There are 5 hosting facts every blogger should know, but which are easy to overlook if you are a newcomer to the blogosphere.
One of the first steps you need to take when building a blog is to register and host your very own domain. However, many newbies breeze through this process and overlook the importance of choosing a quality web host.
Keep in mind that web hosting plays a significant role in building a successful site. It is understandable that bloggers want to pour their attention into design and content. But without a reliable host, you could be compromising the entire experience for your audience, harming your success as a blogger.
If you are new to blogging, then you should know that the first rule to online success is every decision matters. Your domain name, keywords, and hosting solution – everything can have a significant impact in the long run. When it comes to web hosting, here are the fundamental facts that you need to know.
1) Site Speed
Site loading speed is vital to the user experience. People want information fast, and they get annoyed easily with a slow website. If you want to ensure consistent loading speeds, then you should rely on a quality web host with capable hardware that will not choke under a heavy load. You should always check and compare the hardware specifications of different web hosting solutions before making a decision.
For new blogs that don’t have much traffic, a shared hosting solution can do the job quite well. Once your site begins to gain traffic, you should consider scaling up to a VPS or a dedicated hosting plan. You also need to check if a host can live up to its promises. Use a tool like Pingdom Website Speed Test to evaluate your site’s speed from time to time.
For more ideas on how you can improve your site even more, refer to this post at MakeaWebsiteHub.com. It discusses additional tools that can help you with other factors you need to consider, such as analyzing site performance and choosing the right theme for your blog.
2) Uptime
In addition to a slow website, crashes and downtimes can also negatively impact user experience. These problems may arise due to coding issues and faults on the server’s end. However, even the best web hosting companies cannot guarantee a 100% uptime. Instead, they only offer up to 99.9% guarantees, which is the highest level of certainty you can hope to find.
Don’t worry – there’s another way to ensure you’ll always be there when your audience needs you. When choosing a web hosting provider, look for authentic customer feedback and sign up for only a single month at a time. That way you can evaluate the actual uptime dependability of a host with a tool like Host-Tracker. If the host performs below expectations, you can quickly switch to a different, more reliable web host.
3) Control Panel
Every web host comes with a control panel that enables site owners to manage their backend. However, some web hosts have control panels whose interface and functionality are dated. For blogging newbies, it is best to opt for web hosts with a modernized control panel for better ease of use and learnability.
For example, cPanel offers a simplified and organized interface that’s easy to understand. It lets you manage your databases, email accounts, files, and app integrations without worrying about accidentally breaking anything. The host also comes with server monitoring tools that cover resource utilization, configurations, and security to help you protect the integrity of your backend.
4) Customer Support
If you are new to building websites, it’s only natural for you to have some issues with setting up your site. In fact, you might have plenty of questions even if it is not your first time building a site. Therefore, you should always consider the competence of a hosting company’s customer service.
Remember that managing a website is a huge responsibility. Sometimes, problems with your backend arise at the most inconvenient times, so a customer service that always has your back is a wonderful resource. When choosing a web host, don’t hesitate to contact its customer service and make your inquiries firsthand.
5) Security
Running a blog is a huge investment. It involves countless hours writing content and promoting your posts in various channels, not to mention the time you initially spend setting the blog up. You also devote a significant amount of money to tools, SEO, and additional web design. With the rise of identity thieves, DDoS attacks, malware, and other digital threats, you need to have the proper security to protect all of your hard work.
While there are plenty of security options available for Content Management Systems, it is important to choose a web host that implements a high level of protection. When making an inquiry through a company’s customer service, don’t forget to ask about their safety protocols. You can refer to Naked Security’s white paper about web hosting security for educated questions that can help you make the best decision.
Conclusion
Successful blogging requires you to lay a solid foundation for your website, and web hosting is a essential part of that foundation. By learning these 5 hosting facts, you are one step closer to making the best decisions for the future of your blog.
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Thank you Christopher!
The five extremely critical points you have raised, have definitely
opened my eyes, to some potential issues to constantly be mindful of!
Thanks, because no matter what your current level of blogging experience is,
your five excellent points, will help any blogger make far more informed decisions.
Mark would love you to read ..How Some Cash Strapped Entrepreneurs Routinely Stretch Their Advertising Dollars!
I even haven’t had an information about these facts. So, YThank you for sharing such an informative article.God bless you abundantly !!!
Hi Christopher. Thank you for sharing your list. They are excellent points to keep in mind when choosing a web host, or evaluating your current one after you have been with them for a while and have the data to consider.
I love it when people talk about speed. Every time they link to a different service, I try it out, and learn something new to improve the speed of my website. Excellent information.
Ben would love you to read ..The Truth About Health Products
Thanks, Ben! Site speed is really crucial in this time and age due to the short attention span of readers. That is why you need to do whatever it takes to get the loading times of your site as low as possible, even if it means using a different hosting service.
Thank for sharing .i also like it.I also suggest and request to next important things also published .
Glad you liked it!
I even haven’t had an information about these facts. So., thank you for sharing such an informative article.,God bless you abundantly
You’re welcome, Keziah!
Another thing to remember is being cost effective.
If you do not have the technical experience then you would be better off using a product such as hostgator where you can have your domain name and hosting in one package with a nice control environment and support when needed.
If a beginner was to use something like ramnode they would be lost trying to set up an entire server from scratch and setting up apache2 or nginx.
Truer words have never been spoken! Building a server from scratch will be a pain for beginners, so it’s best to take a chance of the best web hosting services available instead.
Hey
Christopher
Your article is really well composed and informative for me. After read your article i learned something new. Much appreciated. And a huge thanks for your valuable time which you spent to tell us new things. Thanks again. 🙂
My pleasure, Nessa!
Really liked your Blog. Inspired me to read more useful blogs like this. Most of points i read are valid and factual. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for the kind words, Ranjan!
You are right, these tips are important for running a successful blog. Without taking care of these smaller issues, a site can break without noticing
Exact my point as well in the article, Munyole!
Site speed is important. Besides that one should also check the hosting uptime as well as the server used by them. SSD disk with litespeed can give you website a good speed. It is definitely worth extra $ if you are serious about your business
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Great points, Savya! It’s best to consider web hosting as an investment. You will have to spend a lot at first so you will spend less in the future and get better performance for your sites.
Site speed is important, that is the whole point what drives visitors to stay on the site. But before they can even read the content, when site speed if it’s slow then they will leave for sure.
Louis Lh. would love you to read ..7 Actions to Take Before 30s
Exactly, Louis! According to a study, 25% of visitors will already have left your site if it loads more than four seconds, which only suggests the importance of choosing a web hosting that offers the fastest loading time.
This article is very informative for me because i earn new thing about blogger. i can’t know about already i read it and Thanks for share this.
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Great to know that you loved the article, Abrish! Expect me to share more articles on this blog in the future!
Many true points in your article, Christopher!
Uptime is indeed an important criteria. I would like to add that a 100% uptime is nothing to go for. Not at all! If a host promises a 100% uptime, they never do any maintenance which should make you suspicious. If a server isn’t maintained, they are neglecting security … so it’s definitely a no go!
Also, you mentioned that switching the web host quickly is an option if a host underperforms. It’s certainly true that one shouldn’t be locked into a 2-year contract. Cancellation time should be appropriate. But it’s also important to know that the process of switching – and by this I mean moving the website and its databases – isn’t the most easiest thing. Particularly not for a website newbie.
It’s really best to first check carefully who you are going to trust with your first website.
Thanks for the comment, Katrin!
Very true regarding hosting services offering 100% uptime — if it;s too good to be true, it probably is!
I do agree that transferring from one host to another is a difficult and painstaking process, which is why it is important to research the best and most reliable hosting that you can afford where you can build your site on to avoid issues in the future.
These facts are most important for everyone bloggers, I have no ideas about these facts. After Read Your Article I have learned something new it. Thanks for shared.
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Glad you found the article helpful, Asif! There are other hosting factors that you may need to consider when building a blog but I feel that the ones mentioned above are the most important.
I even haven’t had an information about these facts. So., thank you for sharing such an informative article.,
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You’re welcome, Richard!