This article was updated on August 6th, 2020 at 05:57 am

So, you’ve decided to create your own blog? Great! Welcome to the club! You will not have what they can an online asset. And, while such an asset doesn’t require much capital investment, one thing that is definitely worth investing in is a reliable hosting service.

Why, you ask?

How to get more email subscribers!

Web hosting is what will keep your blog up and running. It is what will protect your online asset from being hacked or harmed by malicious attacks. It will even determine the speed at which your blog loads, which means that it will influence whether visitors stay or leave.

WordPress is the #1 CMS today, with 58.8% market share and close to 20.6 million active websites.

Not convinced? Here are some facts that might just do the trick:

As of August 2017, there were 1.24 billion websites on the World Wide Web and 3.74 billion Internet users.
According to Forbes, 30,000 sites are hacked every single day.
Google uses site load speed as one of its ranking factors.
Statistics say that 86% websites have “at least one serious security vulnerability.

So, can you afford not to know all you can about web hosting?

Types of Web Hosting Service

WordPress is the #1 CMS today, with 58.8% market share and close to 20.6 million active websites. WordPress has been powering blogs for over a decade now, and hosts some of the biggest names, including Forbes, The New York Times and even Facebook’s blog. But just because it is the mfost popular doesn’t mean you need to choose it to. The first thing you need to know is that there are various types of hosting services to choose from and you should choose based on your specific needs.

1. Shared Hosting

When hundreds of websites reside on a single web server connected to the Internet, the service is referred to as shared web hosting. This is a cost effective and affordable solution for both bloggers and businesses, since the overall cost of the server is amortized over many customers. However, you might have to deal with security issues, email deliverability and site speed problems that can impact your SEO rankings.

2. Dedicated Hosting

If you do not want to share the server with another website, you can lease an entire server. This means that you have an entire server just to yourself. This is called dedicated hosing. It is fast but more expensive than shared hosting. It is great for businesses that want to take advantage of the flexibility and resources such hosting offers to build a high availability and high performing website.

Shared v/s Dedicated Hosting — Source – Zonebook.sg

This is the fastest WP host I've known

3. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

How do you feel about having a mini-server within a server? A cross between shared hosting and dedicated hosting, VPS or Virtual Private Server hosting is a less expensive option than a full dedicated hosting plan, that uses a physical server. To achieve VPS hosting, a physical machine is divided into several virtual compartments. Separate server software is setup on them to enable them to function independently. In VPS hosting, every website is hosted on a virtual private server. This allows you to get a dedicated portion of the server for your blog or website.

4. Managed WordPress Hosting

This type of web hosting has gained huge popularity in recent years. These companies specialize specifically in hosting sites that are on the WordPress platform. When you start looking, you’ll probably come across numerous managed WordPress hosting companies. However, look for managed WordPress hosting services that offer automatic updates, plugin notifications, speed optimized servers, build-in CDN, etc. Kinsta the most popular and effective managed WordPress hosting service, is by far the most suitable choice, based on these benefits. (Details here why)

Say “No” to Free Stuff

Who doesn’t like freebies, right? But don’t base your choice of website hosting services on free stuff alone. In fact, you will even find various websites that offer free online web hosting. However, most of them are for trial, with no flexibility. Such free hosting is a complete “no-no” when you are trying to run a real business on your website.

Summary:

So essentially, choosing a host for your website/blog is like choosing your home. You can either buy a new one or rent out one yourself. Buying one needs bigger investment while renting is easier and cheap. I’d suggest you rent out, and start off small and once you become big, can buy one for yourself. But when you rent a host, make sure that you get one that is fast, reliable and not in bad neighborhood.

Here are some of the best WordPress hosts I’d recommend.

Series: How to Start Blogging

Also, check out other articles in this series.

Ep 3: How to Choose a Host for Your Blog