live Chat Support
- Renewal charges are very low
For all my readers, Bluehost offers a very special price of $2.95/mo on their 36-month billing. That means you can get a Domain name + Web hosting with a 63% discounted price.
- Plan: Basic Plan at $2.95/month
- Term: 36 months
- Total Price: $106.20
- Savings: $181.44
2. Uptime, reliability, and speed
With Uptime data, it will indicate how efficiently your web hosting company is able to keep your website up. Yes, if your website goes down frequently, it would be a huge loss of business.
Make sure you go with the hosting companies who promise to offer 99.99% uptime. In fact, almost every reputed web hosting companies do promise the same. Even you will find many promising 100% uptime.
But be practical. As you can’t be perfect to have 100% uptime. But still, it is good to go with such web hosting companies like SiteGround, Bluehost etc. You need to avoid those web hosting companies that have an uptime of less than 99%.
You need to check the reliability score of any web hosting company. E.g. WordPress.org recommends Bluehost, Dreamhost & SiteGround as the top 3 best web hosting services. This way, you must find enough proof to trust on your web hosting company before buying.
3. Upgrade Options
Many time we want to start with a basic & cheap hosting plan. But later on, when things started growing, we wanted to upgrade to higher plans. With more traffic, you need more resources like disk space, band width etc.
Make sure, your web hosting company provides those options for the smooth upgrade without charging extra. In fact, in many cases, you may get extra discounts as well.
4. Look Out For Security Features
Safety and security is the most required feature and an advantage for any website. If your website gets hacked so will your information be? You need to be very careful about the information you are entering in the website.
You need to verify if the web hosting company has malware detection or a firewall service provider associated with it. It will help your website and safeguard it against the hackers and viruses.
That’s why I recommend hosting companies who offer free SSL certificates & extra security measures. Companies like SiteGround, Bluehost offers free SSL certificates.
You need to check if the web hosting Service Company has a backup option for all the data that you have it your website. You also need to confirm if they have multiple add-on features. This feature is very useful for those who have various websites.
These days, your website data is always at risk due to many cyber attacks. And that’s the reason you must back up your website regularly. SiteGround offers free backup services form their GrowBig plan onward.
Few of the key security measures you must look for are
- Automatic backup & Restore service
- Free SSL Certificates
- Malware scan & highly secure servers
Mostly starting plans doesn’t have these features. E.g. Bluehost BASIC plan doesn’t have backup feature, but you can get the same (CodeGuared Basic) with the Choice PLUS plan which is just few dollar extra.
5. Customer Support
Customer support has to be of very best quality when you opt for a web hosting company. You need to check the communication mediums, especially don’t compromise bellow live chat or phone support.
Getting a 24/7 customer service support is the most important factor. Hence, check and verify before you choose a web hosting service provider.
If you ask me the best hosting company as per customer support, it is SiteGround. Their live chat support is a life savior. Whenever I face any problem, I always ask them and their expert team always helped me to get the correct solution.
6. Pricing and plans
Web hosting pricing plays a big role. As a beginner, people mostly preferred to go with a free web hosting plans. But I never recommend them to go for free hosting plans, as it has many drawbacks.
And popular hosting companies like SiteGround, Bluehost, Hostgator are offering some awesome features at the cheapest price only. E.g.
- Go for Bluehost Shared hosting for 36 months @ $2.95/mo only
- SiteGround is giving flat 53% discount on their STARTUP plan
- HostGator is offering cheapest plans @ $2.75/mo only
Check this list of best Cheap & Free Domain Web hosting providers 2020.
7. Renewal Price
Renewal price is a very important factor that many beginners ignore while buying web hosting plans. Many hosting companies offer massive initial discount to attract customers. But their renewal price is very high and people realize they finishes their discounted term.
E.g. SiteGround hosting is very costly and after recent price hike, it becomes even more expensive. Just check SiteGround renewal fees before buying SiteGround hosting. I am not saying it’s wrong, it’s only worth if you are aware what you are purchaing and how much you are paying.
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
Transferring your website for one hosting to another hosting is very easy. You can refer this detailed tutorial I have shared about switching from SiteGround to Bluehost.
There are plenty of good hosting companies that offer very secure servers. As a beginner, you can consider SiteGround, Bluehost, Cloudways as the most secure hosting companies.
As I have mentioned all the necessary points like support, speed, security and many other features to decide which hosting is best for your website.
As a beginner, if you start with any popular shared hosting plans you need to spend around $35-$45/year or Rs 2500-3000 every year. This is an approximate amount where many hosting like Bluehost offers free domain name as well. That means a saving of $15 or Rs 800.
Wrapping Up
You can consider the above tips and factors before you buy a web hosting service from a reputed hosting company. You don’t have to spend huge time comparing thousands of companies. That’s the reason I have decided to come up with this website dedicated to guiding you to get the best WordPress hosting.
I am using SiteGournd GoGeek Plan for this website and so far the experience is awesome. In fact, SiteGround is the only hosting company who is fulfilling all the mentioned checklist. Make sure you read every single detail of your hosting company.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this article about how to choose best web hosting company in 2023 for your blog by writing a comment below. Also share in social media, if you find my efforts are worthy & useful.
