Having quality and reliable website hosting will play a pivotal role in your online business. You will also be looking for a company that has great customer service; support that is quick to respond to questions and issues and is readily contactable.
Just as important is to align yourself with a company that has been in business for some time and is established. The last thing you want to do is host your valuable online real estate with some cheap, fly-by-night hosting company that is there one day and gone the next, leaving your sites stranded and you temporarily out of business. Think of your online business like it was a bricks and mortar store. You wouldn’t build a shop on unstable ground, or lease office space from some dodgy dude wearing a trench coat and a balaclava.
Although there are many, many web hosting companies to choose from out there, in this post I’ll be discussing only four. The reason for this is I’ve had first-hand experience in dealing with these four selected hosting platforms. Rather than recommend companies I haven’t tried, I’d much rather steer you towards the ones I’ve hosted websites with, either presently or in the past.
The first four offer all sorts of hosting packages, while WP Engine and the hosting on Wealthy Affiliate are a little different. The most common form of web hosting is shared hosting, where your site will be shared on a server with a multitude of other sites. It is also the most cost-effective way to host your website, and you’ll rarely need to upgrade to more dedicated hosting unless your site boasts a large and growing database (such as an article website, for example). They all come with some form of website building tools and programs.
Bluehost
Bluehost are one of the most popular website hosting companies in the world today, and they are also one of the cheapest. Founded in 2003 they are no fly by night web hosting company. In fact, they have worked extremely hard for more than a decade to achieve the status, success and reputation they now have. They have dedicated Word press hosting, which is a huge plus for all those Word Press users out there (myself being one of them). In fact, they have had an ongoing relationship with Word Press for more than 10 years.
- The cheapest shared hosting package starts at a mere $3.45 per month. You only get to host one website on this deal and get up to 50GB of website space. This package is called the "Basic Plan".
- Bluehost's most popular hosting package is the "Plus Plan". It's $4.95 per month and you can host an unlimited number of websites with no limit on website space or bandwidth.
- The third popular option is the "Prime Plan", again with unlimited hosting, bandwidth and website data. With this plan you get added security, such as domain privacy and site back up pro.
- For $19.99 per month you get optimised hosting for Word Press. There are other more advanced Word Press VPS hosting packages, but the prices start at $19.99 a month up to $49.99 a month. If you are a Word Press user, then Bluehost really is the hosting company of choice.
- Other options include Woo Commerce hosting starting at $12.95 per month, VPS hosting starting at $29.99 a month and Dedicated hosting which is $149.99 per month.
Namecheap
Namecheap are currently offering a free domain name with every new web hosting package purchased. They also guarantee 100% uptime for all their shared hosting packages, which is pretty impressive. All hosting packages come with cPanel Control Panel access and a 14 day money back guarantee. There are daily backups and unlimited bandwidth (except the Business SSD package which is limited to 5000GB).
- Value, their cheapest package, starts off at a mere US$9.88 for the first year (with a renewal price of US$38.88/Year). With this package you are limited to only hosting 3 websites.
- Professional, the most popular hosting package, is US$19.88 for the first year (renew price US$78.88/Year). With this one you can host up to 10 sites.
- Ultimate US$29.88 for the first year (renew at US$129.88/Year). Host up to 50 websites.
- Business SSD hosting package is US$19.88 per month. With this package you can host an unlimited number of sites. It is still shared hosting, but with way less sites on the server.
Hostgator
Hostgator boast 24/7/365 support access and an uptime of 99.9%. They also offer a 45 day money back guarantee if not completely satisfied with their service. That’s pretty good. I had a site hosted with them for years and never encountered any problems. Their customer support is first class. At the moment there is a 20% discount off all shared hosting plans. Hostgator’s prices per plan vary depending on how long you want to lock yourself in with them. You can lock yourself in from one month up to 3 years. For the purpose of this post I’ll just supply the prices per month if you sign up for one year.
- Hatchling Plan: US$5.56 per month (for 3 years). This plan only allows you to host the one website, so not really recommended.
- Baby Plan: US$7.96 per month (for 3 years). On this plan you can host unlimited domains. Probably the best value plan they offer.
- Business Plan: US$11.96 per month (for 3 years). Once again you can host an unlimited number of domains with a free private SSL Certificate and a toll-free phone number.
GoDaddy
Like Namecheap, GoDaddy are offering a free domain name with every new hosting package purchased. They guarantee a 99.9% uptime of their servers with lightning fast speeds. GoDaddy are very popular for selling domain names as well as hosting packages.
- Economy: US$4.99 per month for first year (US$6.99/Month when you renew). This plan allows hosting of only one website, with storage limited to 100GB.
- Deluxe: US$5.99 per month for first year (US$8.99/Month upon renewal). With this hosting plan you are allowed unlimited websites and no limit on bandwidth.
- Ultimate: US$7.99 per month for first year (US$14.99/Month upon renewal). Unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited hosting. Free SSL Certificate for the first year. More power and more security.
WP Engine
WP Engine is managed WordPress hosting. This company specialises in hosting WordPress websites and nothing else. They are a little pricier than some of the more generic hosting companies, but with that higher price tag comes dedicated WordPress hosting, increased site security and performance, and a support team that lives and breathes WordPress. If you have a business website created in the WordPress platform, then WP Engine hosting is truly the best company for your hosting needs. Your website is about getting customers and making conversions. You don't want it going down because it's getting too much traffic, and you want a hosting team on your site that fully understands the nuances and demands WordPress has. They also guarantee 100% uptime, almost unheard of when it comes to more generic hosting like some mentioned above. All plans can be tried risk-free for 60 days.
- Personal Plan: $29 per month. This plan includes just the one install with 10GB of local storage. There is unlimited data storage and caters to up to 25k monthly site visitors.
- Professional Plan: $99 per month. Up to 10 WordPress installs come with this professional package. Unlimited data, 20GB in storage and capability for up to 100k per month site visits.
- Business Plan: $249 per month. Host 25 WordPress sites with unlimited data usage. The business option has 30GB local storage and allows up to 400k visits to your site per month.
- There are 2 other packages – Premium and Enterprise Grade – but you have to call a rep at WP Engine for the price and details.
Wealthy Affiliate
Wealthy Affiliate differs from the first three mentioned. They do offer web hosting, and very reliable and secure hosting at that. I currently have 5 websites and they are all hosted on Wealthy Affiliate, including the one you are now viewing. Their servers are highly secure, backups are performed regularly, their servers are high speed and support is very quick to respond if you ever need their help. They use the Site Rubix site builder and give users access to over 2000 Word Press themes.
WA is a platform where you can learn all about affiliate marketing with in-depth training courses, an active and helpful community, 2 free websites and free hosting, and hosting for up to 50 websites if you sign up as a Premium Member. If you are thinking of getting started in affiliate marketing, then I highly recommend you check out the Wealthy Affiliate site.
Darren Burton
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This is an interesting post. I never thought there would be a platform that could host and provide training at the same time. I am currently hosting my site on GoDaddy and I wonder if it is possible for me to transfer the host/ existing domain to Wealthy Affiliate? I am interested to try the WA out and if they could really provide value-added services and training courses.
I’ve never actually moved any websites from another host to WA myself, but I know it can be done. There is even training from WA owners and members that tells you how to do this. If you’re looking for training and web hosting combined, then it’s hard to go past signing up for an account with Wealthy Affiliate.
I’ve been thinking of starting an online blog for quite some time now. However, I never really understood how that site gets broadcasted on the internet. Your page answers all of the potential questions that have been swirling around my brain. I think I’ll go with your suggestion for Wealthy Affiliate as I like how they seem to be a reputable company for hosting. The fact that you trust them with your sites is a major factor as well. Thank you so much for the info!!!
Wealthy Affiliate is a good place to get started. You’ll learn how to do everything properly right from the beginning. And their hosting is top notch and very secure.