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If you are launching a self-hosted WordPress website, many new businesses want to know which Web Hosting company is worth it when launching a WordPress website. The answer to this question depends on a few factors. However, even before starting to break down whether one company is worth it versus another, it is important to note that when starting out most all companies offer plans that are cheaper than the monthly expense of a hosted built-in-one website company, not to mention the cost of adding the cost of monthly apps to help promote products and get traffic.
With WordPress, many of the apps used on e-commerce platforms are actually FREE plugins, sure there are upsells for many plugins but they are not necessary, especially when first starting out.
So which web hosting company is worth it if you are starting a self-hosted WordPress website?
Quite honestly there are too many to count. So for the sake of brevity, we will stick to the most common Webhosting companies that have been around for some time and have a good reputation. This is still quite a list, but once we break things down it will hopefully not be a difficult choice. The factors we will consider among the choices discussed in this article will be:
- Server Uptime
- Server Hosting Capacity (shared versus dedicated server)
- Traffic Volume of your website
- The security offered by the company hosting your website.
- Price
- Customer Service (all things being equal this is the most important factor when just starting out)
- Server uptime is a common factor often mentioned when looking at a Web hosting provider. Fortunately, most well-established hosting companies have a very high uptime percentage of 99% or better. This is a question that was perhaps more relevant a number of years ago when websites went offline frequently due to technical problems with servers or security breaches. Many of these causes of downtime have been addressed and resolved to the extent that the amount of time your website could be down with a reputable, tried, and tested Webhosting company is going to be extremely small. The fact is, with so many hosting companies having such high uptime statistics, it would be hard for a company to be in business if their hosted websites were going offline often.
- Server Hosting Capacity – With the options for shared hosting, dedicated servers, and VPNs, choosing a plan for your first website could be complicated but does not have to be. Basically, with a new website, a basic shared hosting plan as low as $2.95 a month can be enough to get your site online, design your website, and initiate marketing strategies to get visitors. Once your website database increases and traffic increases, you will automatically be looking for how best to handle increased volume, and since you have created an asset online security will also come into the picture. If this ultimately comes down to switching hosting companies, that is not a problem, as it is very easy to do. This once again brings up the incredible advantage of owning your website outright. You never have to deal with what you can and can’t do because you “own the land” it is built on! It is no surprise that WordPress hosts the largest majority of websites, even e-comm sites (woo-commerce). The UI , user interface, is easy to work with and the fact that it is open source gives you access to numerous developers who are available to help with any technical problems. This also applies to tech access for WordPress with hosting companies as well.
- Website Database and Traffic Volume – this has basically already been answered. It is being revisited because the hosting of your website is a work in progress and as such there will be growing pains that will need to be addressed. At this point, if you were to need help with decisions, you may be in a better position to start asking for help if your site is generating some revenue. Even if not, there are more than enough YouTube Channels to help you out.
- Security – The level of security of a particular hosting company will be apparent with little need to do much research. As mentioned earlier, this is going to be reflected in the company’s downtime and overall is an easy issue to check to make sure your site is safe. That being said, it is important to note that WordPress is one of the more commonly hacked website platforms because there are so many but also because they can be vulnerable particularly to brute force attacks if not maintained properly. The one most important thing to do as a webmaster is to make sure your site is up to date in terms of having the latest theme and plugin updates.
- Price – Just starting out, price should not be a major factor as there are many companies that are very reasonably priced for one to get a website launched online. With this being said, free web hosting should be avoided as this is tied to advertising on your website. Initially, an inexpensive plan with a reputable company is more than adequate, rather than jumping into a Webhosting company that is pricey and offers products you may not need starting out. Since this article is about the question: Which hosting company is worth it? It might seem that price would be the final and most important factor to look for. That is not at all the case since they are all comparable in terms of price. The most important quality of a Webhosting company you want to look at is their customer service!
- Customer Service – After hosting WordPress websites for over 15 years, by far customer service is at the top of the list when it comes to whether a hosting company is worth your monthly fee. Without a doubt, the best host (in my book) is one that has excellent customer service which includes immediate access to a live customer support individual and if needed access to high-level technical support. When or if your website was to go down for any reason you do not want to be dealing with long delays through email support or chat. You want to know what the problem is immediately and what can be done to fix it. A few minutes or hours of downtime may not be a big deal; however, beyond that, time is money, and during the time your site is down you are losing potential clients or customers.
When it comes to selecting which is the best web hosting for WordPress, of which there are many options, HostGator is the Web hosting company I have no problem recommending as it has served me well for over 15 years. Best of all the customer support, especially when I was just learning, was incredibly helpful at resolving any problems, even when it required taking an issue to the highest level of technical support. I never felt rushed and the company has continually strived to get better year after year. HostGator is definitely up there when it comes to choosing the best web hosting for beginners.
Yes, HostGator is a big company, and shared hosting, etc.. will eventually need to be addressed as your website grows. But to get started it is an easy provider to work with and as a member, you will learn a lot. Including how to manage your hosting Cpanel, etc. Among the elite bloggers or online businesses, which we all aspire to, there is s sense that only the dedicated, high-end hosting companies will do and though they are good, these individuals often fail to remember what it was like starting out.
***Being with Hostgator as long as I have, and having had a great experience with the company to this day, I want to note that I am an affiliate for HostGator and as such when you sign up for HostGator through my link I may get a commission. This in no way will affect how much you will pay for hosting.
I hope this information has been helpful and look forward to helping you in other ways with the content to be shared on this website. My main focus is on keeping it simple, not reinventing the wheel, and avoiding any coding concerns for individuals looking to put their business online!
Now … when you ask which web hosting company is worth it? … we are hopeful you will have a better idea of what to look for.
As we have addressed in the post: … doing a thorough web hosting comparison is necessary as the needs of a particular online business will vary. Some companies are heavily focused on their content while others are dependent on advertising and traffic volume. These two parameters are best demonstrated when comparing a service-based business (clients) to a product-based business (customers).
It also makes sense to look back to last year and google website hosting using such keywords as “best web hosting for small business 2020” or “best web hosting 2021”.