Web Hosting Considerations For New Bloggers

Blogging is no longer just a trend. It is now a huge community of users, from the average teenage kid to the top corporate business. It is a vehicle for personnal expression, informative content, business marketing, news coverage, gossip and whatnots.

As reported by BlogPulse, there are over 90,000 new blogs created everyday. At the time of this writing, there were near 80 millions blogs identified.

If you’re thinking about launching your own blogging venture or even if you’re an experienced blogger, here are a few things you want to consider when it comes to hosting your blog.

Get A Domain Name

Yes! Do it, it costs barely nothing!

Forget those free blogging services like blogger.com or wordpress.com. Your domain name is part of your identity, it’s branding, it’s how people remember you. Plus it can help you rank better in search engines.

GoDaddy is a good place to start. They’ve got cheap domain names starting at $1.99.

Don’t forget that you do not have to buy your domain name at the same place you host your website. In fact, it’s even better no to!

Get A Unique IP Address

On a shared hosting package, your website will share its IP address with other websites hosted on the same server.

To avoid your blog being penalized in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages), make sure your web hosting account has a unique IP address. Most of the time, this is available as an option.

Find An Affordable Blog Hosting Plan

Since the blog explosion, many web hosts have started offering blog hosting plans. These blog hosting packages are ready-to-go plans that come pre-installed with a blog software like WordPress.

GoDaddy, SuperbHosting and Downtown Host are among those who offer good and affordable blog hosting plans.

Blog hosting plans are usually very cheap but are not scalable. This means that if you eventually need to host a custom website, you will need to get a shared hosting plan or even a dedicated server.

Still, a blog hosting plan will do the job for most personnal blogs unless you’re John Chow or Darren Rowse from ProBlogger dot net. John Chow uses BlueFur Dedicated Hosting by the way.

Get A Web Host With A Good Script Installer

If a blog hosting package isn’t enough for you, then you’ll have to install the blog software by yourself. While installing a blog isn’t that complicated for the average webmaster, it can be a pain for the newly initiated blogger.

Some web hosting packages include a script installer that allows you to automate the process. If you don’t want to go wrong, find a cPanel Web Host that offers Fantastico Deluxe.

Fantastico Deluxe will install your blog within a few clicks. And better yet, it can install tens of other applications like a shopping cart or forum. So if you need to host more than a blog, go for cPanel and Fantastico Deluxe. It is the best bet in my opinion.

Recommended Web Hosts: HostPapa (pssst… they’re green by the way!), InMotion Hosting, HostGator and Downtown Host.