Need Help Picking A Web Host

I want to start a blog (with WP) and need help with picking a web hosting service.

I'd like reliability and month to month payments versus paying for it for 3 or 5 years upfront. Idk if I will still be blogging in 5 five years and doubt this will become a career, etc.

I've had a lot of changes happen in my life and am facing more in the upcoming months and I'd like to document them over the next year or so. I do a lot of photography and have thought about doing the blog via a photo site but idk how customizable that would be.

Any advice is appreciated. I love to write and as I said before I do a lot of photography. I'd like to combine the two and see where it goes.

I use godaddy for my web hosting, seems to work pretty well, fast enough, and rarely has downtime.

I think you can get a years worth of server hosting for like 25$

If you just want a stock WP setup, with no extra plugins, You can setup a blog for free on Wordpress.com itself.

If you want more control over it, and the ability to install plug-ins, etc...then I recommend DreamHost.com (they have a grea WP enhanced plan for about $20.00/month (US) called DreamPress).

Personally had some very bad experiences with Godaddy, they literally have stolen from me.
I would recommend Bluehost, you get what you pay for and their service and uptime is next to none.
For what it's worth before I got sick I made most of my living online so I have had experience.

Yes Godaddy should be reserved for your most basic websites. They give lots of issues especially the more complex your website and scripts get.

I use Servint and have for years. But then again we are talking at minimum a VPS at minimum of 58$ a month. Probably reserve that if you are an advanced user and know how to tweak your server.

There are varieties of choices. Search and find reviews. There will always be whiners but you can tell a good outfit not by the quantity of users, but the quality of user feedback on support issues.

If just a single WP and one domain the above recommendation should be sufficient at WP themselves.

I use hostmonster. $3.95 a month.
www.hostmonster.com...
Unlimited space, domains, email, etc. Very fast tech support. I've never had any downtime.

I don't know a professional web designer/developer who does not hate GoDaddy. Not so say that they don't exist, but I don't know of any. They got pretty girls in their ads. That's about it.

My biggest issue with them is that their site is designed like a casino, meant to confuse you and lure you into spending money.

I you want a simple and cheap solution, I also recommend that you look at WordPress.com.

For years I used Powweb.com as my primary host. Still have an acc't there and use it for secondary stuff. The annual fee is low (especially the first year) and they offer WordPress hosting. With Powweb you have to take care of everything (updates, security, etc.), yourself.

If you recognize the need for a really solid, secure platform with excellent suuport, I can't recommend anything better than WPEngine.com. It'll cost more money, but they take care of all software updates for you (after they have vetted the update themselves), manage security issues, do regular backups. Their support is top notch.

I went from paying under $200 with unlimited installatinos to $100 a month for a maximum of ten separate installations because the service was, IMO, worth the extra $1000 a year. (For one site, the price is much lower, though still higher than something like WordPress.com or Powweb.com

If you want professional level hosting and support, use WPEngine.com. If you just want something cheap, there are many optinos, including the ones I mentioned.

a reply to: incoserv

My biggest issue with them (Godaddy) is that their site is designed like a casino, meant to confuse you and lure you into spending money.

I forgot all about that its been so long. And yes it is VERY true. Everytime you turn around it is something.

Plus if I remember right they dont let you run out of safe mode. That might have changed though.

Back when I had a website I used these guys and never had a problem.
000webhost.com
You can do their free service to start out and choose to pay later if you want.

One thing to make sure of is after you have narrowed down your search, do some digging to make sure your choice isnt just a reseller of the real outfit that actually owns the server farm.

Alot of times when using a reseller you end up just dealing with them for support instead of the actual server owners. Plus the resellers often overload shared accounts resulting in very poor server responce times. IE...slow page loads to the visitors.

a reply to: Krakatoa

I can second that, Dreamhost has awesome support. They're not the cheapest, but the prices are fair and they have live people 24/7 you can actually get a hold of for stuff.

That reminds me, I need to pay my hosting bill. LOL

a reply to: MystikMushroom

A big second for Dreamhost. Their customer service is one of the most important aspects, as well as the wealth of tools and the easy to manage dashboards. Does not get much better than this, especially for all the time you spend making your site efficient and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. You have enough work to do to accomplish this, might as well have a rock solid foundation under you.

a reply to: lovebeck
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