What Is Blog Hosting?

Blog web Hosting

It is important to differentiate between Blog Hosting and WordPress hosting. There is a general mind-set that WordPress is the only platform for blogging yet this is necessarily true. Blog hosting is generally supported by Tumblr, Blogger as well as WordPress although but WordPress is more popular because it powers 22% of internet websites. If you set out to develop a blogging website, you will need blog hosting and as we mentioned there are several blog hosting platforms currently in the market but your choice will depend on a host of factors including your blog website hosting needs.

What Is Blog Hosting?

Blog hosting is where you find a hosting company that will lease its servers to you so you can utilize its server resources such as storage, bandwidth and other important tools. Hosting services enable website and other internet applications to be reached globally online. When searching for the perfect blog hosting provider, there are some important factors you will need to keep in mind.

 

In our present time, it is really cumbersome to select between different web hosting companies especially since we are always overwhelmed by their tempting promotions. In your search for the ideal host for you blog, you should be able to look beyond such marketing gimmicks.

What Look For In Blog Hosting?

Here are some notable tips to consider when searching for a reliable, powerful and fast blog hosting solution.

Understand Your Blog Hosting Needs
Different web applications have different hosting needs and blog hosting is no different. It is thus important to evaluate the specific needs your blog has for a hosting solution. If you don’t do that, you might end up following the advice of others without remembering that they all had different needs and you will eventually end up with a subpar hosting company.

Ask yourself the following questions to try and come up with a hosting solution that answers to your blog hosting needs.

  • Do I Need Email-hosting?
    If you will be needing email hosting, then stick to those hosting companies which provide this option as well. Why would you need an email with your domain? Emails containing your domain name appear more professional which is solid selling point especially if your blog is intended to promote a specific service or brand.
  • Do I Need Unlimited Storage?
    You would require large storage for media if you intend on uploading unique videos, high quality photos and infographics. Storage has been one of the most popular promotion cliché with majority of hosting companies and if you are not careful, you can easily fall into the trap of ‘unlimited storage’. If you desperately need large storage, go for hosting packages that offer large storage disks and remember to read the company’s terms of service.
    Some hosting companies claim to provide unlimited storage but if you read carefully the TOS, you will find a caption which caps your inode usage. This section will state that if your blog exceeds a certain amount of storage, it will be in violation of the terms of service and hence liable to termination. Almost all hosting providers we have reviewed thoroughly contain this section but majority of users only skim through the TOS and don’t get to understand all the aspects of the service offered.
    A reasonable storage range should not be less than 100000 inodes if you looking for a shared hosting server for your blog.
  • Do I Expect My Blog To Have a Fast Growth Rate?
    Most people would start a blog with some goals in mind and if your goals are tethered on the growth of the site then you should be expecting your blog to grow very fast. Most hosting solutions provide room for growth but there are others which are quite stiff and rigid, avoid them at all costs even if you expect a slow growth.
    Larger web traffic equals higher rate of data transfer as well as CPU power. A hosting server should be able to serve the resources if and when needed by your blogging website. A good way to sieve out the bad hosts is by comparing the cost of more comprehensive packages as well as private hosting. Private hosting search as VPS and dedicated serves have more resources whether it is RAM, CPU performance, speed and bandwidth. Those hosting providers who claim to offer low pricing for smaller packages end up charging extremely highly for larger packages. These companies know that you will be attracted by the small packages and as your site grows you will be forced to pay for the larger hosting packages for your blog.
    Essentially, you should look at whether the hosting company allows you to grow with it steadily as your site also grows without spending too much between the transitions. Is it possible for you to upgrade to a dedicated or VPS server with the same host? You are trying to avoid a scenario where in case of an instant growth in your site, you have to migrate your entire site to a whole different host.
  • Do I Need Additional Services?
    There are a couple of services that a blog website requires and not all hosts provide these additional services which is why it can save you a lot of hassle if you were to pick the ones that actually do offer additional services.
    Some services you might require include root access, automated backup option, malware scanning and troubleshooting. If the hosts you have sampled tie in every aspect, the additional services could be where you break the tie.
  • Do I Have Any Web Hosting Knowledge?
    Do you? Your knowledge of hosting will determine a few parameters to consider. For instance, if you just created your blog website with no prior knowledge on hosting it, you might need to be spoon-fed but if you are an experienced developer, you might be able to cover almost everything on your own. Your need for customer support will be quite minimal.

As a starter, we always encourage that you go for those hosting providers who provide maximum technical support to newbies at low costs. This is where the choice for a managed server takes more precedence over the unmanaged server.

 

The above questions are will make the corner stone to the criteria for getting the best hosting for your blog. Besides these, you can also look at the pricing structure of different hosts and ensure that you pay for what you use.

Security Of Hosting

Simply finding the ideal blog hosting is not sufficient because you also need to learn how to protect yourself against bad hosts. There is nothing more pejorative than paying too much in advance only to realize that the host serving you is disparagingly horrid. To protect yourself from such hosts we recommend you check for web hosts with a blacklisted IP and register your blog domain with a third party registrar even if you are being offered a free domain by the host (GoDaddy and NameCheap are notable registrars you can use).

 

As a parting shot, here is a brief overview of key features a blog hosting provider should never miss:

  • Free Site Builder software
  • Low cost domain
  • 24/7 Customer support
  • SSL certificate
  • Email hosting
  • Sufficient storage
  • Security
  • Fast uptime

The secret to choosing the right blog host for you is to analyse all the available hosts using the same tools and elements and see which one outdoes the others. It is not bad to consider other people’s opinions but always run your own test and see which hosts answers your questions best.