Lately I seriously think about moving my gardening blog to my own domain. That was my plan from the beginning, but this almost 2 years and I am still on BlogSpot. It has many positive sides like free hosting and monthly transfer, but many downsides too.
Now, I am much closer to finalize my plan, especially that I have figured out how to move all content without messing up and losing all sweet links and without being slapped by Google for duplicating content. If you are interested in this subject, and you would like me to write updates on that please let me know, as it is completely off the main topic of Ewa in the Garden and majority of you are not interested.
Second biggest headache is deciding web hosting services, because choosing right web hosting service is not an easy task. There are so many providers offering very similar hosting packages, as a result I feel lost little bit. I have my other blog on my own domain since over 8 months, but its readers are from Poland, so hosting is also decided in Poland.
Majority of readers of Ewa in the Garden are from US, so I considering choosing new web hosting services based outside of my country.
Recently I found a website, which helps to take a decision. This is website that ranks top web hosting of hosting providers online. Service is free and full of useful information like hosting glossary, guide to switching host and also in resource section I found driving traffic instructions.
From my experience there are many considerations to take in account, and for non-technical person many of them are confusing.
My most important considerations:
#1
If you expect high traffic on your blog, it will consume the monthly bandwidth allowance very fast.
#2
Can web hosting provider support video clips on your website?
#3
Can the host support the e-commerce features without adding extra cost to your monthly payments, in case you plan open the shop in the future?
#4
The number of email accounts provided and number of FTP accounts.
#5
It should have backup power generators and firewall software protection specified In TOS
#6
Flawless customer service and technical support. It should be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Don’t rely on their declaration only. Check it by sending few emails to the web hosting provider, which should be answered in 24 hours. Any more than that is not acceptable.
Do you have suggestions or experience to share?
2 comments:
Good points to ponder on a new web host.
I use Dreamhost. I'm not really happy with them, but I don't have any reason to think anyone else is better, so I'm not going to switch.
It depends on the plan you choose with them, but it costs about US$15 per month, and everything is unlimited and free. They do everything you mention here without extra costs, email, ftp, bandwidth, shopping cart, video clips and so on. The blogging software they use is Wordpress, which is also an important feature to consider.
If you choose Dreamhost, be sure to mention patnsteph.net and I will get a little money for referring you. But honestly, I'm sure there are other good hosting providors out there too.
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