There are lots of decisions to make when starting a blog but one of the key ones is choosing the best website hosting for your blog or business website. The whole concept of website hosting may seem simple – choose one and get on with it – but there’s a lot to consider in a host above just offering a cheap or free price. Here’s a look at how to make that decision as well as my own choice and why I’ve just renewed with that same host despite a price increase.
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What is website hosting?
Let’s start at the beginning with the question of what is website hosting? Basically, website hosting is a service where you can rent a little space on a company’s server to place your website. You need a separate domain name to create an address for your little area of the internet and many web hosting companies will also offer to either include a free domain or offer you a range of available ones to choose from and pay alongside your hosting.
Once you have set up your website with its domain name, someone types in that address and the host company’s servers show them your website.
Choosing the right web hosting service
Choosing the right web hosting service is about a bit more than just going for an advert that caught your eye or a really cheap price. It involves looking at what you are going to need from your website hosting and who can provide that along with other services you might require – then look at the price.
For example, think about what kind of website are you building? If you are just creating a blog then it is liable to be through WordPress (who aren’t a hosting company, by the way). That will mean you will want all the usual elements such as a nice theme, plugins, dedicated email and will hopefully have a good amount of traffic.
If you are building your website for a business and a blog, then you might still choose WordPress and an optional extra such as WooCommerce or Shopify if you are selling products. If you are going to take payments, you will need some sort of SSL certificate to ensure any information on the site is protected and this usually costs more. But if you get it through your web host, it might be easier and even sometimes cheaper.
Website hosting reviews
Once you have a basic list of your requirements for a website host, you can start looking at website hosting reviews. I did this extensively before I bought my first package and then I choose wrong. More about that in a bit.
There are lots of factors to consider when reading reviews but some of the main points to look at are:
1. Reliability or uptime scores
The last thing you want is people to go to your website and find it is down. Companies given bad ratings are often the ones with a lot of downtimes. So look for figures in the very high 90% when you are considering hosts.
2. Upgrade options
While we all start small, there is the plan to get bigger as we get serious about our blog or our business grows due to our efforts. Therefore, look for companies where you can upgrade your hosting plan at a later date. For example, a basic plan will be adequate for around 40,000 unique monthly visitors but as you grow, you will need to upgrade to handle the greater capacity. So look for companies who allow this and make it simple.
3. Multiple domains
Whether you plan to buy up all the variations of your blog’s name such as .co.uk and .org or simply want to have more than one blog, then look at plans that allow you to have these multiple websites without needing to upgrade.
4. Refund policy
I was glad that I checked the refund policy with my first misfired option for website hosting because it meant I could cancel it almost immediately and it cost me only a pro-rata time for the days used (which was less than £1). Look at things such as trial periods and what your cancellation rates are as well as how you can cancel if you decide the hosting isn’t for you.
5. cPanel
If you haven’t run a website before, cPanel might not mean much to you but it is like the backroom of the website where all the technical stuff lives. There are other options such as vDeck but cPanel is one of the most common. Make sure that this is user-friendly and easy to learn the basics as you will need it for things like adding a customised email address, checking your usage and adding features such as WordPress or WooCommerce.
Customer services
To me, one of the most important things about website hosting is the level of customer services offered. This is one of the main reasons I originally stayed with Siteground, despite prices going up by around 40% on the first year deal (which I knew that they would so have planned accordingly). It was also a big factor in why I made a switch this year to Lyrical Host.
Complaints about poor customer services are probably the other big issue that website hosting companies experience. If something goes wrong, doesn’t work or you need assistance, how quick and easy it is to speak to someone or to get an email response is a crucial factor in your choice.
My first choice – Lyrical Host
Lyrical Host are my second hosting company and my first experience with a smaller, more dedicated service. Cost wise, it is similar to Siteground, but you can pay monthly which is very handy. And there’s no intro offer so the price isn’t going to skyrocket next year. So, what made me switch?
1. Ease of migration
I was a bit nervous about making the switch from one host to another, but the process proved to be very simple. You book a slot for the migration and you need to be around at the start and end of the process to make sure everything is okay – otherwise, there’s not much you need to do.
2. Great customer service
One of the big standout features with Lyrical Host was their customer service. I knew this was good before I made the switch because fellow bloggers had told me, but it is definitely better than my previous host – and they were good. They are also happy to help with even small problems such as plugin conflicts and offer a range of top-up services you can use to help with ongoing issues.
3. Easy email integration
Switching domain email was also very simple and mostly covered in the migration. Because they keep email separate to the usage of your website, you don’t have to worry if you have out of control inbox either.
4. Great freebies!
Okay, freebies aren’t the reason you switch hosting, but they are a nice bonus. Lyrical Host have a website of freebies for their members as well as monthly freebies sent to your inbox such as their own stock images. Plus, they have a great Facebook group where you can get help and support, with one of the co-owners, Jenni, frequently there to chat with.
If you want to make a change for the better, you can see more here and if you use the code SVS1, you will get 10% off your first month’s hosting too!
Second choice: Siteground
Now I’ll tell you a little about my previous website hosting company – Siteground. You will doubtless see them mentioned when you start looking at reviews and although they were the second company I went with, they are the one I happily renewed with, despite the price increase. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Easy setup
When I came to set up the websites, I already had four blogs on WordPress that I wanted to create a website for each. I had no idea what to do and had some basic instructions from the internet that made it seem all very simple. Being as the world is, the instructions didn’t work.
Siteground were great. I emailed them and asked for help and they did the whole thing for me. They migrated the content to the new website having installed WordPress and made sure all my images were in the right place. I did have to do some editing on each post where some special characters had travelled over a little weird but I was updating Yoast and fine tuning at the same time so that was no problem.
Their customer service includes live chat and the option to open a ticket. Their response time is very good (and I’m in the UK so remember time differences), often within minutes or half an hour of submitting a query. This won me over from day one.
2. Lots of options
As you might guess, I have five websites so I am on their middle tier to allow more than one site. I’m not sure how many ‘multiple sites’ are but would imagine it is more about your traffic than anything. As long as you don’t exceed 4000 account executions in a two hour period or 20,000 in 24 hour period, you are fine. This has only happened to me once when someone tried to hack the site and bombarded it with requests – they didn’t get in either, by the way.
3. Easy email setup
It is also easy to set up dedicated email addresses for each website through their cPanel. You can the links these to a Gmail inbox or system of your choice to easily see the emails and ensure you don’t miss anything.
4. Lots of features
There are lots of features in the cPanel that I haven’t used but they are there if you want them. For example, rather than setting up WordPress for a blog, you can set up Joomla or Magento for an e-commerce website.
For me, these are a few of the reasons I choose Siteground. Their uptime is virtually 100% and I’ve never experienced more than a few minutes of downtime in the year I’ve been with them. Currently, they have a 60% off deal for your first year so you can have the basic level for a single website from £2.75+VAT per month or £3.95+VAT per month (you do need to pay annually for them).
Best website hosting?
Choosing website hosting is a big decision when you are setting up a blog or moving from WordPress to your own little spot of the internet. Everyone will have different experiences with different companies but mine with Siteground has so far been very positive – hence I’m happy enough to recommend them to you. I also decided that it was time to go for more dedicated hosting and that’s why I made the switch to Lyrical Host. I can definitely recommend them after making my migration!
So do your research and within no time, you will have your very own little piece of the internet to call home.
